Preview DownBeat’s Mardi Gras Playlist

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Dr. John

(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

Mardi Gras commemorates many things, but it’s a music lovers’ holiday through and through. As festivities get underway in Louisiana, Alabama and around the world, celebrate Fat Tuesday the DownBeat way by previewing our special Mardi Gras playlist from Apple Music. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, open iTunes and stream this and other DownBeat playlists any time!



  • Buster_Williams_by_Jimmy_Katz_copy.jpg

    “What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.

  • Don_and_Maureen_Sickler_by_Richard_Halterman_copy_2.jpg

    Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.

  • 241e91ef-80d3-7409-17b8-d66ab05d21a1_EE.jpg

    ​The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.

  • Darius_Jones_JazzEmAgosto_2025_By_Petra_Cvelbar.jpg

    ​This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.

  • Trio_aRT_courtesy_Trio_aRT_copy_3.jpg

    Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.