New Jazz Releases – 06/01/2026
By Russell Perry
Charles Owens
The first Charlottesville Jazz Festival is upon us – 25 performances, on seven stages in downtown Charlottesville, over four days, Thursday through Sunday this week. Quite an achievement for the Charlottesville Jazz Society! I look forward to seeing you there.
This week we have new fine releases from two of the Jazz Fest performers – Ali Webb and Charles Owens. Additionally, I enjoyed new releases from Tyshawn Sorey, Joe Lovano, Virginia MacDonald, New Jazz Underground, Eliane Elias, David Janeway and Shuteen Erdenebaatar & Nils Kugelmann. So much amazing music!
Ali Webb & Friends – On A Clear Day (Self Produced, release 06/07/2026). Wells Hanley – piano, Randall Pharr – bass, Brian Caputo – drums, Ali Webb – vocals with Jimmy Hormel – saxophone, Jeff Cressman – trombone.
Central Virginia vocalist Ali Webb has assembled a first call regional trio for her new disc, which serves, in part, as a tribute to the great, under-rated composer Dave Frishberg. Five of the twelve tunes are by Frishberg, who wrote some of the most clever lyrics in the late twentieth century and Webb is an ideal interpreter of these witty and ironic compositions. The two compositions by Webb are cut from the same cloth and you can hear the smile in her voice. And what a band – pianist Wells Hanley (whose tenure with the Free Bridge Quintet is fondly remembered), bassist Randal Pharr (Tyler Burkhardt, Bobby Read, Adam Larrabee, Robert Jospé) and drummer Brian Caputo (Charles Owens, Bobby Read, Azul). Recommended.
Ali Webb will be releasing this CD at the Charlottesville Jazz Festival at 4:00PM on Sunday 06/07/2026 – The Guild at Vault Virginia. There will be a charge for this performance.
Columbia Icefields – A Silence Opens (Out Of Your Head Records, release 05/29/2026). Nate Wooley – trumpet / amplifier / feet / whistling / voice, Susan Alcorn – pedal steel guitar, Ava Mendoza – guitar / voice, Ryan Sawyer – drums / shakers / voice.
Trumpeter Nate Wooley assembled the Columbia Icefields trumpet – pedal steel – guitar – drums quartet for an elegiac tribute to his friend, mentor and fellow trumpeter Ron Miles. While expressing the pain of loss, the music steers clear of maudlin sentimentality. After recording these tracks, pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, a key component of the sound, passed away, making the disc doubly poignant. This emotional experience uses Miles’s own compositions as a point of departure. Lovely.
Review: The Big Takeover
Tyshawn Sorey – Members … Don’t (Pi Recordings, release 05/29/2026). Adam O’Farrill – trumpet / electronics, Mark Shim – tenor saxophone, Lex Korten – piano, Tyrone Allen II – bass, Tyshawn Sorey – drums.
Taking inspiration from Max Roach’s 1968 civil rights protest piece, Members, Don’t Git Weary, drummer / composer Tyshawn Sorey (Fieldwork, Linda May Han Oh, The Fury) has composed a suite for an adventurous trumpet / tenor quintet. The front line of trumpeter Adam O’Farrill (Elephant, previewed 03/23/2026) and tenorist Mark Shim (Patricia Brennan, Travis Reuter) carries much of the weight and does so elegantly on this live recording. I wouldn’t say that this piece is straight-ahead, but it certainly reflects more structure than we sometimes hear in Sorey’s work. This is an open door inviting more traditional listeners to peer in on the avant-jazz world of Tyshawn Sorey. Recommended.
Review: AllAboutJazz, Free Jazz Collective
Joe Lovano – Paramount Quartet (ECM, release 05/29/2026). Joe Lovano – tenor saxophone / soprano saxophone / tarogato, Julian Lage – guitar, Asante Santi Debriano – bass, Will Calhoun – drums.
