London-based vocalist and songwriter ISQ (Irene Serra) announces her fifth studio album 'The Silence is Deafening', arriving on 23rd October and previewed by single 'Animal', out 22nd May.

Animal available here

 "Sublime vocals" - Jazz FM

"Serra occupies terrain Billie Holiday would find familiar, Sade too" - Jazzwise

"A melting pot of genres - jazz, pop, acoustic and experimental - which all blend together to entrancing effect" - TimeOut

"Honing the soulful possibilities of improvisatory music" – Clash

The befitting lead single is a rhythmic alt-pop tune that draws on the tension between different generations. Warm and determined, it sits with the complexity of a mother-daughter relationship. The clashes and the closeness, the misunderstandings that only years and perspective can untangle.

ISQ: "Animal is about the mother/daughter relationship in all its complexity; how it shifts, clashes, softens and deepens across time,” Irene explains. “What I once experienced as difference, I now see as bravery and resilience. It's a very personal track, but I think it taps into something universal about mothers, daughters, and the sometimes messy way love evolves over time."

After eight years away, ISQ returns with the meticulously created 'The Silence is Deafening' (out 23rd October) marking a significant shift in her sound - darker, guitar-driven and cinematic - sitting somewhere between alternative and Massive Attack. It is a record preoccupied with women's lives; the ones lived loudly and the ones lived in careful silence: "The songs on this album were a long time in the making,” Irene explains. “This is my attempt to make sense of a shifting world and of the elusive human condition - its unexpected beauty and moments of light, alongside the sadness, the quiet and the everyday violence it contains. It is a tribute to my mother’s resilience and to the countless women whose stories echo her own.”

Vocalist and songwriter Irene Serra has spent over two decades building something quietly singular within the UK's contemporary music scene. Known more by word of mouth than by headline, ISQ is her original compositional project - music that reveals its full weight only in the rooms it was made for: intimate clubs, jazz venues and concert halls where Irene’s presence and the band's collective intensity can truly breathe.

ISQ draws together a sophisticated jazz musicianship, alternative pop sensibilities and rich electronic textures. The current line-up of Richard Sadler (bass), Chris Nickolls (drums/electronics) and Luca Boscagin (guitar) counts credits across Neil Cowley Trio, Andy Sheppard and Cinematic Orchestra among its members, bringing both improvisational fluency and contemporary edge to the project.

Critically praised across her catalogue - from the TimeOut London Critics' Choice 'Too' to the Clash Magazine-lauded 'Requiem For The Faithful' - Irene has built a devoted following over two decades of uncompromising work. This fifth studio album is the work of an artist who has always known exactly what she wanted to say, and is finally ready for everyone else to hear it.

Thank you to Measure PR for sharing with us

ISQ website here

Trip the Night Fantastic (out July 31 via Candid Records)

Pre order here

The acclaimed Social Science collective (Matthew Stevens, Aaron Parks, and Morgan Guerin), led by four-time GRAMMY Award-winning drummer, educator, and activist Terri Lyne Carrington, returns with a new record to follow up their 2019 GRAMMY-nominated debut, Waiting Game. Boasting an illustrious roll call of emcees, spoken word artists, and instrumentalists, Trip the Night Fantastic explores systemic and contemporary themes that demand the listener’s attention, call them to action, and add stunning breadth to the time-honored tradition of amalgamating art and activism.

Climate change, immigration, gender justice, women’s empowerment, community building, and animal rights are all elucidated with a freshness, depth, and creative brilliance that can only be birthed from a group whose creative core is rooted in empathy and humanity.

Speaking on the inspiration, Carrington shares, “We set out to make a dance album ― music to make you move. The title is wordplay derived from the phrase ‘Trip the Light Fantastic’ (from John Milton’s 1645 poem ‘L’Allegro’), which implies dancing agilely, and with fancy footwork. We flipped the word ‘light’ to ‘night’ to reference the darkness being faced in trying times. While the album may inspire dancing, more importantly, we hope it inspires more care for one another.”

