DownBeat Apple Music Playlist: 25 for the Future

  I  

Our July 2016 issue featured a series of short profiles on 25 musicians who we think will shape the direction of jazz in the decades to come.

Those artists, all under the age of 40, are represented here through their music. Some are already established leaders; others are integral accompanists to the biggest names in the business. But if we’re right about where these artists are heading, you’re bound to hear much, much more.

Welcome to the future of jazz.



  • John_Hammond_courtesy_johnhammond.com.jpg

    Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.

  • Flea_by_Gus_Van_Sant_copy.jpg

    “Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”

  • Lettuce_by_Sam_Silkworth_2026_copy.jpg

    Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall

  • New_Orleans_Trad_Jazz_Camp_Courtesy_New_Orleans_Trad_Jazz_Camp.jpg

    New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp

  • Big_Band_Screen_Shot.jpg

    Lovers of the big band experience, clockwise from top left, John Clayton, Leigh Pilzer, Ted Nash, David Pietro and Christine Jensen.


On Sale Now
April 2026
Flea
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad