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Album reviews, deep dives, and essays on jazz history, from early bebop to contemporary fusion.

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Articles
53
Artists
760
Album Reviews
New Releases
Discovery
New Jazz Releases

Recent jazz albums pulled live from the Apple Music catalog. Filter by year, search by artist, and open any album directly in Apple Music.

Kind of Blue Landmark Album
Landmark Albums
Kind of Blue: The Story Behind the Greatest Jazz Album

How Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and three other musicians walked into Columbia's 30th Street Studio in 1959 and changed music forever.

A Love Supreme Landmark Album
Landmark Albums
A Love Supreme: The Story Behind Coltrane's Masterpiece

How John Coltrane's spiritual awakening and the classic quartet produced one of the most important recordings in music history, in a single session.

Waltz for Debby Landmark Album
Landmark Albums
Waltz for Debby: The Village Vanguard Masterpiece

Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, and Paul Motian played five sets at the Village Vanguard on a Sunday in 1961. Eleven days later, LaFaro was dead. What remained was immortal.

Deep Dive
The Art of the Ensemble: From Duos to Big Bands

Every jazz format from two players to twenty, the instruments behind each one, and the greatest groups that ever played them.

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History
Jazz in Japan: A History, 1923 to 1989

From prewar dance halls to Three Blind Mice to the fusion decade, how Japan built one of the world's great jazz cultures.

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Album Reviews
Miles Davis: Complete Discography, 1949 to 1992

Sixty albums across four eras: the Prestige years, Classic Columbia, the electric period, and the comeback.

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Album Reviews
Benny Golson: Six Albums That Defined an Era

In just two years, Golson recorded six records that remain some of the most underrated hard bop sessions ever made.

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Album Reviews
John Coltrane: Complete Discography, 1957 to 1967

35 albums, from the Prestige hard bop years through A Love Supreme and the late-period free records, plus posthumous live releases.

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Album Reviews
Gene Ammons: The Boss, 1958 to 1971

Nobody had a bigger, warmer sound on the tenor. Eleven essential records from Jug, including his Prestige classics and his remarkable comeback after seven years away.

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Album Reviews
Hozan Yamamoto: Nine Records, 1968 to 2018

The man who brought the shakuhachi into jazz, from the debut through the masterpiece Ginkai and a lifetime of explorations across bossa nova, solo recital, and world music.

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Deep Dive
The Complete History of Jazz: 1890s to Today

From Congo Square in New Orleans to Kamasi Washington in Los Angeles, a decade-by-decade guide to every era, every city, every argument.

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Deep Dive
Borrowed Soul: Jazz Samples in Hip Hop

From Ronnie Foster's Mystic Brew to ATCQ to Kendrick Lamar, the full story of how producers built hip hop on a foundation of jazz.

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Album Reviews
Donald Byrd: Complete Discography, 1956 to 2022

Hard bop to jazz-funk and back, across forty-seven albums. Detroit beginnings, Blue Note prime, the Mizell Brothers era, and the best-selling Blue Note record of all time.

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Album Reviews
Fumio Nanri: Five Records, 1970 to 1975

Japan's great Dixieland trumpeter, reviewed complete: the Columbia big band sessions, the Express small group and ensemble dates, and the memorial Farewell on Kiva.

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Album Reviews
Hideo Shiraki: Ten Records, 1959 to 2012

Japan's first jazz drumming bandleader, from the Sankei Hall recital to the Black Mode breakthrough, through Plays Horace Silver and the late-career Video Hall concert.

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Album Reviews
Jiro Inagaki: Thirty-One Records, 1969 to 2023

From the CBS/Sony commercial dates to the soul jazz fire of Dosojin and The Underground Rulers, thirty-one albums spanning one of Japanese jazz's most prolific saxophonists.

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Album Reviews
Kohsuke Mine: Sixteen Records, 1970 to 2019

The complete discography of one of Japan's most gifted saxophonists: from his Three Blind Mice sessions through fifty years of recordings.

