The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.

​George Freeman, shown here at Chicago’s Green Mill, performed well into his 90s.

“The NDR Bigband is truly an ensemble for our times,” said Nikki Iles, principal conductor for the 2025–’26 season.

“It’s an honor and a blessing to be in this universe with Mr. Smith,” said Vijay Iyer, left, of Wadada Leo Smith, right, at the March 20 release party for their latest duo recording, Defiant Life (ECM).

A recent batch of great jazz from today’s most caliente Latin artists, clockwise from top left: Zaccai Curtis, Salsa de la Bahia, Melfis Santa, Leiba Trio, Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, Hamilton De Holanda & Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Diego Figueiredo and The John Santos Sextet & Friends.

“It sounds together, there’s nothing random, yet hardly anything was said,” saxophonist Ohad Talmor said of Back To The Land.

“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.

“I attribute the jazz elements to my upbringing in the Black American classical pedagogy, to my grandparents Kenny and Joanne Barron,” says NIKARA.

Ayers began to play the vibraphone at age 5 after seeing a performance by Lionel Hampton, who gave him a pair of vibraphone mallets.

Green rose to prominence in the 1960s, performing with jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Sonny Stitt and Elvin Jones.