Tony Moreno Honors His Mentor Elvin Jones With A Celebration of Elvin Jones, a Powerful Tribute to a Jazz Legend

For drummer Tony Moreno, the story of his musical life begins with an extraordinary act of generosity from one of jazz’s greatest innovators. In 1967, an 11-year-old Moreno was determined to see legendary drummer Elvin Jones perform live for the first time. Finding himself out past his bedtime, the young aspiring musician eventually fell asleep on a table inside the jazz club. When Jones discovered the boy, he sat down with him, learned that Moreno did not yet own a drum set and invited him to his apartment. There, Jones assembled and gifted him a set of drums—an instrument Moreno still owns today, and one Jones had played with John Coltrane’s legendary quartet.

That encounter sparked a friendship and mentorship that would shape Moreno’s life for decades. Now, with A Celebration of Elvin Jones, arriving November 6, 2026, via Mayimba Music, Moreno pays tribute to the man who helped set his musical journey in motion. Featuring ten spirited interpretations of compositions associated with Jones’ recordings as a leader, the album captures the celebrated drummer’s power, complexity and humanity through the perspective of a musician who knew him not only as an icon, but as a friend and father figure.

The album announcement arrives alongside the release of “E.J.’s Blues,” a fiery blues performance that brings Moreno back to his musical roots and offers a compelling introduction to the project. The track reflects the spirit of the tribute as a whole: energetic, deeply felt and grounded in the rhythmic language that made Jones one of the most influential drummers in jazz history.

“This album is a tribute to a man I consider to be my father figure,” Moreno says. “Elvin gave me a purpose, to live and grow and to be a musician, so this is my way of giving thanks.”

Jones, who lived from 1927 to 2004, transformed the role of the jazz drummer through his revolutionary approach to rhythm, dynamics and improvisation. As the polyrhythmic engine of Coltrane’s celebrated quartet, he helped redefine the possibilities of the instrument on landmark recordings including A Love Supreme, My Favorite Things and Crescent. Rather than simply marking time, Jones treated the drums as a fluid, multilayered voice, creating waves of rhythmic energy that could challenge, support and propel the ensemble simultaneously.

His influence extended well beyond his years with Coltrane. As a bandleader, Jones cultivated a distinctive musical environment in which intensity and freedom coexisted with a deep respect for melody and composition. His recordings became essential listening for generations of jazz musicians, and his rhythmic vocabulary continues to shape how drummers approach improvisation today.

For Moreno, revisiting Jones’ music is a deeply personal undertaking. Over a career spanning more than half a century, he has performed around the world with artists including Dave Liebman, Barry Harris, Mal Waldron and Frank Kimbrough. Emerging from New York’s influential loft-jazz scene and the Jazz Composers Orchestra Association milieu, Moreno developed a reputation as a distinctive drummer with a broad musical perspective. Yet the lessons he learned from Jones remain central to his identity.

“Playing Elvin’s music is like going home,” Moreno says. “My formative years were based on the things that I learned from him, but every musician gets to a point where they realize that your own identity is paramount. It may be difficult to shed some of the history that you’ve lived in your music, but you realize at a certain point that you have to make personal statements, which took me in different directions. So this feels like returning home, and it’s been an emotional journey.”

That tension between honoring the past and asserting an individual voice gives A Celebration of Elvin Jones its artistic purpose. Moreno is not attempting to recreate Jones’ performances note for note. Instead, he approaches the music with the understanding of someone who absorbed its lessons firsthand and has spent decades developing his own musical language.

The project began taking shape in 2024, marking the 20th anniversary of Jones’ passing. Moreno felt the time was right to bring together a group of accomplished musicians and revisit the repertoire that had helped define his earliest musical ambitions. To realize the project, he collaborated with arranger Rich Shemaria, whose credits include work with Stevie Wonder, Michael Brecker and Lady Gaga.

Shemaria’s arrangements give the album an orchestral dimension, expanding the musical framework while retaining the intensity and rhythmic freedom associated with Jones. The approach also brings greater attention to aspects of the drummer’s artistry that can sometimes be overshadowed by his formidable power: sensitivity, melodic awareness, dynamic control and an extraordinary attention to detail.

The ensemble assembled for the recording reflects that balance of virtuosity and musical understanding. Moreno is joined by tenor saxophonist Tony Roberts, a three-time GRAMMY nominee; pianist Manuel Valera, a GRAMMY nominee; GRAMMY-winning percussionist Mauricio Herrera; alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius; and bassist Gene Perla, who spent the first half of the 1970s performing in Jones’ band.

Perla’s presence is especially meaningful. Having played directly alongside Jones during a formative period in the drummer’s career, he brings a firsthand connection to the music and its original performance tradition. Combined with the individual strengths of the other musicians, his experience helps create a setting in which the compositions can be approached with both historical awareness and fresh interpretive energy.

The album’s ten tracks explore different facets of Jones’ repertoire and musical personality. “E.J.’s Blues” opens the collection with a direct, hard-driving statement, establishing the blues foundation beneath the music’s adventurous rhythmic language. “For All the Other Times” and “Day and Night” continue the journey, while “Eclipse” and “Brite Piece” offer opportunities to explore the repertoire’s more intricate compositional and rhythmic dimensions.

“Raunchy Rita” and “New Breed” further showcase the ensemble’s ability to balance muscular interplay with expressive nuance. The inclusion of “Everything Happens to Me” brings a familiar standard into the program, broadening the emotional palette, while “Three Card Molly” adds another distinctive voice to the sequence. The album closes with “What’s Up? That’s It!,” rounding out a program designed to reflect the range of Jones’ musical vision rather than reduce his legacy to a single signature sound.

Throughout the collection, Moreno’s perspective is that of a musician returning to the source while carrying the experience of a lifetime. The performances acknowledge Jones’ influence without diminishing the individuality of the players involved. The orchestral arrangements create new possibilities for the material, while the ensemble’s rhythmic fluency keeps the music connected to the spontaneous energy that defined Jones’ work.

That balance is central to understanding Jones’ lasting impact. His contribution to jazz was not simply a matter of technical innovation or sheer physical intensity. He expanded the drummer’s expressive role, showing how rhythm could function as melody, counterpoint and dramatic structure all at once. His playing could be explosive, but it was also responsive and deeply connected to the musicians around him.

Moreno’s tribute recognizes those qualities through a personal lens. The story of the gifted drum set is more than a remarkable anecdote; it represents the beginning of a relationship that helped shape an artist’s sense of purpose. By returning to Jones’ music, Moreno reconnects with the experiences that first drew him to jazz while demonstrating how those early lessons continue to inform his own work.

A Celebration of Elvin Jones is therefore both a musical statement and an expression of gratitude. Its performances honor a giant of modern jazz while revealing the enduring influence of a mentor whose generosity extended beyond the bandstand. For Moreno, the journey comes full circle—not by abandoning the musical identity he has built over five decades, but by bringing that experience back to the music that first inspired him.