“A friend once told me that if we want the liberated future we hope for, we have to make it feel irresistible,” adds pianist Aaron Parks. “We need to make radical reimagination feel so enticing, so electric, that why would you not want to go there? I think that’s one of the things Social Science does really well. This is protest music at its core in many ways, but it’s also very much for something rather than just being against it. Terri’s vision as a producer is meticulous and clear-eyed but always open to surprise, and the way this record was built collaboratively, with many songs composed together and then shaped and reassembled, resulted in something I’ve never quite heard before. I love these people, this band, and I’m very grateful to be part of it.”

Featured throughout this new recording are vocalists Ledisi, Arooj Aftab, Michael Mayo, Miki Howard, Fatoumata Diawara, Debo Ray, Christie Dashiell, Lizz Wright, Vuyo Sotashe, Safa, Imani Rousselle, and Ian Michael; instrumentalists Brandee Younger, Marc Ribot, Larry Goldings, Rashaan Carter, Simon Moullier, Riley G, and Brenda Navarrete; emcees Nappy Nina, Kokayi, Kassa Overall, and Khemist; and spoken word artists J. Ivy, aja monet, Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball, and Moor Mother.

Large-scale collaboration has been a major hallmark of Carrington’s recording career since her groundbreaking 2012 GRAMMY Award-winning Mosaic Project. Between the first Social Science project and this one, Carrington released the GRAMMY Award-winning New Standards Vol. 1 and the GRAMMY-nominated We Insist 2025! with vocalist Christie Dashiell, reimagining Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln’s seminal 1960s civil rights project, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. “This felt like the right thing ― to collaborate and not just leave everything up to my own devices,” reveals Carrington. “I’m about collectivism versus individualism, and I always wanted to be in a band for this reason. There’s a beautiful Buddhist adage that sticks with me: ‘Many in body, one in spirit.’”

While touring with Aaron Parks and Matthew Stevens in 2014, Carrington recalls meaningful conversations with the two musicians that centered around social issues and feeling a great sense of alignment. “I just knew I wanted to do some kind of project with them. I thought it would be great to start with that foundation, not knowing at the time how much it would evolve. After Aaron and Matthew agreed, I suggested the addition of virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Morgan Guerin.” Thus, Social Science’s nucleus was born, and their first project (culminating summer of 2020) was met with critical acclaim and a timeliness that to some felt uncanny.

Most of the current album’s material was written jointly by the four core band members, illustrating the band’s practice of collaboration. Carrington has maintained the role of primary lyricist, while welcoming contributions from band regulars Kokayi and Debo Ray. “It’s been an honor working with these extremely gifted musicians,” Carrington reflects. “Both Aaron and Matthew are part of the pantheon of great improvisers and stylists on their instruments, and Morgan is absolutely one of a kind. He not only produced the album with me, but plays 12 instruments on this project as well!”

As we pass the halfway mark of a decade that has been plagued by unavoidable truths about the gulf that separates the American dream and the American reality, the urgency of the moment becomes increasingly glaring. Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science meets the moment head-on, feeling a moral and creative obligation to engage with the pressing issues of our time. Through their thoughtful collective work, they create deeply affecting music that captivates and challenges their audience.

Ultimately, Trip the Night Fantastic is about community and hope. Not from a place of naivete, rather from within a space of introspection, compassion, activation, and community. “If we thought things would never get better, there’d be no hope or reason to work toward anything,” says Carrington. “Hopefully, people choose to do their part however they can, but what’s important is being empathetic and authentic. We set out to make something that can offer windows to imagining a future where the concern for society and humanity is prioritized."

The Devil I Knew is out July 17, 2026 on La Reserve Records. Pre order here

The Devil I Knew is the seventh album from 2X GRAMMY-winning vocalist, pianist, and songwriter Nicole Zuraitis — a cinematic, five-part concept album exploring self-reckoning, accountability, and emotional agency through the lens of a collapsing love story. Blending jazz virtuosity with literary inspiration and deeply personal songwriting, the album unfolds across five thematic movements — The Mirror, The Martyr, The Malediction, The Reckoning, and The Requiem — each connected through poetry by iconic female writers including Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Francis Ellen Watkins Harper. Recorded at EastSide Sound in New York City and mastered by Bernie Grundman, the project features a world-class ensemble including Christian McBride, Gilad Hekselman, Donny McCaslin, and Larry Goldings, with horn arrangements by Jerry Hey and string arrangements by Vince Mendoza, including the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Produced by Larry Klein and Zuraitis, with Executive Producer Susan Bloomberg, the album positions Zuraitis within a burgeoning New Romanticism in jazz — music that is lush, literary, emotionally expansive, and unapologetically human in an age that keeps asking us to be smaller, quieter, and easier to process.

