Best of Jazz

Where should you start your next jazz discovery? April brings a rich and varied set of releases, from raw, collective energy and uncompromising free improvisation to intimate solo explorations and finely balanced chamber textures. These are the albums that stood out.

Here is our New Jazz Releases selection for April 2026, featuring records genuinely worth your listening time, presented in order of their release dates.

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Wailers is almost an archival release (recorded in 2019, already seven years ago), yet with Rodrigo Amado (left channel), Joe McPhee (right channel), Kent Kessler, and Chris Corsano, it still sounds totally fresh.

Its title comes from Amiri Baraka’s words, and the music seems to follow that same impulse: direct, unfiltered, and firmly grounded in a positive, uncompromising presence:

Wailers are we
We are Wailers. Don't get scared.
Nothing happening but out and way out.
Nothing happening but the positive. (Unless you the negative.)
Wailers. We Wailers. Yeh, Wailers.
We wail, we wail.
--Amiri Baraka

It is a powerful release by Rodrigo Amado, reaffirming his long-standing place at the heart of today’s free improvisation.

Rodrigo Amado: tenor, alto saxophone, bird water whistle (left channel); Joe McPhee: tenor saxophone (right channel); Kent Kessler: double bass; Chris Corsano: drums
Released April 3, 2026

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Trifecta is a three-CD set of saxophone–guitar duets, possibly built around a simple question: how different can the same setup sound? Across the three performances, Ivo Perelman meets Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, and Joe Morris, each bringing their distinct identity to the guitar. In parallel, Perelman responds each time differently, adapting his voice to each encounter. Rather than falling into a common language, these exchanges emphasize contrast, revealing how each musician reshapes the interaction. The result offers a strong perspective on the duet form, where difference, interaction, and personality become the central elements. It is a compelling release that reveals the depth and individuality of four distinctive voices in today’s avant-garde jazz.

“Because they are all so different from each other, our interaction was very different. Although it is the same instrument, each project sounds unique. It made sense to me to group them together in a CD box format to offer the listener a panoramic view of contemporary guitar as played by three of its major voices.”
–Ivo Perelman

Ivo Perelman: tenor saxophone; Marc Ribot: guitar (disc one); Elliott Sharp: guitar (disc two); Joe Morris: guitar (disc three)
Released April 10, 2026

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In For The Space You Left, Marta Sánchez turns the piano into a space of solitude. Through preparation, the instrument expands into a network of textures and inner voices, allowing the music to vibrate in a unique way, as if it were resonating within rather than outward. Each piece feels contained, almost self-sufficient, shaped by a careful balance between fragility and precision. And in that space, something magnificent takes shape.

Marta Sánchez: prepared piano
Released April 17, 2026

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On Live at Joe’s Pub, recorded over three nights in New York, the music evolves between orchestral textures and a more grounded jazz and funk, with the Lotus Chamber Music Collective, led by Sasha Ono (Shunzo Ohno’s daughter), bringing a real depth to the sound as the strings really shape the atmosphere. Ohno, on his side, stretches the trumpet with electronic effects and a wah-wah pedal, creating these almost ghost-like tones that float over grooves, sometimes leaning toward hip-hop, sometimes toward something more cinematic. There is also that underlying sense of “cool,” even when things get dense or experimental. And somehow, everything holds together into something that feels coherent, personal, and hard to compare to anything else.

Shunzo Ohno is a Japanese trumpeter, composer, and arranger, and a major figure in modern jazz who has spent over 50 years on the New York scene.
He built an international career after joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and went on to collaborate with legends like Gil Evans, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Machito.
What makes Ohno’s legacy particularly powerful is his triumph over two major career-ending events: after a devastating car accident in 1988 and later a diagnosis of stage 4 throat cancer, he managed, against all odds, to relearn the trumpet and return to performing.

