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There were few SXSW badges in sight as a crowd filled in Austin’s West Campus mainstay Hole in the Wall bar on March 14, one night after a car collided into the venue. For this showcase, one of countless during the annual festival week, pay for the eight billed artists was top of mind.

“There’s a lot of money flying around this place — and they’re not paying artists,” said Joey DeFrancesco, an organizer with the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (Umaw) who performs as La Neve, in the kick off to the event, named “Fair Pay at SXSW.”

The event marked the latest demonstration for Umaw, the group of activists that have protested Spotify’s royalty rates for artists (“Justice at Spotify”) as well as highlighted antitrust concerns over Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s hold on the events industry. On Feb. 7, a little over a month before SXSW’s start date,...

Jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and electronic producer Floating Points (a.k.a. Sam Shepherd) have announced a new album, Promises, out March 26th via Luaka Bop. The album marks the first that Sanders, 80, has recorded in over a decade.

Sanders and Floating Points recorded the nine-part project with the London Symphony Orchestra, but have not yet shared a single from the piece, instead releasing a brief teaser clip on Tuesday that shows Sanders and Shepherd working together in the studio.

Promises will feature cover art designed by contemporary visual artist...

Following thousands of jazz events taking place in 195 countries on all seven continents, International Jazz Day 2019 came to a thrilling close this evening in Melbourne, Australia with an extraordinary All-Star Global Concert at the Melbourne Arts Centre’s renowned Hamer Hall.

Herbie Hancock, Kurt Elling, Somi, Igor Butman, James Morrison, Lizz Wright and Jane Monheit

Credit/Copyright: Graham Denholm/Getty Images for Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz

Led by artistic co-directors Herbie Hancock (USA) and James Morrison (Australia), and musical director John Beasley (USA), the concert was streamed live by the United Nations and Unesco and on www.jazzday.com. It featured riveting performances by over 30 international artists: Cieavash Arian (Iran), William Barton (Australia), Brian Blade (USA), A Bu (China), Igor Butman (Russian Federation), Theo Croker (USA), Joey DeFrancesco (USA), Eli Degibri (Israel), Kurt Elling (USA), James Genus (USA), Paul Grabowsky (Australia), Antonio Hart (USA), Matthew Jodrell (Australia), Aditya Kalyanpur...

These days, you hear a lot of talk about so-called spiritual jazz, a Sixties and Seventies subgenre that resonates strongly in the work of contemporary standouts like Kamasi Washington and Nubya Garcia. Along with John and Alice Coltrane, one of the patron saints of the unofficial movement is saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.

In 1969, Sanders released “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” a 30-minute track that summed up the spiritual-jazz aesthetic with its blend of blissed-out, meditative vamping and fiery abstraction — as well as some ecstatic yodeling from vocalist Leon Thomas. Now,...

List to this week’s YouTube Music playlist here.

“Nothing Breaks Like a Heart,” Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus

Sounds like: An emotionally fragile pop banger

Perfect for: Crying on the dance floor

She’s a little bit country, he’s a little bit disco. Mark Ronson recruited Miley Cyrus for the first taste of his next album, and it works perfectly for a set that he promises will be full of “sad bangers.” Miley reflects on the state of the world and her tender heart in her signature Southern twang,...

Van Morrison unveiled a brassy new song, “Got to Go Where the Love Is,” which will appear on his upcoming album, The Prophet Speaks, out December 7th via Caroline International. The new track arrives with a neon-lit lyric video that complements the song’s soulful, jazz club vibe. Morrison’s unmistakable vocals glide over a snappy groove of piano, organ and punchy horns as he wails, “Start all over somewhere else/ Somewhere much stronger than this/ Somewhere I can be myself/ ‘Stead of sitting on the shelf/ Got to go where the love is.

Van Morrison has announced his new album, The Prophet Speaks. His 40th studio album is set for release on December 7th via Caroline International.

On his new effort, Morrison offers six new originals alongside his reinterpretations of classics. Sam Cooke’s “Laughin’ and Clownin’,” John Lee Hooker’s “Dimples,” Solomon Burke’s “Gotta Get You Off My Mind” and Willie Dixon’s “I Love the Life I Live” are among the eight songs he covers.

“It was important for me to get back to recording new music as well as...

International Jazz Day 2018 came to a phenomenal close this week in St. Petersburg, following an extraordinary All-Star Global Concert at the historic Mariinsky Theatre that capped off several days of educational outreach programs across the city.

The concert, led by artistic co-directors Herbie Hancock (USA) and Igor Butman (Russia), was streamed live by the United Nations and Unesco and on www.jazzday.com. It featured performances by an international roster of artists including Oleg Akkuratov (Russia), Till Brönner (Germany), Oleg Butman (Russia), Terri Lyne Carrington (USA), Joey DeFrancesco (USA), Fatoumata Diawara (Mali), Vadim Eilenkrig (Russia), Kurt Elling (USA), Antonio Faraò (Italy), James Genus (USA), Robert Glasper (USA), David Goloschekin (Russia), Hassan Hakmoun (Morocco), Gilad Hekselman (Israel), Horacio Hernandez (Cuba), Taku Hirano (Japan), Anatoly Kroll (Russia), Gaoyang Li (China), Rudresh Mahanthappa (USA), The Manhattan Transfer (USA), Branford Marsalis (USA), James Morrison (Australia), Moscow Jazz Orchestra (Russia), Makoto Ozone (Japan), Danilo Pérez...