2023 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of jazz in the year 2023.

2023 in jazz
Samara Joy, who won Best New Artist in the 2023 Grammy Awards
Decade	2020s in jazz
Music	2023 in music
Standards	List of jazz standards
See also	2022 in jazz – 2024 in jazz

List of years in jazz
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This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Events

February

Domi and JD Beck performing at History in Toronto, Canada

• February 5 – At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, winners include Wayne Shorter, Samara Joy, and Arturo O'Farrill. Snarky Puppy wins best contemporary instrumental album for their 2022 album Empire Central, Samara Joy wins best Vocal Jazz album for her 2022 album Linger Awhile. Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Nicholas Payton & Matthew Stevens win Best Jazz Instrumental Album for their album New Standards Volume 1.^[1][2][3]

April

• April 14 – First day of Coachella 2023, a two weekend event, occurs. Jazz musicians in attendance are The Comet is Coming and Domi and JD Beck^[4]
• April 15 – After 8 years, British band GoGo Penguin's contract with Blue Note Records ends, and the band switches to XXIM Records, a record label more typically associated with neoclassical music and progressive electronic music.^[5]

May

• May 17 – The Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards are presented. Charles Lloyd wins Lifetime Achievement in Jazz award. Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington wins Musician of The Year. Singer Samara Joy wins Up & Coming Musician of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Ashley Kahn wins Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism award.^[6][7]
• May 31 – The tapes for a long lost, unreleased John Coltrane live album with Eric Dolphy are found at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.^[8]

June

• June 7 – The San Francisco Jazz Festival takes place in the United States. Jacob Collier and Samara Joy are in attendance.^[9]
• June 13 – The Grammys announce a new award category: Best Alternative Jazz Album^[10]
• June 21 – The 37th Annual Syracuse Jazz Fest takes place in the United States. Herbie Hancock and Gladys Knight are in attendance^[11]
• June 30 – The 36th annual Saskatchewan Jazz Festival kicked off in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.^[12]

July

• July 7 – The 56th Pori Jazz Festival is scheduled to take place in Finland.^[13]
• July 28 – The Blue Note Jazz Festival opens in Napa, California, hosted by Dave Chappelle and headlined by Mary Blige, Chance The Rapper and Nas. Robert Glasper is the artist in residence. Notable attendees include George Clinton, Anderson .Paak, Domi and JD Beck^[14]

August

• August 4 – The Newport Jazz Festival opens in the United States. Notable attendees include Kamasi Washington, Domi and JD Beck, Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Herbie Hancock, Samara Joy, Lakecia Benjamin and Thundercat^[15]
• August 25 - A 3 episode Amazon Prime biographical documentary miniseries about the life of Wayne Shorter through several decades releases, titled Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity^[16][17]

September

• September 22 – The 65th Monterey Jazz Festival is scheduled to take place in the United States, with Lakecia Benjamin as the artist in residence. Notable attendees include Herbie Hancock, Snarky Puppy, Samara Joy, and Thundercat^[18]

October

• October 13 – Stockholm Jazz Festival took place in Sweden.^[19]

December

• December 5 - NPR Music ranks Meshell Ndegeocello's The Omnichord Real Book and Yussef Dayes's Black Classical Music among the 50 best albums of 2023.^[20]
• December 7 - The New York Times ranks Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah's Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning as the best jazz album of 2023, followed by Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War)) in #2^[21]
• December 13 - Stereogum ranks Matana Roberts' Coin Coin Chapter 5: In The Garden as the best jazz album of 2023, followed by Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War)) in #2^[22]
• December 19 - NPR Music ranks Meshell Ndegeocello's The Omnichord Real Book as the best jazz album of 2023^[23]
• December 26 - The Guardian ranks Tyshawn Sorey's Continuing as the best jazz album of 2023^[24]
• December 31 - Ed Cherry's Are We There Yet? ends off the year with the most radio airplay as documented by JazzWeek^[25]

