Reanimating Conversations Past; Unearthing Hidden Gems; Why We Build, Part 2; Max Roach and Phil Schaap; Songs of the Week and more

If you've been following along this year, you may have noticed that we've accelerated the pace of innovation, rolling out new features and enhancements as we expand community engagement and platform functionality. It feels like we've entered another golden era for All About Jazz.

We have two exciting announcements to share today, and look for our "Musician Orbit" project that showcases the power and possibilities of All About Jazz next Thursday.

Also, John March makes the case for why everyone—from our member community to philanthropic organizations—should support All About Jazz.

New Series: Reanimating Conversations Past

For decades, veteran jazz journalist John Ephland has interviewed many of the most important artists in jazz. Beginning this week, he's opening his personal archive, sharing complete interviews—many expanded beyond their original publication and some never published at all—along with fresh reflections on the conversations behind them.

John describes the Reanimating Conversations Past series this way:

Interviews come and go. You sit with an artist and then you depart, go on your way. This column is about musical conversations past, many with artists who are no longer with us, some still around. In every case, what follows are complete interviews, not the word-counted versions that showed up in various publications; or, in a few cases, interviews that were never published. Personal flourishes also add a new dimension. The names are likely familiar to All About Jazz readers. One might say they constitute a kind of hall of fame of (mostly) 20th-century artists who've made their mark on the culture, legendary, Big-Time. Enjoy. Have fun. I sure did.

And yes... rumor has it there's a rediscovered interview with Miles Davis waiting in the wings, so stay tuned.

Why We Must Keep Building, Part 2

For more than 30 years, All About Jazz has grown alongside the internet. But the way people discover information is changing rapidly. Search engines are sending fewer visitors to independent publishers, AI increasingly answers questions without sending readers to the original source, and more music discovery now happens through streaming platforms and social media.

These changes aren't unique to All About Jazz—they're reshaping independent publishing everywhere. They also reinforce why we're investing so heavily in the future of All About Jazz.

Our goal isn't to chase yesterday's internet. It's to build a place people choose to visit to discover music, participate in a community, support artists, and connect with one another. That's why you've seen us investing in member engagement, Jazz Near You, musician pages, discovery tools, polls, leaderboards, and new ways to bring the jazz community together.

The challenges are real, but so is the opportunity. We're building something stronger, more resilient, and more valuable than ever. For years we built pages for search engines to find. Today we're building a platform and community that people choose to return to.

Tommy Smith captured our mission perfectly:

"In a changing musical landscape, All About Jazz has remained a constant, championing artists, giving them a platform, and preserving the integrity of the music."

—Tommy Smith
Founder/Director, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

Giving Great Stories Another Time to Shine

Every day, new stories arrive on the All About Jazz home page, joining the interviews, features, columns, profiles and reviews that have defined our editorial coverage since 1995. As those stories move on, they remain fully searchable through our archive.

But many deserve another moment in the spotlight.

That's the inspiration behind HIDDEN GEMS, a new section that can be found on the All About Jazz home page and at the bottom of every article page.

Updated every hour, HIDDEN GEMS presents four randomly selected articles drawn from our collection of previously featured home page stories and Publisher's Picks—articles we believed were especially informative, engaging or memorable when they were first published and that remain just as rewarding today.

Whether you're a longtime reader or visiting All About Jazz for the first time, HIDDEN GEMS offers an opportunity to discover an interview you missed, revisit a favorite feature or stumble upon an exceptional story for the very first time.

After more than three decades of jazz journalism, we believe great stories deserve more than a brief stay on the home page. HIDDEN GEMS gives them another opportunity to inspire, inform and reward readers for years to come.

Tip: Click the section's blue random button to reveal four new gems.

Album Reviews

The album reviews below represent our most popular from the past week. View more recent reviews.

Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra & Avin Omar Goran Kajfeš	Winter Songs Steve Swallow	Mother of the Blues, The Complete Paramount Recordings, 1923-1928 Ma Rainey	Leave That In There Sullivan Fortner
Sea Spell Jeff Rupert Quartet	Healthy Trail Philippe Crettien	Be Quiet Nils Petter Molvaer	Unreal City Kevin Kastning

Looking for an album review?

If you're a musician, publicist, or record label seeking album review coverage on All About Jazz, please read our review submission guide, then complete the coverage request form here. When submitting your request, include up to five AAJ album reviewers who best align with your music.

15 Minutes with MacKenzie Scott

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 arts. Music, photography, film, literature and visual art have never been more accessible. Creative work surrounds us constantly. We encounter more art than at any previous point in history, yet many of the people creating it remain remarkably underserved and unsupported. Continue reading...

And His Name Was Max

A favorite topic: musicians who dedicate their artistic lives to the spirit of collaborations. When I was writing about Max Roach in the late 1980s, I was astounded by how many projects he seemed to be simultaneously engaged in. A giant among giants when bebop was on the march during the 1940s, Max would go on to perform with all manner of musician through the decades. The feature that ran in DownBeat's November 1990 issue was a clipped version of what follows here: the complete interview, into subjects covered cursorily in that story. It's everything that went down on that wonderful autumnal afternoon on the last day of August. Continue reading...

Phil Schaap: A Life in Jazz

Phil Schaap, a jazz historian, radio host, record producer, archivist, six-time Grammy Award winner, and 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, called himself "a Johnny Appleseed through the transmitter." Of course, the subject of his proselytizing was jazz, and few did it as long, or through so many different media—broadcasting, teaching, audio engineering, and sound preservation—as did Philip Van Noorden Schaap. Schaap was born April 8, 1951, and raised in the Hollis section of Queens, New York. His affinity for jazz began with his mother, Marjorie Wood Schaap, and her collection of Louis Armstrong and Count Basie sides. His father, Walter Schaap, was a jazz scholar himself, contributing to discographies and translating the work of pioneering French jazz researchers Charles Delaunay and Hughes Panassie.  Schaap himself said, "As a real youngster, I was attracted to rhythmically energized music. If it was peppy, I dug it. Continue reading...

