News, new releases and stories from the world of jazz and its surrounding culture.
The 38th Tallinn International Festival Jazzkaar, set for April 24 to May 1, 2027, has announced its first three headliners: Maria Faust and Sacrum Facere, Marquis Hill Blacktet in its Estonian debut, and Paula Morelenbaum with her daughter Dora in a tribute to Tom Jobim.
Trombonist Michael Dease's big band releases The Sleeper: The Music of Gregg Hill on Oct. 30 via Cold Plunge Records. Ten different arrangers, including Helen Sung and Michael Philip Mossman, each take on one Hill composition, with guest soloists Eddie Henderson and Virginia MacDonald.
Points of Light, the debut album by Christian McBride's quintet Ursa Major with Nicole Glover, Ely Perlman, Mike King and Savannah Harris, is out Oct. 30 on Mack Avenue Records. Terrace Martin produced it, and the only cover is George Duke's No Rhyme, No Reason.
The 63rd Jazzfest Berlin opens Oct. 29 at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with the world premiere of Anthony Braxton's new septet of four saxophones and three tubas. The festival closes Nov. 1 with a 60th-anniversary concert by Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra.
Belgium's Gent Jazz has announced the first 13 acts for its July 1-17, 2027 edition, led by Kamasi Washington and Thundercat on opening night, Gregory Porter on July 6 and Robert Plant on July 10. Tickets go on sale Oct. 30.
The 45th Tampere Jazz Happening runs Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 and is the first event in Tampere's Tullikamari Cultural Centre after a renovation of almost two years. New artistic director Martyna van Nieuwland has made the Netherlands the theme country.
French artist Erwann Gauthier has won first prize in the 8th We Want Jazz international poster competition in Warsaw, whose 2026 theme, Miles100, marked the centenary of Miles Davis. Artists from 75 countries submitted nearly 1,000 posters.
Brooklyn alto saxophonist Jon De Lucia has released The Brubeck Octet Project Strikes Again!, a second album built on archival research into the Dave Brubeck Octet, with arrangements by Dave Van Kriedt, Bill Smith and Jack Weeks that the original group never released.
Cheltenham Jazz Festival has launched the Tony Dudley-Evans Commission, inviting UK-based jazz musicians to apply for £5,000 to create an original one-hour work that will premiere at the 2027 festival. Applications close Nov. 16.
ECM Records has shared "Roma, Part VI" from Keith Jarrett's Roma, a solo concert recorded at Rome's Santa Cecilia hall on July 12, 2016. The album, due Nov. 6, is the fifth and final release from the pianist's last European solo tour.
American pianist, composer and arranger Brad Mehldau received the Edison Oeuvreprijs Jazz, the Dutch lifetime achievement honor, during a broadcast on NPO 2 on Oct. 25. Pianist Cor Bakker won the Edison Jazz audience award for Momentum Vol.1.
Roxana Amed, the Buenos Aires-born, Miami-based singer, composer and producer who blended contemporary jazz with Argentine folk, rock and poetry, died Sunday, Oct. 25, at 63, Sony Music Argentina announced.