JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea’s 64th birthday.
Category: jazz
Throwback: Happy 57th Birthday, Roy Hargrove!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 57th anniversary of the birth of Roy Hargrove.
Throwback: Happy 117th Birthday, Art Tatum!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 117th anniversary of the birth of Art Tatum.
New Audio: Tony Moreno Pays Tribute to Mentor and Friend Elvin Jones on “EJ’s Blues”
Elvin Jones (1927-2004) was known for redefining jazz drumming as we know it, liberating the instrument from simple timekeeping and instead treating it as a fluid, multi-layered voice. He was also famously known for being the polyrhythmic backbone of John Coltrane’s legendary quartet, contributing to some of the most beloved and influential recordings ever made.
Back in 1967, an 11-year old Tony Moreno was determined to see the legendary drummer Elvin Jones perform live for the first time, and soon realizing he was out well past his bedtime fell asleep on the table of the jazz club he was at. He was awakened by Jones, who sat down at the table, and upon leaning that the young Moreno hadn’t owned a drum set yet, invited him up to his apartment. Jones quickly assembled and gifted Moreno, a drum set, which he played on as a member of the Coltrane Quartet. The exchange kicked off decades of mentorship and friendship. (And in case you were wondering, Moreno still owns that drum set.)
For Moreno, who has worked with Dave Liebman, Barry Harris, Mal Waldron, Frank Kimbroough, and a lengthy list of others across the globe, that day in Jones’ home marked the beginning of a career that has now spanned more than 50 years. In 2024. the 20th anniversary of Jones’ death, Moreno felt that the time was right to assemble a project to pay tribute to his most formative mento and dear friend.
Intent on celebrating the titan from his own lens, he collaborated with arranger Rich Shemaria to present the music orchestrally, providing an interpretation that combines the ferocity the drummer is widely known for with the sensitivity and attention to detail that isn’t brought into the spotlight often. He eventually assembled an all-star ensemble featuring there-time Grammy Award-nominated tenor saxophonist Troy Roberts, Grammy Award-nominated pianist Manuel Valera, Grammy Award-winning percussionist Mauricio Herrera, alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius, and bassist Gene Perla, who spent the first half of the 1970s in Elvin Jones’ band.
Moreno’s newest effort, A Celebration of Elvin Jones is slated for a November 6, 2026 release through Mayimba Music. Playing tribute to his mento and friend, who gave him his first drum set, the album features ten tracks associated with Jones’ work as a bandleader with spirited new renditions that pain a portrait of the legendary drummer’s dynamism and humanity. A widely acclaimed, singular drummer, who came up in the famed Jazz Composer Orchestra Association (JCOA) loft scene, A Celebration of Elvin Jones served as a portal that transported Moreno back to the moments that sparked his profound love of the music. “Playing Elvin’s music is like going home,” he explains. “My formative years were based on the things that I learned from him, but every musician gets to a point where they realize that your own identity is paramount. It may be difficult to shed some of the history that you’ve lived in your music, but you realize at a certain point that you have to make personal statements, which took me in different directions. So this feels like returning home, and it’s been an emotional journey.”
The Jones tribute album’s first single “E.J.’s Blues” is a strutting, swinging blues that simultaneously marks Moreno’s return to his musical roots and showcases the adept, soulful musicianship of Moreno and his cast of collaborators.
Reflecting on the profound impact Elvin Jones had on him, Moreno said, “This album is a tribute to a man I consider to be my father figure. Elvin gave me a purpose, to live and grow and to be a musician, so this is my way of giving thanks.”
Throwback: Happy 107th Birthday, Art Blakey!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 107th anniversary of the birth of Art Blakey.
Throwback: Happy 109th Birthday, Thelonious Monk!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 109th anniversary of the birth of Thelonious Monk.
Throwback: Happy 81st Birthday, Donny Hathaway!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 81st anniversary of the birth of Donny Hathaway.
New Video: Sirintip Shares Dizzying, Introspective “Lotus”
New York-based Thai-Swedish producer, composer and singer/songwriter Sirintip creates work that sits at the intersection of avant-garde pop, jazz, electronic music and interdisciplinary art. Raised in Thailand by her recently departed father, Sirintip spent her teenaged years in Sweden, before relocating to the States to pursue her music and artistic career. Through her multilingual identity, she has learned to communicate in countless ways, with the understanding that expression is expression, and deeply human, no matter the context. Her musical work is ethereal yet impassioned, with her voice moving across sophisticated harmony, dense electronics and rhythmic experimentation, shaped by her musical roots, which span across jazz, pop, traditional Thai music and European classical music.
The Thai-Swedish artist has released two acclaimed albums, 2018’s Michael League-produced Tribus, which features Mark Guiliana and 2022’s Carbon, which landed on DownBeat‘s Best Albums of 2022 list. She’s a highly-sought after collaborator, who has contributed to over 50 recordings, as well as composed the score for the 1925 silent film, The Lost World.