As a recording artist, Nicole Zuraitis has released five albums as leader, and her sixth album, How Love Begins, co-produced with eight-time GRAMMY-winner Christian McBride, won BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM at the 2024 GRAMMY® awards and features all original music. She is the only person ever to have won this award who wrote and arranged the entire album herself. In addition to leading her quartet, Nicole performed and recorded with the Birdland Big Band as the premier vocalist before taking off as a large ensemble leader of her own, co-producing the Dan Pugach Big Band and guesting for major big bands around the globe. She has headlined at Newport Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Caramoor, Saratoga Jazz Festival and Tanglewood, along with iconic NYC jazz clubs like Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the Blue Note, the Carlyle, 54 Below and the late, great 55 Bar. She also has appeared as a featured soloist with the Savannah Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony, and Macon Pops as well as the Danish Radio Big Band.

Nicole is a featured artist and producer on her husband’s, renowned drummer, bandleader, and composer Dan Pugach, 2025 GRAMMY-winning album, Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence (Best Large Ensemble) for which they composed the GRAMMY-nominated song, “Little Fears” (Best Jazz Performance). Nicole is a vocalist on the GRAMMY-winning “Last Sunday in Plains: A Centennial Celebration” alongside Jon Batiste, Keb’ Mo’, and LeeAnn Rimes. In 2024, Broadway World honored Nicole with the “Best Big Band Show” Award and she’s a 2025 Rising Female Vocalist in Downbeat Magazine. Nicole's arrangement of Dolly Parton's Jolene, co-written with Dan Pugach, was nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY®, springboarding her career and making her a household name in the modern-day jazz landscape. In 2020, she was named in the top 40 under 40 for 2020 in Connecticut Magazine, and her weekly live stream during the Covid-19 crisis, "Virtual Piano Lounge," was featured in Forbes Magazine.

Nicole has collaborated with an extensive list of luminaries, including Christian McBride, Tom Scott, Keyon Harrold, David Cook, Gilad Hekselman, Veronica Swift, Benny Benack, Stephen Feifke, Cyrille Aimee, Antonio Sanchez, Javon Jackson, Nikki Giovanni, Dave Stryker, Omar Hakim, Rachel Z, Helen Sung, Melanie, Morgan James, Darren Criss, Livingston Taylor, Thana Alexa, Rachel Eckroth, Don Braden and Bernard Purdie. She is a proud educator and a current vocal faculty member at NYU and the Litchfield Jazz Camp. In 2024, Post University awarded Nicole an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters.

An ardent activist with a decade-long track record of giving back, her release of How Love Begins coincided with a self-produced music festival and day of activism for Save the Sound.Org. All proceeds of the GRAMMY winning album Bianca Reimagined go to pitbull rescues Nicole and Dan have fostered through the last 15 years.

Nicole website click here

Thank you to Crossover Media for sharing with us

Latin Grammy nominee Claudia Acuña returns with Ave de Luz, out July 10, 2026 via Delfin Records, a love letter to her Chilean roots and a bold declaration of identity from the acclaimed vocalist, composer, and bandleader who has spent three decades weaving South American music into the fabric of New York jazz.

Where her previous albums drew from the broader Latin American tradition, Ave de Luz goes deeper and more specific: this is Chilean jazz, with Chilean musicians, built around the rhythms, instruments, and songs that shaped Acuña from childhood. The title captures the spirit at the heart of the record, to be a bird of light, carrying one's origins forward through music and across borders.

Her New York ensemble includes Manu Koch on piano and keys, Pablo Vergara on piano, Carlos Henderson on bass, and Yayo Serka on drums and percussion — musicians whose deep knowledge of both jazz and Latin American music gives the band its distinctive footing. Andrés Pollak, who also co-produced the record with Acuña, contributes piano and organ. The Chilean thread runs through the album with Pablo Zárate on Chilean accordion and pandero, and Fredy Torralba on charango, trutruca, and zampoña, traditional and native instruments that root the record in a specific cultural landscape. Paulina García, a celebrated Chilean actress, contributes spoken word, and Daniel Kelley-Acuña adds vocals to one track.

