Friday's Playlist: New Jazz

"Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny"

Frank Zappa

Jazz has been declared dead every year since hard bop. Jazz Nazis refuse to acknowledge its evolutions and mutations. This American tradition has used European classical music, Rock, Funk, Latin, Electronica to rejuvenate, adapt, survive and today, the idiom is richer than ever.

Here are a few tunes from some of today's flag bearers of contemporary Jazz. Some are quite famous: Kamasi Washington is now a bona fide superstar. Listen to this playlist and you will hear that jazz is as vital, vibrant, creative and adventurous as it has ever been.



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