Jim Hynes

Perhaps all-star Boston-based band Reckoners can cheer up these frustrated Beantown sports fans with their sophomore release, Where the Hell Am I? The collaborative made a splash with their 2024 eponymous debut that featured Susan Tedeschi on vocals on some tracks. Tedeschi is not aboard this time, but Alan Evans of Soulive returns to co-produce, and the quasi supergroup lineup remains intact.

Past albums from New York-based guitarist and singer-songwriter Chris Bergson have often straddled the line between blues and soul, especially those with vocalist Ellis Hicks. Yet, there have also been jazz tracks on his previous albums. After all, Bergson was a student of jazz great guitarist Jim Hall and has consistently expressed an affinity for Grant Green’s soul-jazz. Now, on East River Blues,

Guitarist and composer Jeff Parker r eturns with an exhilarating live set from his ETAIVtet on Happy Today (International Anthem/Nonesuch). Blame it on Parker or give him his kudos, depending on your attraction to this growing brand of immersive improvisational music that no one has yet conveniently labeled, but many are gravitating to. It has become increasingly pervasive. Parker led The New Breed in Chicago, typically described as jazz-informed psychedelic beat music. As part of Tortoise, he developed a similar approach and further refined his sound with the Chicago Underground Quartet and Isotope 217. When Parker moved to L.A. in the early 2000s and began collaborating with saxophonist and producer Josh Johnson, this improvisational blend of jazz and electronics reached a new level and has since become prominent. Whether Parker or Johnson is involved, or both, they have influenced artists from Meshell Ndegeocello to Jamie Branch to Flea to the recent album from guitarist Matthew Stevens and more. And then there is “cousin” ensemble SML, who earned artist-in-residence at this year’s Big Ears, performing a dozen sets in the round to a packed house.

Marley’s Ghost is a roots band that has proven capable of moving in several directions over its four decades together. One element of consistency is that they once again enlist Larry Campbell, who produced their last two albums. Campbell, of course, has been a mainstay of Bob Dylan’s band and the late Levon Helm’s band. And those two icons were fixtures in The Band. Yes, it’s almost heretical to compare any band to that unit, but there are some similarities. Marley’s Ghost is a band of six, most of whom play multiple instruments and five of whom are lead vocalists. Besides, both play distinctly American music. And, The Band did a covers album of original rock n’ roll songs, entitled Moondog Matinee, just as Marley’s Ghost pays tribute to the country genre here. Partly through Campbell’s urging as well as the band’s sensibilities, they dig deep here into the classic country sound.

The semi-annual Exit Zero Jazz Festival, its twenty-sixth edition, was held May 15-17, 2026, in the nation’s oldest ocean resort, Cape May, NJ, featuring many of the top performers in jazz, emerging stars and veterans alike, with a sun-splattered, ocean-facing deck that also hosted performances, on a weekend that offered practically summer weather. All performances in Convention Hall were strong and offered something special. There were no club visits for yours truly, but the Festival added a small, intimate performing space, The Clemans Theater for the Arts, which was a handsome addition.

Most of today’s jazz fans recognize pianist Emmet Cohen from his popular livestream series, Live From Emmet’s Place. Though Cohen typically plays in the piano trio format, he has a legacy of inviting prominent guests to his livestream series. Still, other than his Master Legacy Series, Cohen’s albums have mostly featured his trio at the time. So, playing and touring with a quintet is rather new. His Centennial Tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane tour has already concluded as we write this, with his Universal Truth album as the underlying foundation. The album quintet features his current trio of bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Joe Farnsworth alongside trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and tenor saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, both of whom have appeared on Live From Emmet’s Place multiple times.

Typically, we associate the piano trio with jazz, and a power trio in rock is generally led by a guitarist. Drummer Jimmy Lester, bassist/songwriter/ singer/ bandleader Mark W. Winchester, and keyboardist Kevin McKendree, all Nashvillians, flip the script on They Got It All. The trio laid down these tracks in two days live at McKendree’s well-frequented Rock House studio in Franklin, TN. Winchester contributed the original songs, and two instrumentals were collaboratively developed in the studio. McKendree, a member of Delbert McClinton’s band, produced some great records for his bandleader and both produces and engineers here.

What began as a rather bizarre concept has fully blossomed, seven chapters in. Arguably, The Claudettes are the only band to successfully meld soul, rock, punk, and cabaret into an intoxicating stew. The juxtaposition of the two words in the title of Garage Glamour

Since 2023, the Alvaro Torres trio – pianist Torres, bassist Masa Kamaguchi, and drummer Kresten Osgood – has uniquely merged the languages of post-bop, fr

Rodney Crowell ’s string of 2001’s Houston Kid, 2003’s Fate’s Right Hand, and 2005’s The Outsider, a trilogy of sorts, are as strong as any three consecutive albums in Americana. He attempted to continue this momentum in 2005 by going into the studio with the same band, including Steuart Smith on guitar, and co-producing with Crowell, along with Benmont Tench joining on organ. He was attempting to vary the script somewhat, but was uncomfortable with the results, feeling it was too similar to the trilogy aesthetic. Twenty years later, he found the album in his vaults and felt it was the right time to release it.