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Album Reviews
Hiroshi Suzuki: Five Records, 1969 to 1976

Four CBS/Sony records that trace a young trombonist finding his voice, and Cat, the Three Blind Mice masterpiece that remains one of the most sought-after records in Japanese jazz.

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Album Reviews
Ryo Fukui: Seven Records, 1976 to 2025

The complete discography of the Sapporo pianist who taught himself jazz from records and made Scenery at thirty-two, including two posthumous releases.

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Album Reviews
Coleman Hawkins: Twenty-One Records, 1952 to 1966

The man who invented the jazz tenor saxophone spent his final decade making records that matched his earlier peak. From The Hawk in Paris to his last session Sirius.

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Album Reviews
Anthony Braxton: Twelve Recordings, 1968 to 1976

From the solo saxophone of For Alto to the orchestral sprawl of Creative Orchestra Music, twelve albums from one of the AACM's most rigorous minds.

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Album Reviews
Eric Dolphy: Complete Discography, 1960 to 1964

Twenty-two albums from one of the most original voices in jazz. Alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute: Dolphy played all three at the highest level.

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Album Reviews
Wes Montgomery: Complete Discography, 1958 to 1968

Twenty-six albums from the greatest jazz guitarist who ever lived. From the Indianapolis club records through Full House and the A&M sessions.

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Album Reviews
Lester Young: Nine Records, 1951 to 1959

The inventor of cool, running out the clock on one of the great careers in jazz. Nine Verve-era records from Pres, including the final Paris recordings.

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Album Reviews
Dave Brubeck: Complete Discography, 1950 to 2007

Forty-four albums across nearly six decades, from the Mills College Octet through the odd-meter experiments and the long late career.

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Album Reviews
Art Blakey: Hard Bop's Hardest Swing, 1954 to 1981

The Jazz Messengers launched more careers than any other band in jazz. Fifteen essential records, from the Blue Note classics through Straight Ahead.

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Album Reviews
Oscar Peterson: Complete Discography, 1950 to 2000

Fifty-one albums across five decades: from Carnegie Hall through the classic Verve trio, the MPS years, the Pablo sessions, and the final Telarc dates.

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Album Reviews
Bill Evans: Nine Records, 1956 to 1962

From the debut that sold nothing to the Village Vanguard sessions recorded ten days before Scott LaFaro died. Nine albums that reinvented the piano trio.

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Album Reviews
Duke Ellington: Twelve Records, 1951 to 1958

From Masterpieces by Ellington through the Newport triumph, Such Sweet Thunder, and Ellington Indigos: the most acclaimed decade of his career.

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Album Reviews
Louis Armstrong: Eleven Records, 1950 to 1958

From the All Stars live recordings through the Columbia songbooks, the Ella and Louis duets, and Porgy and Bess: the Indian summer of the greatest trumpet player in jazz.

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Album Reviews
Wayne Shorter: Sixteen Records, 1959 to 1985

From the Vee-Jay hard bop sessions through Speak No Evil and Adam's Apple to Native Dancer and Atlantis: one of the most extraordinary compositional careers in post-bop jazz.

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Album Reviews
Max Roach: Ten Records, 1953 to 1958

From his first session through the brilliant quintet with Clifford Brown, Jazz in 3/4 Time, and Deeds Not Words: the formative years of bebop's defining drummer.

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Album Reviews
Wynton Marsalis: Ten Records, 1982 to 1988

Jazz and classical recordings on Columbia, from the debut through Black Codes, the Handel and Purcell concertos, and Live at Blues Alley.

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Album Reviews
Chick Corea: Eleven Records, 1968 to 1973

From Now He Sings, Now He Sobs through Return to Forever and Crystal Silence: the formative years of one of the most inventive pianists in modern jazz.

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Album Reviews
Gil Evans: Thirteen Records, 1957 to 1976

The complete discography of the greatest arranger in jazz, from Gil Evans and Ten through the Hendrix tribute and the Tokyo Concert.