Albums

Month	Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
January	6	Alive at the Village Vanguard	Fred Hersch and Esperanza Spalding	Palmetto Records	Live album	[26]
	27	Portrait Of A Dog	Jonah Yano	Innovative Leisure		[27]
		Letters to George	George[note 1]	Out of Your Head		[28]
		Where You Wish You Were	Bill Laurance and Michael League	ACT		[29]
		Phoenix	Lakecia Benjamin	Whirlwind Recordings		[30]
February	3	Dance Kobina	Joe Chambers	Blue Note Records		[31]
		Carmen Rhapsody	Aki Takase	BMC		[32]
	17	Transmissions From Total Refreshment Centre	Total Refreshment Centre	Blue Note Records		[33][34]
		Guilty Pleasures	Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter, Nate Smith	Edition Records	EP	[35]
		Zurich Concert	Joëlle Léandre	Intakt Records	Live album	[32]
		By The Way	Theo Croker, Ego Ella May, D'LEAU	Sony Masterworks	EP	[36]
	24	Travel	The Necks	Northern Spy Records		[37]
		Prime	Christian McBride's New Jawn	Mack Avenue		[38]
March	3	London Brew	London Brew	Concord Jazz		[39]
		Therapy	Brendan Eder Ensemble	No label		[40][41]
	10	Moving On Skiffle	Van Morrison	Virgin Music		[42]
		Jasmine on a Night in July	Scree	Ruination		[43]
	17	The Layers	Julian Lage	Blue Note Records	EP	[44]
	24	Requiem For Jazz	Angel Bat Dawid	International Anthem Recording Company		[45]
		Mélusine	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Nonesuch Records		[46]
	31	Lightning Dreamers	Rob Mazurek and the Exploding Star Orchestra	International Anthem Recording Company		[47]
		Fire Illuminations	Wadada Leo Smith	Kabell Records		[48]
April	7	return to casual	Walter Smith III	Blue Note Records		[49]
		KAL (Real World)	Sarathy Korwar	The Leaf Label		[50]
	14	Echoes	The Fire! Orchestra	Rune Grammofon		[51]
		Variables	Alfa Mist	Anti- Records		[52]
		Everything Is Going To Be Okay	GoGo Penguin	XXIM Records		[53]
		Enigmatic Society	Dinner Party[note 2]	Sounds of Crenshaw, Empire Records		[54]
		Brand New Life	Brandee Younger	Impulse! Records		[55]
	21	All One	Ben Wendel	Edition Records		[56]
		Loyal Returns	David Cook	Sunnyside Records		[56]
		Stage & Screen	John Pizzarelli	Palmetto Records		[49]
	28	Always on my Mind	Rebekka Bakken	Sony Music		[57]
		Pieces of Treasure	Rickie Lee Jones	BMG		[58]
		Savoy	Taj Mahal	Stony Plain Records		[59]
May	7	In Real Time	ARTEMIS	Blue Note Records		[60]
	12	Routes	Samuel Blaser	Enja Records/Yellowbird Records		[61]
		In Search Of A Better Tomorrow	Eabs Meets Jaubi	Astigmatic Records		[62]
	16	Oedipe Redux	Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri	Sunnyside Records		[63]
	19	Lean In	Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke	Edition Records		[49]
	26	Animals	Kassa Overall	Warp Records		[64][65]
		The New Standard (Reissue)	Herbie Hancock
		Dance of the Mystic Bliss	Michael Blake and Chroma Nova	P&M		[66][49]
		The Sport Of Love	Asma Maroof, Patrick Belaga, Tapiwa Svosve	PAN Records		[67][68]
June	2	Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?!	McKinley Dixon	City Slang	Jazz-rap	[69]
	9	When the Poems Do What They Do	Aja Monet	Drink Sum Wtr		[70][71]
		Rituals + Routines	Marquis Hill	Edition Records		[72]
	16	The Omnichord Real Book	Meshell Ndegeocello	Blue Note Records		[73][74]
		Dream Box	Pat Metheny	Modern Recordings		[75]
		Dolphin	Greg Foat / Gigi Masin	Strut Records		[76]
		A Time to Remember	Elina Duni	ECM Records		[77]
		I Want More	Donny McCaslin	Edition Records		[78]
	23	Sun Arcs	Blue Lake	Tonal Union		[79]
	30	Blowout	John Carroll Kirby	Stones Throw Records		[80]
July	14	Connection	Ceramic Dog, Marc Ribot	Knockwurst Records		[81]
	28	Joni Mitchell At Newport	Joni Mitchell	Rhino Records		[82]
August	25	Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die	Jaimie Branch[note 3]	International Anthem Recording Company		[83][84][85]
September	1	Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard	Kris Davis	Pyroclastic Records		[86]
	7	Talàn	Raphael Rogiński	Instant Classic		[87]
	8	Come with Fierce Grace	Alabaster DePlume	International Anthem Recording Company		[88][89]
		Black Classical Music	Yussef Dayes	Brownswood Recordings / Nonesuch Records		[90]
		For Mahalia With Love	James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet	Tao Forms		[91]
	15	Ex Machina	Steve Lehman and Orchestre National De Jazz	ONJ Records		[92]
		Where Are We	Joshua Redman	Blue Note Records		[93]
		The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp	Matthew Shipp	Mahakala		[86]
	22	Afro Futuristic Dreams	Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids	Strut Records		[94]
	29	Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden	Matana Roberts	Constellation Records		[95]
		FluXkit Vancouver (its suite but sacred)	Darius Jones	Saltern/Universal		[86]
October	6	Next Door	Leo Takami	Unseen Worlds		[96]
	20	Shimmer Wince	Anna Webber	Intakt		[86]
		Vol. 1	Chris Botti	Blue Note Records, UMG		[97]
November	17	New Blue Sun	André 3000	Epic Records, Sony Music		[98]
		The Near North Side	Calvin Keys & Terrace Martin	Sounds of Crenshaw, BMG		[99]

