Add to playlist: the dark fog of Los Angeles saxophonist Aaron Shaw and the week’s best new tracks
The woodwind player who taught André 3000 music theory releases his searching debut album next month
‘I’d never heard anything like it’: the prepared piano revelations of jazz star Jessica Williams
Dave Brubeck called her a great and Mary Lou Williams gave her advice. But the prodigy grew frustrated with jazz, quit and started dismantling her instrument. A superb new reissue showcases her findings
‘This is where it all started’: Nina Simone’s childhood home gets long-awaited rehabilitation
North Carolina home preserved to commemorate legendary musician and civil rights activist, and to serve as arts hub
Iain Ballamy: Riversphere Vol 1 review – an exquisite flow of genre, harmony and improv
The 80s sax star leads an A-list quartet, plus a shared trumpet role for Laura Jurd and Ballamy’s son Charlie
Eddie Thornton obituary
Trumpeter who contributed to Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames and later became a member of Aswad
More musicians drop out of Kennedy Center shows after Trump name change
The Cookers on Monday pulled out of a New Year’s Eve jazz gig at the controversially renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy’ center
The 10 best jazz albums of 2025
Jakob Bro’s Bill Frisell collaboration finally saw the light, Cécile McLorin Salvant drew on her teenage pop memories and Anthony Braxton looked back to 1985
The 10 best global albums of 2025
Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with mournful minimalism, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s 1982 album of Punjabi disco makes a comeback and Venezuelan-Guatemalan duo Titanic serve up ecstatic tracks
O come out ye faithful: a joyful roundup of UK culture this Christmas
Beauty and the Beast or Wolf Alice? Queen Marie Antoinette or Count Arthur Strong? Come and behold: the holiday season offers stage, film, music and art that’s worth singing about
‘I almost always play it in hiding, alone’: can anyone get into free jazz, history’s most maligned music?
Even though he’s partial to hideous noise, free jazz is mostly unknown to the Guardian’s pop critic. A new guidebook from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore may change his mind
Not Mariah again! New music playlists for the Christmas party season
Whether it’s vibe-setting dance and rap for house parties or soothing dream-pop for when you’re contemplating the clear-up, reach for these ready-made playlists
Mulatu Astatke review – father of Ethio-jazz still innovating during farewell tour
The pioneering 81-year-old vibes player, keyboardist and percussionist creates a controlled whirlwind of experimentation and excitement
أحمد [Ahmed]: Sama’a (Audition) review – a wild, world-spanning act of musical devotion
The British free-jazz pianist Pat Thomas leads his quartet through a powerful fusion of Sufi inspiration, rhythmic intensity and improvisational fire
‘I can’t be silent. I’ve been through too much’: Dee Dee Bridgewater on singing with the greats – and confronting Maga with jazz
Fuelled by a loathing of Trump, the war in Gaza and anger at ‘the same old chauvinistic crap’, the 75-year-old – who cut her teeth with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and more – has no plans to stop protesting
‘We got hate mail after the Proms!’ The towering visions of UK jazz legend Mike Westbrook
Having worked alongside everyone from Laurence Olivier to a French circus, the 89-year-old is still composing, learning church bells, and using AI to resurrect a lost epic