World » Calendar » Our Latest Newsletter

Our Latest Newsletter

Join over 91,000 jazz fans and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. We'll keep you current on website happenings and other jazz news. Learn more. We archive the newsletter on Substack (as of June 19, 2025).


This Week at All About Jazz

Around this time last year, we published our first mid-year album picks article entitled Best Jazz Albums of 2024: All-Star Break Edition. It was a big success (41,630 reads and going strong). Like our April Fools articles, our All-Star Break Edition was an instant hit, so it became an instant tradition and we published our 2025 picks yesterday. And no surprise, it's popular too. See the section below.

If you're keeping up with Django's Cosmic Echo, our young guitar hero meets and jams with Toots Thielemans in chapters 12 (Toots is in Town) and 13 (Paradiso Fire). Dive into our time-traveling Django Reinhardt adventure story, here.

Album Reviews

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

Read New Vienna
New Vienna
Keith Jarrett
Read A Quartet of ECM Luminessence Vinyl Reissues
A Quartet of ECM Luminessence Vinyl Reissues
Chick Corea et al.
Are You Really Real
Are You Really Real
Shuffle Demons
Read Framat!
Framat!
Scheen Jazzorkester & Fredrik Ljungkvist
Read Et Bedre Sted
Et Bedre Sted
Treverket
Read City Life: Music of Gregg Hill
City Life: Music of Gregg Hill
Michael Dease
Read Refuge
Refuge
Mitch Towne
Read About Ghosts
About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson

Best Jazz Albums of 2025: All-Star Break Edition



As we hit the halfway mark of 2025, All About Jazz has adopted Major League Baseball's All-Star break approach but swapping homers for albums. Our team of 55 writers convened to name their top three albums of the year so far, with Mary Halvorson's About Ghosts (Nonesuch) emerging as the clear favorite and an early contender for album of the year. Her collaboration with Sylvie Courvoisier (Bone Bells, Pyroclastic Records), also earned spots on a few lists. Other notables include Branford Marsalis' Belonging (Blue Note Records), Anouar Brahem's After the Last Sky (ECM Records), Artemis' Arboresque (Blue Note Records) and Hiromi's OUT THERE (Telarc Records). Continue reading...

Pierre de Bethmann: Sharing a Musical Breakfast in Lyon



If interviewing a musical figure is usually a great experience, having a face-to-face conversation with one is a true privilege. Besides, it is April in Lyon, cherry trees in blossom... and the roofs of the capital of the French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes shine under a splendid spring sun. Pierre de Bethmann, winner of the 2024 Victoire du Jazz award for Best Instrumental Artist (the French equivalent of the Grammys), greets us at Ludwig Laisné's recording studio, where he is temporarily staying after a vibrant concert the night before at the beloved Lyon's Hot Club—nothing less than the oldest jazz club in Europe, as its current president and artistic director, Laisné himself, tells us. While he explains, our host serves us a delicious, intense espresso, while De Bethmann offers freshly bought croissants—both of which prove to be essential fuel for the smooth unfolding of the interview. Continue reading...

Jazz in Nazi Germany: The Music That Wouldn’t Die



Music, at its core, is freedom. It cannot be caged by ideology or controlled by propaganda. The Nazis understood that, which is why they tried so desperately to suppress it, to twist it, to erase it. And yet, even in those darkest of times, music found a way to persist—not as a passive relic, but as an act of defiance and expression, a refusal to be silenced. And now, as political forces seek greater control over cultural institutions, as artists face increasing pressure to align with a particular political outlook, as history itself is rewritten to suit the needs of power, we must ask ourselves: What happens when art is subverted as a tool to promote political ideology? The war on jazz in Nazi Germany was never just about music. It was about control—of thought, of identity, of expression. Continue reading...

Songs of the Week

It's been a while, and we've had requests, so this week we're featuring two outstanding vocalists. Enjoy!





"A Song For You (Gnossienne No. 1)" by Tessa Souter

L I S T E N

Album Information
Title: Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project
Record Label: NOANARA Records
Released: 2025



"Elaneven" by Elana Sasson

L I S T E N

Album Information
Title: In Between
Record Label: PKMusik
Released: 2025


Top Songs

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

Read I'll Be Always With You
I'll Be Always With You
From the album Alma Libre
By Arturo Sandoval
Read Contemplation
Contemplation
From the album New Hope
By Alan Pasqua
Read Don't Bring It Up
Don't Bring It Up
From the album Tell the Truth
By Ben Markley
Read What Happened There, Part 1
What Happened There, Part 1
From the album What Happened There?
By Natsuki Tamura
Read You Stepped Out Of A Dream
You Stepped Out Of A Dream
From the album Blues For Peter
By Rich Peare
Read City of Hills
City of Hills
From the album Roots & Skies
By Victoria Kirilova
Read Gardenia
Gardenia
From the album Seeking Billie: The Unusual Tribute to Billie Holiday
By Changamire
Read Kary's Trance
Kary's Trance
From the album The Dance
By Kazzrie Jaxen

Choice Content



Brad Mehldau Trio At National Concert Hall (read); OJC Piano Greatness: Thelonious Monk & Bill Evans (read); The German Jazz Prize: Efficiency, Attitude And 22 Triangles (read); Emma Wilson and Terry Hanck: The Simplicity of The Blues (read); SFJAZZ Gala 2025 Honoring Don Was (view photos); Dave Kline At Blues Alley (read); Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few at The Freight (view photos); Introducing Pianist Ben Collins-Siegel (read); Sipping and Swinging into Summer (read); Daniel Garbin: Rising (read).

