Jazz Without Borders; Remembering Ralph Towner; Dave McMurray Interview; Jorge Vistel and Tommy Halferty... Live!; More Jazz Fiction; and Songs of the Week

For more than 30 years, All About Jazz has existed to serve the music—not borders, not markets, and not momentary tides. From the beginning, our mission has been rooted in the belief that jazz is a global language, shaped by local voices and shared across cultures.

Today, that belief remains unchanged. All About Jazz and Jazz Near You continue to reflect an international community of musicians, writers, presenters, and listeners. Our contributors live around the world, our coverage spans continents, and our audience is united by a shared respect for the music and the people who create it.

We also fully recognize that we live in uncertain times. What we can say, with clarity and conviction, is that All About Jazz remains a welcoming, independent platform—committed to thoughtful coverage, artistic exchange, and the idea that jazz is strongest when it is open, inclusive, and heard without boundaries.

Thank you for being part of this global community, and for continuing to meet the music where it lives.

Keeping Current

All About Jazz evolves daily—sometimes through behind-the-scenes improvements, other times through new stories and features. To help you stay current, we offer several easy ways including: my Publisher's Desk blog (accessible from the home page), our latest newsletter (also accessible from the home page and archived for one week), the Big Jazz Scroll, and our Substack (where we've been archiving newsletters since June 2025). Lastly, if you visit our home page, click the blue next button in the sections that include them to scroll through recent reviews, articles, radio shows, news and songs.

Album Reviews

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

Prove You're Not a Robot Alex Skolnick Trio	Live in Chicago Kenny Reichert	Close to Nothing EH3	Alternate Route Kerry Politzer
Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (Remastered 2025) Bill Evans	Stygian Gates Michael Eaton	SYBlings, Vol. 2 Seth Yacovone Band	Umwelt Denman Maroney Quintet

Looking for an album review?

If you're a musician, publicist, or record label seeking album review coverage on All About Jazz, please first 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. For example, if it's a big band or large ensemble recording, select Jack Bowers. You can familiarize yourself with our staff, here.

Dave McMurray Hears Himself In All Of Detroit's Music

Saxophonist and composer Dave McMurray has much of the celebrated history of Detroit music in his memory and under his fingers. Now 70, and with four acclaimed releases on the storied Blue Note label, he is arguably at the pinnacle of a long and remarkably varied career. All the strands of that career are gathered by Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, in which McMurray is a featured voice. In advance of the band's appearance in Cleveland, Ohio in January 2026, All About Jazz spoke with McMurray about the legacy of Detroit music and his place in the city's fertile music scene. Continue reading...

Ralph Towner: The Accidental Guitarist

Ralph Towner is a rather atypical figure in the vast world of jazz guitar. His instruments of choice are the classical guitar, which when he started, in the '60s, was played almost exclusively by guitarists related to Brazilian music like Charlie Byrd, Laurindo Almeida and Bola Sete, and the 12-string guitar, very common in the folk world but virtually unknown to jazz. These choices led Towner to develop his signature instrumental technique without reference to any other guitarist. In doing so, he synthesized his various musical experiences as a self-taught pianist, with degrees in trumpet and composition, who discovered guitar at the age of 22. Continue reading...

Resonant Access

In this jazz fiction piece, Resonant Access, music is more than expression—it's a form of inquiry. Elliot Mercer, a modern jazz alto saxophonist and theoretical physicist, discovers that sustained tones and careful listening can destabilize the very systems meant to observe and control the world around him. Blending improvisation, science, and quiet resistance, the story explores jazz as a discipline of resonance, choice, and freedom—one that exists only in the moment it is played. Continue reading...

Jorge Vistel At Dock Street Jazz Club

It took Jorge Vistel just one trumpet solo—a hypnotic four minutes of deft lyricism and technical bravura—to signal to the audience that it was in for a treat. Such a balance of emotional heft and virtuosity made it easy to conclude that music is in the blood of the Cuban trumpeter. Maybe too easy. To be sure, growing up in Santiago de Cuba, Vistel was surrounded by music. His grandfather, El Viejo Vistel, and his father, Jorge Vistel, were respected musicians. In fact, few close relatives did not play an instrument, sing, or dance. As kids, Jorge and his brother, tenor saxophonist Maikel Vistel, honed their chops together. But that is only half the story. Continue reading...

