Record Store Day 2026 preview: Jazz, blues & Latin

As we begin the week with decided global uncertainty, it might not be the best time for some good ol’ vinyl escapism.

...What am I saying? It might be the best time for some good ol’ vinyl escapism. In here, we can close off the outside world, ignore all the stupidity and confusion, and live inside a realm where nothing matters but our cherished objects, the wonderful sounds that these cherished objects emit, and the prospect of obtaining more of these cherished objects. What cost is a little shelf space in exchange for some mental well-being, right?

We’re launching our Record Store Day 2026 preview series today with a look at the best jazz, blues, and Latin vinyl coming to independent stores on April 18. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of good stuff, so we’ll let you know what’s caught our eye and what might be worth splonking down some of your hard-earned scratch for. We’ll continue these previews each Monday as we approach the big day.

But before we get into that, two things:

First, the month of March marks the six-month anniversary of The Vinyl Cut, so we wanted to express some gratitude to all of the readers and subscribers who have checked us out so far. And we wanted to extend a very special thanks to those of you on our paid tier, who are the ones helping keep this operation running. Your contributions have been more than electronic exchanges of money—they have been votes of confidence, back-pats of encouragement, and inspiration for our writing. You folks are the tops. Thank you.

We’d also like to gently nudge our free subscribers to consider upgrading to a paid subscription. (See that nice pink button up there? Click it!) You’ll be eligible for our monthly vinyl giveaways, and starting today, you will have access to our complete archives. All of our writing that is six months and older will be going behind the paywall—which is not very much right now, but will of course increase as we move forward from the six-month mark. Furthermore, all of our writing three months and older will only be available to subscribers (on any tier) and not viewable by the unwashed, unsubscribed masses.

Second thing! I (Ned) appeared on Steve Westman’s Live Audiophile Roundtable on Saturday, where we discussed 1990s albums that are in desperate need of a vinyl reissue. You can watch the full thing right here, and while you’re there, subscribe to Westman’s channel, which is a trove of valuable vinyl discussion.

Now, let’s kick off our RSD preview with a look at the jazz, blues, and Latin records you’ll want to know about.

JAZZ

Roy Ayers: Daddy Bug [Nature Sounds]

The third of three albums vibraphonist Roy Ayers recorded for Atlantic Records, 1969’s Daddy Bug is a supremely mellow collection of interpretations of material by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Edwin Birdsong, Ayers himself (the title track), and even a tune by Laura Nyro. Those only familiar with Ayers’ funk-pop efforts from the ’70s will find this a far more jazz-oriented offering, although it falls into the lighter side of that classification, with Ayers’s seductively shimmering vibraphone aligning itself with some of the more lounge-y elements of ’60s jazz. Daddy Bug makes this RSD reappearance on the Brooklyn hip-hop label Nature Sounds rather than through the Atlantic/Rhino catalog, so it’s unclear what the cutting source is, but it comes on yellow vinyl, and the album has really not been re-released on vinyl apart from a 2002 German repressing, making this a welcome reinstatement. However, what could’ve been really cool is a re-release of the 1976 Ayers odds-’n’-sods collection Daddy Bug & Friends, which features several of these takes without the incongruously overdubbed strings and woodwinds. NL

Don Cherry: Blue Lake [Charly]

Record Store Day 2025 saw the re-release of 1973’s Orient, a recording of jazz artist Don Cherry and an impressively cosmopolitan mix of players captured at two separate concerts in France, including pieces from a 1971 date in Paris. Charly Records follows that up this year with a reissue of Blue Lake, a 2-LP set originally issued only in Japan in 1974 by BYG Records, which includes the rest of the set from that Paris gig. The performance finds Cherry joined by Turkish drummer Okay Temiz and South African bassist Johnny Dyani and highlights the bandleader’s versatility as the music slips from Native American–inspired flute solos to free jazz blurts to a thrilling mix of African rhythms. The new edition of Blue Lake promises audio that has been restored and remastered from the original analog reels—but not an analog cut—and liner notes from writer Kevin Le Gendre. RH

John Coltrane: The Tiberi Tapes: A Preview of the Mythic Recordings [Verve/Impulse!]

