Mark Adams, Roy Ayers’ Longtime Musical Director, Releases “This Is Neo-Soul”

Keyboardist, composer, and longtime Roy Ayers music director Mark Adams returns with This Is Neo-Soul, a 10-track album arriving March 20, 2026, on DownJazz Records — the vinyl-first label founded by New York drummer David Schwartz. The album gathers fifteen all-star musicians from the bands of Roy Ayers, Chic, Lonnie Liston Smith, Luther Vandross, Gloria Gaynor, Gil Scott-Heron, and Chaka Khan, creating a modern neo-soul statement that honors a living musical language rather than a nostalgic tribute.

Adams spent more than 20 years as the keyboardist, arranger, and onstage anchor of Ayers’ touring group Ubiquity, performing thousands of shows worldwide. “It’s a Roy Ayers, ’70s sound, but we authenticated it with the people who played that music and the people trained by them,” Adams says. “I played with Roy for more than 20 years. He taught me everything. So we made this the real thing.”

Produced in collaboration with Schwartz, This Is Neo-Soul channels gospel harmony, jazz-fusion momentum, dance-music architecture, and global DJ culture. Highlights include live-captured crowd favorites such as “Don’t Stop” (originally “Don’t Stop the Feeling”), soulful reinterpretations like “Open Letter” and “Vibrations,” and nods to neo-soul pioneers with tracks like “Expansions” and “LLS Groove.” Vocalists Kimberly Davis, John Pressley, Jonathan Quash, Miya Bass, and B Carter contribute alongside instrumentalists from Ayers’ circle including Chris DeCarmine (drums), Dave Mullins (sax), Monte Croft (vibraphone), Steve Kroon (percussion), and Kenyatta Beasley (trumpet).

The album balances homage and innovation, maintaining Ayers’ harmonic depth and trance-like pocket while incorporating contemporary textures like electronic atmospheres, hip-hop production, and gospel influences. “Every other song has vocals,” Adams notes. “It’s almost like a Robert Glasper record — heavy improv with dance energy.”

A vinyl-first project, This Is Neo-Soul emphasizes warmth, depth, and physical presence. More than 200 U.S. record stores are set to stock the release and host listening sessions. A follow-up remix edition, created by twelve international DJs and producers, is planned for summer 2026, further expanding the album’s global sonic reach.

This Is Neo-Soul is both a tribute and a continuation of Roy Ayers’ legacy — a historic moment in neo-soul performed by the true heirs of the “Godfather of Neo-Soul.”

Javon Jackson Honors Bob Dylan on New Album “Jackson Plays Dylan”

Tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson pays tribute to one of America’s greatest songwriters with the spirited Jackson Plays Dylan, out March 27, 2026, via Solid Jackson Records in collaboration with Palmetto Records. Featuring Grammy-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer and Nicole Zuraitis, the album explores over three decades of Bob Dylan’s iconic songs, transforming folk anthems, protest classics, and love songs into a dynamic jazz conversation.

Jackson, who recently completed two acclaimed collaborations with the late poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, brings both musical virtuosity and personal insight to the project. “I have a deep respect for Bob Dylan’s musicianship and his commitment to the craft,” Jackson says. “I’m a fan.” Guided by Dylan’s blend of poetic sophistication, social conscience, and vulnerability, Jackson infuses the songs with fresh interpretation while honoring their original spirit.

Recorded with pianist/keyboardist Jeremy Manasia, bassist Isaac Levine, drummer Ryan Sands, and featuring Fischer and Zuraitis on vocals, Jackson Plays Dylan opens with the groove-fueled tribute “One for Bob Dylan” and moves through classics including Blowin’ in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Hurricane, Gotta Serve Somebody, Lay, Lady, Lay, and Make You Feel My Love. Fischer delivers powerhouse vocals on “Gotta Serve Somebody,” while Zuraitis lends a wistful elegance to Forever Young.

Jackson transforms landmark songs such as Tombstone Blues and Like a Rolling Stone with Coltranesque modal revisions and gospel-infused energy, while his swinging take on Mr. Tambourine Man evokes mentorship, humility, and growth—echoing his own experiences with jazz greats Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Freddie Hubbard.

Missouri-born and Berklee-educated, Javon Jackson joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1986 and went on to an acclaimed career as a recording artist and bandleader, including multiple Blue Note albums and his own Solid Jackson Records imprint. Jackson Plays Dylan continues his legacy of innovation, bridging jazz storytelling and transformative interpretation while celebrating one of America’s most influential songwriters.

Trumpeter Dave Adewumi Debuts as Leader with “The Flame Beneath The Silence”

Giant Step Arts continues its Modern Masters and New Horizons series with the debut album by rising star trumpeter Dave Adewumi. The Flame Beneath The Silence, out March 27, 2026, presents Adewumi in his first statement as a leader, supported by a powerful trio of modern jazz masters: vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Marcus Gilmore.

