I've just bought my first good headphones, the FIIO FT1, and I want to test these bad boys so please recommend me some! I've listened to some Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans and they sound wonderful, the vocals from Ella and Louis and Johnny Hartman with Trane are also insane, it's like I'm hearing music for the first time!

So much wisdom and taste.

i’ve been listening to this one on repeat lately and want more. the psychedelic dreamy aspects of it are just so so good. any recs?

I like this better than original as good as it was. I just wish it were longer.

Just back from seeing the sublime jazz duo of bassist Ron Carter and guitarist Bill Frisell at Birdland -a joyous jazz-standard journey by two masters. Ron is 89 (!) and playing better than ever, and they explored the harmonic nuance of these songs like they had been born playing them. They are playing for I think one more night, if you're in the NYC area and can make it, go!

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Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on 10/15/2026

I LOVE practicing in all 12 keys. It trains your ear to hear function rather than be a slave to muscle memory.

That said, I have run into trouble as a composer when I have handed out charts in E, A, F#, or B. As a pianist, I love these keys, I think they sound refreshing compared to the typical flat keys. But, when horn players read my charts, many of whom are high level, theres a noticeable dip in the strength of their vocabulary come the solos. There are plenty of killing solos in E or B, but the vast majority of jazz players are more likely to be "in their bag" playing familiar keys (Eb, F, Bb, Ab) even if they practice in all 12.

Even in standards written in sharp keys, I've had horn players clarify "In Bb" or "in F" before we play. Songs such as "Isn't She Lovely", "Triste", "Red Clay" for example.

People who gig/perform frequently, what is your input on the "all 12 keys" mantra when it comes to performing live?

You see, for two years, I'm self learning the saxophone. The thing is, right off the get go, I learned by listening to John Coltrane, Peter Brotzmann, John Zorn and Kaoru Abe.

I guess you can kinda see where it went. I'm pretty competent at creating an interesting texture, cool free improv, but I feel this kinda blurred something within my mentality. Something about the way I would create a tradidtional harmony.

Maybe someone can have any thoughts that would clear up my mind, even for a bit ?

Hello,

I've only just gotten into jazz and have found myself drawn to a number of vocal jazz artists. I was hoping to get some recommendations based on my taste, if people have any. I like the well known names like Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, but I've also found a few lesser known names (to me at least) who have really drawn me in. Artists like Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan and Helen Merrill in particular.

I'm drawn to the intimate 'smokey late night' club albums of many of these artists, but also appreciate some of their more orchestral and boppier work. I think what I'm attracted to is a distinctive voice and subtelty. For example, Peggy Lee I think is a very understated singer and doesn't try to do too much, but when you listen closely to what she's doing it seems very technical to me. I think I'm attracted to that kind of 'understated' vocal skill.

Who are some of your favourite vocalists outside of some of the more common names? I would also really love some male jazz vocalist recommendations. Can be old or new!

Cincinnati, October 13 @ The Ludlow Garage. She was amazing.. 100 minute set..

Just wondering… used to sit in on my dad’s rehearsals as a kid, miss those days.

Late show

Presented by JZ, the annual jazz festival moved to the big lawn of a sports park for the first time and welcomed spectators with free entry and shows on four stages from 5 to 9pm, Sat to Fri.

As I am not able to post a video in this community, here's a link to the video story.

https://klassikom.substack.com/p/jazz-age-carnival-opened-in-shanghai

I organized an AMA/Q&A with Dave Koz and Mickey Duzyj, subject and director of the new doc SMOOTH WORLD, about the world of Jazz. Dave is a 9-time Grammy nominated saxophonist.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1x8cgzk/hi_reddit_im_saxophonist_dave_koz_9_grammy/

They will be back at 4:30 PM ET on Tuesday 10/20 to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1225286270

Synopsis: Exiled from radio for being lame, the world of smooth jazz has secretly thrived as an underground paradise for senior citizens. Now, as the last smoothies face extinction, they band together to find a new leader who can save their beloved Smooth World.

Thank you :)

The annual Jazz Carnival is organized by JZ Club in Shanghai. It opened yesterday with vintage songs and swing music of the 1940s.

We fly up from Florida every year for Robtober—my wife’s birthday lines up with the residency, so it’s become our annual jazz weekend. Caught the OG acoustic trio on the 16th.

First song: “Rise and Shine” from Canvas. It went like this. Damion Reid starts the loose, elastic beat. Everyone in that small room is exposed to the complex interplay of the snare and kick drum (aka the Dilla thing™)… and then Vicente Archer joins, playing a sort of front-loaded counterpoint on bass. The whole thing feels like a giant dog loping in two film speeds at once—one stride stretched out in slow motion, the other compressed and surging. From that point forward, the set really became about the groove.

Rob riffs angular lines with left-hand/right-hand simultaneity, like a demented Oscar Peterson. But the main thing: he stays completely locked into the pocket. He’ll do uber, UBER economical Thelonious Monk references—just short, staccato bursts of sound. His play on the rhythmic pulse shows extreme subtlety, and suddenly the lick is “Afro Blue”—DJ Jahee Sundance playing around with the Erykah Badu sample through gauzy reverb. Everything gets hushed. I’m five feet behind Glasper, staring at his back, and for a second the only thing I can hear is the harmonic overtones inside the Steinway bed.

And that’s the thing. These explorations, based on the pulse and the rhythm, create an intermezzo where thoughts and ideas wink in and out of existence. At one moment it sounds like church, at another it’s a line inspired by Mulgrew Miller (or Cecil Taylor).

A part of me that likes straight-ahead post-bop wants to say the bebop flashes are too brief, too thin. Maybe he’s bored by the old moves, or just doesn’t need them. But another part of me thinks this doesn’t have to be straight-ahead jazz. Maybe—though I’m no expert—it’s pushing improvisation deeper into the groove, and into whatever rises out of it, rather than treating melody and call-and-response as the main event.

This is more about how his pocket keeps circling back to anticipation. He sits less in the lineage of Armstrong and Parker and more as a DJ—someone who lets small harmonic and melodic moments surface from the groove instead of forcing them. In a way it’s a different art form than “just jazz,” even though this acoustic trio is the most jazz of any of his setups in the residency. Maybe that’s why some jazz people push back on it. I don’t think he cares.

There is a surrender to it. During the bass solo he got off the stage, wandered the crowded floor with a toothpick in his mouth like a museum curator, nodded at old friends, got a gin and tonic, and looked lost in what Vicente Archer was doing with harmonics. When he came back he closed with “So Beautiful,” Musiq Soulchild’s voice coming through Sundance’s mic, telling the women in the room to “know how beautiful they actually are,” because “the only thing that really matters is how you see yourself.” Anyone who knows the song knows it was the right ending. It made the humility I’d been feeling all night suddenly atmospheric.

Simply beautiful…

Only really started getting into this wonderful genre just a month ago and have been trying to consume as much info about it as possible. Still have a lot of classics i don't have yet but please throw me some recommendations!

Im in a high-school jazz band, I play vibraphone, and I would love to play a piece that makes vibraphone an integral part. Not just having a vibraphone part, but in the way Moanin' features sax. im a pretty advanced player, so the vibraphone part can be hard. The rest of the band can play grade 3. I've looked for pieces that at least kind of fit all the criteria and I havent been able to find any, if anyone could recommend me some that'd be great!