Sirintip has toured internationally as a bandleader and as an opener for Snarky Puppy and Sungazer, performing at SJFAZZ, The Nobel Museum, Wonderfruit and Winter Jazzfest.
Her broader artistic practice spans scientific collaboration, orchestral composition and sustainability, including solar-powered concerts and bioplastic vinyl, driven by a desire to uncover connections between cultures, ecosystems, disciples and people. The Thai-Swedish artist’s interdisciplinary project Mycelium transforms scientific research on fungi and plankton through music, data signification, projections and dance.
The acclaimed New York-based artist’s Elliot Moss co-produced White Lilies EP is slated for an October 30, 2026 release through Birdwatcher Records. The six-song EP may arguably be some of her most personal songwriting to date. Thematically, the EP’s material engages with grief through place and memory with the EP being a transmission of vulnerability through music. The EP and its creative process helped Sirintip process the loss of both her father and her childhood home back in Bangkok, while connecting with listeners on the universality of memory and identity.
Rather than bring external research and scientific inquiry, White Liilies reportedly sees the acclaimed artist turning inward. Each of the EP’s songs captures the breadth of her creativity: Pop song forms are blended with electronic textures, deep grooves and elevated, often dissonant harmonies. This all emerged organically, almost unconsciously. “I was trying to write very intuitively,” she says.
For the EP, Sirintip assembled a backing band of musicians and artists, whose versatility served her vision: Kengchakaj (piano, effects), Nolan Byrd (drums), Ben Wendel (tenor sax, effects) with the acclaimed New York-based artist on vocals, vocal effects, programming and various production elements. As co-producer, Elliot Moss helped her achieve an open-minded “pop perspective” for the overall production and sound. “I’m really, really, really happy with the production,” she says.
Commissioned by Greenwich House Music School, White Lilies sees Sirintip extending its creative expression even further, moving from musical gesture to sense-memory experience. The release includes biodegradable vinyl pressings, the acclaimed artist’s original photography, album artwork from Nitcha Tothong and a scent activations.
“Lotus,” White Lilies EP‘s dizzying second and latest single features dusty, trip hop-meets-hip hop breakbeat with twinkling keys, a Thai choral vocal sample, oscillating synths and a Quiet Storm-like groove beneath Sirintip’s expressive, jazz-meets-pop delivery. “Lotus” references a famous Thích Nhất Hạnh saying “No mud, no lotus,” while thematically touching on complicated parent-child relationship and celebrating breaking traumatic cycles.
“‘Lotus’ was inspired by Thích Nhất Hạnh’s idea of ‘no mud, no lotus.’ It’s about recognizing how our families, cultures, and the things we inherit shape who we become, while still choosing for ourselves what we want to carry forward,” the New York-based artist explains. “I think we can honor where we come from without repeating every pattern we inherited. The lotus is beautiful, but without the mud, it never would have grown into the flower it is.”
The accompanying video was shot in the artist’s native Bangkok and follows her as she dances and vibes out to the song in various locales, along with the titular lotus. While offering a slice of her birthplace’s breathtaking beauty, the video is punctuated by the memories of people and places that have gone, and those people are places still with us, and the uneasy push forward of our lives.
New Audio: London’s The Filthy Six Shares Mournful “911 Blue (For George)”
London-based, Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Nick Etwell has worked with an electric and varied list of music legends and superstars including David Axelrod, Beck, Roger Daltrey, Foo Fighters, Noel Gallagher and Tom Jones, as well as a decade-plus long stint touring with Mumford & Sons. Over the years, Etwell has leaned heavily into his deep and abiding passion for Black American music, working with Carla Thomas, Ronnie Spector, Mavis Staples, Cyril Neville, Fred Wesley, Jill Scott, Thee Sacred Souls, Antibalas, Jon Cleary and Adrian Quesada.
Along with his busy schedule as a highly-sought after session player, Etwell is the founder and leader of the soul jazz outfit The Filthy Six, an act that features a collection of highly accomplished members who have worked with Amy Winehouse, Jack White, Dionne Warwick, Mark Ronson, Robbie Williams, Jamie Cullum, Duran Duran and Madness. The London-based sextet has released three albums on UK label Acid Jazz back in the 2010s, while firmly cementing themselves as one most authentic soul jazz acts in the UK — and as one of the most eclectic live acts in the UK scene.
Sonically, the London-based sextet take the blueprint of legendary Blue Note and Prestige Records artists Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Jack McDuff and others and add a bunch of modern influences to the mix, giving the classic soul jazz sound a bit of a modern sensibility and flair.