Praised by Jason Moran, who says, “Dave Adewumi is here. He plays with fearless charm and reckless rigor. His reach grows chorus by chorus,” and by Mary Halvorson as “one of the standout voices of his generation,” Adewumi has already captured the attention of the jazz world well before his 30th birthday.

A graduate of the New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School, Adewumi was the first jazz trumpeter awarded the prestigious Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship in 2017. His accolades include first place at the 2019 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition, the 2024 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award and Gregory Morris Composing Fellowship, and the 2025 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship. He has been recognized as a “Rising Star” in the DownBeat Critics Poll.

Recorded live at Brooklyn’s Ornithology, the album showcases Adewumi’s skills as composer, conceptualist, and collaborator. Tracks flow like a suite, with evocative titles including the opening The Flame Beneath The Silence, Infinite Loop, If I Need To Do This Again I’m Going To Throw A Fit, and the closing The Light You Left Behind. Adewumi balances meditative, celebratory, and politically conscious themes, blending the personal with the societal while maintaining a lively, generative tension throughout the album.

Influences span generations, from Louis Armstrong, Donald Byrd, and Don Cherry to Dave Douglas, Ambrose Akinmusire, and mentors such as Moran, Jason Palmer, Mary Halvorson, Frank Carlberg, and the late John McNeil. Adewumi’s compositions channel these lessons into a cohesive, expressive statement, amplified by the virtuosic contributions of Ross, Han Oh, and Gilmore.

The Flame Beneath The Silence marks a powerful debut in Adewumi’s career, heralding a new voice in modern jazz while cementing his place among both rising and established leaders in the genre.

Grammy-Winning Drummer Adonis Rose Unveils “Unusual Suspects” Featuring Vocalist Phillip Manuel

Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer, producer, and educator Adonis Rose presents Unusual Suspects, featuring the extraordinary vocalist Phillip Manuel, set for release on February 27, 2026, via Moocha Music. From the very first note, this project establishes itself as a standout in contemporary jazz, offering a masterclass in musicianship, arrangement, and emotional depth.

The ensemble features Adonis Rose on drums, Phillip Manuel on vocals, Max Moran on bass, Seth Finch on piano/Fender Rhodes, Steve Masakowski on guitar, Ricardo Pascal on tenor/soprano saxophones, and Stephen Lands on trumpet. The arrangements, crafted by Manuel and longtime collaborator Michael Pellera, balance instrumental virtuosity with the emotional weight of each song. Manuel’s rich, singular voice — reminiscent of legends like Johnny Hartman and Andy Bey yet entirely his own — shines alongside a sextet performing at the top of their craft.

Recorded in the summer of 2025 at Artisound Studios in New Orleans, the album transforms classic instrumentals and jazz standards into lyrical treasures. Highlights include Lee Morgan’s Party Time, Peter Martin’s The Unusual Suspects, Steve Masakowski’s Sixth Ward Strut, Joe Sample’s The Road Less Traveled and I’ll Love You, as well as original compositions by Manuel and Pellera. The collection is rounded out with swinging takes on Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Bill Withers’ Hello Like Before.

New Orleans runs in Rose’s veins. Hailing from a family of legendary musicians, including his father Vernon Severin and grandfather Wilfred “Crip” Severin Jr., Rose’s drumming embodies the spirit, culture, and rhythm of the Crescent City. His career includes performances and recordings with Terence Blanchard, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Harry Connick Jr., and Wynton Marsalis, as well as appearances on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the North Sea Jazz Festival, Apollo Theater, Newport Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Rose has over fifty recordings to his credit and currently serves as Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), where he develops educational and community programs.

Phillip Manuel, a native of New Orleans, brings decades of experience performing worldwide and interpreting classics from Nat “King” Cole to James Taylor, Ellington, and Gershwin. His collaboration with Rose spans years of live performances and recordings, including NOJO projects. Manuel considered retiring before Rose encouraged him to continue, and the result is this extraordinary recording.

Unusual Suspects is a celebration of artistry, musical heritage, and the enduring power of collaboration, offering listeners an immersive jazz experience that honors New Orleans’ rich musical lineage while presenting fresh, vocal-driven interpretations of beloved classics.

Kim Kaskiw Triumphs with “The Latin Jazz Fusion Project,” Turning Challenge into Musical Brilliance

In the sophisticated landscape of Canadian jazz, few stories resonate with as much emotional truth and artistic resilience as that of Kim Kaskiw. A Toronto-born, Ottawa-based vocalist, composer, and trailblazing tuba player, Kaskiw has unveiled her latest album, The Latin Jazz Fusion Project, a vibrant bridge between Latin, Jazz, Funk, and Fusion. Drawing from a life defined by music, the album celebrates the beauty of life, perseverance, and the power of creative expression.