2026 is the John Coltrane centennial, and as part of the celebration to coincide with his 100th birthday this September, Verve/Impulse! will release the fabled Tiberi Tapes, a collection of privately owned tapes made by saxophonist Frank Tiberi at clubs in New York and Philly between 1961 and 1965. It’s apparently quite a voluminous collection (86 CDs’ worth, according to some sources), so we don’t know what the size and scope of the final product will be, or how much of it will be on vinyl, but they’re releasing a taster 12-inch with two tunes (“Giant Steps” and “Satellite”) for RSD. The audio will not be close to studio-quality, as Tiberi recorded everything with a portable tape recorder while sitting in the audience. Still, any unheard Coltrane—even in bootleg quality—is of historic interest. The real question is whether these two teaser tracks will be available in a Tiberi vinyl package coming out later this year or if you’ll need to pounce now. NL

John Coltrane Quartet: France 1965: The Complete Concerts [Charly]

In July 1965, the John Coltrane Quartet performed two sets at the International Jazz Festival in Antibes, France, and followed them up with a performance at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris. These three performances have been released in part over the years, but now they’ve been collected by Charly Records in a 4-LP set that purports to be as complete as possible. The selling point is the Antibes live performance of all of A Love Supreme, the only existing recording of the complete work by the quartet that recorded the studio version, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. This performance has been made available on deluxe CD editions of A Love Supreme as well as on vinyl on a 2024 disc from Charly, but if you’re without those, this looks to be a good way to get all the France stuff in one go. The package comes in a gatefold with liner notes and a poster. NL

Miles Davis: The New Sounds 10-inch [Craft Recordings]

2026 marks Miles Davis’s centennial as well. His very first album—well, actually a four-song 10-inch—is being re-released by Craft for RSD. It follows the Capitol recordings he made that were released as singles and later were collected on Birth of the Cool, and these Prestige recordings follow in that vein, albeit with a smaller ensemble that included Jackie McLean, Sonny Rollins, and Art Blakey. While not showing a ton of evidence of the artistic breakthroughs that Davis would go on to achieve on a seemingly yearly basis for the rest of his career, The New Sounds is a bright, winning set that finds a young, ambitious virtuoso leading a pretty phenomenal group of musicians. The original Prestige mono 10-inch has been fully reproduced, with the lacquer cut from the original analog tape—miraculously, still in fighting shape—by Jeff Powell of Take Out Vinyl, and the disc comes in a tip-on jacket. NL

Bill Evans: At the BBC: The Complete 1965 Sets [Elemental]

Jazz 625 ran on BBC Television from 1964 to 1966 and provided essential visual documents of some of jazz’s most important artists during their prime. The Bill Evans Trio—with Evans joined by bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker—performed on Jazz 625 on March 19, 1965, and now Elemental Records, with Zev Feldman overseeing, has refurbished the audio from the original BBC reels and handed it over to Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. This double album should offer the best audio treatment the performance has ever received, and the BBC engineers no doubt did an excellent job capturing the live tracks before they were broadcast. If you have come to rely on a new Bill Evans live recording popping up every Record Store Day, you’re in luck—and if you’re simply interested in excellently presented archival jazz on good-sounding vinyl with well-researched liner notes, you’re in luck, too. NL

Vince Guaraldi: It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown/Charlie Brown’s All-Stars! [Lee Mendelson]

Between 1965 and 1976, pianist Vince Guaraldi composed and performed the soundtracks for 15 animated specials featuring the characters from Charles M. Schulz’s beloved comic strip Peanuts. Much of that music has been put back into circulation thanks to Lee Mendelson Productions, the studio responsible for all the Charlie Brown TV specials, with plenty of special-edition vinyl releases. Out for this Record Store Day is a set that includes the soundtrack from Charlie Brown’s All-Stars!, the 1966 baseball-themed follow-up to the still-adored A Charlie Brown Christmas, and It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, a 1976 special whose soundtrack Guaraldi was recording when he passed away at age 47. The kitschy collection finds the Arbor Day soundtrack pressed onto clear vinyl with a label that looks like a baseball, while the All-Stars is pressed on wax cut in the shape of a baseball glove. Put it together in the PVC gatefold sleeve, and it looks like a ball sitting in a glove. Get it? Both pieces of vinyl are cut at 45 RPM and pressed on “bio-attributed vinyl.” RH

Live at the Jazz Showcase series [Resonance]

Resonance Records has uncovered a trove of 1970s recordings made at Chicago’s famed Jazz Showcase nightclub, opened by Joe Segal in 1947 and operated to this very day (his son Wayne has since taken over). The four releases, in either 2-LP or 3-LP packages, are as follows: Yusef Lateef’s Alight Upon the Lake, recorded in June 1975 and featuring pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Bob Cunningham, and drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath; Ahmad Jamal’s Live in Chicago, recorded in March 1976 with bassist John Heard and drummer Frank Gant; Joe Henderson’s Consonance, recorded in February 1978 with Joanne Bracken on piano, Steve Rodby on Bass, and Danny Spencer on drums; and Mal Waldron’s Stardust & Starlight, recorded August 1979 with saxophonist Sonny Stitt making a guest appearance on two tracks, as well as bassist Steve Rodby and drummer Wilbur Campbell. (These Jazz Showcase recordings are being released on CD too, if that’s your bag.) The vinyl versions have all been cut by Matthew Lutthans of the Mastering Lab and pressed at Le Vinylist in Quebec, and each one comes with thorough liner notes. They’re all previously unheard live recordings and, judging from Resonance’s prior track record, should be pretty exceptional discoveries, documenting several different masters in the post-fusion years at one of Chicago’s best-established jazz institutions. NL