A Celebration of Elvin Jones arrives November 6, 2026, via Mayimba Music. The first single, “E.J.’s Blues,” is available now, and the album is available to pre-save online.

Full tracklist — A Celebration of Elvin Jones

1. “E.J.’s Blues”

2. “For All the Other Times”

3. “Day and Night”

4. “Eclipse”

5. “Brite Piece”

6. “Raunchy Rita”

7. “New Breed”

8. “Everything Happens to Me”

9. “Three Card Molly”

10. “What’s Up? That’s It!”

Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble Celebrate the Grateful Dead’s Blues for Allah With New Live Album

Few musicians have spent as much time moving between musical worlds as Don Was. The six-time GRAMMY-winning producer, bassist and composer has helped shape recordings across rock, blues, Americana and jazz, while maintaining a deep connection to the musical traditions of his hometown, Detroit. Now, Was is bringing two defining parts of his musical life together with Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues for Allah ’26, a new live album from Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble honoring his longtime friend and collaborator Bob Weir and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s landmark Blues for Allah.

Set for release November 20, 2026, via Verve Records, the album captures performances from the Ensemble’s recent tour devoted to the Grateful Dead’s 1975 release. The announcement arrives with the first single, “The Music Never Stopped,” a fitting introduction to a project rooted in the enduring power of the Dead’s music and the improvisational spirit that has kept its songs alive across generations.

For Was, the album carries a particularly personal significance. In 2018, he joined Weir, the Grateful Dead’s founding guitarist and vocalist, to form the Wolf Bros. The group toured extensively in the United States and internationally until Weir’s passing in 2026, creating a musical partnership that deepened Was’s appreciation for the Grateful Dead’s catalog and its devoted community of listeners.

“Playing with Bobby Weir and The Wolf Bros drew me deep into the music of the Grateful Dead,” Was says. “The songs became way more than lyrics and a chord chart — they became more like ‘friends’ that I looked forward to hanging out with night after night. We hope that this record conveys our deep respect and love for this music and for the fans who have made it such an important part of their lives.”

That sense of familiarity and affection lies at the heart of Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues for Allah ’26. Rather than approaching the material as a straightforward retrospective, Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble bring their own musical language to compositions that have long invited extended improvisation, rhythmic exploration and unexpected turns. The result is a meeting of the Grateful Dead’s adventurous repertoire and Detroit’s distinctive blend of groove, grit and soul.

The album’s six-track program draws heavily from Blues for Allah, the Grateful Dead’s seventh studio album, originally released in 1975. Known for its unconventional structures, intricate instrumental passages and willingness to push beyond traditional rock song forms, the record marked one of the band’s most exploratory creative periods. Its music provides fertile ground for Was and his ensemble, whose collective approach embraces jazz improvisation, blues expression and funk-driven rhythms.

The opening sequence, “Help on the Way” into “Slipknot!” and “Franklin’s Tower,” brings together three interconnected pieces that have long been associated with the Grateful Dead’s live performances. The suite offers a natural setting for the Ensemble’s musicians to stretch out, moving between tightly composed passages and the open-ended interplay that has always been central to the Dead’s concert identity.

“King Solomon’s Marbles” continues the exploration with a composition built around shifting rhythmic ideas and instrumental conversation, while “The Music Never Stopped” brings an unmistakable sense of forward motion. The latter’s appearance as the first single underscores its place as one of the Dead’s most enduring performances, a song whose momentum and celebratory spirit make it an ideal showcase for the Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

The program continues with “Crazy Fingers,” a composition whose intricate melodic writing and reflective atmosphere reveal another side of the band’s musical personality. “Sage and Spirit” offers a more contemplative moment before the title track, “Blues for Allah,” closes the album with one of the Grateful Dead’s most ambitious compositions. The original piece’s shifting sections and exploratory character make it a natural centerpiece for a project built around improvisation and reinterpretation.

The musicians bringing these songs to life are among Detroit’s accomplished jazz performers. The Pan-Detroit Ensemble features longtime Was collaborator Dave McMurray on saxophone, alongside drummer Jeff Canady, trombonist Vincent Chandler, vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, trumpeter John Douglas, guitarist Wayne Gerard, percussionist Mahindi Masai and keyboardist Phil Whitfield.

Together, they bring an expansive instrumental palette to the material. Horn arrangements, percussion, keyboards and guitar create opportunities for the compositions to move beyond familiar rock configurations, while the ensemble’s rhythmic foundation reflects the deep musical traditions of Detroit. The group’s strength lies in its ability to balance individual expression with a collective groove, allowing the songs to develop organically without losing their essential character.

“There’s a unique sound and feel to Detroit that permeates the music in a way that resonates all over the globe,” Was says. “There’s a rawness, a lack of pretension, and an unmistakable underlying groove that reflects the people and culture of the entire city.”

That philosophy has informed the Pan-Detroit Ensemble’s broader musical identity. The group’s 2025 album, Groove in the Face of Adversity, channeled the soul of the Motor City through a blend of steamy jazz, juke-joint blues and loose-limbed funk. The recording demonstrated Was’s ability to draw from a wide range of influences while maintaining a cohesive sound that feels both deeply personal and connected to Detroit’s musical heritage.

The new live project extends that approach into the Grateful Dead’s repertoire, revealing common ground between the band’s exploratory songwriting and the Ensemble’s jazz-centered sensibility. Both traditions value the possibilities of live performance, the interplay among musicians and the idea that a song can remain familiar while changing shape from one performance to the next.

Was’s own career makes him a natural guide for that musical conversation. Over five decades, he has established himself as one of the industry’s most respected producers, working with artists including The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, John Mayer and Willie Nelson. His production credits account for combined sales exceeding 100 million albums, while his honors include a BAFTA Award for Backbeat, an Emmy for The Beatles: The Night That Changed America and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association.

His work has also remained closely connected to the music community in Detroit. In addition to leading the Don Was Detroit All-Star Revue for more than 15 years, he co-hosts The Don Was Motor City Playlist on WDET-FM in Detroit and Dinner with Don Was on SiriusXM. His tenure as longtime head of Blue Note Records further reflects his enduring commitment to jazz and to musicians whose creativity crosses stylistic boundaries.

With Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues for Allah ’26, Was brings those experiences to a project that is as much an expression of friendship as it is a musical celebration. His years performing alongside Weir gave him a firsthand connection to the Grateful Dead’s music and the community surrounding it. The new album carries that relationship forward, honoring Weir’s legacy through performances that keep the songs moving rather than freezing them in time.

The release also arrives as the Pan-Detroit Ensemble continues its tour, with dates spanning Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine in October. The performances provide an opportunity to hear the group’s approach to the material in a live setting, where the music’s improvisational possibilities can unfold in real time.

Ultimately, Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues for Allah ’26 connects several strands of American music: the Grateful Dead’s exploratory rock, the improvisational freedom of jazz, the expressive directness of blues and the unmistakable rhythmic character of Detroit. Through Was’s personal history with Weir and the Ensemble’s collective musicianship, the album becomes a tribute that looks toward the future as much as it reflects on the past.

Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues for Allah ’26 arrives November 20, 2026, via Verve Records. The first single, “The Music Never Stopped,” is available now.

Full tracklist — Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues for Allah ’26

1. “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower”

2. “King Solomon’s Marbles”

3. “The Music Never Stopped”

4. “Crazy Fingers”

5. “Sage and Spirit”

6. “Blues for Allah”

Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble — Tour Dates

• October 9 — Kent, OH — The Kent Stage

• October 10 — Nelsonville, OH — Stuart’s Opera House

• October 11 — Buffalo, NY — Asbury Hall

• October 13 — Homer, NY — Center for the Arts of Homer

• October 14 — New York, NY — Le Poisson Rouge

• October 15 — Fairfield, CT — The Warehouse at FTC

• October 16 — Boston, MA — The Sinclair

• October 17 — Groton, MA — Groton Hill Music Center

• October 18 — Bar Harbor, ME — Criterion Theatre

Verve Records Celebrates 70 Years of Jazz Greatness With Always Hip: Verve at 70

For seven decades, Verve Records has helped shape the sound and spirit of jazz, documenting legendary performers while championing music that continues to evolve. The label brings its year-long 70th anniversary celebration to a close with Always Hip: Verve at 70, a new collection that honors its extraordinary musical legacy through a multigenerational gathering of jazz artists. Arriving November 20, 2026, on digital platforms, CD and LP, the album revisits classic compositions from Verve’s storied catalog while giving them fresh life through the distinctive voices of today’s musicians.

Produced by Grammy Award-winning drummer and producer Steve Jordan, who also performs throughout the collection, Always Hip: Verve at 70 is conceived as both a tribute to the label’s history and a living expression of its enduring musical philosophy. The album brings together an impressive roster of jazz veterans, including Ron Carter, Monty Alexander, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Rufus Reid and Lenny White, alongside a broad ensemble of instrumentalists whose contributions span generations and styles.

The first single, “Always,” features trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, pianist Monty Alexander, bassist Ron Carter and Jordan on drums, interpreting the Irving Berlin composition with the kind of seasoned interplay that anchors the project. The selection offers an inviting introduction to the album’s approach: honoring familiar material without treating it as a museum piece, allowing accomplished musicians to rediscover its possibilities through their own musical personalities.

Jordan’s role as producer is central to the collection’s identity. With a career that reaches far beyond jazz, he has collaborated with artists including Keith Richards, John Mayer, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow and Neil Young. His experience across musical worlds informs a project that values both technical sophistication and the visceral appeal of a great performance.

“Sometimes you want to hear a certain sound,” Jordan says of the album. “One that makes you feel good. One that makes you reflect. One that makes you move. ‘Always Hip’ does all of that.”

That philosophy comes through in a program that draws from a remarkable cross-section of Verve’s history. The musicians revisit compositions associated with influential figures including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Willie Bobo and Cal Tjader. Rather than simply reproducing celebrated recordings, the ensemble approaches the material as a living repertoire, allowing familiar melodies and grooves to emerge in new arrangements and fresh combinations of musicians.

The result is a collection that moves comfortably between straight-ahead jazz, organ-driven swing, Latin-inflected rhythms, modern ensemble writing and lyrical small-group interplay. “Organ Grinder Swing” brings the tradition of the swinging organ trio into focus, while “Soul Sauce (Gauchi Guaro)” and “Spanish Grease” draw on the rhythmic vitality that helped make Latin jazz and boogaloo an essential part of Verve’s musical identity.

Elsewhere, the album explores more reflective territory. Bill Evans’ “Very Early” offers an opportunity for lyrical expression, while Buster Williams’ “Song of the Outcasts” provides an expansive closing statement. The inclusion of Williams’ own composition alongside repertoire from celebrated jazz pioneers underscores the collection’s wider purpose: Verve’s legacy is not simply a catalogue of historic recordings, but a continuing conversation between artists, traditions and new ideas.

The recording location adds another important dimension. Recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio, the album connects its contemporary performers with a space deeply embedded in the history of recorded jazz. The studio’s association with landmark sessions makes it a fitting setting for a project that looks backward with respect while keeping its attention firmly on the music being made now.

Since its founding, Verve has been associated with artists and recordings that helped bring jazz to audiences around the world. Its catalog reflects the music’s breadth, from intimate vocal performances and sophisticated piano-led ensembles to adventurous improvisation and rhythmically expansive small groups. Always Hip: Verve at 70 distills that diversity into a single project, celebrating the musicians and compositions that shaped the label while demonstrating how readily their work can speak to new generations.

The album’s ten tracks also emphasize the importance of collaboration. With personnel shifting from one selection to the next, each performance creates a distinct musical setting. Jeremy Pelt’s appearance on “Always,” for example, places him alongside Alexander, Carter and Jordan, while other tracks feature ensembles built around Williams, saxophonist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, pianist George Colligan and drummer Lenny White. Across the collection, the changing combinations provide a range of textures without sacrificing the coherence of Jordan’s overall vision.

At 70, Verve’s influence remains audible not only in the recordings it has preserved but also in the way musicians continue to interpret and extend its repertoire. Always Hip: Verve at 70 captures that relationship between history and possibility, presenting jazz standards and modern classics as music that remains open to reinvention. It is a fitting conclusion to the anniversary year: celebratory without being nostalgic, rooted in tradition without standing still.

Always Hip: Verve at 70 will be released November 20, 2026, on digital platforms, CD and LP. The first single, “Always,” featuring Jeremy Pelt, Monty Alexander, Ron Carter and Steve Jordan, is available now.

Full tracklist — Always Hip: Verve at 70

1. “We See” (Thelonious Monk) — 6:06
   Buster Williams, Steve Wilson, Stefon Harris, George Colligan, Lenny White

2. “Organ Grinder Swing” (Irving Mills / Mitchell Parish / Will Hudson) — 3:14
   Mike LeDonne, Mark Whitfield, Billy Hart

3. “Always” (Irving Berlin) — 5:25
   Jeremy Pelt, Monty Alexander, Ron Carter, Steve Jordan

4. “Soul Sauce (Gauchi Guaro)” (Dizzy Gillespie / Chano Pozo) — 6:31
   Sammy Figueroa, Felipe Fournier, Bill O’Connell, James Genus, Steve Jordan, Marcos Torres

5. “A Wonderful Guy” (Rodgers & Hammerstein) — 9:17
   Monte Croft, Bill O’Connell, Rufus Reid, Nasheet Waits

6. “Spanish Grease” (Willie Bobo / Melvin Lastie) — 4:22
   Sammy Figueroa, Felipe Fournier, Antoine Roney, Clifton Anderson, Monte Croft, Bill O’Connell, James Genus, Steve Jordan, Marcos Torres

7. “Very Early” (Bill Evans / Carol Hall) — 6:53
   Bill O’Connell, Rufus Reid, Nasheet Waits

8. “Sumphin’” (Dizzy Gillespie) — 6:46
   Clifton Anderson, Antoine Roney, Bill O’Connell, James Genus, Steve Jordan

9. “Bumpin’ On Sunset” (Wes Montgomery) — 5:43
   Mark Whitfield, Mike LeDonne, James Genus, Steve Jordan, Sammy Figueroa

10. “Song of the Outcasts” (Buster Williams) — 10:02
    Buster Williams, Steve Wilson, Stefon Harris, George Colligan, Lenny White

Diana Krall Celebrates 25 Years of The Look of Love With Deluxe Anniversary Edition

Twenty-five years after it helped define one of the most distinctive sounds in contemporary vocal jazz, Diana Krall’s The Look of Love is getting a lavish anniversary celebration. A deluxe 25th anniversary edition of the acclaimed 2001 album arrives November 20, 2026, with pre-orders opening today. The release revisits a landmark recording that paired Krall’s intimate, understated vocal style and elegant piano playing with sweeping orchestral arrangements and the timeless allure of classic ballads and bossa nova.

