The Late Al Foster Is Tuneful on a Final Live Date
Jazz drummer Al Foster sounds like a miracle of melody, polyrhythm, and listening on this beautiful album, Live at Smoke.
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The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
The future of the genre lies in places where it’s less insular and more artistically adventurous. The 20 best jazz albums are outstanding examples of that impulse.
Brad Mehldau Immortalizes Elliott Smith on Brilliant LP
Ride Into the Sun is brimming with incredible ideas and brilliant musicianship, and may be one of the finest albums in Brad Mehldau’s illustrious discography.
The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2005
Jump back 20 years, listen to the best jazz albums of 2005, and hear the state of the art. It was an era of brilliant veterans and bold, new innovators.
JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of Winter 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from the winter of 2024 and reflects on the relationship of the Grammys to jazz.
15 Jazz Albums for People Not Sure They Like Jazz
These 15 jazz albums for people not sure they like jazz provide a gateway to a style or artist – an invitation to enter and hopefully emerge wanting more.
JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of February and March 2023
Our jazz columnist chooses the best new jazz albums of the past two months while reflecting on the passing of Wayne Shorter and the Grammy Awards.
Brad Mehldau Draws Inspiration from the Beatles
Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau is at the peak of his powers, paying tribute to the music of the Beatles on Your Mother Should Know.
Brad Mehldau Melds Jazz and Prog Rock on ‘Jacob’s Ladder’
If you ask jazz’s Brad Mehldau, the path to God rides through the music of Rush, Yes, Gentle Giant, and Periphery as on his new album Jacob’s Ladder.
The 50 Best Albums of 2021 So Far
The year has offered a mountainous feast of sublime music. The 50 best albums of 2021 so far are an eclectic, forward-looking, and increasingly “woke” bunch.
Brad Mehldau Pushes Forward on ‘Variations on a Melancholy Theme’
The truly great thing about Brad Mehldau’s Variations on a Melancholy Theme is that it rewards casual as well as careful listening.
Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade Come ‘RoundAgain’
Joshua Redman's 1994 quartet of young jazz lions reunites as contemporary masters on RoundAgain.