The record’s creation is deeply intertwined with Kaskiw’s journey through a 2020 diagnosis of musicians’ focal dystonia, a neurological condition that threatened her ability to perform. Rather than retreating, she used the diagnosis as a creative catalyst, collaborating with tenor saxophonist and arranger Joey Berkley — who also lives with the condition — to craft an album that is both a triumph of will and a masterclass in musicianship. “My motto has always been: If not now, when?” says Kaskiw. “I wanted to find a way to express myself fully in the studio and cheat dystonia in the process. I think I succeeded!” The sessions, featuring stellar musicians from Toronto, Ottawa, and New York City, radiate warmth and strength.

Central to the album is the new single, “HER”, inspired by legendary vocalist Nancy Wilson. Kaskiw explains: “Nancy Wilson could deliver a song with deadly precision. I wanted to write an impactful song with a ‘hard right hook’ like she did in Guess Who I Saw Today?” The slow Bossa Nova track features a haunting harmonica solo by Normand Glaude, elevating the piece to poignant heights. Other highlights include “Come To Me,” showcasing Kaskiw’s triple-threat talent as composer, tuba player, and vocalist; the funky recovery anthem “Rise Up,” nodding to Tower of Power; and the intricate “Sol Sista,” a rhythmic tribute to her sister’s 50th birthday.

Thematically, The Latin Jazz Fusion Project explores love, loss, and the healing power of the present moment. Tracks like “Here and Now” convey empathy and hope to those who have lost loved ones, while “Black Rooster” and “Waltz for JP” reflect travel-inspired experiences and tributes to mentors. Throughout, Kaskiw’s original compositions and lyrics invite listeners into a world of emotional truth, proving that music is a powerful force for healing and uplift.

By blending jazz storytelling with modern Latin Jazz Fusion and elevating the tuba to a central role, Kaskiw not only raises awareness for musicians with focal dystonia but also celebrates the human spirit. The Latin Jazz Fusion Project is a testament to creativity as the ultimate driver of expression, even in the face of life’s most profound challenges.

Drummer Kevin Peter Jones Releases Historic Live Album “Blues Alley” with All-Star Ensemble

Drummer, producer, and arranger Kevin Peter Jones assembled an all-star band featuring GRAMMY® winners Randy Brecker and Jeff Lorber to play eight sold-out shows at the iconic Blues Alley in Washington, DC. The live set, Blues Alley, was released on Friday, January 23, on Pacific Records, making Jones one of only four artists ever granted permission to release a live recording from the storied venue.

To honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jones previewed the album by releasing a radio-friendly edit of the Cannonball Adderley classic “Walk Tall,” the nearly twelve-minute opener from the ten-track set. Joining Jones, Brecker, and Lorber are GRAMMY® nominees Eric Marienthal (saxophone) and Lenny Castro (percussion), guitarist Dean Brown, and Senegalese bassist Cheikh Ndoye, whose world music nuances add depth to the contemporary jazz session.

“I wanted to bring together musicians who don’t just play notes — they tell stories. Each musician has a voice that’s unmistakable. When you put that kind of talent in one room, the music becomes bigger than any one of us,” said Jones. “People ask if having so many strong personalities creates friction. It doesn’t — it creates magic. Everyone listens, everyone reacts, and that’s what makes jazz alive.”

Blues Alley showcases masterful musicianship, the energy of live performance, and the spontaneous magic of improvisation. Jones sets the tone with astute drumming, complex cadences, and locked-in rhythms, supporting the melodic voices of keyboards, trumpet, saxophone, and guitar without overpowering them.

The set list balances reverence for history with innovative compositions, including Lorber’s “Hudson” and “Surreptitious,” Brown’s “Solid,” and Ndoye’s “Alchemy East.” Highlights include Marienthal’s emotive sax on Donny Hathaway’s “Valdez in the Country,” Brecker and Lorber’s rich interpretation of “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” and the bluesy Chick Corea-inspired “Blue Miles.”

Jones reflects on Blues Alley as both a tribute and a celebration: “This album stands as a testament not only to the music but to the spirit of Dean Brown, whose artistry and generosity left an indelible mark on everyone he played with. Recording live in such a storied space felt less like a performance and more like joining a living legacy.”

Blues Alley tracklist:

• “Walk Tall”

• “Hudson”

• “Valdez in the Country”

• “You Don’t Know What Love Is”

• “The Evening News”

• “Blue Miles”

• “Solid”

• “Surreptitious”

• “Alchemy East”

• Percussion Solo

Flutist and Arranger David Crawford Remixes “African Nouveau” for Black History Month

Veteran flutist and arranger David Crawford — whose credits include Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige, and Bill Withers — marks Black History Month with a newly remixed version of his single “African Nouveau,” officially arriving February 6.

Since releasing “African Nouveau” last fall, Crawford listened closely to feedback from colleagues, promoters, and fans — and the message was clear: listeners wanted his flute front and center.

