Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
John Legend is one of 21 artists whose new holiday albums are reviewed in our Yuletide Music Roundup.
(Photo: Scott Schafer)DownBeat offers cool gifts for everyone on your shopping list. Our 2018 Holiday Gift Guide is filled with books, vinyl reissues, CD box sets, holiday albums, instruments, gear and more.
Our Yuletide Music Roundup is an expanded version of the holiday album reviews from the Gift Guide, with exclusive online reviews of 11 new albums.
Plus, DownBeat makes the perfect gift for anyone who loves jazz. We’ve got great deals on subscriptions, whether you want to read DownBeat in print, online or on your tablet.
To see the 2018 Holiday Gift Guide, click here.
To check out the Yuletide Music Roundup, click here.
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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.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
Feb 17, 2026 11:05 AM
They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
“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.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp
Feb 19, 2026 10:39 AM
Jazz camps have exploded around the globe as a summertime tradition for working on your chops and making new friends.…
Lovers of the big band experience, clockwise from top left, John Clayton, Leigh Pilzer, Ted Nash, David Pietro and Christine Jensen.
Feb 10, 2026 11:00 AM
The popularity of big band music might have peaked in the 1930s and ’40s, but despite the many changes on the jazz…