January 2026

Volume 93, Number 1

BUY THIS ISSUE | SUBSCRIBE

Cover

Andrew Cyrille

Andrew Cyrille’s Big, Beautiful World

By Ted Panken, Matt Wilson & Nasheet Waits

One article can’t offer a complete chronicle to the vast and varied work of Andrew Cyrille, but in late June, he sat for a four-hour Zoom conversation with two major fans and students of his art — drummers Nasheet Waits and Matt Wilson — along with writer Ted Panken. The result is multi-layered, comprehensive personal history.

Features

Dave McMurray
Dave McMurray's Love for Life
By Bill Milkowski
Emma Rawicz
The Rapid (Organic) Rise of Emma Rawicz
By Ammar Kalia
Special Section
Best Albums of 2025
By Various

Blindfold Test

There’s a new album on the horizon from tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana that leans on the gentle side of her tenor voice and features Central and South American ballads of the past century — Filin will be the title to look for, currently slotted for a February relelase. This was her first DownBeat Blindfold Test, conducted live at New York University’s Jazz Studies Program during September with about 30 students bearing witness.

Billy Hart Quartet : “Some Enchanted Evening” from One is the Other (ECM, 2023)
Ben Webster : “Poutin’” from King of the Tenors (Verve, 1953)
Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo: “Silencio” from El Arte del Bolero, Vol. 2 (Miel Music, 2023)
McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson: “We’ll Be Together Again” from Forces of Nature (Blue Note, 1966)
Nicole Glover : “Blues for Mel” from Plays (Savant, 2024)
Michael Brecker : “Song for Bilbao” from Live by the Sea Jazz Festival Tokyo, 1997 (YouTube video)
Steve Lacy and Charlie Rouse : “Ask Me Now” from That’s The Way I Feel Now (A&M, 1984)
Zoh Amba : “Interbeing” from Sun (Smalltown Supersound, 2025)
Branford Marsalis Quartet : “Cheek to Cheek” from Contemporary Jazz (Blue Note, 2000)