“On the original version, I shared the leads with the gifted trumpeter Nolan Shaheed, a longtime friend and collaborator. Nolan played with Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, and Earth, Wind & Fire, and I wanted his sound to offer another perspective in a conversation. The feedback I received was that people wanted to hear more flute. Nolan plays beautifully on the new version, but my flute takes the primary lead voice now,” Crawford explained.

Inspired by the continent he calls his “ancestral beginnings,” Crawford created “African Nouveau,” a vibrant, rhythm-forward piece filled with traditional African melodies and rhythms, layered with distinctly American sounds of modern jazz and R&B.

“African Nouveau” is the first release from Crawford’s forthcoming debut album, Something Borrowed, Something New. He plans to roll out several singles ahead of the album’s release.

A native of Compton, California, now based in Las Vegas, Crawford earned a master’s degree in music at the California Institute of the Arts. He’s a composer, producer, and arranger, producing Vesta Williams’ Billboard R&B top ten single “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” and several tracks for R&B group Woods Empire. He has performed with Stevie Wonder and Isaac Hayes, and recorded with Ahmad Jamal and The Temptations. A seasoned orchestral performer, Crawford has appeared with the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra, Santa Monica Symphony, and Burbank Philharmonic.

Big Shoulders, Big Sounds: Jimmy Farace Steps Into the Open

Big sound? Jimmy Farace has plenty of it. He uses every inch of the baritone saxophone’s range with authority and imagination, from the throaty upper register crowning his improvisation on “Just Us Blues” to the cellar-shaking depths of the kaleidoscopic cadenza on “Chelsea Bridge.” This is music that doesn’t hedge or hide—it speaks plainly, powerfully, and from the gut.

The phrase “big shoulders,” borrowed from Carl Sandburg’s immortal portrait of Chicago, carries layered meaning here. For Farace, it reflects both the city’s muscular swagger and the giants on whose shoulders he stands, particularly the masters of the baritone saxophone whose voices shaped his own. Big Shoulders, Big Sounds is a statement of purpose, one that embraces lineage while claiming space in the present.

Following his acclaimed 2025 debut Hours Fly, Flowers Die—named one of the Best Jazz Albums of the year by All About Jazz and included in Bill Milkowski’s Top 100 Jazz Albums—Farace pares the music down to its essentials. This time, there’s no piano, no harmonic safety net: just baritone saxophone, bass, and drums. Joined by two of Chicago’s most trusted musicians, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall, Farace steps fully into the light and lets the music take the risk. The result is a trio record rooted in trust, shared history, and the sheer exhilaration of discovering how much sound three musicians can summon together.

The title nods not only to Chicago, but to the baritone lineage itself. Echoes of Gerry Mulligan’s lyric clarity, Charles Davis’s depth and edge, and a broader tradition stretching from Billy Strayhorn to Sammy Fain run quietly through the record. Yet this is no exercise in nostalgia. Farace’s originals—“Cloud Splitter,” “Prophetic Dreams,” “DST,” “Decorah’s Dance,” and “Three Headed Dragon”—are deeply personal, each orbiting an emotional state: restlessness, momentum, irritation, joy, and that charged sensation that something is always about to shift.

With no chordal instrument to define the terrain, the trio operates in open air. Sommers and Hall, longtime musical partners, create a supple, breathing environment that allows Farace to move fluidly between heft and lightness, propulsion and lyricism. The music sounds expansive without ever feeling crowded, virtuosic without losing its narrative thread.

The standards—“Chelsea Bridge,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and Charles Davis’s “Just Us Blues”—function less as reinventions than as acknowledgments. They ground the album in history while highlighting how naturally the baritone saxophone can serve as a modern lead voice. Gratitude and forward motion coexist easily here.

If Farace’s debut established him as a composer with a wide emotional range, Big Shoulders, Big Sounds reveals something equally compelling: a player ready to stand at the center of the music and test its limits. Together with Sommers and Hall, he delivers a powerful addition to the trio tradition—music that soars in broad strokes, sparkles with in-the-moment discoveries, and points confidently toward what comes next.

Listeners who care about music with depth, joy, and meaning should take note. Jimmy Farace is creating work that invites you to feel—gratitude, inspiration, excitement—or simply to let go and get lost in the sound. Either way, the reward is real.

Portions of this text draw from the album’s liner notes by Neil Tesser.

While I Was Away: Julia Hülsmann Expands the Frame

After an acclaimed run of quartet recordings—from Not Far From Here (2019) through The Next Door (2022) to Under The Surface (2025)—German pianist Julia Hülsmann shifts perspective and scale with While I Was Away, a striking new project for octet. Expanding her long-standing trio-based language, Hülsmann brings together a classical core of piano, violin, and cello with a jazz rhythm section and three highly distinctive vocalists. The result is music that feels at once intimate and expansive, carefully composed yet fearlessly open.

