This week on Visions, I play a lot of newly released music. You’ll hear the Kris Davis Trio, Jeff Parker, Brandon Seabrook, Emma Dayhuff, Josh Johnson, Detroit’s Marcus Elliot, Andrew Toombs, Marty Ehrlich, and Benny Green.

I also play classics from Detroit’s Wendell Harrison, Sam Rivers, Cannonball Adderley, Emily Remler, Trio 3, Woody Shaw, Muhal Richard Abrams and Gary Bartz.

Happy listening!

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for September 28, 2026

• “Libra” – Gary Bartz Quintet
• “Miles’ Mode (feat. Chris Speed, Kaveh Rastegar & Aaron Steele)” – Jeff Parker
• “Where Does That Tunnel Go? (feat. Robert Hurst* & Johnathan Blake)” – Kris Davis Trio
• “Planet Earth” – Cannonball Adderley Sextet
• “The Wind (feat. Isaiah Collier, Jonathan Pinson, Corey Wilkes, Paul Cornish, Akenya & Andrew Renfroe)” – Emma Dayhuff
• “Where Am I?” – Wendell Harrison*
• “Reece” – Josh Johnson
• “Star-Crossed Phantasms (feat. Bill Frisell, Rashaan Carter & Marcus Gilmore)” – Brandon Seabrook
• “Palmer” – Marcus Elliot*
• “The Goat And The Archer” – Woody Shaw
• “Revue” – Marty Ehrlich
• “The Slot (feat. Makaya McCraven, Junius Paul & Marquis Hill)” – Andrew Toombs
• “Helix” – Sam Rivers
• “Cedar Would (recorded live at Dizzy’s Club in New York City on April 18, 2026) [Live]” – Benny Green
• “Hymn To the East” – Muhal Richard Abrams
• “In A Sentimental Mood” – Emily Remler
• “Wha’s Nine (Live)” – Trio 3

* indicates Detroit artist

This week on Visions, I celebrate John Coltrane’s centennial. He was born September 23, 1926, and his legacy is one of the most impactful in this music. I honor his musical legacy by playing several Coltrane records from the 1960’s: “A Love Supreme,” “Coltrane’s Sound,” “Africa/Brass” and “Giant Steps.”

To further celebrate his musical and compositional genius, the rest of the episode I play Coltrane’s compositions recorded by musicians throughout the decades. I have recent cuts from Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown, Lakecia Benjamin, and the Luke Titus Quintet.

I include modern cuts from Jessica Williams, Dave Liebman, Kenny Garrett, the Steve Kuhn Trio, and Joe Lovano. And finally, classic cuts of Trane’s music from Archie Shepp, McCoy Tyner, and Clifford Jordan.

Listen to some Coltrane this week, and happy listening!

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for September 21, 2026

• “Satellite” – John Coltrane
• “Mr. Syms” – Archie Shepp
• “Promise” – McCoy Tyner
• “Bessie’s Blues (Live)” – Chick Corea
• “Resolution” – Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown
• “Blues Minor” – John Coltrane Quartet
• “Naima (feat. Brian Sanborn, Lenard Simpson, Julius Tucker & Parker Grogan)” – Luke Titus
• “Equinox” – Jessica Williams
• “Mr. P.C.” – John Coltrane
• “Song of Praise” – Steve Kuhn Trio & Joe Lovano
• “Spiral (feat. Marcus Gilmore & Steve Wilson)” – Lakecia Benjamin
• “John Coltrane” – Clifford Jordan
• “After the Rain” – Dave Liebman
• “Lonnie’s Lament” – Kenny Garrett*
• “A Love Supreme, Pt. 1: Acknowledgement” – John Coltrane
• “26-2 (Live)” – Joe Lovano

* indicates a Detroit artist

The Detroit Jazz Festival is a weekend I’ve looked forward to since I moved to Michigan in 2017. Back then, I was about to start my master’s degree within the Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation Department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. That year’s Artist-in-Residence was Wayne Shorter, and I was fortunate enough to sit front row for the performance with him, esperanza spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington and Leo Genovese at the Carhartt Amphitheater Stage in Hart Plaza. The performance turned into a live album that was nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. I was hooked on every note and on every space Wayne left.

That was my introduction to the Detroit Jazz Festival. Nine years later, I’m still coming back.

