Jim Hynes

When Jerry Joseph and his band, The Jackmormons, released Panther Tracks, Vol. 1, last year (covered here), he suggested that there was enough material for probably four records. Here is the second one, Panther Tracks, Vol. 2 (Cavity Search Records). These are fan-favorite songs, rendered in the studio, as Dave Schools of Widespread Panic suggested a few years ago. The second installment of this four-volume series, like the first, went to drummer/producer

The 72nd Newport Jazz Festival was held from July 31 – August 2, 2026, at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, RI, featuring jazz, R&B, pop, and hip-hop performers on three stages as it continues to gear toward a younger audience. The strategy is working, as the festival sold out for the third consecutive year, with an attendance of 10,000 each day. The festival thrived under bright, sunny skies, comfortable temperatures, and slight ocean breezes. Yet the overflowing crowds often made it challenging to observe the performers on the smaller stages. Attendees needed to act swiftly to ensure a good view of the performers they wanted to see on those stages.

The multi-talented musician, bandleader, and entertainer Jon Batiste gets so much acclaim as a pop-jazz headliner that his piano talents are sometimes overlooked. Yet, this four-part series of solo piano recordings has already begun to change those perceptions. Batiste issued his first volume, the highly acclaimed and top-charted Beethoven Blues, in 2024. To follow, he now presents three more volumes:

Aside from his esteemed career as an actor, Morgan Freeman has long been living the blues. He moved to Clarksdale, MS, in the early nineties, where he later co-founded the now-famous Ground Zero Blues Club in 2001. It seemed predestined that Morgan’s name would eventually grace a blues album. That time has arrived with Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience.

The Huntertones, the powerhouse funk-soul group and the second coming of sorts of Tower of Power, waste no time establishing an irresistible groove on Transmission, their sixth album. If you are new to the band, chances are that you’ve heard them before. Their high-profile collaborations include Jon Batiste (when he was bandleader on Colbert ), Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran, Snarky Puppy, Charlie Hunter/ Kurt Elling ’s SuperBlue, and most recently, backing Lake Street Dive at this year’s Newport Jazz Festival. They reciprocate some of those honors by inviting Elling and Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive to sing on a track each.

Forty years on, The Jayhawks remain true to their trusted sound. Their lush and patented three-part harmonies and thoughtful, imagery-filled lyrics never go out of style. Their 12th studio album,

UK- born and Philadelphia-based Wesley Stace (aka John Wesley Harding) is a well-rounded, artful cat. He released 17 albums under the Harding moniker, and this is his fourth under Stace. He’s published four novels and taught songwriting at Princeton, Swarthmore, and Fairleigh Dickinson. That broad swath partly explains an album replete with a string quartet, multiple horns, and backing vocalists, tapping into the Philadelphia community’s musicians, especially its jazz side. Conceptually, One Last Heist is a heady concoction of narratives that has long been a hallmark of Stace’s literate and imaginative songwriting.

When you’ve got the goods like Buddy Miller, you can disappear for 15 years and return in such fine shape that one wonders if you ever left. Think back to all those fine albums on Hightone and New West with Julie Miller’s great songwriting, the tremolo-soaked guitar solos, those earthy vocals, the careful selection of guest artists, the McCrary Sisters, the knack of unearthing memorable cover tunes, and the overriding soul that covered every song. It’s as if Buddy Miller had that checklist. All those elements and more are present on his eponymous album, a gem that reminds us why we fell in love with Buddy Miller’s music in the first place.

Soul artist Eli Paperboy Reed is no longer the youthful boy wonder who turned heads in his early 20s, straight out of Boston. As a husband and parent, he’s intent on ‘grown folks music,” where the emphasis is on staying in love rather than falling in love. He forms a rather unlikely partnership given the generational gap with producer/pianist/vocalist Swamp Dogg. Yet, his collaboration works splendidly, seamlessly connecting the lines of soul, gospel, country, and R&B.

The ongoing duo of alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon and pianist, Luis Perdomo, has reached its third installment with El Arte del Bolero, Vol. 3 (Miel, 2026).