The album blends Hülsmann originals with a personal reimagining of Ani DiFranco’s “Up Up…” and a buoyant Brazilian song by Rosanna Tavares and Zélia Fonseca, while drawing lyrical inspiration from writers such as Emily Dickinson, Margaret Atwood, and E.E. Cummings. Brazilian dance rhythms, chamber-music transparency, musical-theatre storytelling, and passages of dense free improvisation coexist naturally, forming a vivid, constantly shifting sound world. Hülsmann’s octet—Eva Klesse, Eva Kruse, Susanne Paul, Héloïse Lefebvre, Michael Schiefel, Aline Frazão, and Live Maria Roggen—functions as a true ensemble, fierce in commitment and rich in color.

The album opens with “Coisário De Imagens,” written by Fonseca and Tavares, songwriters Hülsmann describes as formative influences in the 1990s. Angolan singer Aline Frazão leads the performance, her voice riding a fast Baião pulse that immediately establishes the group’s rhythmic vitality. Frazão also takes the lead on Hülsmann’s “Hora Azul,” contributing her own Portuguese lyrics. “From the beginning,” Hülsmann says, “one of the central ideas of the project was to have everyone contribute their own character to the mix.” Frazão’s intuitive songwriting approach adds a deeply personal layer to the piece.

Norwegian vocalist Live Maria Roggen brings a contrasting Scandinavian sensibility to the album. Her pieces “Felicia’s Song” and “Moonfish Dance” unfold as lyrical narratives shaped by a highly interactive band sound, with violin and cello circling Hülsmann’s responsive piano lines. Roggen also wrote the lyrics to “Walkside,” a composition originally from Hülsmann’s quartet repertoire, now recontextualized as a bridge between her earlier work and the broader octet palette.

The three voices on While I Was Away are sharply individual yet blend with striking ease. On “Tic Toc,” they converge in a rhythmically charged, spoken-word-like unison before splintering into layered harmonies. “You Come Back” heightens the drama, with Roggen and Frazão weaving harmonies around Michael Schiefel’s intense, music-theatre-inflected narration. A longtime collaborator of Hülsmann’s since their student days in 1991, Schiefel contributes the original “Iskele,” a nocturnal ballad filled with dreamlike imagery, where the voices unite again in a luminous coda.

On “Sleep,” Frazão sings excerpts from Emily Dickinson’s “Sleep Is Supposed To Be,” juxtaposing rest and awakening as Eva Kruse’s bass solo introduces a moment of calm suspension. The instrumental section opens into spontaneous interplay, Hülsmann tracing subtle, evocative lines through the ensemble. “Up Up…,” with Schiefel on lead vocals, allows the song form to dissolve seamlessly into improvisation, giving space to drummer Eva Klesse, the strings, and the rhythm section to expand the narrative without breaking its flow.

With While I Was Away, Julia Hülsmann presents not just a new ensemble but a widened musical horizon—one where voices, strings, rhythm, and improvisation meet on equal footing. Hülsmann and her octet will present music from the album in concerts across Germany and Switzerland in March 2026.

Kind of Now: How Gregory Hutchinson Reignites the Living Legacy of Miles Davis

“Time isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing,” Miles Davis once said—and that idea sits at the very heart of Kind of Now – The Pulse of Miles Davis. Recorded under the leadership of master drummer Gregory Hutchinson, hailed by Jazz Magazine as “the drummer of his generation,” this all-star tribute arrives at a perfect moment: the centenary of one of the most innovative, influential, and iconic figures in the history of music. Rather than looking backward, Kind of Now treats Miles’s legacy as a living, breathing force, one that still shapes how the music moves today.

Across ten bold reinterpretations of classic Miles repertoire, the album traces a wide arc—from bebop roots in the 1950s to the electric openness unleashed with Bitches Brew in 1970—while three original compositions by Hutchinson extend that lineage into the present. “This project is not about trying to recreate Miles,” Hutchinson says. “It’s about continuing that conversation he started.” Born just months after Bitches Brew was released, Hutch brings more than three decades of experience with a true Who’s Who of jazz, channeling not imitation but evolution. His drumming nods to the lineage of Miles’s great rhythmic architects—Kenny Clarke, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, Al Foster—while speaking unmistakably in his own voice.

For Hutchinson, thinking about Miles’s drummers is really thinking about the evolution of the music itself. Each represented a chapter in Miles’s story, each reshaped how the music could feel. That philosophy animates Kind of Now, which swings fiercely when required and opens into modern, elastic space when the moment calls for it. As Christian McBride writes in the liner notes, there’s no shortage of Miles tribute records—but this one feels different.