All critically reviewed albums ranked

Metacritic

Number	Artist	Album	Average score	Number of reviews	Reference
1	Jaimie Branch[note 3]	Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (world war)	96	8 reviews	[100]
2	The Necks	Travel	91	5 reviews	[101]
3	Joni Mitchell	Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years 1972-1975	90	11 reviews	[102]
4	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Melusine	89	4 reviews	[103]
5	James Brandon Lewis	For Mahalia With Love	87	5 reviews	[104]
6	Matana Roberts	Coin Coin: Chapter Five in The Garden	86	7 reviews	[105]
7	Yussef Dayes	Black Classical Music	86	5 reviews	[106]
8	Brad Mehldau	Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays the Beatles	86	4 reviews	[107]
9	Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily	Love in Exile	85	5 reviews	[108]
10	London Brew	London Brew	84	6 reviews	[109]
11	Alfa Mist	Variables	84	6 reviews	[110]
12	Rob Mazurek	Lightning Dreamers	84	4 reviews	[111]
13	Natural Information Society	Since Time Is Gravity	84	5 reviews	[112]
14	Idris Ackamoor	Afro Futuristic Dreams	84	5 reviews	[113]
15	Taj Mahal	Savoy	83	6 reviews	[114]
16	Alabaster DePlume	Come with Fierce Grace	83	5 reviews	[115]
17	Irreversible Entanglements	Protect Your Light	81	7 reviews	[116]
18	Thandi Ntuli	Rainbow Revisited	81	6 reviews	[117]
19	John Carroll Kirby	Blowout	81	5 reviews	[118]
20	Joni Mitchell	Joni Mitchell at Newport	80	11 reviews	[119]
21	Kassa	Animals	80	5 reviews	[120]
22	Rickie Lee Jones	Pieces of Treasure	79	6 reviews	[121]
23	High Pulp	Days in the Desert	79	4 reviews	[122]
24	James Brandon Lewis	Eye of I	78	7 reviews	[123]
25	Damon Locks	New Future City Radio	78	4 reviews	[124]
26	Sam Gendel	COOKUP	78	4 reviews	[125]
27	Jonah Yano	Portrait of a Dog	78	4 reviews	[126]
28	Joe Chambers	Dance Kobina	77	4 reviews	[127]
29	Adrian Younge	Tony Allen JID018	77	4 reviews	[128]
20	Pat Metheny	Dream Box	76	5 reviews	[129]
31	Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani	Les Égarés	76	4 reviews	[130]
32	André 3000	New Blue Sun	75	12 reviews	[131]
33	Angel Bat Dawid	Requiem for Jazz	74	5 reviews	[132]
34	Dinner Party[note 2]	Enigmatic Society	70	5 reviews	[133]

