DownBeat Apple Music Playlist: 25 for the Future

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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.



  • Andy_Bey_NYC_2014_by_Steven_Sussman_copy.jpg

    “It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”

    Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85

    Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…

  • Al_Foster_Marketing.jpg

    Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.

  • Francis-Davis_by_Ken_Winter%3AGetty_Images_copy.jpg

    ​Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.

  • Branford_Marsalis_by_Mark_Sheldon_copy.jpg

    “Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”

  • Sasha_Berliner_by_Gulnara_Khamatova_copy.jpeg

    “What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.


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