Even if you don't recognize his name, you've heard his sound. Jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove played trumpet on, and contributed arrangements to, D'Angelo's Voodoo, Common's Like Water for Chocolate, and Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun. He was equally at home with neo-soul and hip-hop, and straight-ahead acoustic jazz. At the same time he was contributing to era-defining Soulquarian projects, he was producin

Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin dig into the You'll Hear It mailbag, answering your questions and checking out the tunes you always wanted them to hear. Plus, a trivia round inspired by your comments. ------------------------------- Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs: https://openstudiojazz.com/ ------------------------------- Learn to talk like a jazz m

D'Angelo's Black Messiah is one of the greatest albums of the 21st century. You can hear his musical influences all over it: Prince's arrangements, the Bee Gees' falsettos, Jimi Hendrix's guitar, Sly's groove. But the alchemy that makes Black Messiah so powerful could only come from one mind: D'Angelo, the artist who gave us Voodoo and Brown Sugar. Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin unpack

Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin play each other their favorite Ahmad Jamal tunes to build the ULTIMATE Ahmad Jamal playlist. Learn to play tracks from You'll Hear It. Join the You'll Hear It Players Club: https://yhi.link/players-club ------------------------------- Learn to talk like a jazz musician. Download the Liner Notes FREE today: https://yhi.link/linernotes-5 -------------------

Waltz for Debby is the sound that all "boring coffeehouse jazz" tries to imitate, but none can replicate. Featuring Bill Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums, this 1962 live album has become the template for every AI jazz playlist. And yet, it stands apart as one of the greatest jazz piano trio albums of all time. Pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin listen to the full al

Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin take turns playing each other songs, and the goal is to get the biggest involuntary reaction out of the other guy. Along the way, they break down what's actually happening in the music. In a final round, they have to sit through their opponent's pick without cracking. Who gets the best reactions? You decide. Share your verdict in the comments. Listen to t

Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin unpack Radiohead's 2007 masterpiece 'In Rainbows', track-by-track. Hear about the harmonies, odd time signatures, Thom Yorke's singing technique and the production choices that give this album its sound. And learn why many of the musical choices made for 'In Rainbows' are strange for an album that hit #1 on the US and UK charts, and sold three million cop

New albums all hand-picked from jazz pianist Adam Maness for your listening pleasure. 00:00 - Intro 01:51- Epiphanie - Domi & JD Beck https://store.bluenote.com/products/domi-jd-beck-who-asked?srsltid=AfmBOoqy83sYVjg7gWOWEPzDP1lzL0qSN3BWoiNb80SR6foAtB1hFJUi 05:45 - Solidarity Song - Terri Lyne Carrington https://terrilynecarrington.bandcamp.com/album/trip-the-night-fantastic 08:01 - Eye Level - Fa

Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life is all killer, no filler. Every track is a masterpiece. It's almost TOO easy for two jazz pianists in the business of reviewing history's greatest albums. So we're upping the stakes ... with a draft. Adam and Peter each present their top tracks from Songs in the Key of Life, compare and contrast, and see who comes out on top with the best lineup. Along the

You'll Hear It is a weekly listening party for people who love music ... a little too much. Every Monday, Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin sit down with one great album and break it down track-by-track. They listen, demonstrate what they are hearing, and put words to the moments you have always felt and haven't been able to explain. You’ll never hear your favorite albums the same way aga

Adam and Peter break down Prince and the Revolution's Purple Rain, the 1984 soundtrack that turned him into a global superstar. They go track by track, from "Let's Go Crazy" to the title song. With keyboards in hand, they break down the sophisticated music theory underneath this pop hit to reveal the hidden qualities that make this album great. You'll never hear Purple Rain the same way again. Sta

Our Top Picks of new jazz and jazz-adjacent releases from June 2026!

Weather Report's Heavy Weather became one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time. But there's so much more to it than "Birdland", Heavy Weather's radio hit. In fact, Peter makes the case that it might just be the weakest moment of the entire record. Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin break it down track-by-track: From Jaco Pastorius's fiery fretless bass, to Joe Zawinul's beautiful pi

With her 1974 masterpiece Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell transforms from folk singer into something harder to define. Her piano playing matures. Her songwriting blossoms into one of the richest harmonic and melodic color palettes we've ever heard up to this point. Not to mention her incredible lyricism and melodies. And she brings a new production sensibility from her backing band: a group of jazz

Jazz musicians Adam Maness and Peter Martin review their three favorite songs from Michael Jackson's most iconic albums: Bad, Thriller and Off the Wall. And their choices aren't what you might expect. Plus - Adam, Peter and the Open Studio band play their jazzy interpretation of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal. ------------------------------- Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jaz

Adam Maness brings you the freshest releases of May 2026! 0:00 Intro 0:50 Jeff Parker https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/happy-today 3:45 Greg Hutchinson https://www.allmusic.com/album/kind-of-now-mw0004778588 6:15 Chris Potter https://chrispotterjazz.bandcamp.com/album/alive-with-ghosts-today 9:09 New Jazz Underground https://www.allmusic.com/album/hoodies-mw0004791891 11:04 Virginia MacDonald

Sonny Rollins passed away this week at 95. Jazz pianists Peter and Adam are listening through the recordings that defined his career and made him one of the most influential musicians in jazz history. From his earliest bebop tunes to Saxophone Colossus to A Night at the Village Vanguard, they trace the arc of a player who kept raising the bar on himself even when the rest of the world thought he'd

Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is one of the greatest albums of all time - possibly THE greatest. But it's not perfect. In this special episode of You'll Hear It, jazz pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness break down this classic record, track-by-track, to uncover why it has become so legendary. They dig into what's really going on in the music during this album's best moments: Miles's trumpet solo on

Herbie Hancock's Thrust (1974) is one of the most influential jazz-funk records ever made. Peter Martin and Adam Maness break down the full album, track-by-track: Mike Clark's displaced backbeats, why Paul Jackson is such an unusual bass player and possibly the greatest Rhodes solo of all time. Plus - Adam shares a story about learning "Spank-A-Lee" at 16, and Peter tells us about meeting Paul Jac

Could Parliament be the most important band of the 1970s? Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin break down Parliament's 1975 masterpiece Mothership Connection track-by-track: Bootsy Collins bass lines that launched a thousand samples, grooves that lock you in and won't let go, and the New Orleans connection that George Clinton says started the whole thing. Plus: isolated bass and drums stems.