A more self-contained construction was happening over at Zürcher Gallery during Kalia Vandever’s solo set. Having played at the exact location years earlier with an acoustic quartet, Vandever showcased how she has become not only a deftly capable trombonist but also a great electronic musician in her own right. Armed with harmonizers, loopers and effects, the strength of Vandever’s body of solo work was in the variation in where her ghostly manipulations lived sonically. Sometimes they’d be a deep harmonic base, sometimes ethereal angels above, sometimes she would stuff a melody into a box to be bit-crushed and volleyed around like particles in a collider - but what held them all together was a singular gentle humanness. Vandever brought to the horn a clean, calming sonority that carried from the start of every note to the end of every phrase.

Vulnerability was also the name of the game at Samora Pinderhughes' set at Le Poisson Rouge. Pinderhughes’s “Healing Project”, a multidisciplinary work that has been showcased in a variety of physical and digital arenas, was offered in a simpler but no less meaningful music-only presentation with the pianist and singer flanked by a rhythm section and small choir. “The Healing Project’s” sounds were musically and lyrically lush, with musings on masculinity and honesty delivered atop soulful but urgent chords, sometimes slowly, sometimes with blistering dance rhythms. The choir moved both individually and as a unit, passing around features but also interpolating work songs and layering close harmonies together, living up to the sense of community that the music was asking for.

In a 2012 interview, composer and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, perhaps best known for his work in the realms of cutting-edge modern jazz and genre-defying compositional work, lamented a relative lack of opportunities to, “swing his ass off.” As exhibited by his trio’s recent releases (Continuing, Mesmerism, The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism) and their LPR set Friday night, Sorey has proved to those who might be skeptical how deep his knowledge of drums-in-jazz really goes. Though consisting of well-known Great American Songbook standards without any serious deconstruction, Sorey’s persona as an artist steeped in the deepest trenches of minimalism and maximalism was perfectly on display here -- he would build achingly slowly from the most basic tom strokes to the most active polyrhythms without losing his musical telepathy with his bandmates. Pianist Aaron Diehl in particular was a fruitful collaborator with Sorey’s sensibilities: an experienced classical musician in his own right, Diehl gave Sorey infinite textures, melodies, ranges and points of musical reference to play with. Winter Jazzfest can sometimes feel like a highly curated exhibit, but Sorey’s trio was a reminder that at its best, it can also be a place to watch great musicians just play.

A few events still remain in this year's Winter Jazzfest, including the aforementioned Ryuichi Sakomoto tribute at Roulette (1/17), a two-night presentation by Danish performance art ensemble Hess is More at National Sawdust (1/16-1/17), and a closing show at Brooklyn Steel on Thursday (1/18) featuring Memphis-based bassist MonoNeon and guests. Tickets currently available for all shows at the box office or online.