Veteran tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano has provided us with a lifetime of inspiration and thoughtful music. His latest is a rather solemn and searching affair with a gifted quartet featuring guitarist Julian Lage (Scenes From Above, previewed 01/26/2026). Increasingly, there is a spiritual lean to Lovano’s music and this follows that path with his characteristic touch and tone. Recommended.
Review: Jazz Times, Post Genre, Jazz Trail
Virginia MacDonald – In Search Of … (Cellar Music, release 05/29/2026). Virginia MacDonald – clarinet, Geoffrey Keezer – piano, Ira Coleman – bass, Curtis Nowosad – drums with Laura Anglade – vocals.
Canadian-born, New York-based clarinetist Virginia MacDonald (Canadian Jazz Collective, Michael Dease) has a deep history of adding her beautiful playing to the recordings of other leaders and now she has released her debut. You may recall that MacDonald joined bass clarinetist Todd Marcus when he came to Charlottesville last fall (thank you Cville Jazz Society). What a virtuoso performer! The program of six originals and two covers also shows what a powerhouse composer she is, as well. The clarinet blends delightfully with the wordless vocals of Laura Anglade on two tracks. Highly recommended.
New Jazz Underground – Hoodies (Artwork Records, release 05/29/2026). Abdias Armenteros – tenor saxophone / vocals, Sebastian Rios – bass, TJ Reddick – drums with Elew – piano.
The spare debut of this young cordless trio is an extraordinary experience. Coming together during COVID, they became an on-line success by expressing themselves through blues, swing, funk, salsa, RnB, modern jazz and hip hop – in short many of the strains of the African diaspora. From their background as former Julliard students, they have a deep knowledge of this music broadly defined. Each of these players, about whom I know little, bring a mastery and freshness to their instruments and the collaboration. Give these cats a chance, you may like it a lot. Highly recommended
Review: Post Genre, The Big Takeover
Eliane Elias – Ao Vivo (Candid Records, release 05/22/2026). Eliane Elias – piano / vocal, Leandro Pellegrino – guitar, Marc Johnson – bass, Rafael Barata – drums.
You don’t have to be a fan of vocal jazz or Brazilian music to love this release. Pianist Eliane Elias plays beautifully on this live recording, capturing a distinctly Brazilian vibe in the context of a serious jazz piano workout. Throughout, Elias is charming, bringing a hugely positive vibe to her singing. I am not sure that her studio work has ever moved me the way this live recording has. Highly recommended.
Review: Jazz Wax
Charles Owens Quartet – The Last Late Nights (Self Produced, release 05/11/2026). Charles Owens – tenor saxophone, Jeremy Manasia – piano, Johannes Weidenmueller – bass, Hans Glawischnig – bass, Dwayne Burno – bass, Ari Hoenig – drums, Joe Strasser – drums, Daniel Freedman – drums with Jay Collins – tenor saxophone.
The new disc by Charlottesville favorite Charles Owens (The Music Tells Us, previewed 12/09/2024) is everything you would expect – spirited improvisation, fierce attack, robust tone, confident interpretations, sympathetic accompaniment – in short a terrific live recording. Sourced from six live dates at Smalls in New York over four months in 2003, during Owens’ NYC tenure, this set includes several significant quartet members including bassist Hans Glawischnig (Miguel Zenon, Billy Childs), drummer Ari Hoenig (Andrew Moorhead, Billy Childs, Andy Ezrin), and pianist Jeremy Manasia (Javon Jackson, Joe Magnarelli, Charles Ruggiero). A sturdy 5 hours plus digital release! Second only to seeing Owens live in person … and you’re in luck.
Charles Owens will be appearing with the R4ND4ZZO BIG B4ND at the Charlottesville Jazz Festival, Friday June 5, 5:30 – 8:30 PM at The Pavilion for Fridays After Five.
David Janeway – Live At The Blue Llama (SteepleChase, release 05/08/2026). David Janeway – piano, Robert Hurst – bass, Billy Hart – drums.
