A Ride Through the Many Directions of Jazz

We take a ride through the many directions of jazz, from cool-toned swing and hard bop to modern improvisation, spiritual jazz, and the outer edges of the music.

The first hour brings lyrical piano, restless rhythms, and a healthy dose of Monk's angular wit. Then the music digs deeper, with gospel roots, searching saxophones, and the enduring influence of John Coltrane. A spiritual center gives way to adventurous new sounds, where melody, texture, and rhythm take some unexpected turns.

Old masters, new voices, familiar compositions heard in unfamiliar ways, and a few surprises before we head home. More than two hours of jazz that respects its history without standing still.

Neal Caine - Good Bye Pork Pie Hat
Lester Young - Ad Lib Blues
John Sneider - Malaise Lounge

Sullivan Fortner - Aria II
Oscar Rossignoli - Mar Adentro

Steve Davis - Invitation
Tyler Henderson - Eight Ball
Christian McBride & Ursa Major - Cows

Miles Okazaki - Criss Cross
Thelonious Monk - Epistrophy (live in Paris, 1967)
Jamie Davis - Well You Needn't

Russell Gunn & Blackhawk - Voyages Of The Pyramid Builders Pan Afrikan Benediction
David Champagne - Wade In the Water

James Brandon Lewis & Red Lily - I Want Jesus to Walk With Me
John Coltrane - Psalm, A Love Supreme, pt. 4
Clifford Jordan - John Coltrane

Miguel Atwood Ferguson - My Favorite Things (feat. Azar Lawrence)
Jim Snidero - Resolution, A Love Supreme, pt. 2

Caroline Davis, Grey Mcmurray, & Qasim Naqvi - Joust
Zohar & Adam - Dying Hands
Damma Damma - Down to the Very Root
Amani Burnham - Chameleon

Just what the doctor ordered: Searching solos & insistent rhythms

Day at the Dog Races takes a thoughtful turn, from Thelonious Monk’s enduring melodies to the spiritual reach of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, presented in four parts across three different ensembles.

Warm ballads and small-group conversations give way to searching solos, insistent rhythms, and the broad possibilities of the orchestra. There’s tenderness here, but also urgency—a willingness to sit with a melody, follow a difficult question, and hear where it leads. Set aside some time and listen closely.

Miles Okazaki - Brilliant Corners
Clifford Jordan - Blue Monk
Thelonious Monk - Ruby My Dear

Monty Alexander - Hope
Jeremy Pelt, Monty Alexander, Ron Carter and Steve Jordan - Always

Oscar Rossignoli - Shifting Contexts
Steve Davis, Hank Jones, Peter Washington - Nardis

Branford Marsalis Quartet - A Love Supreme, Acknowledgement (Pt. I)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme, Resolution (Pt. II)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme, Pursuance (Pt. III)
Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown - A Love Supreme, Psalm (Pt. IV)

Caleb Wheeler Curtis & Jason Moran - Archaeology
Jason Robinson - Fifth Saga
Russell Gunn & Blackhawk - Blackstone Legacy

Wadada Leo Smith - Dark Energy
Satoko Fujii Orchestra - Second Attempt (Part 2, Berlin)

(Click image for more information!)

Finger-snapping tunes to deep-space exploration

Day at the Dog Races comes out swinging, with bright piano, a little Jamaican sway, and the blues never far from reach. Voices draw you close, guitar keeps things warm, and the whole affair moves with an easy confidence. Get comfortable—but keep your ears open.

Because the ground starts shifting. Spiritual jazz turns up the heat, electric grooves thicken the plot, and the rhythms begin taking corners you didn’t see coming. What started as an invitation to move becomes an invitation to get real gone.

A dependable beat gives way to fractured patterns, gathering tension, and wide-open space. The guitar bristles, the bass rumbles, and the trumpet calls out across the darkness. We’ve traveled from finger-snapping tunes to deep-space exploration — and it's too late to turn back now.

