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On his first album, Cameron Graves demonstrated himself to be a new and important voice (or some analog) on jazz piano. His second album, Seven, makes his debut sound like a mere rough draft. Seven is so distinctive and forward-thinking that Graves now has a case for himself as a real leader in jazz. Kamasi Washington only makes a few guest appearances, but Graves shows that he does not stand or fall on the presence of a band built around Kamasi or past collaborator, Thundercat. This is just his band, and all the better for it. It is also one of the hardest rocking jazz albums of the last few years. Not “fusion” in any common sonic form, but more reminiscent of what happens when Tigran Hamasyan gets Tosin Abasi to contribute to a track on The Call Within. Was that fusion? Of a sort, but not what one generally imagines when prompted with the word. Yet that moment is the closest to so much of the sounds here as Graves rips through these science fiction-y ideas that would get Shabaka Hutchings’s creative juices flowing, joined by Colin Cook’s mostly straight-forward but effective and very heavy guitar work.What is Graves doing here? Fusion, of a sort, but not ’69 Miles, nor the alumni of Miles. Even Kamasi’s more rock-influenced work finds him going for less knotty compositions. There are passages to which the listener can positively headbang, in between 70s post-bop transitions.When Graves emerged with his debut album, it was enough to sound like an artist a step beyond Lafayette Gilchrist. Seven goes past that. On one of Tosin Abasi’s jazz breaks, he worked with a one-off group called TRAM, along with Javier Reyes, and the album stood as a strange, one-off djent/jazz creation that perhaps could not be imitated or done again. Maybe no one should try. Yet there is something of that character here, borrowing as recklessly as Hamasyan does, with a guitarist willing to play aggressively. There is funk too, and no piece just goes pedal to the metal at a pace to bore the listener.Graves did it.