The Detroit Jazz Festival turns 47 this year, and it’s still free, still the largest jazz festival of its kind in the world, and still happening over Labor Day weekend. Saxophonist Joe Lovano is this year’s artist-in-residence, and his throughline runs across all four days. Here’s where to plant yourself.

Friday, September 4

M.E.B., formerly known as Miles Electric Band, kicks off the weekend at 7 p.m. on the Carhartt Amphitheater Stage. The group carries forward the electric, groove-driven side of Miles Davis’s catalog, and it’s the right register to open a festival on: loose, funky, and loud enough to pull people into Hart Plaza.

Opening night belongs to Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet at 9:15 p.m. on the Carhartt stage. Lovano is joined by guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Asante Santi Debriano, and drummer Will Calhoun. Lage in particular has been showing up everywhere lately, and this quartet is a good first look at how the residency will unfold over the weekend.

Stick around for Tia Fuller and Shamie Fuller-Royston: Fuller Sound, a Midtown After Hours special at 10:45 p.m. in the Jazz Hall. The Fuller sisters have now released two volumes of music. Hearing sisters who each found a love for music and jazz come together and perform as a duo will be such a special gift.  

Saturday, September 5

Get there early for Borderland Ensemble at 3:15 p.m. on the JPMorganChase Stage. Trumpeter Austin Di Pietro leads this Windsor-Detroit collective, and their debut album, “Live at Mackenzie Hall Jazz,” released this July, is worth adding to your listening queue even if you can’t make the early set. They’re the kind of regional group you can catch live throughout the year. 

At 4:45 p.m. on the Carhartt stage, the African Rhythms Alumni Quintet celebrates the centennial of Randy Weston, led by T.K. Blue on saxophone and flute alongside Chief Baba Neil Clarke. Blue was a longtime musical director and collaborator of Weston’s, and this set is really a continuation of that relationship rather than a tribute from a distance. Weston’s own music, deep grooves and African-diasporic sensibilities, is worth revisiting beforehand if you don’t already know it well.

At 7 p.m., same stage, it’s the Ravi Coltrane Quartet: Centennial Celebration, marking 100 years since John Coltrane’s birth. Ravi has spent decades stepping in and out of his father’s shadow on his own terms, and a centennial set from him carries more weight than most tribute programming manages to do.

Round out the day with Bob James at 8:45 p.m. on the JPMorganChase Stage, ARTEMIS at 9 p.m. on the Waterfront Stage, and, if you’re up for a late one, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio at 10:45 p.m. in the Jazz Hall.

James is CTI-era smooth-to-funky keys, still recording; ARTEMIS is the all-star lineup of Renee Rosnes, Ingrid Jensen, Nicole Glover, Noriko Ueda, and Allison Miller, playing with the kind of interplay that only comes from years together; and Delvon Lamarr’s organ trio will be the musical nightcap you didn’t know you needed.

Sunday, September 6

The early afternoon has two homegrown acts. At 3 p.m. on the Carhartt stage, The Search: Echoes of the Fallen carries on the songbook of the late Karim Tabu Gideon, a tribute band born out of loss and built to keep the lineage of Karim, Teddy Harris, Harold McKinney, and Marcus Belgrave alive. This group doesn’t have any recorded music yet, but it’s worth digging into their source material beforehand.

Fifteen minutes later on the JPMorganChase Stage, the Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet marks a decade together blending oud, violin, and world percussion into their own strain of globally minded jazz. Both are regional acts worth following well beyond this one weekend.

Lovano returns at 7 p.m. on the Carhartt stage with the Dave Douglas Quintet: Sound Prints, featuring Lawrence Fields, Yasushi Nakamura, and Rudy Royston. Lovano and Douglas have been running this project for over a decade now, built explicitly on Wayne Shorter’s compositional language.

At 5:20 p.m. on the Waterfront Stage, Detroit bassist Jaribu Shahid is this year’s Legacy Artist, presenting a Salute to the AACM. Shahid’s roots run through Griot Galaxy and the Detroit strain of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and having him recognized on a festival stage in his own city is the kind of moment local audiences wait for.

Later, at 8:45 p.m. on the JPMorganChase Stage, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap offer something gentler: a vocalist and pianist working the Great American Songbook.

Closing the Waterfront Stage at 9:10 p.m., the Vijay Iyer Trio brings special guest trumpeter Adam O’Farrill. Iyer’s trio work treats rhythm almost mathematically without losing feel, and that tension is worth catching live.