Shunzo Ohno: trumpet; Quintin Zoto: guitar; Francis Jacob: guitar; Clifford Carter: piano, keys; Noah Rott: piano; Jeremiah Edwards, Leo Traversa, Yoshi Waki: bass; Thierry Arpino: drums; Jerome Jennings: drums; Lotus Chamber Music Collective: strings
Released April 17, 2026

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Hedvig Mollestad’s Weejuns trio feels like a single body, moving together, dense and cohesive. It creates its own kind of energy, one that holds steady, that you feel as much as you hear, grounded and present. They don’t seem to be trying to express something as much as they are to lock into a sound and let it live. By moving away from urgency or intensity, they manage to truly inhabit it: their own sound.

Hedvig Mollestad: guitar; Ståle Storløkken: organ, synth; Ole Mofjell: drums
Released April 17, 2026

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Kammermusik by Guido Spannocchi carries something that feels almost old-fashioned, in the way it moves with elegance and subtlety. Each voice finds its place with care, with a sense of distance that gives the music focus. And yet, there is no nostalgia. It follows, in a way, Mahler’s idea that “tradition means passing on the flame, not worshipping the ashes.” The music draws from different worlds, but lightly, letting them settle into something calm, balanced, and, finally, modern.

This atmosphere also comes from the quartet itself, an unusual formation where the absence of drums opens up the space. Around Spannocchi, cello, vibraphone, and bass create a different balance, in which rhythm is suggested, allowing grooves to emerge gently and indirectly.

It is a beautiful album, one that always seems to fit the moment.

Discover next: Perihelion by Guido Spannocchi

Guido Spannocchi: alto saxophone; Danny Keane: cello; Andea Di Biase: double bass; James Larter: vibraphone, tubular bells
Releases April 24, 2026

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Late on Earth by Joel Lyssarides feels like a beautiful expression of arriving after the fact, when what remains is calmer, more fragile. The music moves at its own pace, guided by a sense of balance and a refined melodic sensibility. The piano moves carefully, letting space and time shape the music as much as the notes themselves. All this creates a different kind of closeness, deeply personal, yet open in a way that makes it easy to connect with, where, as Lyssarides suggests, “it’s often the small imperfections that make music come alive.”

Founded in 1949 in Ludwigsburg, Bauer Studios is Germany’s oldest privately run recording studio. Known for its pioneering work in stereophony, multi-track, and surround sound, it has attracted artists from around the world and contributed to landmark recordings such as The Köln Concert. It remains a leading studio for high-quality acoustic music today.

Joel Lyssarides: piano; Niklas Fernqvist: bass; Rasmus Blixt: drums
Released April 24, 2026

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As Colin Stetson did with All This I Do for Glory, Brisk dives into the physicality of music-making. With only carefully placed microphones, Deák produces multiple layers of sound at once. The amplified breathing, the constant rhythmic clicks of the flute keys forming a pulse, and the use of circular breathing create an intense sense of proximity while enhancing the instrument’s sonic possibilities. Truly stunning (read the full review).

Run by Alex Zethson, Thanatosis Produktion is an independent label focused on experimental and contemporary music, supporting artists working between composition and improvisation.

Juli Deák: flute
Released April 24, 2026

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April 2026 – New Releases Selection

• Rodrigo Amado, This Is Our Language Quartet, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, Chris Corsano – Wailers (((European Echoes)
• Ivo Perelman – Trifecta (Mahakala Music)
• Marta Sanchez – For The Space You Left (Out Of Your Head Records)
• Shunzo Ohno – Live at Joe’s Pub (Pulsebeats Records)
• Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns – Bitches Blues (Rune Grammofon)
• Guido Spannocchi – Kammermusik (Audioguido Records)
• Joel Lyssarides – Late on Earth (Act)
• Juli Deák – Brisk (Thanatosis)

Playlist

Listen to these tracks on our Spotify playlist.

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These New Jazz Releases for April 2026 are the albums we believe deserve your attention this month. Listen closely, explore further, and support the artists who continue to move jazz forward.

Which albums stayed with you? Share your discoveries in the comments, as we are always curious to hear what earned your listening time.