Django's Cosmic Echo: Chapter Nine: Big Deal (read); Chapter Ten: Blueprints and New Blood (read); Chapter Eleven: The Brotherhood Expands (read); Chapter Twelve: Toots is in Town (read); Chapter Thirteen: Paradiso Fire (read).

Radio & Podcasts

Tune into our extensive collection of quality programs every week.

The Outer View: Camila Meza, Julian Shore, and Billy Hart (listen); Allston Boylston: Ines Velasco, Fareed Haque, Lakecia Benjamin and Carlos Mena (listen); Mondo Jazz: Marc Ribot, Nicolò Ricci, Mary Halvorson, Shake Stew & More (listen); inJazz Radio: Efraïm Trujillo, Pau Li Liem, Loek van den Berg, Suzan Veneman, Timothy Banchet and more! (listen); Situation Fluxus: Meet Tyreek McDole (listen); One Man's Jazz: Gard Nilssen, Antonio Borghini, Ehwald/Schultze/Rainey (listen); A Broad Spectrum: Dena DeRose, Amina Claudine Myers, Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, Antonia Bennett, Jennifer Lee, MzVal & More (listen); Neon Jazz: Spike Wilner, Avishai Cohen, Bobby West & Laura Anglade (listen); Bitches Brew: Bassist Barend Tromp, Stephan Thelen, Cornelius Claudio, Usein Bekirov, Japanese bands Jizue and Dezolve (listen); Spotlight On: Knox Chandler: Exploring The Sound Of The Shoreline (listen); Mondo Jazz: Eugenia Canale, Jo-Yu Chen, Ninanda, Verena Zeiner & More (listen); Jazz Connections: Interpreting the Lennon/McCartney Songbook: part I, early songs (listen); Bitches Brew: Bassist Barend Tromp, Stephan Thelen, Cornelius Claudio, Usein Bekirov, Japanese bands Jizue and Dezolve (listen); Jazz Crumbs: Adrien Brandeis, Briotrio, The Action 4S & More (listen); World of Jazz: New Music From Manson, Thompson, Hersch, Nowosad & More (listen); The Jazz Continuum: Sly Stone, Tessa Souter, Cedar Walton (listen); Ben Boddie On Jazz: Michael Dease, Spike Wilner, Bobby West, Antonia Bennett and more (listen).

News Announcements



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

Saxophonist Ron Blake Streamlines & Simplifies His Musical Delivery With 'Scratch Band,' Due August 8 On 7tÄ“n33 Productions (read); Bassist Yosef Gutman Levitt Ventures Inspired Collaboration With Yonathan Avishai On The Rapturously Melodic 'Shir Yedidot' (read); Japanese Composer Ko Tanaka: Jazz, Ballet, And The Fusion Japanese And American Musical Theater (read); Hudson Hall Announces 2025 Hudson Jazz Festival, October 3-5, 2025 (read); Lalo Schifrin (1932-2025) (read); Smoke Jazz Club Announces August Line-up Featuring Album Release Shows By Vincent Herring, Eric Alexander And David Murray (read); Lenore Raphael Releases Several Singles Of Standards And Other Beautiful Music (read); Grammy-Nominated Pianist Donald Vega Unveils New Single Featuring Jazz Masters Lewis Nash And John Patitucci (read); Brian Eaton Mines Emotional Depths With Genre-bending 'Like A Root Out Of Dry Ground' (read); Pianist-singer Kelly Green Honors Her Late Mother On 'Corner Of My Dreams,' Set For August 22 Release By La Reserve Records (read); JazzWeek Radio Chart: June 30, 2025 (read); All About Jazz Top 10 Songs: June 2025 (read).

Contest Giveaway

Prize: Sam First Records 180gram Vinyl Giveaway!

E N T E R



Three lucky winners can choose one of the following vinyl releases: Larry Goldings' I Will, Anthony Wilson Nonet's House of Singing Blossoms, Devin Daniels' LesGo! or Jeff Babko / Tim Lefebvre / Mark Guiliana's Clam City.

About Sam First Records

Since opening in 2017, Sam First has become Los Angeles’ leading jazz club for world-class modern, eclectic, and straight-ahead jazz in an intimate setting, and all within walking distance of Los Angeles International Airport. 

“The largely original music at Sam First is performed at such a high level to an intimate crowd on a nightly basis that we decided to record select live performances, capturing them with great acoustic quality, and to distribute them to a larger audience,” says Paul Solomon owner of Sam First, and grandson of the club’s namesake. “And the jazz scene in LA overall is so strong now that it just seems right to record it for posterity” adds Solomon. 

With the guidance of some of LA’s top audio engineers, Sam First artistic director David Robaire set about outfitting Sam First with state-of-the-art analog-to-digital recording gear and began documenting the current, thriving LA jazz scene. Sam First Records, the result of Solomon and Robaire’s collaboration, is the new home for high-fidelity recordings of select live performances at Sam First. These shows are by artists whose music embodies the grounded and progressive musicality as well as the vibe and spirit of jazz and Sam First. 

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install Jazz Near You

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

Jazz Near You would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.