Elsewhere on Sunday: Gabrielle Cavassa at 4:45 p.m. (Carhartt) is a vocalist worth discovering early if you haven’t yet. Catherine Russell at 4:45 p.m. (JPMorganChase) and Sequoia “Redwood” Snyder and Inner Knowing at 6:45 p.m. (JPMorganChase) round out that stage’s afternoon. Take 6 at 9:15 p.m. (Carhartt) brings vocal harmony that needs no instruments at all. Finally, Nduduzo Makhathini closes the night at 10:45 p.m. in the Jazz Hall, the South African pianist whose Blue Note work carries an unmistakable Ornette Coleman-inflected spirituality.

Monday, September 7

Get to the JPMorganChase Stage early for Teiku at 1:45 p.m. Chicago pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit percussionist Jonathan Barahal Taylor built this project around Jewish Passover melodies passed down in both their families, arranged as vehicles for improvisation. Bassist Jaribu Shahid holds down the bottom end here too, the day after his own Legacy Artist recognition. I spent a lot of time with their 2026 album, Klang, writing the liner notes for it, and I’ve seen them perform several times since. It’s a small, close-listening group worth catching before the bigger stages take over the evening.

The festival closes its Lovano residency the way it should: at 6 p.m. on the Carhartt stage, Coltrane 100 brings Lovano together with Melissa Aldana, Nduduzo Makhathini, Linda May Han Oh, and Jeff “Tain” Watts for “Both Directions at Once,” built around John Coltrane’s centennial. Four days of Lovano popping up in different configurations lands here, with a band deep enough to do the material justice.

At 5 p.m. on the Waterfront Stage, Ron Carter & Foursight send the weekend off. Carter remains the most recorded bassist in jazz history, and Foursight is his current working group, still finding new corners in standard repertoire after all these decades.

Also worth catching Monday: Cindy Blackman Santana at 4 p.m. (Carhartt), whose drumming carries as much rock force as jazz precision; Roberta Gambarini with the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra at 3:30 p.m. (JPMorganChase), a big-band frame for one of the most technically fluent vocalists on the scene; and the Joey Alexander Trio at 5:15 p.m. (JPMorganChase), the young pianist who keeps outgrowing the “prodigy” label attached to him years ago.

Four days, four stages, and it’s all free. See you at Hart Plaza!

Use the playlist below—curated by Visions host Kaleigh Wilder—to preview some of this year’s artist and get in the groove on your way to Detroit JazzFest.

This week on Visions, I start my first of two previews of the artists you can expect to hear at the 47th Detroit Jazz Festival happening Labor Day weekend.

I play Artist-In-Residence Joe Lovano, plus Gabrielle Cavassa, Joey Alexander, Nduduzo Makhathini, Tia Fuller & Shamie Fuller-Royston, Vijay Iyer, Artemis, and a brand new record from Linda May Han Oh & Melissa Aldana.

I also have classic cuts from Alice Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Sonny Sharrock, Flora Purim, and Bennie Maupin. I include selections from Pat Martino, Branford Marsalis, plus recent releases from Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, and Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for August 24, 2026

• “Umyalez’oPhuthumayo” – Nduduzo Makhathini
• “Fanfare for Unity (with. Julian Lage, Asante Santi Debriano & Will Calhoun)” – Joe Lovano
• “Summer In Central Park” – Tia Fuller, Shamie Royston & Fuller Sound
• “Dindi” – Wayne Shorter
• “Dance Cadaverous (feat. Melissa Aldana)” – Linda May Han Oh
• “Bossy Nova” – Gabrielle Cavassa
• “Everything Happens to Me” – Branford Marsalis
• “Ever Since the One I Love’s Been Gone” – Cécile McLorin Salvant, Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley
• “Blue” – Joey Alexander
• “Oleo (Live)” – Pat Martino
• “Water Torture” – Bennie Maupin*
• “Forest Song (feat. Vuyo Sotashe & Aaron Parks)” – Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science
• “Human Nature (Trio Extension) [with Stephan Crump & Marcus Gilmore]” – Vijay Iyer
• “Komorebi” – ARTEMIS
• “Gregory Is Here” – Horace Silver
• “Who Does She Hope to Be?” – Sonny Sharrock
• “Love Reborn” – Flora Purim
• “Om Supreme” – Alice Coltrane*

* indicates Detroit artist

Tonight on Visions, I play classics from Sam Rivers, Grant Green, Duke Pearson, Mal Waldron, Shirley Scott, and Ahmad Jamal. You’ll hear newer discoveries for me from Luis Gasca, Luiz Bonfá, and Yo Miles! which is Wadada Leo Smith & Henry Kaiser.

