Listen: San Francisco Jazz Festival Playlist

With so much new music dropping right now, we've compiled a "highlights" playlist for the 33rd Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, for your enjoyment—the soundtrack to your Summer. See you all at the SFJAZZ Center June 9-21!

News+Happenings: August 30, 2012

Highlights include:

• Would Thelonious Monk even qualify for the jazz competition named after him?
• The Los Angeles Times explores the "groove" where jazz and dance music meet - spearheaded by artists like Robert Glasper, DJ Quantic and Flying Lotus. 
• The SFJAZZ Center is in the news again, with an intimate San Francisco Chronicle interview between Executive Artistic Director Randall Kline and Jesse Hamlin.
• The Bad Plus' new album Made Possible hits stores on Sept. 25th, but you can get a sneak peek here.
• Joe Jackson is taking his Duke Ellington tribute on the road with a six-piece band featuring violinist Regina Carter.
• The New Yorker reviews Shirley Clarke's recently restored 1985 documentary Ornette: Made In America.
• Legacy Recordings released an incredible 8-CD anthology of the Brecker Brothers' Arista Records sessions from the 70s and early 80s.
• Steve Lehman takes a stab at the six easiest ways for jazz musicians to expand their audience.

News+Happenings: August 23, 2012

Highlights include:

• The San Francisco Chronicle attempts to answer the question, who is Esperanza Spalding?
• Jamire William's new project ERIMAJ continues to make waves this week with a debut at #1 on iTunes Jazz this week.
• The Ethan Iverson, Ben Street and Tootie Heath set from the Village Vanguard is now streaming on NPR.
• Unfortunately, Israeli pianist Shimrit Shoshan passed away at the young age of 29 due to cardiac arrest.
• The tracklisting for Robert Glasper's Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP has been revealed by Soul Culture.
• The Chicago parking garage door that sounds like Miles Davis is making the viral rounds!
• Victor Wooten has been kind enough to provide his fans with a free download of "Sword and Stone" off his upcoming album.
• Semifinalists for the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition were announced, this year the focus is on drums.

News+Happenings: August 16, 2012

Highlights include:

• The jazz world mourned the loss of Chicago based tenor saxophonist Von Freeman who passed away at the age of 88 last weekend.
• Robert Glasper announced plans to release Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP this fall, featuring re-imagined tunes from his latest album.
• Can Ravi Coltrane live up to his father's legend with the release of his new album Spirit Fiction?
• Check out Esperanza Spalding live at Jazz in Marciac, performing her new single "Crowned & Kissed".
• Fast Company has their own spin on social web strategies, taking cues from jazz great Miles Davis!
• Ornette: Made in America is the title of a newly restored documentary film about jazz giant Ornette Coleman, made by Shirley Clarke and set to open August 31 at New York City’s IFC Center. 
• The New York Review of Books provides some insight into the extensive career of saxophonist Sonny Rollins in their most recent blog post.
• Branford Marsalis spoke with NPR about the failings of modern jazz and his hopes for the next generation of musicians.
• SFJAZZ Collective member Edward Simon is on a quest to put out a new live CD featuring his trio, can you help him achieve his goal? 

News+Happenings: August 2, 2012

Highlights include:

• Congratulations to all the winners of the 2012 Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, many familiar faces from shows gone by and upcoming!
• Nonesuch Records announced the release of Brad Mehldau Trio's companion disc to this past spring's Ode, titled Where Do You Start. Album out on September 18th.
• TUNE IN: NPR Music will be webcasting the Newport Jazz Festival in its entirety over the weekend.
• Art Imitates Life, And Vice Versa in the world of trumpeter and bandleader Christian Scott.
• The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis set from Marciac is now available for your viewing pleasure.
• Love 'em or hate 'em, jazz upstarts BADBADNOTGOOD's album BBNG2 topped LA Weekly's "The Five Most Overlooked Albums of 2012 So Far".
• According to WIRED Magazine, the cosmic sounds of Meklit Hadero's CopperWire project are coming to mobile app near you.

News+Happenings: July 12, 2012

Highlights include: 

• Robert Glasper is in the news again, this time speaking with USA Today on his newfound mainstream success with his crossover album Black Radio. 
• New Orleans music ambassador Lionel Batiste passed away at the age of 80
• Sonny Rollins shared his top 10 "must-hear" tenor tracks of all time with JazzTimes.
• Concord Jazz announced the release of bassist Marcus Miller's eighth studio album Renaissance, set to hit stores on August 7th.
• Help restore and inspire conservation of the San Francisco Bay and its watershed by attending "The Best of West Coast Roots Music," featuring an All-Star Line Up of Marcus Shelby, John Santos, John Calloway and Faye Carol.
  
• Jazz giant Sonny Rollins was honored at Perugia "City Hall" as part of the Umbria Jazz Festival.
• Check out our new iTunes channel, complete with jazz educational podcasts, SFJAZZ Hotplate mixes, exclusive videos and much more.