DownBeat August 2026 Featured Selections

DownBeat’s August 2026 selections celebrate the enduring artistry of jazz’s past while embracing bold contemporary voices.

The legendary WDR Big Band joins forces with acclaimed trumpeter Sean Jones on Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto, a powerful large-ensemble showcase of Inserto’s rhythmically daring and emotionally compelling compositions. With sweeping orchestration, intricate textures, and Jones’s virtuosic trumpet work, the album highlights one of today’s most distinctive compositional voices.

Also featured is pianist Mike Jones’s elegant Mike Jones with Strings, a heartfelt tribute to the timeless drummerless jazz trio tradition pioneered by Nat King Cole and Oscar Peterson. Joined by guitarist Graham Dechter and bassist Alex Frank, Jones delivers a swinging, intimate session filled with conversational interplay and classic standards performed with warmth, sophistication, and effortless charm.

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