I’ve got more recent releases from Patricia Brennan, Linda May Han Oh, and Emma Dayhuff. Plus, I’ve got a few things in between from Ingrid Laubrock, Don Cherry, Geri Allen and Mulgrew Miller.

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for August 17, 2026

• “Batista’s Groove” – Geri Allen*
• “Directions” – Yo Miles!: Henry Kaiser & Wadada Leo Smith
• “Five Suns” – Patricia Brennan
• “Enchanted Mirror” – Luiz Bonfá
• “Jaribu (feat. Kahil El’Zabar, Isaiah Collier & Dee Alexander)” – Emma Dayhuff
• “Dewey’s Tune” – Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Old and New Dreams & Dewey Redman
• “Piracuama” – Ingrid Laubrock
• “Street Dude” – Luis Gasca
• “My Man’s Gone Now” – Mulgrew Miller
• “Southern Comfort” – Shirley Scott Trio
• “Firedancer” – Linda May Han Oh
• “Warm Canto (feat. Eric Dolphy & Booker Ervin)” – Mal Waldron
• “Jean de Fleur” – Grant Green
• “Poinciana (Live at The Pershing, Chicago, 1958)” – Ahmad Jamal Trio
• “Beatrice” – Sam Rivers

* indicates a Detroit artist

This week on Visions, I focus heavily on rhythmic, groove-centric Latin and Brazilian jazz. I play selections from Flora Purim, Manolo Badrena, Naná Vasconcelos, and Airto Moreira.

I also have classics from Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams, Tina Brooks, Freddie Hubbard, John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana, and the Oscar Peterson Trio. I play deeper cuts from Michele Rosewoman and Emily Remler.

And finally, I have new releases from the Ancient Infinity Orchestra, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, and Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown.

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for August 10, 2026

• “Creek (Arroio)” – Airto
• “Riddim Song (feat. Brenda Navarette, Kokayi, Matthew Stevens & Morgan Guerin)” – Terri Lyne Carrington, Social Science, Fatoumata Diawara & Debo Ray
• “Illuminations” – Ancient Infinity Orchestra
• “One Handed Woman” – Jack DeJohnette
• “Talkin’ About” – Tina Brooks
• “Naima (with Mahavishnu Orchestra)” – Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin
• “Flamenco Sketches” – Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown
• “Ondas (Na Óhlos De Petronila)” – Naná Vasconcelos
• “West Africa Blue” – Michele Rosewoman
• “Hot House” – Emily Remler
• “I Remember Monk” – Butch Warren
• “On the Que-Tee” – Freddie Hubbard
• “Habiba” – Rufus Reid Trio
• “My One and Only Love” – Oscar Peterson Trio
• “Clube Da Esquina” – Manolo Badrena
• “Light As a Feather” – Flora Purim
• “Hittin’ On 6” – Tony Williams

On this episode of Visions, I play a little bit from every decade between the 1960’s and 2020’s. I have classics from Eddie Gale, Roy Haynes, Larry Young, John Klemmer, The Piano Choir, and Rashaan Roland Kirk.

I play great cuts from James Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Jessica Williams, Terri Lyne Carrington, Stefon Harris, Joshua Redman and Nate Smith. Plus, I have some newer releases from Kiefer, Emma Dayhuff, and Corey Fonville, Sam Fribush and Morgan Burrs.

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for August 3, 2026

• “The Weapon of Truth (feat. Eddie Henderson)” – Jessica Williams
• “Coincide” – Ravi Coltrane
• “FLML” – Corey Fonville, Sam Fribush & Morgan Burrs
• “Raoul” – Roy Haynes Quartet
• “The River (feat. Corey Wilkes, Paul Cornish, Jonathan Pinson & Isaiah Collier)” – Emma Dayhuff
• “Why Not? (feat. Luke Titus & Pera Krstajic)” – Kiefer
• “Sunset” – James Carter*
• “Spinning Down” – Nate Smith
• “The Rain” – Eddie Gale
• “The Black and Crazy Blues” – Roland Kirk
• “The Need to Smile” – The Piano Choir
• “Faded Beauty” – Stefon Harris
• “All the Children Cried” – John Klemmer
• “Monk’s Dream” – Larry Young
• “Jazz Crimes” – Joshua Redman

* indicates Detroit artist