Throughout this decade, the brainy Chicago pianist and composer Ryan Cohan has emerged as one of the city’s most powerfully expressive musicians.  He has done so behind two of the most imposing trumpet players in mainstream jazz: Orbert Davis (in Davis’s quintet) and Jon Faddis (in his tenure leading the Chicago Jazz Ensemble).  But although more people may have seen Cohan in those contexts, it has been his own albums – the 2001 Here And Now and the 2007 One Sky – that have proved the originality of his writing and the strength of his musicality. Cohan’s prowess as a writer has grown in tandem with the power of his playing; each new album offers new revelations.

Now comes Another Look (Motéma), released Tuesday; it features Cohan’s outstanding local quartet augmented by percussion giant Steve Kroon and by the flamboyant vibraphonist Joe Locke, who travels to Chicago to join Cohan and company for the weekend’s official CD-release performances.  Locke’s line have flash and pizzazz, but also an unforced lyricism that underlies his infectious enthusiasm.  And when he solos, you can’t take your eyes off him.  He tenses visibly on tight passages.  He jumps back after a complicated passage, as if the instrument had burned him, and then rocks back for the next phrase.  He mutters his improvised lines under his breath as he plays them, then fixes the audience with a wide grin and glittering eyes.

In this music, you can almost think of Locke as the id to Cohan’s superego: a high-flying complement to the pianist’s own brand of controlled excitement when he solos.  (Cohan reports that in arranging the smart and supple compositions for this album, he “was hearing vibes in the front line.  Specifically, I heard Joe Locke, whose playing and writing I have admired for a long time.  His voice seemed a natural fit.”  The album benefits from that synergy.)  The rest of the band comprises rock-solid bassist Lorin Cohen, saxophone maven Geof Bradfield, and explosive drummer Kobie Watkins. They play the Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway, Friday from 9 till 1 and Saturday from 8 till midnight.