Coverage of AAJ’s 30th Anniversary Concert; Pianist Joe Alterman Pays Tribute to Les McCann; South African Freedom Day; Tigran Hamasyan; Dida Pelled; Miles @ 100; Songs of the Week and more

This week's newsletter is coming to you from New Orleans, Louisiana—the birthplace of jazz. Why am I here? Well, that's top secret... for now. I may explain later. Though my stay is brief, I'm hoping to revisit a few sights, connect with friends and, of course, catch some jazz. If you have recommendations for places to eat, feel free to email me here. :-)

All About Jazz's Paul Reynolds covered AAJ's 30th Anniversary Concert, and you can access his article below. The concert itself celebrated the music and legacy of Les McCann, with Joe Alterman and Adam Dorn sharing entertaining stories about their friendship with—and mentorship by—Les. Joe also shares a touching, and often hilarious, reflection on their deep friendship, which is linked below as well.

Why An AAJ Musician Page Matters

An All About Jazz musician page is more than a profile page—it's a long-term professional presence within one of the world's most trusted jazz platforms.

Whether standard or premium, musician pages help artists raise awareness of performances and recordings, drive traffic to their websites and social channels, strengthen visibility in a Google search and connect their page to reviews, articles, photos, songs, news, albums, event listings and more across the All About Jazz ecosystem.

In an increasingly fragmented digital landscape, maintaining a credible and discoverable presence on an authoritative platform like AAJ still matters.

Album Reviews

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

Bern Roy Hargrove	The Oscar Peterson Trio at Baker's Keyboard Lounge Oscar Peterson Trio	At The BBC 1965 Bill Evans	Indigo Nabou
Honey Sparks In The Dark Kristijan Krajnčan Quartet	Tunnel of Love: The Gary Burton Quintet Project Adam Berenson	Gratitude Soren Bebe	Storyboard (Vinyl Reissue) Didier Lockwood

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. 

Joe Alterman, Adam Dorn and Special Guests at Rizzoli Bookstore

A landmark birthday calls for a party, preferably with live music. And that's just what was thrown for All About Jazz on Sunday to celebrate the website's 30 years of history. In remarks to open the festivities, AAJ founder—and still the site's publisher—Michael Ricci recalled a 1998 New York Times feature story about the then-new phenomenon of jazz content going online. The piece cited some 300 websites. Only two of them endure to today, Ricci said. "All About Jazz and MilesDavis.com." Jazz and a hang-loose celebration don't always easily co-exist, at least when it comes to contemporary styles of the music. Continue reading...

Les McCann and Me: Laughter, love, and the friendship that changed my life

It was barely a month before Les McCann died that I was sitting in the dressing room at Birdland FaceTiming with him just before hitting the stage to celebrate my recent release, which was a tribute to Les and his beautiful original compositions. Two hours earlier, we'd been chatting by FaceTime in my hotel room when I told Les that I had to go because it was time for me to take a shower so that I could make it to the gig on time. "How are you going to play funky if you take a shower?" We both laughed. Now, post-shower and just a few minutes before showtime, Les was beaming, totally thrilled, when I told him the show was sold out. "Joe," he said. "You da man. Continue reading...

South African Freedom Day! McCoy Mrubata And Siyabulela at Dizzy's Club

Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York was the venue for McCoy Mrubata and his band for the recent South Africa 'Freedom Day' celebrations hosted by Dizzy's Club. Mrubata, the 66-year-old South African jazz grandmaster, was on stage with his impressive band, Siyabulela. For this concert Siyabulela featured Steve Turre, one of the world's most eminent trombonists and seashellists, and pianist Helen Sung, who has previously toured with Herbie Hancock and the late Wayne Shorter. Dizzy's Club is a fitting venue to celebrate Freedom Day. Recalling Dizzy Gillespie's contemporary, Duke Ellington, JALC director Wynton Marsalis has often reminded us over the years that jazz is a "barometer of democracy. Continue reading...

Tigran Hamasyan's Manifeste Destiny

Tigran Hamasyan does not shy away from the big gesture. His fearsome keyboard technique, compositional ambition and improvisational daring have defined his international career, which ignited at age 18 with the release of his first album, World Passion (Plus Loin Music, 2006). Two decades later, these qualities have been refined and expanded with the results on display on his 2026 Naive Records release Manifeste. Yet in conversation, Hamasyan was thoughtful, reserved, and deeply in touch with the culture of his native Armenia. That was where All About Jazz caught up with the pianist shortly before he embarked on a 17-day tour of 11 U.S. cities that began weeks after the release of Manifeste. Continue reading...

Dida Pelled: Sultry Swing, Blissful Blues

Jazz and blues have different feels and styles. There's plenty of room for an artist to explore possibilities therein, bringing along influences and preferences, creating a distinctive strain that leaves a delectable impression. An artist with her own compelling style exists in Brooklyn in the person of Dida Pelled, a guitarist, songwriter, and educator whose breezy but sophisticated playing and singing began enrapturing fans in the Big Apple and continues to capture devotees all over the world. Her fifth and newest recording, I Wish You Would (La Reserve Records), is a collection that comes mostly from her blues roots but doesn't abandon her innate jazz trappings. Like everything she does, in a studio or live, it's captivating. Her compelling voice and clever phrasing owe more to Billie Holiday or Shirley Horn than, say, Sarah Vaughan or Betty Carter. There are no vocal gymnastics. Continue reading...

