JAZZIZ Hear & Now playlists shine a spotlight on jazz scenes around the world, bringing you new music from local artists who rep their cities proudly. Think of it as your sonic passport to a global jazz destination. Step into a jazz club or turn on the jazz station in your new city, and this is the music you’d be hearing now.
In jazz today, it seems like U.K. artists are everywhere: headlining major sets in New York City, performing NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and appearing on international jazz festival stages. Their music represents a union of sounds from across genres, cultures, decades and countries, and in the past year or so, it has helped reinvigorate an industry that, quite frankly, could use some healthy invigorating.
You’ve doubtless heard some of these artists before: GoGo Penguin, Shabaka Hutchings and Moses Boyd are some of the most visible stars to shoot across the U.K. skies of late. But they belong to a much larger network of artists who are putting British jazz on the map, and this playlist is our attempt to introduce you to that scene. The sounds in this mix range in style from dubstep to reggae to Afrobeat to grime, but everything is united by an overarching sense of experimentalism, vitality and fun. Many of these artists have been grinding away for a while across the pond. It’s about time the world pays attention. Get ready, jazz fans. The British are coming.
