This year’s edition of International Jazz Day served as its most peculiar chapter so far as jazz luminaries from various regions of the globe — including the U.S., Panama, Japan, China, Morocco, Iraq and India — swarmed down on Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which hosted the annual event’s main April 30 concert.

rancis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April 14 in Philadelphia after a long illness. He was 78.

As jazz groups with history and internal legacies go, the San Diego, California-based band The Greyboy Allstars can’t be accused of excessive self-importance or cerebralism.

The National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will honor the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters at a series of public events April 24–26 in Washington, D.C.