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Best albums of 2026 so far

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Jazz and jazz fusion: Hey Love! Lucy Yeghiazaryan ( spotify ). Vocal jazz by an Armenian-American. Hey Love!" was recorded at the historic Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, and released by La Reserve Records. The album serves as an affectionate, deeply felt tribute to the Great American Songbook, while also reflecting a personal milestone: it is her first recording as a new mother. Produced alongside Richard Stepanian and arranged with her husband, tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, the record features a heavy-hitting hard bop lineup including Peter Washington (bass), Kenny Washington (drums), Tardo Hammer (piano), Bruce Harris (trumpet), and guest pianist/vocalist Johnny O'Neal. Rather than treating standards as distant historical museum pieces, Hey Love! approaches them with warm intimacy and direct emotional connection. Critics have highlighted how the album frames love in its many forms—family, artistic fellowship, and romantic partnership—grounded in an unhur...
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The richest symphony in the USA.

Sucked into the bile by a NY Times article by David Allen. (The Times has lifted the limit of 10 free articles, so moving forward looks like free articles.) "As ticket sales fall, donors become more influential and orchestras operate ever more like corporations, where should power lie? Rather than debate such matters calmly, the richest orchestra in the world has devolved into a morass of anonymous quotations, destructive leaks and social media bile." I've always felt that this regime likes the evolution of more poor, more influence for donors.  Adam Nagourney and Robin Pogrebin broke the original story in the Times . 8/15/26 Some are taking what David Allen said as wrong in Slipped Disk .
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Music I'm listening to this summer

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James Brandon Lewis Omni and Deface The Currency ( Spotify ). He's a soulful jazz saxophone with some free jazz mixed in.   Sahara Blues by  Tinariwen , from Algeria, world music: Hogar (2026) spotify , YouTube . Amatssou (2023) spotify . Maya de Vitry Violet Light 2022 spotify . Country music, folk music.  Maya de Vitry - in the studio recording "All My Faith" YouTube . Begum Akhtar. I saw her in The Music Room (1958), a movie by Satyajit Ray. The Best of Hindi Ghazals spotify .  Black, Brown and Beige: Duke Ellington with Mahalia Jackson 1958 spotify . A Tick of The Tail by Genesis 1976 (2007 remaster spotify ). Utopia (2017) Bjork spotify . DOMi and JD Beck 2026 Who Asked? Spotify Mulatu Astatke :  New York–Addis–London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965–1975 . Nala Sinephro  2021 Space 1.8 spotify .  Nala Sinephro (born 1996) is a Belgian experimental jazz musician based in London. She is best known for her ambient jazz compositions, w...
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Live at Smalls

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Andrew Kushnir / Drums Chet Doxas / Tenor Sax Matt Dwonszyk / Bass YouTube
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Sonny Rollins

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Sonny Rollins passed away at 95, yesterday in Woodstock New York.  Someone said all the people in the A Great Day In Harlem famous photo are dead now. Gemini AI confirming it's true. (Miles Davis was born 100 years ago today.) Top 3 Sonny Rollins Albums on Spotify: Night At The Village Vanguard  (1957) ( Wikipedia ) Saxophone Colossus  (1956) ( Wikipedia ) Way Out West  (1957) ( Wikipedia ) All 3 playlist Links to articles: 2020 NY Times interview NY Times Obit Guardian 2022 interview
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May

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  Reddit : 5/1 Irreversible Entanglements - Future Present Past (wouldn't be surprised if this ends up my aoty) 5/2 Immanuel Wilkins - Live at the Village Vanguard 5/3 Work Money Death - A Portal to Here 5/4 Gregory Uhlmann - Extra Stars 5/5 Adam O'Farrill - Elephant 5/6 Joshua Abrams - Pulse Meridian Foliation 5/7 Harlan Silverman - Music for Stillness 5/8 Ben Wendel - BaRcoDe 5/9 Morton Feldman 1991 Rothko Chapel YouTube 5/10 Patterns In Motion: The Great Minimalists 2026 YouTube . 5/11 A Feather On The Breath Of God 1982 spotify This is the music of  Hildegard of Bingen , and wow, I quite like it even though I'm a Buddhist. I have written about my respect for her spiritual journey in 2019 when I learned about her, and I've always wanted to find her music. I'm going to look for more versions of her music. One thing you can do on Spotify is choose her as an artist, and then play all the albums. I reverse the order, go from earlier to later.  5/12 Acoustic Gr...
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