The difference also lies in the band: a carefully chosen ensemble of young legends and modern lions, selected in the true Miles tradition. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire brings one of the most distinctive voices of the 21st century, honoring Miles not by copying him but by sounding unmistakably like himself. Guitarists Emmanuel Michael and Jakob Bro offer contrasting but complementary perspectives—Michael representing the next generation of voices Miles always sought, Bro painting with color, atmosphere, and space reminiscent of In a Silent Way. Saxophonist Ron Blake, a longtime collaborator of Hutchinson dating back to their Roy Hargrove days, anchors the frontline with depth and history. Pianist Gerald Clayton contributes an authoritative, forward-looking presence, while bassist Joe Sanders grounds everything with a time feel that breathes—rooted, expansive, and personal.

Together, these six musicians listen deeply, interact fearlessly, and explore familiar material in ways that invite fresh attention. Classics like “Ah-Leu-Cha,” “Seven Steps to Heaven,” and “Bitches Brew” are reimagined without leaning on the obvious, while Hutchinson’s drum interludes weave the program into a cohesive, forward-leaning statement. Kind of Now – The Pulse of Miles Davis doesn’t memorialize Miles Davis—it activates him, reminding us that his music was always about motion, risk, and now. Kind of now.

Eli Howell’s Steps Taken: A Debut Forged in Adversity, Community, and Renewal

When trombonist and composer Eli Howell set out to record his debut album, Steps Taken, he envisioned a celebratory capstone to his years at Michigan State University. Instead, the project was shaped by forces far beyond planning or control. On the morning of the scheduled recording, Howell awoke to find Lansing torn apart by a tornado. Troubadour Recording Studios—booked for a full-band sextet session—had been struck by lightning and rendered unusable overnight. With musicians already in town and no possibility of postponement, Howell, producer Michael Dease, and engineer Corey DeRushia improvised, transforming a room at MSU into a makeshift, all-in-one recording space.

What began as an emergency pivot quickly became central to the album’s identity. Recording without isolation or overdubs brought a sense of immediacy and shared energy that Howell instantly recognized. Playing live in a single room echoed the way classic jazz records were made, and that collective comfort and spontaneity became inseparable from the album’s sound. The crisis gave way to cohesion, turning limitation into creative spark.

Steps Taken also reflects a deeply personal journey. In the fall of 2023, Howell—now based in Harlem—developed focal dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that forced him to stop playing the trombone for a year. The sudden loss of physical control and the long road back reshaped not only his technique but his relationship to music itself. When he finally returned to the instrument, practice was no longer routine or obligation, but a source of renewed joy. Many of the album’s original compositions were written during this uncertain period, tracing a path through fear, recovery, and rediscovered purpose.

The personnel on Steps Taken represent both Howell’s musical ideals and the mentors who guided him. Drawing inspiration from the three-horn language of the Jazz Messengers and One for All, Howell assembled a sextet anchored by trumpeter Brian Lynch and saxophonist Sharel Cassity, whose artistry and lineage helped shape his vision. The rhythm section—pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Rodney Whitaker, and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.—includes key figures in Howell’s development, while trombone legends Wycliffe Gordon and producer Michael Dease appear as featured guests. Their willingness to lend their voices speaks to a deep sense of trust and shared investment in Howell’s journey.

The album unfolds as a narrative sequence. “Matchmaker” opens with crisp counterpoint inspired by the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack Howell grew up with, introducing the three-horn sound. “I Remember Al” follows as a high-voltage feature for Wycliffe Gordon, complete with plunger work and explosive cadenzas. Whitaker’s “For Garrison,” rendered by trombone and tenor, reflects groove-forward writing and his profound influence on Howell’s musicianship.

The tornado necessitated a second session for “A Clear Sky,” drawing in alto saxophonist Thomas Noble, pianist Miki Hayama, bassist Langston Kitchens, and drummer Colleen Clark. Inspired by a winter morning in Maine, the piece unfolds with open harmonies and a gentle, steady pulse, offering a moment of calm and clarity. At the album’s emotional center is “Reimagined,” composed during Howell’s year away from the trombone. Its tense harmonic rises and stark melody confront uncertainty head-on, capturing the vulnerability and resolve of that period.

Elsewhere, “One for Steve” pays tribute to trombonist Steve Davis and One for All, moving fluidly between swing and straight-eighth feels. “Alone Together” becomes a mixed-meter exploration propelled by Owens’s combustible swing, while “Say When” situates Howell within the lineage of J. J. Johnson through fresh harmonic turns and a conversational opening. “Dear Helen,” dedicated to Howell’s great-grandmother—a silent-film-era organist—blends classical heritage with a waltz that subtly shifts into 11, enriched by Cassity’s flute. The album closes with Raul de Souza’s “A Vontade Mesmo,” featuring Hayama, Kitchens, and Clark, and culminating in joyful valve trombone exchanges between Howell and Dease.

