More Miles @ 100 Coverage and Lots More Interviews; Jazzkaar Festival Coverage; RIP James Blood Ulmer; Newsletter News; Vote, Please; Songs of the Week and more

Your favorite jazz newsletter is getting longer, and it's mostly because our staff is growing, resulting in more album reviews, concert reviews, interviews and features. Over the past two weeks, we published a dozen interviews, so chances are you may have missed a few. To help, we've gathered them all in our new "Focus On" section below. Up until last Thursday, we only archived the most recent newsletter, here. Now, we'll auto-archive all newsletters to help acclimate new subscribers and provide existing readers with access to issues they may have missed. You can find our entire 2026 newsletter archive in our blog section, here. We saved our newsletters dating back to 2022, and we hope to archive them all over time.

Speaking of...

More Newsletter News

Back in May, I was sitting in a hotel room in New Orleans writing this newsletter. Without access to certain tools on my workstation, I realized the process was cumbersome—not to mention time-consuming. When I returned home, we got to work on automating and streamlining many of the manual steps involved in newsletter production. While we expect to complete the remaining improvements sometime next week, the changes we made this week alone saved me a cool couple of hours. I'm also simplifying the process so that if the need ever arises, someone else can step in and produce the newsletter with ease.

Vote, Please!

Seven years have passed since our last Top Venues Poll, and the jazz venue landscape has changed dramatically. Now it's time to recognize the venues that matter most. Vote for the places that have given you the most memorable live jazz experiences in our 2026 poll.

Big Jazz Scroll Update

Last week, we mentioned our Big Jazz Scroll page and how it can provide an entry point for new readers who may find All About Jazz a bit overwhelming at first. This week, we fine-tuned Big Jazz Scroll by adding an album review filter. To check out the new feature, go here, then click "FILTER Results" and select Album Reviews to load a bottomless page containing hundreds of reviews.

Album Reviews

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

Universal Truth Emmet Cohen	Hangin' In Joan Fort	Alive With Ghosts Today Chris Potter	We Dream Lakecia Benjamin
The Aftermath Ingeborg Gravem Sollid	Tales of Consequence Whatever Happens Don't Be Yourself	Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings Ambrose Akinmusire / Mary Halvorson	The Sistering Kate McGarry, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, Lois Deloatch, Nnenna Freelon

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.

Jazzkaar Festival 2026

Returning to Tallinn for the Jazzkaar festival for a second time felt a bit like visiting an old friend who always has something new to say. The atmosphere was remarkably expansive, reinforcing the festival's reputation as one of the most imaginative cultural gatherings in the Baltic region—and a reminder of why it proved so compelling the first time around. There's an energy to the programming that persistently challenges any rigid definition of jazz, championing instead a broad, inclusive vision where "music without borders" is the standard rather than the exception. It's less about adhering to genre and more about celebrating what music becomes when it's allowed to grow in every available direction. Continue reading...

Virginia MacDonald: In Search Of A New Clarinet Renaissance

The clarinet occupies an unusual space in jazz in the 2020s. Once a lead instrument with advocates who graced the covers of fanzines for music and popular culture, the clarinet now stands 20 Feet From Stardom as the title of the 2013 documentary film about background singers described. It's a common enough double for reed players, but seldom a star. That might be changing, thanks to a new generation of players who are respectful of the clarinet's lineage but are just as eager to extend it. Virginia MacDonald is one such player. A Torontonian by birth and from a musical family, MacDonald is unusual in making the clarinet her primary vehicle for expression. She is a composer and player of grace and ingenuity whose debut recording In Search Of... (Cellar Music Group, 2026) establishes her as a talent to keep an eye—and ears—on. Continue reading...

The Only Radio Station in the World With a Real Bar: Philly Jazz, The Click, and Other Postwar Ephemera

If you don't know the name Frank Palumbo, you are not a Philadelphian. If you never went to Palumbo's or to the CR Club, you are not a Philadelphian of a certain age. And if you remember the Click, much less went there, you've reached a stage in life when you look in the mirror and see your parents. Because for a few glorious moments in the late 1940s, Philadelphia was one of the jazz radio beacons in the country. And it all happened at Frank Palumbo's Click, a nearly eponymous club at 16th and Market Streets. A lot was happening in Philly then, with the Blue Note Cafe and other hot jazz clubs. The Click was a sort of holdover from the era of the Big Bands. It only lasted for a few years in the late 1940s, just as the Big Band era was coming to an end. Continue reading...

James Blood Ulmer: There is Another Place to Go

Guitarist James Blood Ulmer's played his way through a veritable history of American music. Beginning guitar as a four-year-old in 1946, Ulmer was singing professionally with the gospel group The Southern Sons while still in grade school. Ulmer went on to play guitar on the national R&B/doo-wop chitlin' circuit until he devoted himself to jazz, becoming something of a Wes Montgomery imitator until he reinvented himself as, well, himself, playing in Detroit in the 1960s with the likes of Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp. Continue reading...

Songs of the Week

The other week, we featured a song dedicated to a replicant. This week, we have a song that honors a seafood restaurant in Puerto Morales, Mexico. Plus, you get to hear what "The Happiest Man On Earth" sounds like.