AnyDecentMusic

Number	Artist	Album	Average score	Number of reviews	Reference
1	Van Morrison	Moving on Skiffle	7.5	7 reviews	[134]
2	Alfa Mist	Variables	7.5	6 reviews	[135]

Deaths

Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian vocalist, who died in June

Peter Brötzmann, an influential Free Jazz saxophonist, who died in June

January

• January 10 – Dennis Budimir, 84, American jazz and rock guitarist (The Wrecking Crew)^[136]
• January 17 – Richard Oesterreicher, 90, Austrian jazz guitarist and conductor^[137]
• January 18 – Marcel Zanini, 99, Turkish-born French jazz clarinetist^[138]
• January 23 – Carol Sloane, 85, American jazz singer^[139]

February

• February 2 – Butch Miles, 78, American drummer^[140]
• February 13
  • Guido Basso, 85, Canadian trumpeter.^[141]
  • Alain Goraguer, 91, French pianist, arranger and film composer^[142]
• February 17 – Jerry Dodgion, 90, American saxophonist and flautist^[143]
• February 25 – Carl Saunders, 80, American trumpeter, composer and educator^[144]

March

• March 1 – Wally Fawkes, 98, Canadian-British clarinettist and satirical cartoonist^[145]
• March 2 – Wayne Shorter, 89, tenor saxophonist^[146]
• March 3 – Carlos Garnett, 84, Panamanian-born jazz saxophonist^[147]
• March 9 – Robin Lumley, 74, British jazz keyboardist (Brand X)^[148]
• March 13 – Simon Emmerson, 67, English jazz and worldbeat guitarist (Weekend, Working Week, Afro Celt Sound System)^[149]
• March 14 – Gloria Bosman, 50, South African jazz singer^[150]
• March 15 – Théo de Barros, 80, Brazilian jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer (Quarteto Novo)^[151]
• March 16 – Tony Coe, 88, English jazz clarinetist and saxophonist ^[152]

April

• April 5 – Duško Gojković, 91, Serbian jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger^[153]
• April 7 – Kidd Jordan, 87, American saxophonist^[154]
• April 9 – Karl Berger, 88, German jazz pianist, composer, and educator^[155]
• April 16 - Ahmad Jamal, 92, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader^[156]

May

• May 14 – Bernt Rosengren, 85, Swedish jazz tenor saxophonist^[157]
• May 24 – Bill Lee, 94, American bassist^[158]
• May 28 - George Cassidy, 86, Northern Irish tenor saxophonist and music teacher to Van Morrison^[159]

June

• June 5 – Astrud Gilberto, 83, Brazilian vocalist^[160]
• June 16 – Peter Dickinson, 88, English experimental pianist and composer^[161]
• June 20 – Peter Brötzmann, 82, German free jazz saxophonist^[162]
• June 29 – Lilian Terry, 92, Italian jazz singer and composer.^[163]

July

• July 17 – Barry Martyn, 82, English jazz drummer^[164]
• July 21 – Tony Bennett, 96, American jazz and traditional pop singer^[165]
• July 22 – Knut Riisnæs, 77, Norwegian jazz musician^[166]

October

• October 17 – Carla Bley, 87, American jazz composer and pianist^[167]

November

• November 4 – Michel Pilz, 78, German jazz clarinetist^[168]
• November 8 – Dino Piana, 93, Italian jazz musician^[169]
• November 20 – Mars Williams, 68, American jazz and rock saxophonist (The Psychedelic Furs, The Waitresses)^[170]
• November 21 – Horacio Malvicino, 94, Argentine jazz and tango guitarist and composer^[171]

December

• December 6 – Michel Sardaby, 88, French jazz pianist^[172]
• December 26 – Tony Oxley, 85, English jazz drummer^[173]
• December 29 – Les McCann, 88, American jazz pianist and singer^[174]

See also

• Jazz portal

• List of 2023 albums
• List of jazz festivals
• List of years in jazz
• 2023 in music