The DownBeat 2020 Gift Guide

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A four-disc Charles Mingus set is a highlight of our seasonal shopping guide for music fanatics.

(Photo: Joseph L. Johnson)

If you’re shopping for gifts this holiday season, DownBeat has got you covered with our 2020 Holiday Gift Guide.

Check out features on a new live set of Charles Mingus performances, a handful of Charlie Parker gifts to mark his centennial, vibraphonist Warren Wolf’s first holiday album, books by critic Kevin Whitehead on jazz cinema and academic Tammy L. Kernodle on the life of Mary Lou Williams. Plus, our Yuletide Music Roundup highlights the best holiday albums of 2020.

Don’t forget, 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. And don’t miss out on our weekly newsletter.

To read the Holiday Gift Guide from our December issue, click here.

To read the Yuletide Music Roundup for 2020, click here.

To order a subscription to DownBeat, or to buy a DownBeat book, hat or T-shirt, click here. DB

These stories originally were published in the December 2020 issue of DownBeat.



  • Jack_DeJohnette_by_Steve_Sussman.jpg

    ​Jack DeJohnette boasted a musical resume that was as long as it was fearsome.

  • 750x750_copy.jpg

    ​D’Angelo achieved commercial and critical success experimenting with a fusion of jazz, funk, soul, R&B and hip-hop.

  • 1_Kandace_Springs_by_Joey_Kennedy_2025_Pittsburgh_Jazz_Fest_copy.jpg

    Kandace Springs channeled Shirley Horn’s deliberate phrasing and sublime self-accompaniment during her set at this year’s Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.

  • Jim_McNeely_Courtesy_jim-mcneely.com_copy.jpg

    ​Jim McNeely’s singular body of work had a profound and lasting influence on many of today’s top jazz composers in the U.S. and in Europe.

  • Ray_Drummond_-_RI_Sutherland-Cohen_-_JAN_2019_2_copy.jpeg

    Drummond was cherished by generations of mainstream jazz listeners and bandleaders for his authoritative tonal presence, a defining quality of his style most apparent when he played his instrument unamplified.

    Bassist Ray Drummond Dies at 78

    Ray Drummond, a first-call bassist who appeared on hundreds of albums as a sideman for some of the top names in jazz…


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