The anniversary edition will be available as a Deluxe CD and digitally, alongside a limited-edition One-Step vinyl pressing of the original album. The Deluxe CD adds five bonus tracks, expanding the original collection and offering listeners another perspective on a recording that remains a defining moment in Krall’s celebrated career. Among the bonus selections is “But Not for Me,” which is available digitally for the first time today.

Originally released in 2001, The Look of Love marked a notable expansion of Krall’s signature sound. Known for her understated delivery, sophisticated phrasing and deeply rooted jazz sensibility, Krall embraced a more cinematic approach on the album, surrounding her performances with lush orchestral textures that brought new dimensions to familiar standards. The result was a sophisticated blend of jazz, traditional pop and Brazilian-inflected rhythms, balancing intimacy with grand musical sweep.

Much of that distinctive atmosphere can be attributed to producer Tommy LiPuma and legendary composer and arranger Claus Ogerman, whose orchestral writing gives the album its unmistakable elegance. The London Symphony Orchestra provides the sweeping instrumental backdrop, complementing Krall’s relaxed, expressive performances without overwhelming their emotional subtlety. The arrangements lend the songs a filmic quality, allowing the album to move seamlessly between romantic balladry and the gentle rhythmic sway of bossa nova.

The recording’s critical and industry recognition reflected its exceptional craftsmanship. The Look of Love earned the 2002 GRAMMY Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, along with three JUNO Awards, including Album of the Year. Its enduring reputation rests not only on its technical excellence but also on the cohesion of its musical vision: a carefully constructed world of warm vocals, refined jazz phrasing and orchestral sophistication.

The new Deluxe CD gives fans additional material to explore, with all five bonus tracks included. One of those selections, “I Love Being Here With You (Live From The Vault),” will be available digitally exclusively on iTunes, according to the release announcement. The digital availability of “But Not for Me” offers another point of interest, bringing the track to listeners for the first time in that format.

For vinyl enthusiasts, the limited-edition One-Step pressing offers a different way to experience the original 10-track album. The specialized manufacturing process is designed to preserve the recording’s clarity, depth and detail, making the edition particularly appealing to collectors and listeners who value high-fidelity playback. Each individually numbered pressing will come in a gatefold tip-on jacket featuring the original album artwork, presented in a specially designed slipcase.

The format choices reflect the album’s dual appeal as both a beloved listening experience and a carefully produced work of musical craftsmanship. The Deluxe CD and digital edition open a window onto additional material, while the One-Step vinyl focuses on the original album’s carefully balanced sound and presentation.

A quarter-century on, The Look of Love remains an important chapter in Krall’s artistic story. Its combination of jazz tradition, orchestral refinement and quietly compelling performances helped establish a musical identity that could feel both timeless and unmistakably personal. Rather than relying on vocal theatrics, Krall’s approach has always favored nuance: the subtle shift in a phrase, the unhurried pace of a melody, or the expressive space between notes.

That restraint is central to the album’s lasting appeal. Ogerman’s arrangements provide scale and color, while LiPuma’s production keeps the performances intimate and cohesive. Together, they created a recording that moves beyond a straightforward collection of standards, becoming an immersive musical statement with a distinctive atmosphere.

The 25th anniversary edition offers longtime fans an opportunity to revisit that achievement while giving new listeners a fresh entry point into one of Krall’s most celebrated recordings. With five bonus tracks, a newly highlighted digital release and a collectible audiophile vinyl edition, the anniversary campaign honors both the album’s original vision and its continuing place in modern vocal jazz.

The Look of Love (25th Anniversary Edition) arrives November 20, 2026. The Deluxe CD and digital edition will feature the five bonus tracks, while the limited-edition One-Step vinyl will present the original 10-track album in a specially packaged, individually numbered pressing.

Michael Pagán Turns Up the Heat on Burn It Forward, a Fiery New Big Band Statement

Kansas City’s jazz scene has plenty of reasons to turn up the volume this fall. Pianist, composer and bandleader Michael Pagán returns with Burn It Forward, his second big band album, arriving November 20, 2026, on Capri Records. Featuring all-original music and an 18-piece ensemble packed with some of the city’s finest jazz musicians, the album delivers a vibrant blend of post-bop, funk blues, lush balladry and hard-swinging big band energy.

Building on the promise of his acclaimed debut, Pag’s Groove, Pagán takes his orchestral ambitions further, pairing sophisticated compositions with an irresistible rhythmic drive. His signature tonal palette and formidable yet accessible harmonic approach give the music plenty of depth, but never at the expense of its swing. The result is big band jazz that rewards close listening while retaining the fire, spontaneity and forward momentum that make the music move.

Pagán’s strength lies in his ability to balance complexity with clarity. As a composer, he constructs intricate musical landscapes without losing sight of melody and groove. As a performer and bandleader, he gives those ideas room to breathe, allowing the ensemble’s collective power to shine while preserving the individuality of the musicians within it.

The personnel reads like a who’s who of Kansas City jazz, with saxophonists David Chael and Michael Herrera, bassist Louie Pagán and drummer Ray DeMarchi among the featured players. All appeared on Pagán’s well-received quintet recording Paganova, bringing an established musical rapport to the larger ensemble. That familiarity helps give Burn It Forward its sense of cohesion, even as the arrangements move between contrasting moods, textures and tempos.

The new album also extends a creative trajectory that has already earned Pagán considerable critical recognition. His first big band release, Pag’s Groove, drew praise from Bob Karlovitz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who described it as “a great display of musicianship both from a compositional and performance point of view.” Bill Brownlee of Plastic Sax has been equally enthusiastic, observing, “I’m invariably floored by the high quality of each release by the pianist, composer and bandleader.”

On Burn It Forward, Pagán answers those expectations with a program that showcases both the breadth of his writing and the versatility of his ensemble. The opening track, “Hustlin’,” immediately establishes the band’s bright, energetic character. Tight ensemble interplay, dynamic accents and a confident rhythmic pulse set the tone for an album that remains in motion even when it shifts into more reflective territory.