Abbey Lincoln: That’s Him [Craft Recordings]

Vocalist Abbey Lincoln may take top billing on this 1958 release, but the album also credits the Riverside Jazz Stars, a murderer’s row of jazz players that included saxophonist Sonny Rollins, drummer Max Roach, and pianist Wynton Kelly. All of those players wisely stay out of Lincoln’s way, letting the Chicago-born singer command the spotlight as she curls her sultry tones around standards like “Don’t Explain” and “I Must Have That Man!” but get their bluesy licks in every chance they get. This new pressing from Craft Recordings features the mono mix of the LP, cut from the original tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing. RH

Masayoshi Takanaka: All of Me [Universal Music Japan]; On Guitar [Victor Entertainment]

With the hipster cognoscenti of the world going mad for both yacht rock and Japanese city pop, it’s a wonder that more attention hasn’t been paid to Masayoshi Takanaka, the Tokyo-born guitarist whose run of albums in the late ’70s and early ’80s fit comfortably into both genres. These two import RSD reissues might be just the thing to help wake folks up to Takanaka’s silky playing and keen arranging skills. 1978’s On Guitar, originally released as part of Victor Entertainment’s Professional High-Technique Series, is an especially smooth affair, with glistening keyboard work from Kiyosumi Ishikawa and some smoothed-out covers of hits by Billy Joel and Boz Scaggs. All of Me, the other Takanaka release dropping on RSD 2026, is a 1979 compilation that collects singles and album tracks from his time on Kitty Records, including his discofied take on Perez Prado’s “Mambo No. 5” and a truly ridiculous medley from the Star Wars soundtrack set to a samba beat. The audio on this 2-LP set has been given the half-speed cutting treatment at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell. RH

Cecil Taylor Unit: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts [Elemental]

Starting in the early ’60s, free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor welcomed all manner of fellow musical explorers into his eponymous Unit for live performances and recordings. When the group toured Europe at the end of 1969, for example, Taylor was joined by saxophonists Sam Rivers and Jimmy Lyons, and drummer Andrew Cyrille for extended cacophonous pieces that challenged all notions of rhythm and melody. This triple-LP set from producer Zev Feldman features both sets that the Unit played at Paris’s Salle Pleyel concert hall. The audio has been transferred from the original tape reels from the INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel) archives and restored and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. The set also includes copious liner notes from journalist Phil Freeman and rare photos from the gigs. RH

Charles Tolliver All-Stars: Right Now… And Then [Mack Avenue/Strata-East]

A few years before he founded the Strata-East label, trumpeter Charles Tolliver gathered together some of the finest players around—pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Joe Chambers, and saxophonist Gary Bartz—for a one-off session at Englewood, New Jersey’s Town Sound Studios. The resulting album, released in 1971 as Charles Tolliver and His All-Stars on the UK label Black Lion, is a master class in exploratory post-bop, with Tolliver and Hancock setting the tone with performances that are somehow both fluid and jagged. The album has seen multiple reissues over the years, including a limited 2019 LP, but this RSD release could very well prove to be the best-sounding version yet—an all-analog cut with audio mastered by Kevin Gray and the vinyl pressed at RTI. This new edition also promises new liner notes and a deluxe tip-on jacket. RH

McCoy Tyner: The Seeker [Red]

Legendary pianist McCoy Tyner’s 1993 performance at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, has circulated on video (and can be found in part on YouTube) but now it makes its vinyl debut on a double LP from Italian label Red Records. Tyner was joined by vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson for the performance, and the pair were augmented by bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Aaron Scott. It’s an energetic set, with Tyner and Hutcherson’s instrumental lines interweaving like prizefighters. NL

Buster Williams: Pinnacle [Time Traveler]