Songs of the Week

John Sweenie dedicates a song to a Nexus-6 combat model replicant while Marlon Simon merges his disparate musical trajectories into a single new pathway that stretches far off into a hybrid future. Enjoy them.

Top Songs

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

Rachmaninoff en Ritmo From the album Rachmaninoff en Ritmo By Terry Heimat	Somewhere with Charlie From the album Twelve and Twenty By Vic Dillahay	Oppression Is Nine Tenths Of The Law From the album Oppression is Nine Tenths of the Law By Organic Pulse Ensemble	Rhythms Of Respiration From the album Two Sides of the Nonet—Live at Terraza By Dan Neville
Love Me Or Leave Me From the album Tumbao Experience By Tumbao Experience	Octavia's Stories From the album Neural Resonance: Tales from the OmniSphere By Jair-Rohm Parker Wells	The Gatekeeper From the album Chasin' the Dream By Sam Robinson	When A Cardinal Sings From the album Migration By Masa Ishikawa

Choice Content

Eddie Henderson's Miles Legacy At Mermaid Arts Centre (read); Cécile McLorin Salvant At Buffalo's Art Of Jazz (read); Author George Cole On Miles Davis' Final Decade (read); The Billy Hart Quartet featuring Ethan Iverson at Blues Alley (read); William Parker's Pocketwatch at Loove Annex (read); David Murray, Amina Claudine Myers and Matthew Shipp At The Long Play Festival (read); May Yu and the Evolving Voice of the Jazz Violin (read); Death of the Soccer God (read); Old and New Bottles: A Pair of Essential Releases from Joe Henderson (read).

Radio & Podcasts

Tune into our extensive collection of quality programs every week.

The Outer View: Ben Rosenblum, Tierney Sutton, and Jimmy Giuffre (listen); Allston Boylston: GEORGE... John Hollenbeck + Anna Webber... Craig Taborn, Tomeka Reid and Ches Smith Archive Dreams and Helen Sung debuts her Big Band (listen); The First Instrument Jazz Show: Jon Lucien, Gabrielle Cavassa, Will Downing, Moonchild and More! (listen); Mondo Jazz: Fergus McCreadie, Michael Formanek, Leïla Olivesi, Mark Turner, Orlando le Fleming (listen); Exploration: Jazz Classics from Jackie McLean, Horace Silver and Others; Currents from Jacques Lesure, Billy Childs, and More (listen); JazzNow: Four New Jazz Releases from John Beasley, Mike Clement, Catherine Russell and Joe Syrian (listen); Mondo Jazz: María Grand, Marilyn Crispell, Anders Jormin, Benjamin Herman & More (listen); The Stereo Image: Jon Bates: Experiencing pivotal moments in music history (listen); A Broad Spectrum: Carla Bley, Gabrielle Cavassa, Erica von Kleist, Juan Carlos Quintero, The Joymakers, Helen Sung & More (listen); Liner Notes: Tempering Tradition: Adam Birnbaum Reimagines the Well-Tempered Clavier (listen); Neon Jazz: Catherine Russell, Nat Reeves, Bobby Broom & John Beasley (listen); Bitches Brew: New music from Dezolve, Matteo Mancusco, SLAK, Tom Hemby and Alberto Rigoni (listen); North Star Sounds: Archie Shepp's The Magic of Ju-Ju, Serbian Improvisors + New Releases from Caroline Davis, Ishmael Ali, Phil Haynes, Rodrigo Amado and others (listen); Talk About Jazz: Matthew Stevens, Grammy-award winning jazz guitarist, brings multi-generational talent for upcoming self-titled release (listen); The Tonearm: Caroline Davis: The Saxophone Reimagined In The Fallows (listen); Mondo Jazz: Annahstasia, Ryan Blotnick, Vincent Courtois, Walter Smith III & More (listen); Caminhos Do Jazz: Jackson Plays Dylan & Dylan Plays Dylan (listen); Live At The Bop Stop: Reggie Watkins Quartet (listen); Jazz Connections: Musicians on Miles (listen); Ben Boddie On Jazz: Blue Moods, Bobby Broom, Billy Childs, Catherine Russell and more (listen); World of Jazz: New Music From Simone Basile, Ivo Perelman, Jason Kruk, And More (listen); Rotations: Don Slepian, AEOLUS, Les Paul, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Chick Corea and more (listen); The Third Story: Dida Pelled Wishes You Would... (listen).

News Announcements

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

Now Available: 'Invisible Piano' Featuring Grammy Winning Artists John Beasley And SWR Big Band (O-Tone Music) (read); JazzWeek Radio Chart: May 11, 2026 (read); Asai Kastan Duo Releases New Ambient Jazz Album Earth Travelers (read); Grammy-Nominated Composer And Pianist Donald Vega Debuts New Sextet And Original Music At Jazzcultural (read); Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science Releases New Single And Announces Sophomore Album (read); Registration For The 15th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition Is Now Open (read).

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Posted to All About Jazz Newsletter IN THE All About Jazz GROUP
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