Top Songs

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

No Entiendo From the album Consenso By Sal La Rocca	The Lucky Hustle & The Side Show Shuffle From the album The Lucky Hustle & The Side Show Shuffle By Billy Brandt	Fire And Rain From the album Invisible Piano By John Beasley	Crazy World of Love From the album Crazy World of Love By Louise Alexandra
Chain of Hopes From the album Projections By Ilija Nikolic	Navegante From the album Navegante By Manoel Cruz	One for Joe From the album Retrospective By Carl Clements	Des Des From the album Addis Ken By Abate Berihun

Focus On: Interviews

This week, we shine the spotlight on staff Interviews.

Ron Carter: Sweet Notes: The Gospel According To An Upright Man (read); Jacopo Fagioli: The Relentless Pursuit of Sound (read); Virginia MacDonald: In Search Of A New Clarinet Renaissance (read); Stevie Holland: Finding the Pocket (read); Jazz Journeys: A Conversation with Violinist May Yu (read); Callum Au: Ellington, Basie, Wheeler And Gillespie Were The Mozarts Of Their Generation (read); Miho Hazama: Where Groove Meets Orchestra (read); Eliane Elias: Lively and Live (read); Sonny Rollins: Still a Student (read); From Madrid to New York: Marina Alba's Voice Across Many Worlds (read); Jamile and Vinicius Gomes: Acoustic Thrills With Brazilian Twist (read); Yazz Ahmed: Bridging Worlds Through Sound (read); Johnathan Blake: 'My Life Matters'—Genesis of a Small Masterpiece (read).

Choice Content

Three Icons Celebrate Miles Davis Centennial at Smoke Jazz Club (read); The Tension Is Where The Music Lives: Miles Davis At 100, Parts 1 & 2 (read); Chris Potter: Osawatomie Brown (listen); The Hot Sardines at Birdland (read); Santana at Red Rocks (read); Gary Husband: Celestial Terrestrial Commuters (listen); Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet Seizes the Evening at Village Vanguard (read); Band Of Other Brothers: Bar Fight (listen); Learning to Listen (for Faruq) (read); Bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd balances past, present (read); Take Five with Gary Van Miert AKA The Psychedelic Cowboy (read); The Gil Evans Project at Birdland (read); Omar Sosa "Sendas" at Cremona Jazz Festival 2026 (view photos).

Radio & Podcasts

Tune into our extensive collection of quality programs every week.

Allston Boylston: Immanuel Wilkens all the way live + Candice Hoyes and Psoas (listen); The Outer View: Paul Silbergleit, Charles Lloyd, Fred Hersch and Others (listen); Mondo Jazz: Jeff Parker, Oan Kim, Matthew Stevens, Gabrielle Cavassa & More (listen); Exploration: Tribute to Sonny Rollins (RIP); Recognizing Birthdays For Oliver Nelson, Paquito D'Rivera, and Others (listen); Jazz Crumbs: Tomasz Chyła Quintet, Alain Métrailler, Skage Larsen, Jon Henriksson and more (listen); A Broad Spectrum: Hannah Marks, Helen Sung, Eva Cortés, Lakecia Benjamin & More (listen); Caminhos Do Jazz: Jolene! Matt White, Ndlovu Youth Choir, Congo Cowboys, Cowboy Carter, Dolly Parton (listen); One Man's Jazz: Bobby Previte, These Things Happen & Hannah Marks (listen); Neon Jazz: Yusef Lateef, Tito Puente, Jr., Hindy Bare, Chris Madsen & Tierney Sutton (listen); Bitches Brew: Simon Phillips, Elvind Aarset, Anthony Garone,Tigran Hamaysan John McLaughlin (listen); North Star Sounds: Bill Dixon, Fay Victor, Szilárd Mezei Octet, Horace Tapscott and More (listen); The Tonearm: George Grella: The Time-Bending Art Of Minimalist Music (listen); Mondo Jazz: Alexis Marcelo, Chris Potter, Nite Bjuti, Luke Norris, Adam Rudolph, Tyrone Allen II (listen); The Jazz Disturbance: Paulo Almeida, Michel Gentile Flow, Laura Camacho Tango Project (listen); Talk About Jazz: Jarrod Lawson: compelling R&B vocal soulfulness infused with jazz on latest release (listen); Live At The Bop Stop: Reclamation Band (listen); Jazz Bastard: EC UMMM (listen); World of Jazz: New Releases From Carla Bley, Mike Lorenz, Pedro Molina & More (listen); Rotations: Ivo Perelman, Elliott Sharp, Cyro Baptista, Steve Reich and more (listen).

News Announcements

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

James Blood Ulmer: February 8, 1940—June 3, 2026 (read); Melbourne Vocalist Connie Lansberg Releases Intimate Duo Album 'aeroplane' (read); Announcing A Heartfelt Tribute To Sonny Rollins In A Five-Night Concert Series At Upper Manhattan's Smoke Jazz Club, June 24-28 (read); JazzWeek Radio Chart: June 8, 2026 (read); Come Hear The Agnes Lakatos Quintet: A Hungarian-Jazz Show At The Checkout In Chicago on July 2 At 7:30pm (read); Ben Ferrell's New Album Sextet Released Today (read); David Najera Gonzalez Introduces Jazz-rock Trio Viento With Debut Ep (read).

Got news? Share it in our newsletter and on our website. Learn how, here.

---

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