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Our Latest Newsletter

Join over 92,000 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 12, 2025).

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This Week at All About Jazz

This past weekend, I joined an impressive group of jazz colleagues for a Chamber Music America (CMA) think tank at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, NY. We gathered to look ahead at where jazz is going—across both analog and digital realms—and what those shifts mean for today’s working musicians. One takeaway was unmistakable: our field still lacks the infrastructure it needs. There’s real hope, though, that stakeholders—including All About Jazz—can come together as a coalition to help strengthen the music we’ve all committed our working lives to.

Attention musicians! CMA has upcoming grant opportunities for its Jazz Empowerment and New Jazz Works programs. You can learn more about the grant programs, here. 

Special Request: In Search of Ralph “Bigfoot” Hamilton

All About Jazz’s Kyle Simpler is currently researching an article on guitarist Ralph “Bigfoot” Hamilton. Hamilton remains a mysterious figure in jazz history, and reliable details have been difficult to track down. If you have any information or materials that could help, please contact Kyle here.

Dogs and Cats Rule!

Last week, I sadly said goodbye to my guy Sammy but his passing sparked an idea to celebrate all of our jazz dogs, so we invited members to upload photos of their pooches—past and present. We’re seeing some fine-looking pups, but some were uploaded without titles or tags.

Please title and tag your pet photos, and be sure to include the “jazz dogs” tag so we can showcase all the dogs together in a single slideshow and on a dedicated group page. To tag and title your photos, just sign in and head here—it’s quick and easy.

And, as expected, we also heard from our cat-loving members. :-) So we’re extending the invitation: feel free to upload photos of your jazz cats as well. Just remember to title and tag your photos, and include the “jazz cats” tag.

Album Reviews

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

Memories Of Home John Scofield & Dave Holland	The Art Of Sound(s) Pierre Favre	Sendas Omar Sosa	Traveling Light Rafael Toral
Honoring Larry Coryell Bob Holz	Where In The World Tom Ollendorff	The Genius of Ray Charles on Tangerine Records Ray Charles	Himmel Over Hav Hanna Paulsberg Concept & Elin Rosseland

Jazz Dogs: Ten Essential Dog-Eared Tunes

Everybody's best friend. Okay, so not everyone loves dogs. But find yourself buried in an avalanche and it will be a dog that sniffs you out. The last person found alive after the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11 was sniffed out by a rescue dog. Guide dogs helped lead their blind owners to safety from the Twin Towers following the terrorist attack. How many blind or partially sighted people around the world could manage without their trusty guide dog? Dogs are also trained to assist people with all manner of disabilities, from hearing loss to seizures. Therapy dogs provide comfort to the stressed, distressed and shocked in all manner of places. Dogs serve in the police, helping to keep our streets safe. They sniff out drugs at airports. Their acute sense of smell also enables them to detect explosives, human remains and even cancer. Continue reading...

A Jazz Reading List

From 2015 through 2020, a personal research project included my reading dozens of jazz books and related media. They included mainstays such as the massive reference The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (Penguin Books, 2006), Ben Ratliff's excellent interview collection The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music (Times Books, 2008), the off-shore perspectives of Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain (Duke University Press, 2005) and Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan (Duke University Press, 2001) and the underrecognized contribution of women in Judy Chaikin's superb documentary The Girls in the Band (Virgil Films, 2015). In the long process of purging overcrowded bookshelves, a number of titles stood out as lasting sources of inspiration. This sampling of ten books is not in order of preference, and they are thematically varied. A few are lesser-known but well worth reading for their unique treatments or obscure subject matter. Continue reading...

Jean Toussaint At Dock Street Jazz Club

A filthy night in Belfast. Relentless rain. The real wet stuff, as they say here. The sort of Sunday night where it would take a damned good reason to venture out. Jean Toussaint was reason enough. It is not every day, after all, that one of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers comes to town. In the warmth of The American Bar, in Belfast's old docks quarter, a goodly crowd was squeezing the last life out of the weekend. Pints and chat. In a corner, ten musicians bunched around a table were getting stuck into a set of jigs and reels. For most of the punters it was background music, but the fiddles, mandolins, harp, accordion and bodhran charged the air. People chatted away but applauded at the end all the same. Continue reading...