Etwell and company’s fourth album Return of The Swagger Junkies: Vol. 1 is slated for a November 27, 2026 release through Color Red. Throughout the album, their unique blend of soul jazz, funk blues and Boogaloo present musical adventures for the mind, body and soul — with a heavy dose of filthy, nasty ass funk. Trust me here, we all need a little bit of that stank in our lives, y’all. The album will also feature guest spots from longtime collaborator Snowboy on percussion.
Return of The Swagger Junkies: Vol. 1‘s first single “911 Blue (For George)” is a hauntingly gorgeous, and mournful composition that seems to channels the despair and anger of Billie Holiday‘s rendition of “Strange Fruit” that reflects on the senseless brutality of that horrible day and of a life snuffed out — on television.
Written as a tribute to George Floyd following his tragic death in Minneapolis, the composition was originally released as a standalone quartet recording featuring Snarky Puppy’s Bill Laurence. But for the subtly reworked rendition, Etwell wanted to capture the greater weight and emotional depth of the full sextet, while reflecting the darkness and pain of the subject matter.
New Audio: Elena Pinderhughes Teams Up with Immanuel Wilkins on Ethereal and Soulful Debut Single “life goes on”
Raised in the Bay Area’s progressive cultural landscape, Elena Pinderhughes is a groundbreaking composer, flutist and vocalist, who has become known for expanding jazz’s emotional range by crafting music that’s tender and sensual, mysterious and direct and grounded in a feminine creative vision without apology. Her work channels an unguarded, deeply personal voice that few in the genre have dared to show.
Informed by shaping the music of her collaborators, Pinderhughes’ work sees her seamlessly weaving R&B and neo-soul while being rooted in the jazz tradition.
Pinderhughes debut single as a solo artist “life goes on” feat. Immanuel Wilkins follows a decade of being one of the most sought-after collaborators across genres and styles: She has toured with Herbie Hancock and Chief Xian aTunde Audah, played at Coachella with Future and Metro Boomin — and sh has appeared on tracks by Giveon, Victoria Monét, Ambrose Akinmusire, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Common and a lengthy list of others.
While marking Pinderhughes’ bold step forward into the spotlight as a solo artist, “life goes on” features two of jazz’s most distinct young voices playing off one another as they trade and weave lyrical flute and saxophone lines over a harmonic piano and a propulsive rhythm section and bursts of Kid A and Amnesiac-like-glitchy electronics. The result is a composition that’s ethereal yet soulful, cinematic yet deeply introspective while effortlessly pushing the boundaries of contemporary jazz.
“I’ve been playing the flute for almost my entire life, and for so much of that time I was searching…learning everything I could, trying different things, and figuring out what actually sounded like me,” Pinderhughes says. “Somewhere along the way, I started to hear a voice emerge that felt like my own. That’s what feels different now. I’m not searching in the same way anymore. I feel like I have a sound I believe in and something of my own to say with this instrument. And now I want to show you what the flute can do. I want people to hear how powerful, beautiful, intimate and alive it can be. ‘life goes on’ feels like the beginning of a much bigger story I want to tell about what the flute can be.”
Throwback: Happy 100th Birthday, John Coltrane!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth.
New Audio: Kiefer Teams up with Shibo and Planet Giza on Strutting and Soulful “BusyForYa”
Los Angeles-based acclaimed pianist and producer Kiefer Shackelford, a.k.a. Kiefer was raised in San Diego by parents, who were both aerospace engineers and keen pianists, who both influenced him in their own way: His mother taught him at a very young age how to read music and play piano, starting with simple Bach minuets. His father was a huge jazz head, and a fan big fan of Blue Note Records in particular. who released albums by Sonny Clark and Gene Harris.
Shacklelord would endlessly listen to Kind of Blue and after reading Miles Davis‘ biography when he was 13, he knew that he wanted to become a jazz musician. During high school, he studied jazz piano with a local teacher and went to attend UCLA, where Blue Note recording artist and legendary guitarist Kenny Burrell, who was head of the school’s jazz program, became one of his tutors throughout his studies.
After completing his studies, Shackelford signed to Stones Throw Records, where he quickly established his musical identity and gained attention with a series of releases including 2018’s Happysad, 2021’s Between Days and 2023’s It’s Okay B U. Adding to a growing profile, he has collaborated with Dr. Dre, De La Soul, Pete Rock, Anderson .Paak, Terrace Martin and a growing list of others. He’s also a member of the collective FATHERS with Ben “CARRTOONS” Carr, Nate Smith and producer Kenneth Blume, who released their self-titled debut on Blue Note earlier this year.
2026 is a busy year for the acclaimed pianist: His fourth album, and Blue Note Records debut, the Kiefer, Shibo, and CARRTOONS co-produced Memory Bomb is slated for a September 25, 2026 release. The album will feature guest spots from Tony Stone, Erick The Architect, CARRTOONS, Nate Smith, Walter Smith III, Cisco Swank, Relyae, Rae Khalil, Moonchild‘s Amber Navarn, Planet Giza, and more.