This live date from Ann Arbor finds pianist David Janeway in the comfortable company of a pair of veterans – bassist Robert Hurst who accompanies many accomplished pianists (Rick Roe, Kris Davis, Orrin Evans, Keigo Hirakawa) and drummer Billy Hart (Multidirectional, previewed 11/25/2026). Although not a household name, Janeway has a lovely touch that evokes the essence of several pianists like McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans. This is a lovely date. Recommended
Review: Paris Move, Making A Scene, Papatamus Redux
Kathy Ingraham – Jazz Dreams (Peirdon Records, release 03/15/2026). Randy Brecker – flugelhorn, Evan Christopher – clarinet, Pete Levin – piano / bass, William Galison – harmonica, Elliott Randall – guitar, Matt Wensor – guitar, Joel Rosenblatt – drums, Kathy Ingraham – vocals, Lily Del Rosso – backing vocals.
Singer Kathy Ingraham offers a very personal jazz-adjacent take on a set of five familiar rock tunes and two originals.
Dave Douglas – Four Freedoms (Greenleaf Records, release 01/30/2026). Dave Douglas – trumpet, Marta Warelis – piano, Nick Dunston – bass, Joey Baron – drums.
When trumpeter Dave Douglas released this disc earlier this year, it was described as his new working quartet. Interestingly enough, his subsequent release (Transcend, previewed 05/18/2026) included none of these players. Two distinct generations are represented here. Douglas and drummer Joey Baron have collaborated for decades. Bassist Nick Dunston has been a active player on the scene for the past decade with recordings with Mary Halvorson, Ches Smith, Mary LaRose and Anna Webber. Pianist Marta Wells is new to me. The title, Four Freedoms, and the players suggested to me a more outside recording that this turned out to be.
Review: AllAboutJazz, Jazz Trail, Arts Fuse
Dave Douglas – Alloy (Greenleaf Records, release 09/25/2025). Dave Douglas – trumpet, Alexandra Ridout – trumpet, David Adewumi – trumpet, Patricia Brennan – vibraphone, Kate Pass – bass, Rudy Royston – drums.
A new format for trumpeter Dave Douglas, who has experimented with many in his distinguished career, brings us a trumpet trio with a rhythm section of vibes – bass – drums. Sometimes the trumpets blend into stunning chords, sometimes they scatter like leaves in the wind and sometimes they trade lines back and forth. This commission from the Festival of New Trumpet Music breaks new ground even for the restless leader. Released in 2025, this is just now reaching our library.
Review: AllAboutJazz, Jazz Weekly
Shuteen Erdenebaatar & Nils Kugelmann – Under The Same Stars (Motema, release 09/12/2025). Nils Kugelmann – contra-alto clarinet / double bass, Shuteen Erdenebaatar – piano with Jakob Manz alto recorder, Dalaijargal Daansuren – morin khuur (Mongolian horsehead fiddle).
What a beautiful record this is! For her debut in 2023 (Rising Sun, previewed 10/16/2023), Mongolia-born, Munich-based pianist Shuteen Erenebaatar recorded with a quartet including Nils Kugelmann on bass. Her second release is mostly a duo with Kugelmann on contra-alto clarinet (seven tracks) and bass (three tracks). They do have guests on two tracks, but the dominant sound is the two of them totally in synch and the combination of their instruments makes a stately and sensual sound, ranging from jazz to classical and cinematic. Beautiful compositions by the payers, so lovely. Highly recommended.
Review: New World ’n’ Jazz, AllAboutJazz
In addition to the two Dave Douglas releases that belatedly reached us and are discussed above, we also received his latest as a CD. When it was previewed recently, we only had the digital release:
Dave Douglas – Transcend (Greenleaf, release 04/24/2026). Dave Douglas – trumpet, James Brandon Lewis – tenor sax, Rafiq Bhatia – -uitar, Tomeka Reid – cello, Ian Chang – drums.
See you at the Charlottesville Jazz Festival!
Russell Perry
Jazz at 100 Now!
If your music isn’t changing your life, you’ve simply picked the wrong songs. – Ted Gioia
