Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
In Memoriam: Gordon Goodwin, 1954–2025
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
A document of John Lee Hooker live in Paris.
(Photo: Courtesy Southern Echoes)Here’s a fresh batch of blues on vinyl to break your heart and make you love it. And when that heart needs mending, we’ve got a little Mahalia Jackson to get your soul stirring.
John Lee Hooker
The Charcot Sessions
Southern Echoes
An RSD Exclusive with a pressing of 1,250, Southern Echoes gives us a three-album set of blues godfather John Lee Hooker. The set documents the full October 1969 recording from Studio Charcot in Paris — music that had never been previously released in its entirety. Pressed on electric blue vinyl, the set includes 22 classic tracks.
recordstoreday.com
Willie Dixon
What Happened To My Blues
Culture Factory
An RSD Exclusive, What Happened To My Blues could be the finest album from Willie Dixon, one of the true fathers of Chicago blues. This package includes an OBI side strip, cardboard jacket, printed inner sleeve, and it’s pressed on bright orange vinyl.
culturefactory-usa.com
recordstoreday.com
Dave Specter
Message In Blue
Delmark
This thinking-man’s bluesman from Chicago has been an artist deserving wider recognition for decades. That may be the reason that Delmark, also based in Chicago, decided to make this album the first vinyl pressing the company has done since 1991.
delmark.com
JJ Grey & Mofro
Orange Blossoms (Deluxe Edition)
Alligator Records
An RSD First, limited to 900 copies, this first-time-on-vinyl release shakes the Southern roots of this blues-rockin’ juggernaut. The tracks have been remastered and pressed at 45 rpm on dual orange LPs housed in a gatefold cover that includes previously unpublished photos.
alligator.com
recordstoreday.com
Mahalia Jackson
Movin’ On Up A Little Higher
Shanachie
Ah, Mahalia, one of the the greatest vocalists in gospel history. Here we have an RSD First limited to 1,000 copies, where Jackson performs hymns from her youth with her mentor Thomas A. Dorsey. The performances come from 1946–1957.
shanachie.com
Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation.
Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Flea has returned to his first instrument — the trumpet — and assembled a dream band of jazz musicians to record a new album.
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After a nearly five-decade career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, Flea has returned to his first…
Belá Fleck during an interview with Fredrika Whitfield on CNN.
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The fallout from the renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include President Donald…
“It’s a pleasure and an honor to interpret the music of Oscar Peterson in his native city,” said Jim Doxas in regard to celebrating the Canadian legend. “He traveled the world, but never forgot Montreal.”
Nov 18, 2025 12:16 PM
In the pantheon of jazz luminaries, few shine as brightly, or swing as hard, as Oscar Peterson. A century ago, a…
Dec 11, 2025 11:00 AM
DownBeat presents a complete list of the 4-, 4½- and 5-star albums from 2025 in one convenient package. It’s a great…
