Jazz Articles

Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our Coming Soon page. Read our daily album reviews.

Radio & Podcasts

Classics from Stanley Turrentine, Esther Phillips, and others; newly released music from Cindy Blackman Santana, Seamus Blake, The Scornful Four, and more

by David W. Daniels
July 14, 2026

In addition to the musicians named in the title, this week's show features classic music from Charles Earland, Gabor Szabo, and others. Recent releases include Keith Oxman, Lizz Wright with Kenny Banks Sr., and Joey Alexander with Lisa Fischer. Birthday recognition includes Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Derrick Hodge, and more.Playlist Horace Silver “Safari" from Further Explorations By The Horace Silver Quintet (Blue Note) 00:00 Stanley Turrentine “Wave"-from Easy Walker (Blue Note) 7:28 Charles Earland “Letha"-from Black Drops (Prestige) ...

Album Review

Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004

Read "At Iridium 2004" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
July 14, 2026

At Iridium 2004 is a vast work. Cecil Taylor also leaves behind similarly vast territories of sound: the 10-disc Feel Trio recordings 2 Ts For A Lovely T (Codanza Records, 1995) or the monumental In Berlin '88 box (FMP, 1989). Within jazz, his music stands like a monolith--challenging and imposing. Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane's At Iridium 2004 continues the tradition. Taylor's hallmark intensity remained undiminished at the Iridium residency. Contemporary accounts suggest that these performances functioned less as ...

Radio & Podcasts

Lucy Yeghiazarian, Monika Ryan, Jonathan Karrant, Cecile McLorin Salvant and the latest from Songbook Ink

by Mary Foster Conklin
July 14, 2026

This broadcast celebrates America's semiquincentennial with new music from Lucy Yeghiazarian, Monika Ryan, Jonathan Karrant, Cecile McLorin Salvant and the latest from Songbook Ink, plus birthday shoutouts to Louis Armstrong, Brandee Younger, Rhoda Scott, Sarah Hanahan, Monika Ryan, Gabrielle Cavassa and JD Walter, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so they can continue to comfort, distract, provoke and remind the world that A Woman's Place is in the Groove. Many ...

Radio & Podcasts

Anggie Obin, Alden Hellmuth, Giovanni Falzone, Magnus Carlson & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
July 14, 2026

Here's a playlist curated with one ear in New York and the other wandering somewhere between Amsterdam, Seoul, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, London and Stockholm.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet “Who Knows" Shadows (We Jazz) 0:16 Host talks 3:39 Giovanni Falzone “So What / Tutu" Suite for Miles (Tǔk) 5:24 Host talks 11:35 Alden Hellmuth “Definitely Not Friends" Tether (Leiter) 12:55 Miles ...

Year in Review

Best Jazz Albums of 2026: All-Star Break Edition

by AAJ Staff
July 13, 2026

As we reach the halfway point of 2026, All About Jazz once again borrows a page from Major League Baseball's All-Star break, replacing home runs with jazz albums. This year, 78 staffers submitted their picks, surpassing 2025's participation by 23 contributors--an incredible turnout. Our album reviewers and radio & podcast hosts bring big ears and eclectic tastes to the table, which means most selections were unique to each contributor. A handful of recordings, however, appeared on multiple ...

Album Review

YUGEN: Picture #2

Read "Picture #2" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
July 13, 2026

Following their 2023 release Tears and Light (Dodicilune), Italian trio Yugen continue to refine a distinctive sound world that defies rigid genre classification, blurring the lines between jazz, ambient music and rock, all infused with cinematic imagination. It is an approach that has already earned the group numerous awards. The nine compositions on Picture #2 are all written by pianist Katya Fiorentino, who provides both the structural and emotional blueprint for the band's sound. Rather than adopting the familiar piano trio format ...

Album Review

Zacc Harris: American Reckoning

Read "American Reckoning" reviewed by Kyle Simpler

by Kyle Simpler
July 13, 2026

Americana originally developed from folk and country music, but in recent decades it has grown to incorporate other musical genres. For example, jazz artists such as Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny frequently incorporate elements of Americana into their work. With American Reckoning, guitarist Zacc Harris follows their lead, drawing from sources ranging from traditional folk songs and Stephen Foster compositions to Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan. Harris, a Minneapolis-based guitarist and composer, established a reputation for his expressive ...

Radio & Podcasts

Mark Masters: The Arranger and the Box in the Garage

by Mike Jones
July 13, 2026

Mark Masters writes for the kind of jazz ensemble that barely exists anymore... and most of the time, the finished music ends up in a box in his garage. A composer and arranger on the Capri label alongside host Mike Jones, Masters has spent decades building ambitious large-group records around the voices he loves: Steely Dan reimagined, tributes to Sam Rivers and Billy Harper, a date with Art Baron, the last trombonist Duke Ellington ever hired.He and Jones ...

Radio & Podcasts

Mary Halvorson and Ambrose Akinmusire, Nicola Miller & Satoko Fujii

by Maurice Hogue
July 13, 2026

Consistent poll-winners, Mary Halvorson and Ambrose Akinmusire--have been getting together for several years, sharing musical ideas and thoughts. That time together comes to fruition in the release of their debut as a duo, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings, which will no doubt also show up on many “best-of" lists. This edition of OMJ has a track from that album as it does from the latest release by Canadian saxophonist Nicola Miller who has German reed master Frank Gratkowski in tow, from ...

Album Review

Duchess: A Marvelous Party

Read "A Marvelous Party" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 13, 2026

A great party is never just an event. It is a sequence of emotions, encounters, expectations, surprises, fleeting romances, moments of reflection, and, ultimately, gratitude. On A Marvelous Party, Duchess (Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner, Melissa Stylianou) transforms that universal experience into an irresistible jazz journey. More than a collection of standards and popular songs, this is a carefully conceived concept album that traces the cycle of a memorable gathering from invitation to farewell. Throughout the program, arranger Oded ...