At the beginning of every month I post the following month’s new releases; so you can check out June and July 2026 releases — along with everything else sent to TRoS this year — on this page. Below you’ll find some June records that I’ve been looking forward to, as well as some surprises from the month of May. Happy listening!

June 2026 releases to look for…!

Lakecia Benjamin, We Dream (Artwork), to be released June 5th.

• Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s star has gone from rising to shining brilliantly. Deservedly reaping accolades, feature performances, and widespread recognition, Benjamin adds a host of stellar associates on her latest studio album, including: trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, saxophonist Chris Potter, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, pianist Hiromi, the Roots’ Black Thought, vocalists Bilal and Tiaranna “Tank” Ball of Tank and the Bangas, and drummer and producer Kassa Overall. With this ensemble Benjamin drafts a sonic manifesto, managing to successfully bottle the joy, insistence, and boundless energy of her live shows into a definitive recording. More than a “jazz” album, We Dream can and should serve as a soundtrack for our collective work in manifesting the “New World” that artists like her have been conjuring for centuries.

Ibrahim Maalouf, Trumpets of Michel-Ange Vol. 2 (Paris La Defense), to be released June 12th.

• Like Benjamin’s We Dream, trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf’s newest album centers on the theme of creating light amid darkness, drawing on his musical and cultural roots in Lebanon as part of a global call for solidarity through the joy of sharing music. A follow-up to the first volume released in 2024, the second installment of Trumpets of Michel-Ange include a range of guest artists, such as Trombone Shorty from New Orleans, percussionist/vocalist Pedrito Martinez and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba from Cuba, vocalist Nai Barghouti from Palestine, Ghanaian-American djembe player Weedie Braimah, French accordionist Richard Galliano, Brazilian guitarist Hamilton de Holanda, American bassist MonoNeon, Spanish quartet Las Migas, and a choir of trumpeters who have learned the 4-valve version of the instrument developed by Maalouf’s father.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, With Every Breath I Take (Nonesuch), to be released June 26th.

• Every release by McLorin Salvant warrants attention. Her latest is also her first with a full orchestra, the Metropole Orkest (The Netherlands), performing arrangements by Darcy James Argue. Four years in the making, With Every Breath I Take features repertoire that McLorin Salvant “did not choose…because they are beautiful, but because they are crucial to me,” including songs by Kurt Weill, Stephen Sondheim, and Billy Strayhorn. I’ve written extensively on this site about McLorin Salvant, a generational artist who continues to expand her artistic world with every offering. How fortunate we are that she has welcomed us to join her in it once again!

Elsa Nilsson and Band of Pulses, Liminal (Adhyaropa), to be released June 12th.

• Flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson’s concept albums mix spontaneous music-making, thoughtful programming, compelling narratives, and inventive compositions, all artfully realized with top-notch accompanists. With Nilsson the lines between metaphor, method, and matter are always blurred…and to great effect. It’s more than appropriate then that Nilsson explores life’s “in between” moments, feelings, and stages on Liminal, the latest album with her Band of Pulses. Nilsson’s singular aesthetic combined with the sympathetic relationships she’s built with her bandmates tends to produce provocative results. Liminal promises more of the same.

Phoenix Trio, Tomorrow Is Today (Giant Step Arts), to be released June 19th.

• The Phoenix Trio is a new, collaborative project involving saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Guided by the mythology of the phoenix and the “three-in-one” concept in many cultures’ spiritual and esoteric traditions, this ensemble foregrounds the collaborative nature of their interactions, honed over decades of work together and manifest in this album through collective improvisation, shared compositional credits, and a highly empathetic approach to emergent music-making. Recorded live at Brooklyn’s Ornithology Club, Tomorrow is Today is a testament to deep listening, trust, and sonic exploration.

Helen Sung Big Band, Oracles (Sunnyside), to be released June 12th.

