Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
The Eyal Vilner Big Band has a new album titled Hanukkah.
(Photo: Michelle Watt)
Champian Fulton
Christmas With Champian
(Champian Records)
As evidenced by her performances on the 2017 Jazz at the Ballroom album Christmas, it’s clear that holiday genialness comes naturally to Champian Fulton. Her album Christmas With Champian finds her dispelling the deadening familiarity of dry evergreens like “Let It Snow,” allowing listeners to hear a shopworn lyric and melody as if for the first time. Her attractive singing voice and piano playing fit well with David Williams’ bass and Fukushi Tainaka’s drums. She enjoys a familial bond by having her father, trumpet/ flugelhorn player Steve Fulton, contribute to five tracks. On Fulton’s original vocal number “Merry Merry Christmas,” the only accompaniment is her expressive piano work.
Herb Alpert
The Christmas Wish
(Herb Alpert Presents)
Herb Alpert hasn’t trimmed a tree in a recording studio since 1968, but now he’s back in yuletide mode. On his new album, his trumpet crackles with joy in first-rate arrangements by Chris Walden that offer fresh approaches to chestnuts like “Santa Baby” and “Winter Wonderland.” Judicious employment of a 45-piece orchestra and 32-person choir reduces the threat of excessive elaboration. The meticulous singing of Alpert’s wife, Lani Hall, adorns the title track.
Jason Paul Curtis
These Christmas Days
(Self Release)
If there’s any justice in Santa’s world, Jason Paul Curtis and his new holiday disc will be appreciated far and wide. A Sinatra-influenced singer-songwriter based in the Washington, D.C., area, he’s got a real feel for the fun or romantic words he’s crafted for eight tuneful originals. Complementing Curtis’ pleasant charisma are a Basie-style big band called Swing Shift and his combo Swinglab.
Eugene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble
A Not So Silent Night
(MEII Enterprises)
Eugene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble recognized the stale orthodoxy of much holiday music and chose to do something about it on its new album. The Hanukkah, Noel and New Year’s songs derive a good part of their ecumenical chutzpah from the inventiveness of Marlow’s arrangements and the spry individuality of his pianism. It’s a blessing that the ensemble approaches “The Dreidel Song,” “Jingle Bells” and the rest with the right mix of audacity and familiarity.
Sultans of String
Christmas Caravan
(Self Release)
The Canadian band Sultans of String keeps imaginative imperatives in overdrive for the entirety of Christmas Caravan, a generous pitch for global unity through the music of Christmas, Kwanza and Hanukkah. These five musicians have jubilantly recharged the classics with arrangements that demand attention. “Greensleeves” has a Turkish flair as violinist Chris McKhool and the other Sultans are joined by Istanbul’s Gündem Yayli Grubu string ensemble. The Ukrainian New Year’s carol “Shchedryk” (“Carol Of The Bells”)—performed here with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra—progresses with uplifting energy. The Sultans can slow down and be reflective, too: “Silent Night” is simply beautiful.
Diana Panton
Christmas Kiss
(eOne)
Canada’s Diana Panton is a sensitive singer with a lovely voice who brings a warm glow to all 15 tracks on her new holiday album. Panton deftly uses gossamer shading and rhythmic subtlety to recondition conservative picks like “Winter Wonderland” and more thoughtfully chosen tunes, such as Ted Shapiro’s 1941 composition “Winter Weather” and John Leslie McFarland’s “Kissing By The Mistletoe.”
David Ian
Vintage Christmas Trio
(Prescott)
Pianist David Ian, a native Canadian with polite merriness to share, has delivered Vintage Christmas Trio, his third and best holiday release. Supported by the fine acoustic bassist Jon Estes and the agile drummer Josh Hunt, Ian explores the strengths of “Silver Bells,” “Good King Wenceslas,” “Up On The Housetop” and seven more tunes. Ian has an intelligent playing style, always avoiding the weak emotion that plagues less thoughtful musicians.
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
“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.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
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.
Oct 6, 2026 1:33 PM
As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
Sep 8, 2026 11:52 AM
It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Sep 17, 2026 11:00 AM
The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