Kenny Garrett at Ronnie Scott's: The Ancestors in the Room

There are jazz clubs and there is the basement on Frith Street. Kenny Garrett, whom Miles Davis  heard and hired nearly forty years ago, is back, and at the first notes of 'Haynes Here' the room understood this would be not a night of repertory, but where the repertory comes from. The band is worth naming slowly, a lesson in transmission before a note sounds. At the piano, Keith Brown, son of Donald Brown, The Jazz Messengers pianist who produces Garrett's records, and a leader whose latest trio album is aptly called African Ripples (Space Time Records, 2021). On bass, Eric Wheeler, out of Washington's Duke Ellington School of the Arts. On drums, Michael Ode , who learned from watching the church praise team before Oberlin College—Finney Chapel and Billy Hart got hold of him. Continue reading...

Songs of the Week

Vocalist Chris McNulty takes us on a "soul journey" from Down Under while Vienna-born London-based saxophonist Guido Spannocchi takes us on a daring adventure of his own. Enjoy them.

Top Songs

The songs below represent the most heard in the past four weeks. View the Song of the Day archive.

IT's Gotta B U! From the album It's Gotta B U! By Tony Adamo	Freddie Freeloader From the album Freddie Freeloader By David Garfield	Ethics Unimposed From the album Ethics Unimposed By Andrei Marian	Warrior From the album Best of EMP Project By EMP Project
Four Seas From the album Mridhangit By Rahul Mukerji	Goodbye Mr. Evans From the album The Ghost, the King and I featuring Scott Hamilton & Strings By Rob van Bavel	Echoes Of Your Formal Education From the album Kammermusik By Guido Spannocchi	TERR From the album TERR By Emie R. Roussel

Choice Content

Michael League: Lighting the Spark of Snarky Puppy (read); Kate Kortum at Jazz In July, 92NY (read); Lecco Jazz Festival 2026 (view photos); Leon Buckley Quartet At Scott's Jazz Club (read); Tyler Soifer: The Art of Audio (read); Vision Festival 2026, Part 1 (view photos); Vision Festival 2026, Part 2 (view photos); Patricia Brennan And Sylvie Courvoisier, Ambrose Akinmusire And Mary Halvorson, Mick Goodrick And Fred Hersch: Playing Doubles (read); Melissa Aldana's Sensory Journey Transports Listeners... Elsewhere (listen); Crouching Pop, Hidden Jazz: A Conversation with Johnny Manchild from Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards (read); 2026 Tilles Jazz Fest (view photos); Lettuce at Miner Auditorium (read).

Radio & Podcasts

Tune into our extensive collection of quality programs every week.

The Outer View: John Clayton, Alan Braufman, and New Jazz Underground (listen); Allston Boylston: Remembering Irene Schweizer, Latest from Isaiah Collier, Introducing NicoleYvette and New from the Vault, J.C. Hopkins with Garth Hudson and Levon Helm (listen); Jazz Crumbs: Freyja Garbett, Little North, Lakecia Bejamin, The Vampires & more (listen); Exploration: Happy 87th Charles McPherson! Other birthdays recognized include Al Di Meola and Ada Rovatti. Classic jazz from Freddie Hubbard, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and more (listen); The Stereo Image: Mike Close is good with his hands: Magician and Musician! (listen); One Man's Jazz: Joe Morris, Barry Guy/Roberto Ottaviano & Bill Connors (listen); A Broad Spectrum: Joey Alexander, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leigh Pilzer, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Claudia Acuna, Anna Pauline Andersson & More (listen); Neon Jazz: Mike DiRubbo, Lisa Rich, Elias Haslanger, Douye & Larry Goldings (listen); The Tonearm: Suzanne Ciani: The Buchla's Orchestral Homecoming (listen); Live At The Bop Stop: Jamey Haddad Quartet Featuring John Shannon, Chris Coles and Peter Slavov (listen); Jazz Connections: Sonny Rollins Tribute, part 2: After the Bridge (listen); Ben Boddie On Jazz: Ali Ryerson, Joey Alexander, David Blake, Douye and more (listen); World of Jazz: New Music From Conrad Herwig, Early Times, Jorge Torrecillas And More (listen); Rotations: Suzanne Ciani, Dee Alexander, Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Coco Elysses, Renee Baker And More (listen); Jazz Bastard: Sonnymoon for Two Bastards (Part 2) (listen).

News Announcements

Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, special events and more. View all recent announcements.

John Coltrane International Jazz And Blues Festival Expands To Three Days For Landmark 15th Anniversary Celebration (read); Gio Guido And Silvano Borzacchiello Announce 14-date San Gennaro Japan Tour (read); Clark Sommers Releases Wabash On Calligram Records (read); JazzWeek Radio Chart: July 27, 2026 (read); Arman Sangalang Releases 'Waypoints' On Calligram Records (read); Judy Wexler Quartet Featuring Mitchel Forman At 1881, Saturday, August 1st (read); Billboard Recording Artist Ashley Paul Announces New Single 'I Just Had To Fall,' Arriving July 22 Via Dauman/Universal (read); GRAMMY-Nominated Jazz Star Deborah Silver And Jazz Icon Diane Schuur Reimagine 'The Lady Is a Tramp' (read); Tenor Saxophonist Azar Lawrence Sums Up His Lifelong Musical Trajectory On 'Turn The Music Up,' Set For September 25 Release On Trazar Records (read).

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Posted to All About Jazz Newsletter IN THE All About Jazz GROUP
Read more posts by Michael Ricci