“Erie Ballad” brings a blues-inflected warmth to the proceedings, offering a more intimate atmosphere before the title track raises the temperature again. “Burn It Forward” is a showcase for the ensemble’s precision and intensity, with the musicians navigating feverish passages and tightly coordinated arrangements that highlight the technical demands of Pagán’s writing.

“Hawkwatcher” opens with an intricate conversation among the horns, building anticipation before the full band enters with a smooth, satisfying surge. The arrangement demonstrates Pagán’s ability to make a large ensemble feel conversational rather than simply imposing, using the interplay between sections to create movement and dramatic tension.

The album also revisits familiar territory with fresh perspective. “Pag’s Funky Groove,” a reworking of the title track from Pag’s Groove, gives an already compelling composition a new lease on life in its expanded setting. The funk-driven foundation remains central, but the larger ensemble adds new colors and dimensions, underscoring how effectively Pagán’s music translates to big band.

One of the album’s emotional high points arrives with “Deep in My Soul.” Expanded for big band from an earlier quintet version, the piece pairs a heartfelt melody with the expressive richness of the larger arrangement. Its sweet power culminates in a spectacular piano solo, placing Pagán’s instrumental voice firmly at the center of the music without diminishing the ensemble’s contribution.

“North of the River” further reveals the range of Pagán’s compositional imagination, moving beyond any single stylistic lane. That breadth continues with “I Contrafact On You,” a brisk, snappy take on Cole Porter’s classic “I Concentrate on You.” The playful title signals the jazz tradition of reworking familiar material, while the performance brings a lively, modern sensibility to the proceedings.

The closing track, “If You Have to Ask (You’ll Never Know),” takes its cue from Louis Armstrong’s famous response to the question, “What is jazz?” Pagán’s answer comes in the form of a spirited finale that brings the album’s central qualities into focus: ensemble precision, musical personality, compositional sophistication and an unshakable sense of swing.

For Pagán, the release represents another milestone in a career that has taken him throughout the United States and Europe alongside notable jazz musicians. Described by KC Confidential as a “brilliant, intense” jazz piano performer and by All About Jazz as a “dynamic artist and musical force in today's jazz world,” he remains a regular presence in Kansas City’s jazz venues, performing as a soloist, with his trio, with his quintet Paganova and at the helm of the Michael Pagán Big Band.

His work as a composer and arranger is equally substantial. With nearly 200 works to his credit, primarily in jazz, and recordings for numerous labels, including Capri Records, Pagán has developed a distinctive musical identity rooted in the tradition but open to a wide range of contemporary influences.

Burn It Forward makes a compelling case for the continuing vitality of big band jazz when it is driven by strong original writing and musicians who know how to bring it to life. The album is ambitious without becoming inaccessible, polished without losing its edge, and technically impressive without sacrificing the joy of playing together. For listeners drawn to the expressive possibilities of a large jazz ensemble, Pagán’s latest effort offers plenty to savor—and plenty of reasons to come back for another listen.

Burn It Forward arrives November 20, 2026, via Capri Records and will be available on all major streaming platforms and as a physical CD. Scores and parts for all the album’s charts will also be available, extending the music’s life beyond the recording and offering other ensembles an opportunity to explore Pagán’s arrangements firsthand.

The Sound of New York After Dark: Rediscovering CD 101.9

There was a time when the perfect soundtrack to a New York evening could be found on the radio. As the city lights came on and the streets began to glow, CD 101.9 brought smooth jazz into homes, cars, and late-night routines across the city. 

Now, that easygoing spirit lives on in a new Spotify playlist: CD 101.9 — Smooth Jazz & Chill. 

The playlist revisits the sounds that made smooth jazz a favorite companion for New York nights: silky saxophone melodies, soulful grooves, and relaxed rhythms that let the music breathe. It’s the kind of listening that can turn a quiet evening into a mood, whether you’re unwinding at home, settling in after a long day, or simply letting the city’s memories come back one song at a time. 

This isn’t music that asks for your full attention. It’s music that sets the scene. A saxophone line drifts through the room; a warm groove finds its pace; the day’s noise begins to fade. The result is a sound that feels both polished and personal—an invitation to slow down without losing the pulse of the city. 

For longtime listeners, CD 101.9 — Smooth Jazz & Chill offers a chance to reconnect with a beloved radio era. For new listeners, it’s an introduction to the smooth, soulful side of New York: sophisticated, welcoming, and made for the hours when the skyline shines brightest. 

Press play, settle in, and let the music take you back to the magic of NYC nights. 

Listen to the playlist below:

Charles A. Kelly Ignites a Latin-Jazz Groove for Personal Growth on New Single “Move It”

Transformation begins with a willingness to move forward, and R&B/jazz keyboardist Charles A. Kelly is putting that philosophy into motion with his new single, “Move It.” Released via Innervision Records, the vibrant, Latin-infused track blends festive rhythms, exuberant jazz flourishes, and a soul-driven pulse into an uplifting musical statement about overcoming obstacles and embracing life’s possibilities. Earning most-added status during its debut week, the single signals another exciting evolution in Kelly’s genre-expanding journey toward Transformation, the forthcoming double album set to complete his ambitious trilogy.

Written and produced by Kelly, “Move It” takes a bold stylistic turn, moving beyond the approach of his earlier single “Focus on Purpose,” which spent a couple of months on the charts earlier this year. Here, Kelly unleashes his piano and keyboards within an exuberant Latin-jazz soundscape, balancing sophisticated musicianship with an infectious groove that feels both celebratory and purposeful. The result is a track that invites listeners to move physically while encouraging them to make meaningful progress in their lives.

Kelly surrounds himself with an accomplished ensemble that brings depth, color, and rhythmic fire to the recording. Nine-time Billboard chart-topping guitarist Blake Aaron contributes lilting nylon-string guitar, while Nate Watts, the legendary bassist and musical director associated with Stevie Wonder, supplies a commanding low-end foundation shaped by decades of experience, including his work on Songs in the Key of Life. Cuban percussion master Luis Conte adds his distinctive rhythmic artistry, joined by drummer Tony Moore, whose driving performance keeps the arrangement in constant motion. Saxophonists Andrew Neu on tenor and Jason E. Kelly on soprano complete the ensemble with a sultry, expressive interplay that amplifies the track’s warmth and exuberance.

The musicians’ collective chemistry gives “Move It” its irresistible momentum. Conte’s percussion and Moore’s drums establish the rhythmic engine, while Kelly’s elegant keyboard lines weave through Aaron’s guitar textures and the saxophones’ rich melodic exchanges. Each contribution adds another dimension to the arrangement, creating a sound that draws from jazz sophistication, Latin musical traditions, and the accessible energy of contemporary R&B.

Yet beneath its festive exterior lies a message that is central to Kelly’s creative vision. For the Philadelphia native, who has long called the Los Angeles area home, “Move It” is about confronting the emotional and psychological barriers that prevent people from experiencing a fuller life.

