MAY 2026 ISSUE
Something was in the air in 1926. That year dropped a kind of pixie dust on the world — and one of its most extraordinary gifts was Miles Davis, born May 26.
Miles did not simply play jazz. He remade it — again and again. Swing to bebop, bebop to cool, cool to fusion, and then beyond any label at all. He once declared jazz dead, yet in doing so, he freed it. At every turn his music moved with the social moment. We danced, we marched, we raged, we exhaled — and his body of work holds all of it.
In this issue we feature Kenny Garrett, Keyon Harrold, Eddie Henderson, Wallace Roney Jr., Vince Wilburn Jr., Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeremy Pelt, Will Calhoun, and more — artists who carry the expression forward. That is the tribute.
This is also our 45th year. We are grateful to still be in the room.
Miles Davis. 100 years. We understand. ~HOT HOUSE
Upcoming Events
Ron Carter: 89th Birthday Celebration
Blue Note New York | May 4–8
Ron Carter turns eighty-nine this May, and Blue Note New York is marking the occasion in the grandest tradition of the legendary room—with a week-long residency that puts one of jazz's most consequential figures front and center. Carter, whose fingerprints are on more than two thousand recordings, has long been considered the gold standard of the acoustic bass. MORE INFO
Oscar Peterson Centennial — Dee Dee Bridgewater & All-Stars | Jazz at Lincoln Center-Rose Theater | May 8–9
One hundred years after his birth, Oscar Peterson remains a towering presence in jazz—a pianist of almost frightening technical mastery and an artist of deep emotional generosity. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is honoring Peterson's centennial with a two-night concert event at its Columbus Circle home, featuring the incomparable Dee Dee Bridgewater alongside an all-star cast assembled to pay tribute to one of the music's most beloved figures. MORE INFO
Steve Wilson Quintet ft Renee Rosnes & Joe Locke - Record Release | Smoke Jazz Club | May 3 MORE INFO
Sullivan Fortner Trio | JazzCultural | May 3 MORE INFO
José James Presents Facing East: The Music of John Coltrane w/ Braxton Cook | Blue Note Jazz Club | May 3 MORE INFO
Joe Lovano Quartet | Village Vanguard | May 3 | MORE INFO
Paquito D’Rivera w/ the William Paterson Latin Jazz Ensemble | William Paterson | May 3 | MORE INFO
Long Play Festival : Miles Okazaki plays Thelonious Monk | BRIC House | May 3 MORE INFO
American Piano Awards Sneak Preview - hosted by Emmet Cohen | Dizzy’s | May 6 | MORE INFO
Jeremy Pelt Quartet ft. Buster Williams and Lenny White | Smoke Jazz Club | May 6 - 9 MORE INFO
Wallace Roney Jr. | Dizzy’s | May 7 - 9 MORE INFO
Nicholas Payton Trio ft. Vicente Archer and Bill Stewart | Dizzy’s Club | May 7 - 10 MORE INFO
Harlem Jazz Series - Napoleon Revels-Bey | Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church: 12 Mt Morris Park W, New York, NY 10027 | May 8: 7:00pm MORE INFO
T.K. Blue Trio Planet Bluu | Jazz Genius | May 7 - 9 MORE INFO
Hot House Jazz Podcast - Timeless Jazz w/Ken Dryden
Ahmed Abdullah | Sista’s Place | May 9 MORE INFO
Ravi Coltrane | Kupferberg Center for the Arts | May 9 MORE INFO
Solomon Hicks | Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts | May 8 MORE INFO
Vincent Herring & Eric Alexander Quintet | Jazz Forum Arts | May 8 & 9 MORE INFO
BRUNCH
JAZZ BRUNCH — May 2–10
Sunday, May 3
449 LA, 449 Lenox Ave, Harlem, NY — Brunch Not! Jazz Vocal Adventure, 1:00pm
Ginny's Supper Club at Red Rooster Harlem, 310 Lenox Ave, New York, NY 10027 — Sing Harlem Gospel Brunch, 10:00am, $80
The Ellington, 2745 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 — Live Jazz Brunch, 12:00pm
Tartina, 1034 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025 — Jazz Brunch, 12:00pm, Free admission
Blue Note Jazz Club, 131 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012 — Juilliard Jazz Brunch: Mary Lou Williams Ensemble, $20
Peck Slip Social, 36 Peck Slip, New York, NY 10038 — Glenn Crytzer Quartet, 1:00pm
Secret Parlor Jazz, East 85th St & 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028 — Home-Cooked Tunes & BBQ Dinner on the Upper East Side, 3:00pm
Saturday, May 2 & Sunday, May 9
Tartina, 1034 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025 — Jazz Brunch, 12:00pm, Free admission
FESTIVALS
FESTIVALS — May 2–10
Roulette Long Play Festival 2026
509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
May 1–3 | Jason Moran, Marcus Gilmore, Billy Hart Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Secret Chiefs 3 & more
$30.00 – $42.50 | roulette.org
Culture Lab LIC — Live in the Lot: Opening Weekend
5-25 46th Ave, Long Island City, Queens, NY 11101
May 2–3 | 8:00pm
culturelablic.org
Pioneer Works — Village Fête 2026
159 Pioneer St, Brooklyn, NY
May 5 | 8:00pm
$35.58
NJCU Jazz Fest
Jersey City Free Public Library, Five Corners Branch
678 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ
Saturday, May 2, 12:00pm – 4:30pm, Free
UPCOMING REGIONAL FESTIVALS
Exit Zero Jazz Festival
Cape May Convention Hall, Cape May, NJ
May 15–17, 2026
exitzerojazzfestival.com
Jersey City Jazz Festival
1 Exchange Place, Jersey City, NJ
May 29–31, 2026, Free
Montauk Music Festival
Montauk, NY
May 14 — 400+ performances, 100 acts, Free
Atlanta Jazz Festival
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA
May 23–25, 2026 — FREE & Open to the Public
atljazzfest.com
Jacksonville Jazz Festival
Ford on Bay, Jacksonville, FL
May 22–24, 2026 — FREE
jacksonvillejazzfest.com
Newport Beach Jazz Festival
Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach, CA
May 29–31, 2026
festivals.hyattconcerts.com