Spiritual jazz, spirited jazz and creative jazz in this playlist, which offers a pretty good case study on why jazz is often described as the "sound of surprise".

For the first part of this week's show we focus on new and upcoming albums by trumpet players, and collaborations between guitarists and drummers.

Ornette Coleman playing for Lou Reed? Or the Sun Ra Arkestra backing U2? And Kenny Wheeler collaborating with both David Sylvian and Joni Mitchell? This and many more fascinating collaborations between jazz masters and pop and rock musicians in this playlist.

This week a playlist that focuses on the contribution of jazz musicians to pop, hip-hop, and rock projects

Two main themes in the second parts of this week's edition of Mondo Jazz. Jazz players of Carribbean heritage and remarkable piano jazz

We are back at it… our ongoing exploration of the best new and upcoming releases, from the neo-cool, of Donald Fagen and Patricia Barber, to one of the events of the fall, the latest album by Henry Threadgill's Zooid. The cherries on top: the thorougly satisfying new albums by Burnt Sugar--The Arkestra Chamber and Adam O'Farrill.

The playlist features trios, duos and solos that sound as big as an orchestra, many of them representing yet another challenge won by creative musicians facing the pandemic...

A delightful end-of-summer menu of electro-acoustic new releases, building bridges between yesterday, today and tomorrow, visionary guitar and trumpet players, drummers and vibraphone synergies, and yet more music by Frank Kimbrough

Around the jazz world in 70 minutes

A trans-Atlantic collection of amazing new releases, building bridges between the US and the Belgian, French and British scenes.

This week's exploration of new and upcoming releases continues with a special focus on the late Frank Kimbrough

We are back on the new releases trail with an exceptionally packed playlist featuring a posthumous release by Lyle Mays in celebration of Eberhard Weber, the many sides of Chris Speed, exciting upcoming releases by Makaya McCraven, Irreversible Entanglements, Common, Linda Fredriksson [pictured], Steve Coleman, and exciting recent albums by Marc Johnson, Andrew Cyrille and Douglas J. Cuomo with Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet.

Looking back at Costello’s career it seems like his sense of adventurous restlenesses has been both the cause and the effect of his many high-profile collaborations, including those in the jazz world - from Michael Leonhart to Roy Nathanson, from the Mingus legacy project to the New Orleans connections, and more - that we explore here.

This week we celebrate the British singer song-writer's birthday with an exploration of his jazz roots, branches and leaves.

Variety is the spice of jazz, and there's plenty to be found here

Impressive new albums by Rachel Eckroth and Melanie Charles, the cross-cultural experiments of Aakash Mittal and Ches Smith, groovy soulful recent releases and re-releases by Leon Spencer, David Axelrod and Will Bernard and much more in this week's playlist.

Two beautiful and diverse renditions of Nefertiti-era Wayne Shorter, two exciting new albums featuring John Ellis, yet another susprise from Becca Stevens and much more in the second part of this week's edition focusing on recent and upcoming releases.

Spiritual jazz, accordions, Ennio Morricone, noir atmospheres, unbridled virtuosos and the mighty guitar of {{Eva Mendoza}}, and much more in this set focusing on recent and upcoming releases.

More new and upcoming releases ahoy! And this time with a special focus on previously unissued gems by the likes of Joe Harriott, Roy Brooks, Roy Hargrove and Mulgrew Miller and Bill Evans who came back to the future...

We're back to our periodic perusal of the best new releases, from the groove of the Band of Other Brothers and the Bogie Band to the show-stopping electric blues of Elliot Sharp's Terraplane and the sheer beauty of the latest albums by Sarah Wilson and Hank Roberts.

In the early days of jazz, bands larger than a septet were called an orchestra. Nowadays jazz orchestras and big bands are much larger than that, like those we feature in our final instalment of our mini-series dedicated to (mostly new and upcoming) releases by big bands and orchestras which can be found at the intersection of beauty, fun and mischief.

Big bands and orchestras have something that smaller ensembles cannot offer, sheer power and energy, which very often equals tons of fun, like that you will find in our ongoing deep-dive in the world of forward looking big bands and orchestras continues. The show features mostly new and upcoming albums from some of the best large ensembles from around the globe. Sometimes bigger is actually better!

As we continue our journey in the recent work of some of the most compelling Jazz Orchestras and Big Bands of today, and a few from the past that were so ahead of their time that their albums sound still very modern.

More is not always necessarily better, especially in music. However, the proliferation of remarkable Jazz Big Bands and Orchestras of the last decade or so is providing plenty of ground to prove that quality and quantity can go hand-in-hand.