The arrangements are sparse yet full, leaving generous space for Acuña's resonant voice to carry the stories at the center of each song. The band renders South American rhythms with authenticity and nuance, and the production reflects a modern sensibility without losing sight of the music's folk and traditional foundations. Across the track listing, the instrumentation shifts in density, the lyrics move between Spanish and English, and the mood travels from traditional folk themes to contemporary compositions, keeping the listening experience dynamic from start to finish.

Several songs hold particular weight. "Chingalacachingal" is among the most direct pieces Acuña has written, a song that speaks to exhausted hearts and the collective longing for peace and basic human dignity. "Viento del Sur" ("Wind from the South") reflects on belonging and displacement, the feeling of carrying one's homeland wherever life leads. "Piecesitos de Niño" is drawn from a poem by Gabriela Mistral, Chile's Nobel Prize-winning poet, and features a spoken word performance by Paulina García alongside a daring arrangement that Acuña calls one of her favorite risks on the record. A duet with charango stands as a quiet prayer to Pachamama, mother nature.

The album arrives as the culmination of a journey that began the moment Acuña left Chile for New York, carrying her roots into a new musical world, and spending years learning how those two things could speak to each other. Rather than a declaration of ownership, the album is an act of embrace: Acuña bringing her singular background, her specific corner of Chile, and her life as an immigrant musician to bear on the music she loves. What she describes as an ongoing love letter to Chile, Ave de Luz is the sound of an artist fully inhabiting who she is and where she comes from.

Ave de Luz is out July 10, 2026 via Delfin Records.

Musicians

Claudia Acuña - Vocals, Claps & Tormento Manu Koch - Piano & Keys (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5) Pablo Vergara - Piano (Tracks 6 & 8) Andrés Pollak - Piano (Track 7) | Organ (Track 1) Carlos Henderson - Bass Yayo Serka - Drums, Tormento, Hand Percussion Pablo Zárate - Accordion & Chilean Pandero (Tracks 2) Paulina García - Spoken Word (Track 6) Daniel Kelley-Acuña - Vocals (Track 6) Fredy Torralba - Charango, Trutruca & Zampoña

Claudia Acuña

Latin Grammy Nominee and NPR Tiny Desk Concert artist (2023), Claudia Acuña was born in Santiago and raised in Concepción, Chile. She established herself on the Chilean jazz scene in her early 20s before arriving in New York City in 1995, where she quickly became a leading voice on a scene being transformed by a wave of brilliant Latin American musicians. Acuña is celebrated for her vision of blending South American folk music with jazz and world music, and has collaborated with Harry Whitaker, Arturo O'Farrill, Guillermo Klein, Branford Marsalis, George Benson, Kenny Barron, Louie Vega, Tom Harrell, Herbie Hancock, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the San Carlo di Napoli Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Her albums as a bandleader — beginning with her debut Wind from the South on Verve Records, which made her the first Latin American vocalist signed to a major label — established her as a creative force. Other releases include Rhythm of Life (Verve), Luna (MaxJazz), In These Shoes (Zoho Music), En Este Momento (Marsalis Music), and Turning Pages, which earned a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Album in 2019. Recent work includes performances at the Newport Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall's Musical Explorers program, and International Jazz Day with the Herbie Hancock Institute. She has received the Keys to the City of Concepción, a 2024 Award of Recognition from the Chilean Chamber of Commerce in New York City, and a nomination for Person of the Year in Chile for her contributions to music and humanitarian work.

Thank you to Lydia Liebman for sharing with us

Claudia Acuña

Deirdre Cartwright: ORGANIK

Album release (CD & digital): Friday 10 July 2026

Wednesday 15 July – launch concert at PizzaExpress Live (Soho)

Pre order here

“Deirdre Cartwright is a deeply expressive guitarist who produces finely wrought, bluesy, soulful melodic lines.” Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwise

Deirdre Cartwright returns with ORGANIK, her first album in 15 years – an uplifting recording that reflects on the guitarists who have shaped her musical journey while introducing new original material.

