Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble: Parabólico review – gorgeous reinvention of Gilberto Gil’s grooves

Saxophonist and composer Wilmer brilliantly transforms Gil tunes, changing tempos and adding breathy melodies, flourishes of horns or undulating rhythms to luscious effect

Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, Dafnis Prieto: Fifteen review – Pulitzer winner stirs gorgeous improv patterns

By turns gleeful, sensitive, urgent and ruminative, this is a brilliant set that plays to the trio’s formidable strengths

A moment that changed me: My stammer made life a misery – then a song gave me back my voice

As a teenager, I was so ashamed of my speech disability that even my family didn’t know about it. When Scatman John came on the radio, celebrating his own stammer in a hit about self-esteem, I knew I had to meet him

‘For this record, I took an edible and said, screw it’: jazz pianist Sullivan Fortner on confronting the trauma of Hurricane Katrina

The New Orleans native is a three-time Grammy winner at the top of his game – and is now using his instinctive style to celebrate the resilience and clarity of Katrina survivors

Blue Note to bring world-famous jazz club to London

Grammy-winning pianist Robert Glasper will headline opening of club’s first UK venue in Covent Garden next month

‘Trumpeters? We think we’re the kings of the orchestra’: Wynton Marsalis prepares to blow the Edinburgh festival away

It has 12 movements, 200 musicians and aims to unite America. The great US trumpeter and composer talks about his All Rise symphony, his jazz great mentors – and learning humility from his wife

Brian Case obituary

Other lives: Much admired writer on music and the arts for the NME, Melody Maker and Time Out

‘Give respect to Africa and the bush people’: Mulatu Astatke on pioneering Ethio-jazz and honouring his roots

The musician faced resistance when he premiered his sound in the 60s, but audiences have fallen in love with it since. At 82, he’s still finding new directions – and wants more recognition for Africa’s indigenous artists

Plas Johnson obituary

Celebrated saxophonist in demand for session work and film soundtracks who was famous for his stylistic and technical versatility

Saxophonist Plas Johnson, known for solo on The Pink Panther Theme, dies aged 94

Jazz saxophonist – who recorded with artists Frank Sinatra, BB King and more – died in Los Angeles, reports say

Norma Winstone and NDR Radio Orchestra: A Timeless Place review – peerless vocalist at her very best

The emotive lyricist and surefooted improvisor sounds lustrous in a 1990 recording featuring an exquisite I Loves You Porgy

‘Fun, propulsive, full of queer joy’: readers’ favourite albums of 2026 so far, from Muna to Raye and J Cole

After the Guardian’s music critics chose their best of the half-year, we asked you for your picks – from Brian Jackson and Arlo Parks to Maya Hawke, Flea and more

‘We’ve had moments of devastating pain’: jazz icons Ezra Collective on their new album – and why we can’t rely on the government

Speaking at a Guardian Live event at Love Supreme festival, the band tell us about lessons with Tony Allen, mayhem in Lagos and why musicians should be ‘pillars of the community’

‘I saw Herbie Hancock play with D’Angelo, and got my head blown off!’: the festival keeping alive jazz’s golden age

From Miles Davis to Count Basie and Etta James to Prince, Rotterdam’s North Sea jazz festival has hosted the biggest names in music. As the event turns 50, musicians and organisers share their favourite memories from past years – and tell us why jazz isn’t dead

Forty-one members and counting! Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, the gigantic Leeds jazz group embracing ‘chaos, imperfection and all that’

With a punkish, antifascist take on the trad jazz sound of Duke Ellington, this noisy outfit are epic in every way. But how on earth do they make a living?