This week’s Hot New Local Single comes to us from Jenny Klukken, a Twin Cities – based percussionist who specializes in marimba. Klukken is a classically trained musician, but she performs in a wide variety of contexts including world music, folk music, and jazz. Marimba Standard, a new album slated for official release on Friday, March...Read More

This year’s Jazz Legends will honor Arne Fogel. Fogel can be heard here on Jazz88 and is a vocalist. Honoree Gary Gauger is the drummer of our group. Gauger has played with the Airmen of Note and Sammy Davis Jr. Our third honoree is bassist Gary Raynor. If you look at Jazz88’s music calendar you...Read More

The South Side Aces have established themselves as the first name in traditional jazz in the Twin Cities. For their sixth album, they focus on the music of pioneering clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet, The disc includes music that Bechet recorded between 1923 and 1959.  It’s called Les Oignons. This week’s Hot New Local Single...Read More

Jazz88 favourites, Society of Chemists are greeting Spring and jazz fans all over the Twin Cities with another luscious single from the group’s always buzzing studio laboratory. The piece, “Western Carol” was composed by chief Chemist, Stephanie Wieseler, “I wrote this on piano in late December of 2022. I was inspired by the cozy evening...Read More

Twin Cities own Indie-Pop Jazz dynamos, Dilly Dally Alley are back with a new single! The tune “Hearts Like Caves” has lead singer and bandleader Sophia Spiegel reflecting on and celebrating transformation, transition of relocation and renewal of rediscovering and finding your roots. To our ears it’s the perfect sound to welcome in that Spring energy we...Read More

Minnesota Jazz Legends, Minnesota History Center, April 12, 2026 2pm Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month with a live music event honoring Minnesota’s jazz legends, hosted by Jazz88’s Patty Peterson, an award-winning vocalist. In partnership with Jazz88, the Minnesota History Center, and the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Minnesota Jazz Legends will recognize the Twin Cities jazz...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single “Prayer for Mim in the Color of Marigold” is contemplative and ambient and serves as a dedication to the late Mimi Parker of Low. Bassist Liz Draper has been playing with a variety of folk, rock and jazz artists throughout her career. Having performed with Charlie Parr, The Okee...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single is “Epsilon” from the BZ3 Organ Trio. Since the group’s inception in 2023, they have embraced a wide variety of musical styles, including jazz, soul, R&B, and funk. This tune marks a bit of a departure for the group with an unapologetic eighties vibe. Fiely’s guitar and Brian Ziemniak’s...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single is from the group Duo CORDA, comprised of guitarist Pavel Jany and cellist Jacqueline Ultan. Ultan is a Yale-educated musician who teaches music at MacPhail and incorporates her cello into a wide range of musical settings, including projects like Saltee that feature her cello in combination with beatbox and...Read More

The duo known as Pierpont & Helgeson are out of the Twin Cities and an extension of the long running funk and soul label, Secret Stash Records. The multi-instrumentalists, composers  and producers function as essentially a studio project and offered a slew of drops of ambitiously funky, cinema phonic and ambient musical excursions this past year. Coming out...Read More