• Oracles is pianist Sung’s debut recording as leader of a large ensemble. Conceived as an homage to some of the jazz legends who have mentored her, Oracles showcases Sung’s arranging skills and her ability to carry on the “tradition of innovation” legacy that she learned from masters such as Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Sir Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, and Wayne Shorter. Accompanying her artistic vision is the equally essential social message at the heart of the communities and traditions of jazz: that mutually supportive collectives of individuals unified around a common message and goal serves as a powerful model for our everyday lives.

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Revelations…May!

As one month begins, another ends. Here are some records from this past month that caught me by surprise…

Ensemble Infini, Volume ∞ (Cellar), released May 1st.

• The debut recording from Ensemble Infini features “an intergenerational octet bringing together some of Montréal’s most active experimental musicians around drummer Guy Thouin.” Thouin, who turns 86 this year, contributes the majority of the album’s compositions, while direction and the arranging duties are fulfilled by reedist Elyze Venne-Deshaies. (For more background on the album and the group, follow this link.) The record label describes this music as “free jazz, collective improvisation, electronic textures, and kaleidoscopic collages drift together in a unified psychedelic flow”; and, while inevitable comparisons to earlier groups that inspired the group’s aesthetic will be drawn, I suggest listening to Volume ∞ on its own terms. I suspect I’ll be returning to this record many times over.

Selma Savolainen, in the shade (Whirlwind), released May 15th.

• Albums like this are why I created the “Revelations” category. It’s an absolute delight from beginning to end. Listening to in the shade is a bit like a trip down the Rabbit Hole into Savolainen’s private world: it’s intimate, immersive, vulnerable, and absolutely singular. It’s introspective but never self-absorbed. A stunning ensemble of instrumentalists backs the Finnish leader through a gamut of emotions, from tender reflection to angular insistence. I wish there were an algorithm that could curate a list of records just like this (and I’d add Laura Ann Singh’s Mean Reds from last year): endlessly imaginative, harmonically adventurous, melodically captivating, lyrically incisive, and teeming with the exceptional artistry of all involved. Honestly, though, I doubt any algorithm could capture what makes this music so special.

Jon Schapiro and Schapiro 17, Best Laid Plans (Summit), released May 8th.

• The third release of composer Jon Schapiro’s large ensemble features a variety of original compositions and cover tracks, including music by Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, and Sonny Rollins (RIP). If you only listen to one track, check out Schapiro’s arrangement of “Solace,” a composition for solo piano by Scott Joplin from 1909. (For comparison, here’s a recording of the original.) This tune was reintroduced to the American public as part of the film score for The Sting (1973), starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. On Best Laid Plans Schapiro reinvigorates the song yet again, paying homage to the iconic composition while reworking it through inventive tutti passages scored for the entire ensemble, as well as solo features for tenor saxophonist Rob Middleton, trombonist Alex Jeun, and trumpeter Bryan Davis (all with beautifully scored accompaniments). Schapiro shows keen awareness of the multi-part formal structure that was so key to ragtime composition, while expanding on it with a range of musical styles and harmonic languages that have unfolded since Joplin first penned the song.

Matt White, Dolly (Adhyaropa), released May 15th.

• I’m so glad I gave this album a shot. I’m not sure I had more fun with a record all month than I did with Matt White’s homage to the iconic Dolly Parton. If a “jazz tribute to Dolly Parton” seems incongruous or even a little off-putting to you, believe me: you want to give this album a shot, too. All credit goes to White for his arrangements, which are just about perfect. None of the album’s tracks is too on-the-nose, or square, or saccharine. Quite the opposite. White gets inside some of the most well-known pop songs of the 20th century, digs around, and finds even more musicality than we knew was there. And it all sounds really good. There’s just the right balance of the familiar and the innovative: while, thanks to adventurous reharmonizations and no-holds-barred improvisations, there are plenty of “I didn’t know Dolly could sound like that!?” moments, Liz Kelley’s exceptional vocals are more than enough to satisfy die-hard Dolly fans’ expectations of such classic repertoire.