Best of 2025

We'll keep a running list of our staff's favorites with five new submissions this past week:

Jack Kenney	Mike Jurkovic	Dan McClenaghan	Doug Collette
Konstantin Rega	Troy Dostert	Paul Rauch	Don Ball
Neil Duggan

Songs of the Week

We're running the emotional gamut with these two, from a mournful dirge to a fun romp. Both outstanding.

Top Songs

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

Major From the album Being Dantès By WAKAN	Showdown From the album Multidirectional By Billy Hart	Red Bubble From the album pre/post atrophy By Chris Alford	Watercolor From the album Alternate Route By Kerry Politzer
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life From the album Absinthe By Ramona Horvath	Zambo's Mamba From the album My Latin Heart By Roger Glenn	Slow Slow Dancing From the album Lazy Morning By Roland Billberg	Vita From the album Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at The Village Vanguard By Miguel Zenon

Choice Content

Eliane Elias at Blues Alley (read); Billy Hart Quartet Birthday Bash (read); Troy Dostert's Best Jazz Albums of 2025 (read); Paul Rauch's Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2025 (read); Don Ball’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2025 (read); Beauty in Loss (read); New Jazz Haiku (read); Doug Collette's Best Jazz Albums Of 2025 (read); Unlimited 39 (view photos); Jazz & Wine Of Peace 2025 (view photos); Neil Duggan's Best Jazz Albums Of 2025 (read); Amaury Faye: A French Jazz Composer Returns To The Source (read); Konstantin Rega's Best Jazz Albums Of 2025 (read); Możdżer & Szymanowski at Love Polish Jazz Festival 2025 (view photos); Nigel Price Organ Trio At Magy's Farm (read); Stefon Harris & Blackout / Theo Croker at Miner Auditorium (read); Concerto for Cootie. The Life and Times of Cootie Williams (read).

Radio & Podcasts

Tune into our extensive collection of quality programs every week.

Exploration: Classic Jazz from Woody Shaw, New Jazz from Billy Hart, and Birthdays Including Jaco Pastorius (listen); Allston Boylston: Music by distinguished American Women Composers plus remembering guitarist Phil Upchurch (listen); The Outer View: Theo Bleckmann, Michael Garrick, and Conrad Herwig (listen); Liner Notes: Confronting the Questions: Race, Anonymity, and the American Experience (listen); One Man's Jazz: Camila Nebbia, Jacopo Fagioli, Lena Bloch & Erin Rogers/Kelsey Mines (listen); The Third Story: Remembering Phil Upchurch (listen); The Jazz Disturbance: John Donegan Trio, Linda Dachtyl, Horace Silver, Rufus Wainwright (listen); A Broad Spectrum: Centennial Shoutouts For June Christy and Johnny Mandel Plus New Releases James Suggs, Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter, Vancouver Jazz Orchestra, Cecile McLorin Salvant, (listen); Neon Jazz: Red Garland, Samara Joy, Billy Hart, Mark Sherman & Marilyn Maye (listen); Bitches Brew: Damien Erskine, Chris Potter, Steve Smith, Marl Lettieri, Michael Brecker (listen); The Tonearm: Ned Rothenberg: Solo Improvisation In Bizarre Times (listen); Ben Boddie On Jazz: Branford Marsalis, Eric Scott Reed, Artemis, Jeremy Pelt and more (listen); Jazz Connections: Improvising the Classics: Roll Over Beethoven (listen); Backstage Bay Area: Anat Cohen’s Musical Evolution & 50th Birthday Celebration (listen); Mondo Jazz: Makaya McCraven, Sam Ospovat, Johnathan Blake (listen); World of Jazz: New Music From Tillotson, Christelis, Eckemoff, Torres & More (listen).

News Announcements

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

Jon Faddis To Appear In Red Bank Fundraiser In Support Of Jazz Arts Project's Music Education Programs on December 14, 2025 (read); Sarah Jane Cion Releases Jazz Memoir 'The Now Era' (read); Gregg Arthur: Live at City Recital Hall—A New Concert Special Featuring Australian Jazz Royalty (read); Jordan Rich: Cardiff Keyboard Wizard On A Global Stage (read); Reconstructing The Map: Vatan Singh Rajan And The Expanding World Of Experimental Jazz (read); Composer/Pianist Gregory Golub Unveils Third Original Jazz Album —  'African And Other Jazz Passions’ (read); JazzWeek Radio Chart: December 8, 2025 (read); Jazz Generations Initiative Connects Jazz Scenes In New York & New Orleans, Announces Initial Programming (read).

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