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.

In Pictures

The Jimmy Masters Trio with guests Laura Ann Singh and Nanny Assis at the Sandler Center

by Mark Robbins
July 30, 2026

"Hot Nights in Brazil" brought the vibrant rhythms and energy of Brazil to a warm summer evening at Virginia Beach's Sandler Center for the Arts. The Jimmy Masters Trio welcomed vocalist Laura Ann Singh and world-renowned Brazilian singer, guitarist, percussionist, and composer Nanny Assis for an electrifying performance celebrating Brazilian jazz, samba, and bossa nova. Singh, a multilingual vocalist, is known for her performances in Latin boleros, Brazilian music, and contemporary jazz. She is the co-founder of the ...

Album Review

حمد [Ahmed]: Play Monk

Read "Play Monk" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 30, 2026

Few contemporary bands dismantle Thelonious Monk's charts with either the conviction or the discipline displayed by حمد [Ahmed] on Play Monk. This double CD veers between primal throb and cerebral cool. Pianist Pat Thomas, alto saxophonist Seymour Wright, bassist Joel Grip and drummer Antonin Gerbal united around a shared affection for the work of pioneering bassist and oud player Ahmed Abdul Malik, whose late '50s albums introduced Arab and East African modes into the hard bop milieu. Although they seemed ...

Album Review

Clark Sommers: WaBaSH

by Troy Dostert
July 30, 2026

An integral component of the Chicago-based jazz community, bassist Clark Sommers has honed his craft as a sideman with everyone from Kurt Elling to Jon Irabagon, with a multifaceted fluency that extends from mainstream jazz to more adventurous projects. And from time to time he also gets to flex as a leader, starting with his debut effort in 2013, Ba(SH) (Origin Records), a recording which documented his long-standing trio with fellow Chicago stalwarts Geof Bradfield on saxophone and Dana Hall ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Music from Nduduzo Makahthini And More

by Bob Osborne
July 30, 2026

This playlist presents a compelling cross-section of contemporary creative music, bridging the pioneering electric fusion of the late 1960s with the sophisticated and fluid improvisations of 2026. At its core, this selection celebrates the “collaborative impulse" The music here traverses the boundary between the composed and the unscripted. By juxtaposing the foundational studio-as-instrument techniques developed by Miles Davis and Teo Macero with the modern approaches of labels like 577, Adhyâropa, and Libra, this sequence highlights a group of artists who ...

Radio & Podcasts

Camila Nebbia, St. Silva, Danalogue, M. Geddes Gengras, Curio Curio, Myth Math, And More

by Lawrence Peryer
July 30, 2026

Episode 16 spends its first half in transatlantic synthesis: a Buenos Aires-Berlin improv duo, a Vermont ambient composer's tape collages, and a member of The Comet Is Coming reworking the studio synthesizer as a lead instrument on his own. The back half : Curió Curió's diaspora-pop debut, Matthew S reviving his influential Illegal Art label as the song-driven Myth Math, and Lee “Scratch" Perry's final recorded statement with Mouse On Mars, made in Berlin two years before his death and ...

The Jazz Life

15 Minutes with MacKenzie Scott

by John March
July 29, 2026

Let me be clear about the title: I have never met MacKenzie Scott, and a 15-minute conversation has not happened--at least not yet. Yes, the headline is intended to get your attention. I can live with that. Artists have been asked to promote themselves in far less honest ways. But the invitation is genuine, and this article is my case for why the conversation is worth having. We are living through a difficult and contradictory moment for the ...

Live Review

Kate Kortum at Jazz In July, 92NY

by Paul Reynolds
July 29, 2026

Kate Kortum and the Aaron Diehl Trio 92NY Jazz In July New York NY July 22, 2026 Casual jazz fans likely may not yet recognize her name, but the growing reputation of Kate Kortum within the jazz community clearly preceded her appearance last week at the 92nd Street Y Jazz in July Festival. The show became one of the hottest tickets of the festival, with the performance selling out more than a week in ...

Album Review

Arman Sangalang: Waypoints

Read "Waypoints" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
July 29, 2026

Saxophonist Arman Sangalang released his debut record, Quartet (Calligram Records) in 2023. It was a smoldering sax-and-a-rhythm-section quartet outing that sounded surprisingly fresh for a first recording effort. His follow-up, Waypoints, employs the same format, switching out bassist Matt Ulery for Ethan Philion, while keeping guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Devin Drobka. The sophomore effort careens toward expanded freedom, boldly. “I wanted to give them [his quartet cohorts] the freedom to do what they wanted with the music," ...

Album Review

Ari & Cecil Alexander: Kaleidoscope

Read "Kaleidoscope" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
July 29, 2026

A breezy virtuosity pervades Kaleidoscope from the opening title cut. “I run for the train with you on my mind," vocalist-pianist Ari Alexander sings, “watching the town kaleidoscope by..." She and guitarist Cecil Alexander call their style “rhythmic post-bop," citing Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson and Betty Carter as influences, but you can also hear a bit of Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg and Blossom Dearie in their original compositions, pieces like Dorough and Frishberg's “I'm Hip," which Dearie premiered in 1966 ...

Album Review

Cindy Blackman Santana: Coherence

Read "Coherence" reviewed by Kyle Simpler

by Kyle Simpler
July 29, 2026

Some musicians communicate their passion almost before they ever play a note, and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana is one of them. Whether performing jazz, rock, soul, or world music, she approaches each style with the conviction that music ultimately transcends categories. Coherence is possibly her clearest statement of that philosophy. Blackman Santana's broad musical perspective comes naturally. She began busking on the streets of New York during the 1980s before quickly moving onto major stages, performing with jazz ...