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
‘Young audiences are less scared of it’: why London jazz clubs are expanding and thriving against the odds
As the Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott’s expand, and Blue Note eyes its arrival, proprietors say there’s an energy in the scene – but financial pressures remain
Jack DeJohnette obituary
Thrilling American jazz drummer, pianist and composer who played with some of the genre’s greatest stars
Jack DeJohnette was more than a jazz drummer – his staggering range made him a superhuman force in music
With a complex playing style that was nevertheless generous towards other musicians, the US musician was in a category all of his own
Jack DeJohnette, versatile jazz drummer known for Miles Davis fusion recordings, dies aged 83
Drummer played on Bitches Brew and other landmark recordings, as well as making numerous albums as a bandleader
Add to playlist: the spiky, playful free jazz of Laura Ann Singh and the week’s best new tracks
A rowdy debut departs from Singh’s American bolero work to revel in the chaos of atonal scrapes, cymbal splashes, wonky horns and raucous vocals
Huey Morgan looks back: ‘My father left when I was seven. Music was a way to derail those feelings of not being good enough’
The musician on dealing with PTSD, his angry TV outburst, and why one radio station refused to play anything by Fun Lovin’ Criminals