At the heart of the album is a dynamic organ trio featuring Pete Whittaker on Hammond organ and Gary Hammond on percussion. Whittaker draws on a rich hard-bop tradition, having worked with leading UK artists including Art Themen and John Etheridge, while Hammond adds colour and rhythmic depth, drawing on his experience performing with Nina Simone and The Beautiful South. Stripping the sound back to its essence, Cartwright plugs her Gibson guitar directly into a Fender amplifier, using no effects, resulting in is a warm, resonant tone, complemented by classic Hammond textures and inventive, atmospheric percussion.

ORGANIK opens with a fresh interpretation of ‘Eleanor Rigby’, inspired by Wes Montgomery, combining octave phrasing with a sensitive arrangement. Three new Cartwright compositions feature prominently: the lilting, 6/8 ‘One for Polly’, the Latin-tinged ‘Mango Bango’, inspired by her time at the Bequia Blues Festival and the funky, blues-infused ‘Espresso Martino’, a nod to Pat Martino.

A tribute to Emily Remler is heard in ‘Softly, as in a ‘Morning Sunrise’, while the trio explores a brooding take on ‘You Don’t Know Me’ in the spirit of Ray Charles. A dynamic ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ shifts between Latin and swing and a cinematic reimagining of Sultans of Swing evokes a desert-like landscape. The album closes with a haunting rendition of ‘The Gentle Rain’ by Luiz Bonfá.

“I made this album for me, wanting to move away from effects pedals and play without the distraction of technology,” reflects Cartwright. “Playing with Pete and Gary brought spontaneity, imagination and creativity to the whole process – I had a lot of fun making this record.”

Zoe Rahman: HULL SUITE LIVE

Released: 10th July 2026

Pre order here

A Unique Live Album Concept By One Of The UK’s Most Exciting Jazz Pianists The phenomenally talented pianist Zoe Rahman is proud to present her latest album entitled “Hull Suite Live”.

Commissioned by Hull Jazz Festival for World Piano Day in 2024, the suite is based on themes of voyage, migration and family, taking inspiration from two statues in Hull: One which commemorates the 2.2 million people who passed through Hull as a port city between 1836 and 1914, and the other which looks out across the Humber to the sea and has a twin sculpture looking back towards it from Iceland, commemorating fishermen, seafarers and trade shared between the two countries. The music is also about Zoe’s parents' story of migration, sea crossings and a piano – as Zoe explains: “When I was writing the music, the themes reminded me of my parents' story of migration….My mother emigrated from England to New Zealand when she was 10, travelling for 6 weeks by ship. She later met my father when they were both at Sydney University - he had travelled by ship from Bengal. I found out only recently that after going back to visit his family in Dhaka, my father needed proof that he had the financial means to support his return to Sydney, so my mother sold her piano so that they could be together. While composing, I was thinking about how my own existence is strongly linked to sea travel and to the story of a piano!”

Zoe Rahman’s instrumental interpretations of these topics are presented with poignancy and sensitivity, overarched with what Jazzwise Magazine have described as Zoe’s “full-blooded, chord splashing, orchestral approach to the acoustic piano.” The Hull Suite features Zoe’s worldclass trio, with drummer Gene Calderazzo (Pharoah Sanders, Randy Brecker) and bassist Alec Dankworth (Abdullah Ibrahim, Dave Brubeck). These longstanding collaborators display an electrifying synergy with Zoe on piano. The nature of the work encompasses a wide pallet, with earthy blues influences, soulful melodies and cinematic musical textures, The album was recorded live at The Vortex Jazz Club in London, capturing the true essence of Zoe and her band’s live performance – a special moment forever encapsulated on this recording.

Born in the UK, to a Bengali father and English mother, Zoe studied classical piano at the Royal Academy of Music, gained a music degree at Oxford University and then won a scholarship to study jazz performance at Berklee College of Music, Boston. A very well established and respected figure in international jazz, Zoe’s music has also reached far beyond specific scenes for decades, this year marks the 20th anniversary of Zoe receiving a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Zoe Rahman’s music has always been truly original. Hull Suite is a work that channels Zoe Rahman’s exuberant spirit, fortified by her exemplary band and ultimately creating an outstanding listening experience for anyone who appreciates true artistry in its purest form – an adventure not to be missed!

Zoe Rahman website

Tickets to Live Album Launch Show @ The Vortex

Thank you to Dynamic Agency for sharing with us