“‘Move It’ is about removing obstacles in our lives that keep us from moving forward into happiness, success, and wellbeing,” Kelly said. “Fear, depression, addiction, hate, and loneliness are issues that can build walls around us. ‘Move It’ provides the energy and encouragement to break through those barriers. Life is meant to be lived freely and joyfully.”

That message gives the single a significance beyond its danceable rhythms. By translating themes of resilience, self-discovery, and personal renewal into an exuberant musical experience, Kelly connects the physical energy of the groove with the emotional work of transformation. The song’s buoyancy becomes an invitation to reject stagnation, confront limiting circumstances, and take the next step toward a more fulfilling existence.

The single also offers a preview of the larger artistic statement Kelly is preparing with Transformation, a double album scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2027. The project will conclude a trilogy that began in 2022 with You’re Not Alone, an album conceived to capture the contemporary jazz landscape of its moment. Its follow-up, Phase II, released last year, ventured further into experimentation and genre redefinition, pushing the boundaries of Kelly’s sound and expanding the conceptual framework of the series.

With Transformation, Kelly intends to bring that progression to its culmination, uniting the sonic experimentation, spiritual reflection, and creative ambition developed across the preceding albums. Rather than simply revisiting familiar territory, the double album promises to represent the next stage of an ongoing artistic evolution. One additional single is planned before the full project arrives, offering listeners another glimpse into the musical world Kelly is building.

Kelly’s multifaceted career provides a strong foundation for that expansive vision. A gold-record-winning musician, songwriter, producer, music director, and film composer, he has recorded and performed with an impressive roster of artists, including Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Elton John, and Nile Rodgers. His work also extends into contemporary Christian music, with collaborations involving CeCe Winans, Mary Mary, Jeremy Camp, and Israel Houghton. Beyond the recording studio and concert stage, Kelly demonstrated his versatility as a performer as a series regular on the landmark television series Fame.

Across these varied experiences, Kelly has cultivated a musical identity that resists easy categorization. His work moves between jazz, R&B, soul, and other stylistic influences, reflecting a willingness to explore new possibilities while maintaining a strong melodic sensibility. “Move It” captures that balance particularly well: its intricate musicianship serves an immediately accessible groove, while its uplifting message gives the performance a clear emotional center.

As the first steps toward Transformation continue to unfold, “Move It” establishes an energetic tone for the album’s larger themes of change, renewal, and forward motion. It is both a showcase for Kelly’s collaborative musical instincts and a reminder that transformation often begins with a single decision: to move beyond what holds us back and toward what makes life more meaningful. With its Latin-jazz exuberance and soul-infused optimism, the single turns that idea into a compelling call to action. 

Chad Smith Revives the Roaring Twenties Saxophone Craze on Saxophobia

 

Long before the saxophone became synonymous with the smoky clubs of the swing era and the boundary-pushing sounds of bebop, the instrument captivated American audiences with its dazzling virtuosity, comic flair and unmistakable novelty. In the 1920s, Rudy Wiedoeft emerged as the country's first saxophone superstar, bringing the instrument into the popular imagination with a repertoire that bridged ragtime, vaudeville and the earliest strains of jazz. Nearly a century later, Broadway veteran and multi-woodwind specialist Chad Smith is bringing that vibrant musical world back into focus with Saxophobia – Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s.

Released July 17, 2026, Saxophobia reimagines Wiedoeft's compositions through expansive new symphonic orchestrations, pairing the precision and brilliance of a Hollywood film score with the intimacy, humor and showmanship of Roaring Twenties popular entertainment. Available on Hybrid SACD and in immersive Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio, the album offers a contemporary listening experience designed to reveal the full richness of a repertoire that has largely remained outside the mainstream jazz canon.

Often described as the “Kreisler of the Saxophone,” Wiedoeft occupied a distinctive place in early American popular music. His technically demanding compositions showcased the saxophone's agility and expressive possibilities at a time when the instrument was still establishing its cultural identity. His music could be virtuosic without sacrificing charm, drawing on the theatricality of vaudeville and the rhythmic vitality of ragtime while anticipating elements of the jazz language that would develop over subsequent decades.

For Smith, this repertoire offers more than a nostalgic glimpse into a bygone era. It captures a moment of remarkable musical optimism, when the saxophone's possibilities seemed almost limitless and popular entertainment embraced a spirit of experimentation and spectacle. By expanding Wiedoeft's original chamber-style works into richly layered symphonic arrangements, Smith seeks to reveal the sophistication beneath the music's playful exterior.

“Wiedoeft’s music captures the undeniable excitement and optimism of the Roaring Twenties,” Smith says. “As we approach the centennial of this iconic era, Saxophobia demonstrates that everything old can become brilliantly new again.”

The album's spatial-audio presentation further enhances that ambition. Dolby Atmos allows the orchestral arrangements to unfold across a more expansive sonic environment, bringing greater definition to the interplay between solo saxophone and ensemble. The Hybrid SACD format offers another high-quality listening option for audiences seeking to experience the detail and dynamic range of the performances.

Yet Saxophobia is not simply a studio project. It also serves as the musical centerpiece of SAXOPHILM, Smith's ambitious multimedia concert production, which brings Wiedoeft's repertoire into dialogue with the visual comedy and romantic storytelling of early cinema.

First presented as a chamber ensemble at the World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok in 2009, SAXOPHILM has since evolved into a full-scale performance combining orchestra, saxophone, piano and harp with restored silent-film projections. In the production, musicians interact in real time with the on-screen action, synchronizing Wiedoeft's virtuosic showpieces with the physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Koko the Clown and the Keystone Cops.

Pieces such as “Sax-O-Phun” and “Sax-O-Trix” are particularly well suited to this combination of music and visual slapstick, drawing on the theatrical gestures and playful musical surprises that made Wiedoeft's work so distinctive. The result places the saxophone back in a context where entertainment, technical brilliance and visual spectacle are inseparable.

Smith's approach also highlights the historical connections between early popular music and the multimedia experiences audiences enjoy today. Long before synchronized sound transformed the film industry, live musicians provided the emotional and comic punctuation for silent pictures. SAXOPHILM revisits that tradition while allowing performers to respond dynamically to the action on screen, creating a living exchange between music and image.

It is a natural fit for a musician whose career has moved fluidly between Broadway, orchestral performance, studio recording and the concert stage. Smith has been a Broadway musician since 2002, appearing in productions including Legally Blonde, Follies and A Christmas Story. Since 2008, he has held a primary woodwind chair in Wicked, navigating an unusually broad range of instruments that includes bassoon, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet and flute.

That versatility reflects the demands of a profession in which musicians must move between different instrumental colors, musical styles and performance traditions with precision and ease. Smith's orchestral engagements include the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theatre and the New York Pops. Across these settings, he has shared stages with artists ranging from Tony Bennett and Aretha Franklin to Lady Gaga and Audra McDonald.

His work as a studio musician extends into film, television and streaming, with performances featured in major projects for Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Netflix. His credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, West Side Story, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Schmigadoon! and The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Such experience across orchestral, theatrical and screen music gives Smith a particularly broad perspective on the possibilities of orchestration. On Saxophobia, that background allows him to approach Wiedoeft's music not as a historical curiosity to be preserved behind glass, but as material with fresh potential for dramatic storytelling, tonal color and large-scale musical expression.