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Album Reviews
Thelonious Monk: Sixteen Records, 1951 to 1959

From the Blue Note Genius sessions through Brilliant Corners, the Five Spot residency with Coltrane, and 5 by Monk by 5: the complete pre-Columbia Monk.

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Album Reviews
Chet Baker: Sixteen Records, 1953 to 1959

The Pacific Jazz vocal albums, the West Coast cool summit with Art Pepper, and the Riverside sessions that brought him into the New York mainstream.

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Album Reviews
Lee Morgan: Ten Records, 1956 to 1960

The teenage Blue Note prodigy who blew alongside Hank Mobley and Horace Silver before he was old enough to drink. Ten formative albums.

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Album Reviews
Sarah Vaughan: Seven Records, 1950 to 1956

The Divine One's early recordings, from the Columbia sessions through the landmark duets with Clifford Brown and the orchestral triumph of Sassy.

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Album Reviews
Cannonball Adderley: Eight Records, 1955 to 1958

From the EmArcy debut to Somethin' Else with Miles Davis and Art Blakey to the first Riverside date with Bill Evans: the complete formative period.

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Album Reviews
Bud Powell: Eight Records, 1950 to 1954

The complete early Roost, Blue Note, and Debut recordings, from the solo sessions through Jazz at Massey Hall with Parker, Gillespie, Mingus, and Roach.

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Album Reviews
Art Pepper: Fifteen Records, 1956 to 1977

From the West Coast cool of Surf Ride through Meets the Rhythm Section, Smack Up, and the comeback recordings: the complete arc of alto's tortured genius.

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Album Reviews
Stan Getz: Eight Records, 1951 to 1956

The early Roost and Norgran sessions, from the live Storyville date with Roy Haynes to the Jimmy Raney quartets and the landmark West Coast Jazz.

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Album Reviews
Teddy Edwards: Eight Records, 1958 to 1962

West Coast hard bop at its finest: eight albums from the tenor saxophonist who proved LA could swing as hard as New York.

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Album Reviews
Charles Mingus: Ten Records, 1953 to 1964

From the early Debut recordings through Pithecanthropus Erectus, The Black Saint, and Mingus at Monterey: the formative decade of jazz's greatest bassist-composer.

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Album Reviews
Sonny Rollins: The Prestige Years, 1953 to 1956

Seven early Prestige recordings, from the MJQ session through Saxophone Colossus: the years when Rollins became the most formidable tenor in jazz.

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Album Reviews
Grant Green: The Complete Discography, 1961 to 1989

Thirty-four Blue Note albums from the guitar's great unsung hero, from the hard bop sessions through the funk period and the posthumous vault releases.

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Album Reviews
Freddie Hubbard: Blue Note to CTI, 1960 to 1972

Ten essential records from the most technically gifted trumpet player of the hard bop generation, from Open Sesame through Red Clay and First Light.

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Album Reviews
Emma Smith: The Huntress to Bitter Orange, 2013 to 2025

Five albums from the London-based jazz vocalist, from the debut through Hat-Trick! and the mature artistry of Bitter Orange.

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Album Reviews
Nat Adderley: Introducing to That’s Right!, 1955 to 1960

Four early recordings from Cannonball's little brother, including the debut and the cornet showcase Work Song.

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Album Reviews
Philly Joe Jones: Showcase to Crossings, 1959 to 1978

Eight albums from the drummer who powered the first great Miles Davis Quintet, from the Riverside debut through the London recordings.

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Coming Soon
The Birth of Bebop: How Jazz Found Its Voice

The after-hours sessions at Minton's Playhouse, the musicians' strike, the first recordings on Savoy and Dial, and how jazz reinvented itself.

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Coming Soon
Why Kind of Blue Still Sounds Like the Future

Sixty-seven years later, it remains the best-selling jazz album of all time. What makes it work, and why nothing else has quite matched it.

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Artist Spotlight
Bill Evans and the Art of Listening to Silence

Few pianists understood the power of space like Bill Evans. A deep dive into the music and the man behind the most introspective touch in jazz.