Long considered one of Los Angeles’ best kept musical secrets, Kiefer has been described as a musician, who doesn’t just play keys with his fingers, but his soul. He’s a truly gifted artist, who has actively redefined that sweet spot between jazz improvisation and hip-hop beat making through a distinctive musical style, which he calls “Over The Breaks,” which reaches new heights of creativity on Memory Bomb.
The acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist is a believer in embracing new inferences and new styles through collaboration with others — and that’s where the journey to his first Blue Note bandleader album began. His first priority was to get his two best friends — CARRTOONS and Shibo — to co-produce the album with him, as they completely understood his sound, his harmonic sensibility and both are extremely adept at drum programming. The innovation through collaboration mindset extended to the inclusion of a talented cast of vocalist, rappers and musicians in interesting combinations, The result was something new and exciting while still sounding like a Kiefer-led project.
The album’s title, Memory Bomb is a poetic and metaphoric way of saying a dream. For Keifer, there are three types of dreams/memory bombs, the sort you experience when you sleep, the wishful longing type and the ambitious type — and those themes populate the direction of many of the album’s songs. Throughout the album’s runtime, there is a lyrical feel with the album’s material telling a story. It’s wistful, poetic and groove-driven, centered around the sensation of being in a dreamscape. And because of the material’s improvisational moments, the story changes every time the listener listens to it.
The album will include the previously released “NewLevels NewDevils” feat. Tony Stony, Erick The Architect and CARRTOONS, album title track “Memory Bomb” feat. Walter Smith III, Flanafi, and Shibo,” and the album’s third and latest single “BusyForYa” feat. Planet Giza and Shibo. “BusyForYa” is a soulful blend of neo-soul, R&B and pop and hip-hop built around the acclaimed pianist’s strutting and twinkling keys, a strutting bass line and swaggering hip-hop beats beneath soulful crooning and a thoughtful, conscious verse.
New Audio: My Morning Jacket and Preservation Hall Jazz Band Team Up to Tackle Neil Young’s “Like A Hurricane”
Cinema Music Group and Killphonic Records recently announced that they’ll be releasing Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Vol. 2 — Out of the Blue and Vol. 3 — Into the Black on November 6, 2026. Featuring contributions from King Princess, Draco Rosa, Lucinda Williams. Ann Wilson, Peter Frampton, LP, MJ Lendermann, Ben Gibbard, Cold War Kids, Kurt Vile and The Violators, Los Lobos and a lengthy and impressive list of others. these new volumes beautifully blend cherished classics with innovative interpretations that honor Neil Young‘s enduring and towering musical legacy.
Proceeds from the albums will benefit The Bridge School. Founded in 1986 by Neil and Pegi Young, The Bridge School to serve individuals with severe speech and physical impairments, much like their son Ben. The organization was built on a simple but powerful belief” every individual deserves the opportunity to communicate. Over the past 40 years, The Bridge School has helped transform the lives of thousands of individuals with complex communication and physical disabilities while helping shape the fields of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) through innovative education, research and professional development.
The Bridge School’s impact extends far beyond its campus. Its education model, professional training. and outreach and research programs have reached professionals, families and individuals around the globe. Through their Bridge to Life program, the organization now provides direct services, consultation, and training for individuals with communication and/or physical disabilities from infancy through adulthood. ensuring that people of all ages have access to th tools and support they need — and deserve — to communicate, participate, and thrive.
As the organization celebrates its 40th anniversary, it continues to advance the belief that communication is a fundaamental human right — and that every voice deserves to be heard.
And to support the international release of the complications. Cinema Music Group and Killiphonic Records partnered with City Slang, who will oversee physical distortion and marketing across the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, expanding the reach of the Heart of Gold project while brining all three volumes to fans through its established retail and distribution networks.
Vol 2. — Out of The Blue’s latest single features My Morning Jacket teaming up with the iconic Preservation Hall Jazz Band to tackle “Like A Hurricane.” The My Morning Jacket and Preservation Hall Jazz Band cover, lovingly retains the drunken, wistful sway and aching longing of the original while adding some subtle NOLA soulfulness to the proceedings, before building up to a passionate frenzy for the song’s coda.
“We were so honored to get to be at several of the Bridge School Benefit concerts in the past, and are so honored to once again be a part of raising funds for this amazing school, with these amazing songs of Neil Young,” My Morning Jacket’s Jim James says. “We felt like teaming up with Preservation Hall Jazz Band would add some magic to this track, so we all got together with producer Ross Hogarth down in New Orleans and recorded it live at Marigny Studios. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed playing it!”
Throwback: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”
The annual JOVM tradition: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” on September 11.