Sean Mason - Honey Pie
Kris Davis Trio - The Subtext

Oscar Rossignoli - Ebbs & Flow
Monty Alexander - Mystical Blues

Peter Brendler - And Then Nothing
Shuteen Erdenebaatar - In Praise of Light

Vanisha Gould - Borough Blues
Jocelyn Gould - The Game Changer

Sarah Pillow - Blue Skies
Migiwa Miyajima - If I Could See Thad
Kelly Green - Tongue Twister

Jim Snidero - Ascent
Miguel Atwood Ferguson - Compassion (feat. Flying Lotus & Immanuel Wilkins)
Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown - Pursuance

Russell Gunn & Blackhawk - Cahokia Pyramids
Matt Wilson's Good Trouble - Black Fire

Kevin Sun - Hold Music
Max Light - Two Step Authentication

Christian Finger - Stimmung
Wadada Leo Smith - Deep Canyons on Mars

[Click the photo for full details about Wadada Leo Smith and Joe Morris, presented by New Music Circle in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday, October 25, 2026.]

Horns that Holler, Drums that Thunder, Singers that Sing

GOOD GOLLY, PEOPLE! Somebody let the jazz loose and now it's running wild all over town! From Duke Ellington's old stomping grounds to the back streets of Brazil, from greasy organ grooves to sounds so far out they haven't even been invented yet!

We got horns that holler, drums that thunder, piano players raising Cain, and enough musical mischief to get you thrown out of a respectable establishment! Swing it, bop it, twist it inside out, and just when you think you've got the hang of it, somebody moves the furniture!

Two hours of jazz with its shoes untied and its hat on crooked! Tell your neighbors, wake your cousins, and bring that fellow who says he doesn't like jazz. EVEN SQUARES NEED LOVE SOMETIME!

Russell Gunn & Blackhawk - East St. Louis Toodle-oo
Monty Alexander - Look Up
Matt Wilson's Good Trouble - Festival

Ryan Keberle's Collectiv do Brasil - Nao Tem Nada Nao
Ruben Caban - Speak No Evil

Kris Davis Trio - Where Does That Tunnel Go
Peter Brendler - Lucky In Astoria

Joey DeFrancesco - Roll With It
Doug Webb - The Webb We Weave
Calvin Newborn - Going Home

Jon De Lucia - Perdido
Vanisha Gould - My Sweet Kitty

Michael Moss - Good Bye Pork Pie Hat
Sarah Pillow - Tonight at Noon
Migiwa Miyajima - Haiku A, B, & C

Andy Shepherd - Elevation
Christian Finger - Five Secrets I
Giveton Gelin - I solemnly swear to live (feat. Jon Batiste)

Wadada Leo Smith - Meditation on Love
Phil Haynes 2Horns & What - Smoke Rises

Kevin Sun - Riot in Lagos
Michael Giles MAD Band - Boots And Ballgowns (feat. Keith Tippett)

A Three Hour Tour

Hard bop and modern jazz light the fuse. Then the Hammond starts cooking: soul jazz, deep funk, Afro-Latin fire, rare groove and cinematic soul. Jamaica gets into the bloodstream, dub slips into a jazz standard, and suddenly Miles Davis is hiding around every corner.

Wes. Sonny. Marvin. Brooklyn meets Brazil. Bebop collides with the Beat Generation. London answers Detroit. Old records whisper to new ones, tributes hide inside originals, and the segues have secrets of their own.

Jazz is where we start. Where we wind up is anybody’s bet.

Oscar Rossignoli - Serpent
Niia - Ronny Cammareri

Julieta Eugenio - Mi Boathouse
David Borgo - Dark Days

Monty Alexander - What's Going On
The Elliott Caine Quintet - Permanent Revolution
Fredi Shehadi - Song For Wes

Joey DeFrancesco - One More Blues
Doug Webb - For Sonny
Jerry Z - Strange Brew

The Filthy Six - Jack Attack
Karate Boogaloo - Butterfly
Menahan Street Band - Palace of Illusions
The Midnight Hour (Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad) - Water’s Edge

Four Chefs - Spin Control
Dave Fox Group - Odell Place

Marlon Simon and the Nagual Spirits - Africando
James Brandon Lewis - Tradition

Shai Jaschek - How Much Longer
Early Times - On The Corner

Andy Shepherd - Salt Catchers
Super scintillant (Nicolas Bernier & Mélanie Bourassa) - Trois- Deux

Alfa Mist - From East
Ezra Collective - Jubilee Feeling

Thee Sacred Souls & Victor Axelrod- Waiting (Dub)
Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown - So What

Bob McFadden & Rod McKuen - The Beat Generation
Emmet Cohen - Budo

Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson - Bone Bells
Ayumi Tanaka, Thomas Morgan, Thomas Strønen - La Source

Jason Kao Hwang Human Rites Trio - What to Keep, What to Let Go
Temidayo Balogun - 'Concept of Democracy'