Smith also maintains a strong commitment to music education. As an adjunct professor of saxophone at Montclair State University, he founded the institution's master's program in Multiple Woodwinds, helping develop a specialist pathway for musicians who work across several woodwind instruments. A Selmer Artist and D'Addario Clinician, he performs on historic gold-plated saxophones belonging to his mentors Al Gallodoro and Ted Hegvik, connecting his contemporary career to an earlier generation of instrumental virtuosos.

That link between musical heritage and present-day practice lies at the heart of Saxophobia. Wiedoeft's compositions emerged from an era when the saxophone was a symbol of modernity, urban energy and cultural change. Smith's new arrangements revisit that excitement while giving the music a scale and sonic dimension that would have been difficult to imagine when the pieces first captivated audiences.

The album's combination of orchestral grandeur, historical repertoire and immersive audio also invites listeners to reconsider the boundaries between jazz, classical performance and popular entertainment. Wiedoeft's music resists easy categorization, and Smith embraces that ambiguity, allowing its technical demands and theatrical personality to coexist within a contemporary symphonic framework.

With Saxophobia – Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s, Smith brings renewed attention to a pioneering chapter in the saxophone's history while demonstrating how thoughtfully reimagined repertoire can speak to modern audiences. The project honors Wiedoeft's singular artistry without limiting it to nostalgia, transforming the exuberance of the Roaring Twenties into a vivid new musical experience.

Nearly a century after Wiedoeft helped establish the saxophone as a popular sensation, Smith's project suggests that the instrument's capacity to astonish, entertain and inspire remains undiminished.

Saxophobia – Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s by Chad Smith arrives July 17, 2026, on Hybrid SACD and in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio.

Ray Charles’ Live In Concert: The Complete Performance Finally Restores an Entire 1964 Shrine Auditorium Triumph

For more than six decades, Ray Charles’ legendary 1964 concert at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium existed only in incomplete form. Now, Tangerine Records has finally restored the entire 75-minute performance with Ray Charles Live In Concert: The Complete Performance, an expanded edition of the 1965 classic Live In Concert and the first-ever complete vinyl release of the unforgettable show.

Originally issued in 1965, Live In Concert captured only a portion of the performance that Ray Charles delivered at the Shrine. The album was an immediate success, earning critical acclaim and reaching the R&B Top Ten, giving listeners a tantalizing glimpse of the electrifying live show Charles had been perfecting on stages around the world. But the original LP told only part of the story.

The Complete Performance changes that. Restored to its full 75-minute running time, the new edition presents the concert as a complete portrait of Charles at the height of his powers, backed by a remarkable orchestra featuring some of the era’s finest musicians, including tenor saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman, trombonist Julius Priester and alto saxophonist Hank Crawford.

The scale of the band was essential to the sound. Newman recalled the challenge of translating Ray’s smaller group into a full big-band setting, with Quincy Jones providing arrangements from his previous big band as a starting point. Crawford similarly remembered the ensemble as a star-studded group whose individual musicians were themselves major attractions. Together, they gave Charles the kind of expansive musical platform that allowed him to move effortlessly between jazz, R&B, soul, blues and pop.

The concert also has an extraordinary backstory. Following a four-month summer tour that concluded in Europe and Japan, the Shrine Auditorium performance marked the beginning of the fall tour and filled the venue’s more than 6,000 seats. The recording itself was the secret project of Ray’s manager, Joe Adams, a former top-rated Los Angeles DJ who believed the concert needed to be preserved.

Without telling Ray Charles—or the label executives, apart from producer Sid Feller, who agreed to play along—Adams hired legendary recording engineer Wally Heider to capture the show. Heider was renowned for his ability to record large ensembles in live settings, and Adams personally paid for the session, gambling that the resulting tapes would prove valuable. His gamble paid off spectacularly. The result was a historic document of Ray Charles performing spontaneously, without the constraints of a conventional studio session.

That spontaneity is evident from the very beginning. Charles was famous for never taking the stage with a fixed set list, making every performance potentially unpredictable. After Adams’ introduction, the show opens with “Swing a Little Taste,” a roaring instrumental showcase that puts the orchestra through its paces. Priester’s contribution to the band’s book gives the piece a powerful big-band character, while Newman takes a two-chorus solo before Charles tears into a brilliant piano passage punctuated by his unmistakable vocal exclamations.

Charles then demonstrates another side of his musicianship with “Makin’ Whoopee,” delivering a stellar piano interpretation energized by the enthusiastic Shrine audience. These opening numbers make the point immediately: this is not simply a singer backed by an orchestra, but a master musician commanding a band of exceptional players.

Then comes “One Mint Julep,” introduced with Charles’ casual command to his bandleader—“Okay, the Mint.” The audience recognizes the song immediately. His 1961 R&B chart-topper receives a spicy Quincy Jones arrangement, with cha-cha-inflected horns and Charles’ choppy organ creating an irresistible groove. Significantly, “One Mint Julep” was left off the original 1965 LP, making its appearance on The Complete Performance one of the release’s major revelations.

Another crucial restoration is “Georgia On My Mind,” which was also missing from the original album. Charles takes the song at an achingly deliberate pace, beginning with ornate organ figures and an earthy vocal surrounded by graceful flute lines. The performance gradually builds toward an emotional crescendo, transforming one of his signature songs into a deeply affecting live experience.

The concert continues with an extraordinary sequence of Charles classics, including “I Got a Woman,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Hide Nor Hair,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “Hallelujah I Love Her So” and “Busted.” Each number demonstrates the breadth of Charles’ musical personality and his ability to make familiar material feel completely fresh in the moment.

The climax arrives with “What’d I Say,” the performance building organically from Charles’ piano and the rhythm section before the horn section crashes in and the Raelets answer with their unmistakable backing vocals. What begins as a song becomes a full-scale call-and-response celebration, blending rhythm, gospel, blues, humor and sensuality into the kind of communal musical experience that defined a Ray Charles concert.

And even after that extraordinary finale, the evening has one more surprise. Rather than a conventional encore, the audience gets the unexpected appearance of the “Ray Charles Choir,” which closes the proceedings with a playful “Pop Goes the Weasel” coda.

For the new edition, the original tapes have been freshly remastered by five-time GRAMMY winner Michael Graves, with Jeff Powell handling the vinyl mastering. Produced under the supervision of The Ray Charles Foundation, The Complete Performance is pressed on two 180-gram LPs and housed in gatefold packaging with expanded artwork and liner notes.

More than a historical restoration, Ray Charles Live In Concert: The Complete Performance offers the chance to hear an entire evening from one of the most commanding performers in American music. The original Live In Concert was already an essential document. With the missing material finally restored, this new edition reveals just how extraordinary the complete performance really was.

