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…
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have been remastered and pressed at 45 rpm on dual orange LPs housed in a gatefold cover that includes previously unpublished photos.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
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…
“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…
Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be among the headliners at this year’s DC JazzFest.
Mar 2, 2026 9:48 PM
The first wave of artists scheduled to perform at the 2026 DC JazzFest have been announced. This year’s headliners…
“These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.
Mar 10, 2026 1:43 PM
Maria Schneider is doing her part to try to fix what ails America. Which got her thinking about crows, specifically,…
Each of the 25 JAMs has delivered a poster featuring a jazz legend that is sent out to schools across the nation. This year’s poster features Tony Bennett.
Mar 30, 2026 10:20 PM
Every April for the past quarter century, something remarkable has happened across the United States and far beyond.…