Songs of the Week

A threefer from Greece, Poland and the UK. Enjoy!

Top Songs

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

CONSENSO From the album Consenso By Sal La Rocca	Whispering Images From the album Angel Falls By Sylvie Courvoisier	La Sabrosura From the album La Sabrosura By Juan Manuel Romero Silvera	Patchouli From the album Patchouli By Dré Matsumoto
Subdivide and Conquer From the album Apperceptions By Nick Freer	The Achiever From the album Mirror 9 By Franz von Chossy	Do You Feel Good (Feat. Jana Nyberg, Elyse Jones, Kavyesh Kaviraj, Lucia Sarmiento) From the album Sampled By Adam Meckler	Survivor From the album Endless Mystery By Przemyslaw Straczek

Choice Content

Tommy Halferty's Whirlpool At Scott's Jazz Club (read); Obsolescence Quartet at The Treelawn Social Club (read); Jerome Sabbagh: Purity Of Intent (read); Frank Housh's Favorite Jazz Albums Of 2025 (read); Matteo Paggi 5th "Giraffe" at the Milestone, Piacenza, Italy (view photos); Mud Morganfield, Duwayne Burnside and Candice Ivory: Blues Triad (read); Resonant Access (read); Newcomers on Another Timbre (read); Charlie Parker, Harry "Father" White, and Sweet Lucy (read); Buddy Guy at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago (view photos); North Sea Jazz Festival 2025 (view photos); North Sea Jazz Festival 2025 (read); Joel Ross and Others at the 2026 Winter Jazzfest's Brooklyn Marathon (read); Roger Glenn: A Lifelong Latin Heart (read).

Radio & Podcasts

Tune into our extensive collection of quality programs every week.

Allston Boylston: Recent releases from Chicago + New Music from Joel Ross and Jahari Stampley (listen); The Outer View: Teddy Charles, Yuhan Su, and Katie Bull (listen); Backstage Bay Area: Braxton Cook's Collaborative Evolution (listen); Exploration: Musical Tribute To Martin Luther King Jr. Including Nina Simone, Mingus Big Band, and Others (listen); A Broad Spectrum: New Music By Kate Olson, Nate Smith, Myra Melford, Craig Taborn with Tomeka Reid & Ches Smith, Celebrating Jazz Capricorns & More (listen); Neon Jazz: Michael Dease, Betty Bryant, Miles Donahue & Chuck Redd (listen); Bitches Brew: Brett Garsed, Tom Coster, Niacin, Chick Corea, Akira Jimbo, Andre Drage, Mohini Dey, Resonance Vox (listen); The Tonearm: Patricia Brennan: Vibraphone Visions Of The Universe (listen); Jazz Connections: With Words, Without Words: The Art of Vocalese (listen); The Jazz Disturbance: Leo Genovese, Ellen Arkbro, B.I.T. Duo, Keith Oxman, Elipsis (listen); World of Jazz: New Music From Foster, Douglas, HII Trio, Taborn And More (listen); Ben Boddie On Jazz: Lisa Hilton, Gregory Groover Jr., Noah Preminger, David Murray and more (listen).

News Announcements

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

Ralph Towner, 1940-2026 (read); Pittsburgh's Con Alma Hosts Gala And Asks For Help To Keep Club Active (read); Yelena Eckemoff Explores The Scandinavian Spirit In Rosendals Garden (read); New England Conservatory's Jazz Studies And Contemporary Musical Arts Spring 2026 Season Showcases Compelling And Imaginative Performances (read); Karen Stachel Norbert Stachel & Lehcats Join Forces With Giovanni Hidalgo On 'Live At The Breakroom,' A 2-CD Set To Be Released March 20 (read); Live At The Bop Stop Announces Season 20 Lineup (read); Sol Roots Trio Performs At The Listening Booth (read); Thailand International Jazz Conference 2026 To Celebrate John Coltrane Centennial With Grand Orchestral Tribute (read).

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