Released April 10, 2026 on D Clef Records, Steps Taken marks the arrival of a young trombonist deeply rooted in tradition, sharpened by adversity, and lifted by the community around him. Under extraordinary circumstances, Eli Howell created not only the debut he hoped for, but the one he needed.

Tiwayo Channels Grit, Groove, and Survival on New Single “Up For Soul”

Soul singer-songwriter Tiwayo returns with “Up For Soul,” a hard-grooving, uptempo new single and the second release from his forthcoming album Outsider, due April 10, 2026 via Record Kicks. Produced by Grammy Award winner Adrian Quesada of Black Pumas, the track arrives alongside a live performance video filmed at Quesada’s Electric Deluxe studio, capturing the raw, communal energy behind the recording.

Nicknamed “The Young Old” for his timeless, weathered voice, Paris-born Tiwayo delivers “Up For Soul” as both a celebration and a reckoning. Built from a day-long immersion in the music of Sly Stone and Johnny Guitar Watson, the song pulses with urgency and joy, locking into a tight, propulsive groove that reflects the realities of life as a working musician. As Tiwayo explains, the lyrics play with the highs and lows of his everyday existence—creative exhilaration, self-doubt, and the fragile balance required to keep going.

The recording brings together a formidable lineup anchored by musicians closely associated with the Black Pumas orbit. Jay Mumford’s drums drive the track forward, while Terin Moswen Ector’s bass, backing vocals, and congas deepen the rhythmic pocket. Joshy Soul adds rich keyboard textures and harmonies, Quesada’s guitar cuts through with swagger and restraint, and a lush string arrangement elevates the song into full-bodied soul territory. The final result is a track that grooves relentlessly while retaining emotional weight and nuance.

Threaded through the song are subtle jungle-like sounds that trace back to Tiwayo’s original demo. Rather than smoothing them away, he and Quesada chose to lean into the imagery. For Tiwayo, the jungle became a metaphor for the artistic life itself: a space that is beautiful, chaotic, unforgiving, and alive, where survival depends on instinct as much as craft. That sense of tension and movement animates “Up For Soul,” giving it both grit and cinematic flair.

The single sets the tone for Outsider, an album that positions Tiwayo as one of the most distinctive voices in modern soul. A bohemian traveler shaped by blues, gospel, and R&B traditions across continents, Tiwayo approaches soul music as something borderless and lived-in rather than retro or revivalist. Outsider captures the paradox at the heart of his identity: a Frenchman recording in Texas, a soul singer with a bluesman’s heart, always slightly outside wherever he lands.

That outsider perspective has long resonated with peers and tastemakers alike. Tiwayo has earned praise from artists such as Norah Jones, Marcus Miller, Tony Visconti, and Don Was, and has shared stages with Curtis Harding, Cody Chesnutt, and Marcus Miller. After releasing two acclaimed albums—Desert Dream and The Gypsy Soul of Tiwayo—he nearly disappeared from view, until Adrian Quesada discovered his demos and invited him to Austin. That meeting reignited the spark, leading directly to Outsider, a record defined by rawness, heart, and unfiltered soul.

In an era of polished nostalgia and carefully curated revivals, Tiwayo stands apart. “Up For Soul” makes it clear that his music isn’t about chasing trends, but about telling the truth of a life lived in motion—messy, resilient, and deeply human.

Momoko Gill Steps Into the Spotlight with Her Fearless Debut Album Momoko

Strut presents Momoko, the debut solo album from producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Momoko Gill, released February 13. Fresh from the widely praised collaborative album Clay with cult electronic artist Matthew Herbert, Gill now emerges fully in her own right, unveiling a striking and deeply personal body of work led by the pulsating single “No Others” and the electrifying, uncompromising “When Palestine Is Free.”

Long regarded as one of the UK’s best-kept secrets across electronic and jazz circles, Gill is a self-taught drummer, producer, songwriter, and vocalist whose fingerprints can be found on collaborations with Alabaster DePlume, Matthew Herbert, Coby Sey, Tirzah, and Nadeem Din-Gabisi, her creative counterpart in An Alien Called Harmony. Years of touring—behind the drum kit, at the keys, and fronting performances—have sharpened her instincts as both composer and producer, culminating in a debut that feels assured, expansive, and unmistakably her own.

Among the album’s most affecting moments is “Heavy,” released February 15, a lush and harmonically rich track where Gill’s vocals take center stage. Built around her jazz-leaning electronic production, the song unfolds with gently meandering harmonies, intricate flute lines from Tamar Osborn, and resonant harp textures by Marysia Osu. Dedicated to Gill’s close friend Matt Gordon (Pie Eye Collective), “Heavy” began as an attempt to express gratitude toward the people who make space for love and vulnerability. As Gill reflects, the song became inseparable from Gordon’s presence, allowing her to hold grief and gratitude at once, a duality that resonates throughout the album.

