Moving from intimate, folk-tinged lyricism to expansive ensemble statements and thoughtful tributes, here is a set that reflects a contemporary jazz landscape defined by optimism, cross-border interplay, and a spirit of exploration

Moving fluidly from New York’s new generation to Europe’s creative hubs and onward to Havana and beyond, this playlist underscores the music’s global dialogue.

A heartfelt tribute to Michel Portal, a rare artist equally at home in jazz and classical music, a prolific film composer, fearless improviser, and true multi-instrumentalist.

Here's a survey of recent albums shaped by renewal, spirituality, and collective energy.

From big band exuberance to intimate trio settings and a celebrated live document, the playlist moves through music that is vibrant, border-crossing, and deeply collaborative.

Enjoy a cross-section of today’s creative scene through a playlist that links transatlantic collaborations, distinctive singer-composers, and artists who stretch jazz beyond inherited boundaries.

A deep dive into British jazz, whether rooted in the UK or transplanted to Australia.

Here's a playlist focusing on Orchestras, Big Bands and String Quartets, at the intersection of jazz, classical, folk and Brazilian music.

Enjoy another playlist dedicated to recent and upcoming releases, where curiosity still rules, and the music often comes from just around the corner… or halfway across the world, Madrid to New York; Amsterdam to London; Brussels to Melbourne.

This playlist explores electro-acoustic projects shaped by atmosphere, texture, and studio-driven imagination, many of them drawing from the muddy, ambient legacy of Jon Hassell’s “Fourth World.” The journey then shifts focus to the next generation, closing with two emerging trombonists.

Enjoy a playlist that showcases a series of tributes connecting today’s European scene with the legacy of American jazz masters—from Don Cherry to Charlie Haden and Steve Lacy—alongside the remarkable work of established and up-and-coming composer-arrangers such as Michael Leonhart and Rebecca Trescher.

This episode -- bookended by drummers who are also adventurous composers and bandleaders -- explores the evolving landscape of contemporary jazz.

A set for piano lovers, with a particular focus on recent and newly issued solo recordings which explore spontaneity, lyricism, and the quiet intensity of unaccompanied playing.

Enjoy a playlist that brings together energy, intimacy, and creative identity, moving across projects that blur boundaries between electric and acoustic, structure and freedom.

Large ensembles are the guiding thread of this segment, approached not as monuments but as flexible, expressive forces shaped by strong compositional voices.

Enjoy the final playlist previewing the upcoming edition of the Winter JazzFest: a compressed, high-voltage snapshot of what jazz sounds like right now, and a rare chance to hear musicians who are not based in New York.

Here's playlist previewing projects and bands that will help the upcoming Winter JazzFest to launch the new jazz year.

With the 2026 edition of Winter JazzFest just around the corner, here we focus on some of the artists arriving in New York from elsewhere to briefly reshape the city’s soundscape.

The playlist features The Five Corners Quintet; Makiko Hirabayashi; Rufus Wainwright, Pacific Jazz Orchestra; Brad Mehldau; Anthony Wilson [pictured]; and Roberto Ottaviano.

As we come to the end of another year, it feels like a good moment to pause—not to summarize everything, but to listen back. This episode is built around songs that lingered, resurfaced, and quietly insisted on being remembered.

This episode of Mondo Jazz isn’t about rankings or best-of lists. It’s about memory. Over the past six months, certain pieces of music kept calling us back. Among them, are the tunes in this playlist.

In a year that often felt overwhelming, music remained a place of focus and meaning. This episode of Mondo Jazz brings together the songs from the past six months that helped make sense of the noise—or at least gave us a reason to lean in and listen.

The past six months have delivered more music than anyone could possibly absorb in real time. So this week, instead of trying to keep up, we slow things down and look back—focusing on the songs that earned repeat listens and slowly made a home in our ears.

Rather than looking back at the year as a whole, here we concentrate on the second half. What you’ll hear are the songs that stayed close, long after the initial listen.

Here is another dip into the river of new albums, focusing releases (and re-releases) worth holding on to.