The DownBeat 2020 Gift Guide

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A four-disc Charles Mingus set is a highlight of our seasonal shopping guide for music fanatics.

(Photo: Joseph L. Johnson)

If you’re shopping for gifts this holiday season, DownBeat has got you covered with our 2020 Holiday Gift Guide.

Check out features on a new live set of Charles Mingus performances, a handful of Charlie Parker gifts to mark his centennial, vibraphonist Warren Wolf’s first holiday album, books by critic Kevin Whitehead on jazz cinema and academic Tammy L. Kernodle on the life of Mary Lou Williams. Plus, our Yuletide Music Roundup highlights the best holiday albums of 2020.

Don’t forget, DownBeat makes the perfect gift for anyone who loves jazz. We’ve got great deals on subscriptions, whether you want to read DownBeat in print, online or on your tablet. And don’t miss out on our weekly newsletter.

To read the Holiday Gift Guide from our December issue, click here.

To read the Yuletide Music Roundup for 2020, click here.

To order a subscription to DownBeat, or to buy a DownBeat book, hat or T-shirt, click here. DB

These stories originally were published in the December 2020 issue of DownBeat.



  • DB26_Joshua_Redman_Courtesy_Joshua_Redman.jpg

    A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.

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    “It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”

  • Thurman_copy.jpeg

    Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.

  • 5_Elling_Russell_Cohen_Courtesy_Signature_Cruise_Experiences.jpg

    Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.

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