Vessels of Wood and Earth is guitarist Dan Wilson’s third effort as a leader but his first for Christian McBride’s Mack Avenue imprint, Brother Mister. McBride steers the ship as producer, giving everything a consistent polish and vibrancy and also hopping aboard on bass for the final two tracks: Pat Metheny’s classic “James” and the 1962 Ray Charles number “Born to Lose,” both invigorating guitar/bass duets. (The decision to leave in a bit of crosstalk and laughter between some tracks is pure McBride, playful and real.) Featuring pianist Christian Sands, bassist Marco Panascia, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, the quartet lineup has all the chops and stylistic fluency to make Wilson’s original compositions (including the eloquent post-bop title track) come to life. There’s also a smooth but rhythmically tricky reworking of Stevie Wonder’s “Bird of Beauty,” and gutsy guest vocals from Joy Brown on the guitar/voice duet “Cry Me a River” and what amounts to a Marvin Gaye minisuite of sorts (“Save the Children,” “Inner City Blues”). Wilson has a fleet, cleanly articulated approach on guitar, melding modern jazz, hard-bop, and soul-jazz vernaculars in a highly personal way.