After a couple of weeks focusing on some of our favorite tunes from the first half of the year here we are back on our night road to some of the most exciting new and upcoming releases, many of them with a cinematic and nocturnal vibe.

Africana to Americana and beyond in the final installment of our retrospective of some of the most memorable tunes we got to hear during the first half of the year.

Last week we focused our playlist on some of our favorite tracks from the first six months of the year. Evidently two hours were not enough and we could not play them all… so here we are going through the rest of the best.

A retrospective of some of the most compelling tunes we heard in the first half of 2023, distilled for your enjoyment.

The first half of the year has brought us plenty of great new albums. Let's look back at some of the tunes and compositions which have left a mark during these six months.

Ambition does not have to be an expression of self-centeredness. It may be, and should be, the pursuit of high achievements, and the realization of broad and innovative visions. This playlist is bursting at the seams with music driven by the good kind of ambition...

This week we focus on a bunch of projects that put in a blender lots of seemingly disparate elements and come up with their own signature sounds, from the edgy to the smooth.

This week we looking into both the jazz side of Prince, including the unexpressed potentials of his collaboration with Miles Davis, as well as covers of his music by notable jazz players from Nina Simone to Joshua Redman.

Prince who would have turned 65 this year. He may have left us over 7 years ago, but the influence of his music continues unequalled, including on the world of jazz, with which he's often flirted. Here a selection of some of the most interesting examples of "purple jazz", including some extended jamming by Prince himself.

A remembrance of Karl Berger, the stunning new album by Magos Herrera [pictured], and a whole bunch of projects you can find along the Johannesburg-New York-Chicago expressway.

A tribute to Tina Turner opens a show featuring music characterized by a deliberate desire to blur the lines between jazz and other genres, be it pop, R&B, world music or church music, and to do so with the most wonderful arrangements.

From projects inspired by African traditions to jazz spiked with hard-rock, passing through some fascinating chamber influences, this week's playlist showcases the creativity, breadth and depth of today's international jazz scene.

This week we focus on two of the most vibrant scenes in Northern Europe, Amsterdam and Berlin. Along the way we hop from Copenhagen to New York with a few more stops on the way. Enjoy some of the freshest jazz projects out there.

Around the world in a playlist, which features Latin and Caribbean influeces, touches of Indian music, spiritual jazz, Brazilian aromas, microtonal atmospheres, and visceral electro-acoustic outbursts.

A special focus on the deep, eclectic and exciting LA scene in this hour of Mondo Jazz, which then concludes with an unearthed gem by Chet Baker from the late 70s.

This week we focus on three fascinating releases which celebrate the genius and legacy of Don Cherry, after starting with a tribute to Led Zeppelin, Emma Rawicz's new project, one of the best piano trios I've heard in a long time, lead by a drummer, and new music by Michael Formanek.

Welcome to an edition of Mondo Jazz under the sign of groove and high energy feelgood releases.

Here is our weekly merry-go-round of recent and upcoming albums, which this time will feature great saxophonists, up and coming composers, and various projects showing that jazz is the most inclusive genre out there, welcoming any source of inspiration from Baroque to Brazilian to Flamenco.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, Ben Wendel and Kurt Rosenwinkel [pictured] are the threads bridging the various parts of this week's show which, in turn, is like a bridge between Europe and the US.

Strings, strings and more strings in this episode... from those of Brandee Younger's and Dorothy Ashby's harps, to those of the Ulysses String Quartet; from those of the guitars of Marc Ribot, Mariusz Sobanski and Guillaume Vierset, to those of the basses of Meshell Ndegeocello and Clovis Nicolas.

Experiments, from Chicago and elsewhere, technical mastery offset by sense of humor, jazz as sonic story-telling, and transfiguration of jazz standards are some of the main sources of inspiration for this episode.

This week we dedicate our show to two artists who--even though very far apart in terms of geographical origins and life trajectories, shared a devotion to beauty, elegance and originality: Ryuichi Sakamoto and Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, who recently passed away.

This week we focus on the emerging musicians that will ensure that the historic South African jazz scene will have a bright future, and on a number of recent releases showcasing the many facets of a living master of the piano, Kenny Barron, featured as an accompanist for a vocalist, as a solo artist on a rare recording date as a leader, as a composer that inspires other contemporary musicians, and as a side-man in a very bop-oriented concert which has been recently unearthed.

This week we open with a stunner, Billy Valentine's new album featuring the best of the Los Angeles and New York Scenes (Pino Palladino; Jeff Parker, Theo Crocker; Larry Goldings; Abe Rounds; Immanuel Wilkins; Linda May Ahn) and music that should bring much deserved attention. Then a mix of exciting releases, with a special focus on pianist a few moments that evoke the ghost of Nick Drake.

Los Angeles and New York are the two poles of this playlist document the vibrancy of these two scenes, and their cross-pollination, including the reissue of the iconic Wattstax Benefit Concert, a dive into new releases by Colorfield Records, a jazz look at the Erykah Badu's and Kendrik Lamar's songbook, and the reimagining of Pharoah Sanders' songs.