We are excited to celebrate today’s release of Keith Jarrett’s New Vienna, but we also want to shine a spotlight on other standout solo piano releases of 2025. By doing so, we hope to help you discover albums you may have missed or even challenge your ideas of what a solo piano recording can sound like and how it can make you feel.
Europa is an amazing big-band jazz project led by Olivier Benoit during his years conducting the Orchestre National de Jazz. It resulted in four must-have albums that we will explore in this article: Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Oslo.
The Orchestre National De Jazz (or ONJ) [Discogs] is a French jazz orchestra created in 1986 via the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, with the intention to bring to life and renew the repertoire of great jazz orchestras. The orchestra is directed by an appointed conductor and is renewed every 2-5 years. This is a state-subsidized formation and has the means to produce, distribute, and present its creations worldwide.
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