Articles by Ludovico Granvassu
The Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 6
by Ludovico Granvassu
Enjoy the last installment of our retrospective dedicated to the songs discovered over the past six months that left a lasting impression.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 The Five Corners Quintet “Lighthouse" Chasin' the Jazz Gone By (Columbia) 0:16 Host talks 5:29 Makiko Hirabayashi Weavers “Ghosts" Gifts (Enja/Yellowbird) 6:28 Host talks 11:32 Rufus Wainwright, Pacific Jazz Orchestra “The Saga of Jenny" I'm a Stranger Here Myself--Wainwright Does Weill ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 5
by Ludovico Granvassu
As we come to the end of another year, it feels like a good moment to pause--not to summarize everything, but to listen back. This episode is built around songs that lingered, resurfaced, and quietly insisted on being remembered.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Jérémie Lucchese “L'Ogre" Essais pour l'Imaginaire Vol. II (Fresh Sound/New Talent) 0:16 Host talks 4:00 Chaerin Im “Okay" Aïe aïe (Dox) 5:12 Host talks ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 4
by Ludovico Granvassu
This episode of Mondo Jazz isn't about rankings or best-of lists. It's about memory. Over the past six months, certain pieces of music kept calling us back. Among them, are the tunes in this playlist. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Luca Curcio “Fisk" La Bomba (Boomslang) 0:16 Host talks 4:16 Bram De Looze, Hank Roberts, Thomas Morgan, Joey Baron “Flagey Blues Edition X (Live)" Live at ...
Continue Reading2026 Winter JazzFest Marathons: A Survival Guide
by Ludovico Granvassu
For jazz fans who are in New York, when one countdown ends with the Times Square Ball Drop, another one begins--and ends a few days later, when Winter JazzFest officially gets underway with the first downbeat at Le Poisson Rouge. For 22 years, the festival has been the launch pad of the jazz year in the city. This year's edition will run from January 8 to 13, with a program that spreads across 16 venues and well over ...
Continue ReadingLudovico Granvassu's Garden Of Jazzy Delights 2025
by Ludovico Granvassu
Capturing the breathtaking beauty, range, and diversity of jazz released in 2025 through a list of “10 best albums" feels as challenging, vain--and ultimately disappointing--as trying to photograph the Grand Canyon at sunset by placing a pinhole in front of a rudimentary digital camera's lens. Sure, a picture will be taken. It might even prove you were there, at that time, when the shutter clicked--provided that those who look at the photograph can tell there was a canyon, and a ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 3
by Ludovico Granvassu
In a year that often felt overwhelming, music remained a place of focus and meaning. This episode of Mondo Jazz brings together the songs from the past six months that helped make sense of the noise--or at least gave us a reason to lean in and listen.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Funkwrench Blues “Drowning Man" Mischief in the Musitorium (Need to Know) 0:16 Host talks 4:56 Anne ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 2
by Ludovico Granvassu
The past six months have delivered more music than anyone could possibly absorb in real time. So this week, instead of trying to keep up, we slow things down and look back--focusing on the songs that earned repeat listens and slowly made a home in our ears.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Charlie Hunter, Ella Feingold “Housatonic" Different Strokes for Different Folks (SideHustle) 0:16 Host talks 2:34 Craig ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2025 Jazz Things - Part 1
by Ludovico Granvassu
Rather than looking back at the year as a whole, here we concentrate on the second half. What you'll hear are the songs that stayed close, long after the initial listen.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Oddjob “Baby Bop" Atlas (Koyo) 0:16 Host talks 5:14 Nicholas Payton feat. Esperanza Spalding, Karriem Riggins “Feed the Fire" TRIUNE (Smoke Sessions) 7:26 Flea “A Plea" A Plea--Single (Nonesuch) 15:11 Host talks ...
Continue ReadingBill Ware, The Jazz Passengers, Csaba Palotai, Rosa Brunello & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
Here is another dip into the river of new albums, focusing releases (and re-releases) worth holding on to.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 The Jazz Passengers feat. Jeff Buckley “Jolly Street" In Love (Sony Legacy) 0:16 Host talks 7:58 Bill Ware and the Club Bird All Stars “All the Way Down" Martian Sunset (Sunnyside) 9:17 Host talks 15:22 Patricia Brennan “Andromeda" Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) 17:00 ...
Continue ReadingDayna Stephens, Emiliano D'Auria, Charles Lloyd, Jérémie Lucchese, James Newton
by Ludovico Granvassu
Here's a playlist featuring musicians paying tribute to where they come from, geographically or artistically.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Emiliano D'Auria “Chasing the Flicker" The Baggage Room Vol.2--Meanwhile (Via Veneto Jazz) 0:16 Host talks 6:52 Dayna Stephens “Just You and Me Smoking the Evidence" Monk'D (Contagious) 8:37 Host talks 15:01 Charles Lloyd “Black Butterfly" Figure in Blue (Blue Note) 16:11 Jérémie Lucchese “Virga" Essais pour l'imaginaire--Vol. II ...
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