With Momoko, Gill presents an artistic statement shaped by instinct rather than tradition. Drawing equally from jazz, singer-songwriting, experimental music, and electronic production, she resists imitation in favor of emotional clarity and expressive freedom. Based in London and having grown up between Japan and the United States, Gill channels a broad, global perspective into her storytelling, shaped through collaboration and solitary study alike.

Across eleven tracks, the album moves fluidly through contrasting moods and textures. “No Others” showcases Gill’s jazz foundation, with bass-led momentum giving way to lush, danceable instrumentation and layered harmonic vocals. “Heavy” offers reflective warmth, while “Shadowboxing” confronts with darker, more abrasive tones before dissolving into the eerie, left-field instrumental “Test A Small Area.” Elsewhere, the deeply personal and poetic “When Palestine Is Free” stands as the album’s emotional and political centerpiece, featuring an extraordinary lineup including Shabaka Hutchings, Soweto Kinch, Alabaster DePlume, Rozi Plain, Coby Sey, Marysia Osu, and Matthew Herbert, alongside a 50-person choir. The track articulates Gill’s urgent call to confront colonial violence, racism, and systemic oppression, renewing a collective commitment to resist wherever it appears.

To mark the album’s release, Momoko Gill will perform her debut full-band headline show at London’s Jazz Café on February 13, followed by in-store performances at Rough Trade East on February 14 and Banquet Records on February 18. Momoko was produced by Gill herself, recorded at Total Refreshment Centre, mixed by Matthew Herbert, and mastered by Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios, bringing a powerful debut into sharp, resonant focus.

Craig Taborn’s Dream Archives: A Trio of Limitless Possibility

The long-anticipated trio debut from pianist and composer Craig Taborn with cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Ches Smith arrives as a bold statement of intent. Following electrifying live performances in Fall 2025—praised by Germany’s Hamburger Abendblatt as “unpredictable” and “exhilarating”—Dream Archives reveals a group operating at a rare level of shared intuition and creative freedom. The album unfolds as its title suggests: a wide-ranging musical reverie in which idioms from across history are pulled apart, recombined, and transformed into a sound world that feels entirely new.

At the heart of the record are four expansive Taborn originals, whose densely orchestrated trio exchanges give rise to dancing grooves, striking lyricism, and moments of raw abstraction. Much of the music’s originality stems from the trio’s deep three-way understanding—what Taborn describes as a modular approach rooted in the distinct personalities of the musicians involved. For Taborn, the ensemble’s potential was immediately clear, not only in terms of instrumentation but in how each player’s broad musical awareness allows ideas to be instantly recontextualized.

Tomeka Reid’s cello functions fluidly as both melodic lead and pizzicato bass foundation, existing in a constant, dynamic tension with Ches Smith’s wide-ranging percussive language—shaped in part by his background in classical percussion—and Taborn’s comprehensive command of the piano and electronics. The trio shifts idioms in the blink of an eye, moving seamlessly from a traditional jazz piano trio to contemporary chamber music and even into electronic terrain. For Taborn, this elasticity represents the broadest potential of any group he has led, where direction can change on a dime without losing coherence.

The album also pays homage to two towering influences through exuberant reinterpretations of Paul Motian’s “Mumbo Jumbo” and Geri Allen’s “When Kabuya Dances.” Taborn’s connection to Allen runs deep, dating back to witnessing one of her earliest solo performances in the mid-1980s—a formative experience that shaped his understanding of how tradition, freedom, funk, and contemporary expression could coexist within a singular compositional voice. Those same qualities resonate throughout Dream Archives, where Taborn’s own writing invites similar comparisons.

Original pieces like “Coordinates For The Absent” open vast sonic landscapes in which acoustic and electronic elements intermingle organically, while “Feeding Maps To The Fire” veers into free improvisation, propelled by alternating minimalist figures. The title track fuses slowly unfolding atmospheres with more boisterous, pointillistic gestures, balancing contrasting temperaments into a unified whole. The trio’s reading of Motian’s “Mumbo Jumbo” further distills this philosophy, taking a fragmentary theme and spreading its essence across the ensemble with quiet intensity.

Recorded in New Haven in 2024 and produced by Manfred Eicher, Dream Archives also arrives in the wake of Taborn being named a 2025 MacArthur Fellow, honored for his “unusual depth and originality” and his expansive exploration of sound, technique, and instrumentation. It stands as a powerful addition to an ECM discography that has steadily grown since his 1997 label debut with Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory and includes acclaimed releases such as Avenging Angel, Chants, Daylight Ghosts, and Shadow Plays.

While Taborn and Smith have collaborated previously on ECM projects, and each has crossed paths with Reid in other settings, Dream Archives marks the trio’s first recorded convergence—and Reid’s ECM debut. The result is music that feels open-ended yet assured, reverent of its influences yet boldly forward-looking: a document of three singular voices discovering just how far their shared language can travel.