Tracklist

1. “Opening”
2. “Swing a Little Taste”
3. “One Mint Julep”
4. “I Got a Woman”
5. “Georgia On My Mind”
6. “Margie”
7. “You Don’t Know Me”
8. “Hide Nor Hair”
9. “That Lucky Old Sun”
10. “Baby Don’t You Cry”
11. “In The Evening (When the Song Goes Down)”
12. “Hallelujah I Love Her So”
13. “Making Whoopee”
14. “Busted”
15. “Don’t Set Me Free”
16. “Two Ton Tessie”
17. “My Baby”
18. “What’d I Say”
19. “Finale”

Ghost Rhythms’ Missing Times Turns Jazz, Rock, Classical and UFO Lore Into a Mesmerizing Post-Genre Journey

For two decades, the Paris-based ensemble Ghost Rhythms has been building a musical universe that refuses to stay inside conventional genre boundaries. Their latest release, Missing Times, is perhaps their most ambitious statement yet: a sprawling, beautifully constructed tour-de-force that draws equally from jazz, classical music, rock and world music while exploring ideas of time, perception, absence and the enduring mystery of UFOs.

Active in Paris since 2005, Ghost Rhythms has become one of the most distinctive post-genre ensembles on the international scene. The nine-piece collective has won numerous awards and released nine albums, developing a sound defined by morphing drum grooves, infectious bass lines, constantly shifting harmonies, world-music inflections and dizzying odd-meter polyrhythms. The result is music that can be intellectually intricate without sacrificing melody, movement or emotional immediacy.

Missing Times, their third album for Cuneiform Records, takes its conceptual starting point from one particularly strange aspect of UFO mythology: reports of alleged abductees losing their memories of what happened during their supposed encounters. For drummer and guitarist Xavier Gélard, however, the extraterrestrial mythology is ultimately only the doorway into something much more human. As he puts it, the goal was to “decolonize the UFO lore from the UFO” in order to reach the human experience underneath it.

That makes Missing Times less an album about spaceships than an album about disappearance, memory and perception. Those ideas are embedded directly into the music, with rhythmic structures continually shifting and interlocking in ways that challenge the listener’s sense of musical time. Gélard and pianist Camille Petit form the creative center of Ghost Rhythms, and throughout the ensemble’s 20-year history they have explored the relationship between interlocking rhythms and musical feel. On Missing Times, that investigation becomes central to the album’s identity.

Most of the record was recorded live in the studio, and its compositions grew organically from the album’s initial title and concept. Petit describes reaction as a fundamental part of his writing process: musical sections, counterpoints and structural ideas emerge by listening to what has already been created and responding to it. That approach helps explain the remarkable sense of motion throughout the album. Nothing feels static for long. Grooves mutate, melodies rise out of dense textures, and individual instrumental colors suddenly alter the perspective of an entire passage.

The ensemble’s influences are equally wide-ranging. Ghost Rhythms can evoke the rhythmic sophistication of John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet and the genre-blurring instincts of The Bad Plus, while also drawing on progressive-rock innovators such as National Health and the adventurous chamber-rock and avant-prog worlds of Lars Hollmer/Von Zamla, Art Zoyd and Miriodor. Yet Missing Times never feels like an exercise in stylistic collage. The various influences are absorbed into a distinctive collective language of its own.

The album’s opening track, “Quinta del Sordo,” establishes that atmosphere immediately. The piece takes its inspiration from the house where Spanish artist Francisco Goya created his infamous “Black Paintings” in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A growing dissonance moves through the composition, creating a feeling of activity and unease while simultaneously evoking isolation and loss. Gélard connects that emotional dimension to Goya’s increasing deafness and the loneliness that accompanied it, turning a historical reference into a deeply personal meditation on absence.

“Agatha” draws on another disappearance, this time the mysterious 11-day vanishing of author Agatha Christie in 1926. Ghost Rhythms transforms the story into a piece of shifting cinematic grandeur, pairing a noir-inflected melody with soaring chorus and strings. Driving grooves continually change underneath the composition before giving way to a soulful middle section supporting Petit’s plaintive, lyrical piano solo.

Elsewhere, the UFO theme becomes especially vivid on “Aux Grand Absents,” where wordless voices soar above a complex multi-meter rhythmic foundation. Accordion enters with a lighter, almost playful energy, redirecting the listener yet again. The contrast between weight and buoyancy is one of the album’s defining strengths: Ghost Rhythms can make incredibly sophisticated rhythmic music feel inviting, melodic and alive.

The title track takes a different approach. “Missing Times” develops gradually, with Petit’s lonely piano occupying the foreground as the surrounding sound becomes a mysterious investigation into absence itself. It is a strikingly restrained moment on an album otherwise full of rhythmic activity, and that contrast gives the record much of its emotional power.

At the center of the album, track seven, “Vie de Betty and Barney Hill,” is the record’s one lyric-driven composition. Inspired by the famous alleged UFO abduction of Betty and Barney Hill, the piece sounds almost like an imagined meeting between Robert Wyatt and Syd Barrett, with lonely nylon-string guitar arpeggios and strings creating a fragile, dreamlike atmosphere. Its presence might seem unexpected on such an ensemble-focused instrumental record, but it ultimately serves as a crucial point of cohesion, tying the album’s ideas of memory, mystery and human vulnerability together.

That ability to make conceptual music feel emotionally immediate is what makes Missing Times so compelling. The UFO mythology is only one layer. Beneath it are more universal feelings of longing, isolation, uncertainty and the fear of losing something—or someone—that cannot be recovered. In that sense, the album’s thematic territory connects naturally with music as seemingly distant from Ghost Rhythms as Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here: both use absence as a means of exploring the emotional spaces left behind when something disappears.

Musically, Ghost Rhythms are an extraordinarily well-drilled unit, but there is nothing mechanical about their precision. The constantly evolving rhythmic textures create the sensation of a musical organism in motion, with every player contributing to an expansive, interconnected sound. The ensemble includes Guillaume Aventurin on guitar, Julien Bigorgne on flute, Alexis Collin on accordion, Nadia Mejri-Chapelle on cello and vocals, Xavier Gélard on drums, Grégory Kosovski on bass, Morgan Lowenstein on congas, Camille Petit on piano and Rhodes, Maxime Thiébaut on alto and tenor saxophones, Bertrand Aimar on violin, Maxime Berton on soprano saxophone, and Frédéric Garcia as choir director.

The result is an album that is simultaneously intricate and accessible, cerebral and deeply melodic. Missing Times can be approached as modern jazz, chamber music, progressive rock, experimental composition or simply as the work of an ensemble that has stopped worrying about where one genre ends and another begins. Its rhythmic architecture rewards close listening, while its melodies, grooves and cinematic atmosphere provide an immediate way into the music.

Ghost Rhythms have spent 20 years developing the language that makes this possible. On Missing Times, that language reaches a particularly vivid point of expression: an expansive, darkly cinematic and often beautiful record in which jazz, chamber music, rock, world music and progressive experimentation become parts of a single musical landscape. The subject may be UFOs, but the deeper subject is human perception—the things we remember, the things we lose, and the strange spaces that exist between the two.