Time Traveler’s continued resuscitation of the long-neglected Muse Records catalog continues with this new remaster of bassist Buster Williams’ 1975 album Pinnacle. Williams—perhaps best known for his work with Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell, and the Jazz Crusaders—made a darkly funky, artistically diverse work for his first headlining LP, with elements of spiritual jazz in “Noble Ego” and the title track, and featuring several solo bass excursions dotted throughout the five compositions. This RSD release should continue the high standard of Time Traveler’s Muse series thus far, with Matthew Lutthans of the Mastering Lab cutting from the original analog tape and vinyl pressed at Optimal Media in Germany. The set also includes a tip-on jacket and liners by Mike Flynn. NL

OTHER JAZZ RELEASES OF NOTE:
Chet Baker: Live in Japan 1987 (Fukui, Vol. 1); Live in Japan 1987 (Fukui, Vol. 2) [SOLID/Spin This Now!]
Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged [Legacy]
James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Ali Jackson, & Reginald Veal: Gold Soundz: A Jazz Tribute to Pavement [Modern Harmonic]
Roy Hargrove: Bern [Time Traveler] 
Wendell Harrison & Tribe: A Tribute to Pharoah Sanders [Org Music]
Snarky Puppy: Live at GroundUP Music Festival [GroundUP]
Squirrel Nut Zippers: Roasted Right expanded edition [Modern Harmonic]

BLUES

Freddie King: Feelin’ Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsations Concert [Elemental]

No, Nancy Pulsations was not a ’70s porn star. Rather, this is a recording of Freddie King at the 1975 Jazz Pulsations Festival, which took place in the city of Nancy, in northeastern France. The recording comes from the archives of INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel), which collects radio and television performances made in France. Freddie King was on a roll in the 1970s, with the phenomenal Getting Ready… coming out in 1971 on the Shelter label, followed by two more—Texas Cannonball and Woman Across the River—that showcased his gritty blues guitar atop a hard-rocking backdrop. Sadly, King would die at age 42 in 1976, making the Nancy recording a vital document of the bluesman at his peak. The album was cut by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab, and the 3-LP set has apparently been set at a lower price point to encourage younger buyers. Hopefully your local does not jack it up too badly. NL

Charley Patton & Ma Rainey [Shanachie]

Shanachie Records has two discs out this Record Store Day, both collecting recordings from the 1920s by some of that era’s most significant recording acts. Charlie Patton’s Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs collects 14 of the country-blues legend’s sides, with stark, haunting blues performed by Patton on guitar and voice. Robert Johnson may get all the shine for supposedly selling his soul at the crossroads, but Patton was one of Johnson’s primary influences, and his work still carries great power, even transmitted through old, crackly 78s. And Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom collects some of the blues singer’s most enduring performances, recorded from 1924 to 1928 for the Paramount label, with her powerful voice to the fore. Her style of blues incorporates the Dixieland jazz that was ever-present at the time, as well as a hint of vaudeville theatricality. NL

Professor Longhair: Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge [Rhino]

The legendary pianist Professor Longhair is kind of like the Velvet Underground of New Orleans blues—while he might not have been huge during his heyday, his music has had an undeniable influence on virtually all kinds of music coming up from the Delta, incorporating a rhumba component to boogie-woogie piano that reframed everything that came after. In the early ’70s he began to finally be recognized for his immense importance on American music, and this collection features two sessions from that career-revival period. The first, recorded in Baton Rouge in 1971, sees him revisiting his own classic like “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” and “Tipitina,” while the second, recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis in 1972, features the Meters’ Zigaboo Modeliste on drums and gently adjusts Longhair’s oeuvre to a contemporary rock-R&B sound. These sessions were released posthumously on CD in 1991 (Longhair died in 1980) and now Rhino is reissuing them on a double LP. These might not be the most essential recordings Longhair ever made, but they darn sure sound fine goin’ down. NL

Various Artists: My Soul Is Lost: Unknown & Forgotten Rural American Musicians [Jalopy]

Comics artist R. Crumb compiled this collection with fellow 78 RPM collector John Heneghan, and it documents the old, weird America with recordings of rural musicians playing folk, blues, and old-time music. The recordings span the late 1920s and 1930s, when the Great Depression was in full swing; as such, the recording fidelity will likely vary wildly from track to track, with several likely sourced from the original 78s themselves. NL

LATIN

Markolino Dimond: Brujeria [Craft Recordings]

In the 1960s, New York–based salsa pianist Mark Dimond performed with Héctor Lavoe and the recently departed Willie Colón before releasing his debut as a bandleader, 1971’s Brujería, on the Vaya label. Featuring the cream of the New York Latin scene, it combines salsa, Latin jazz, and Dimond’s substantial skills as a songwriter, with Angel Canales taking the lead vocal mic and Johnny Pacheco producing. Dimond headlined only one other album in his lifetime, brought low by drug addiction before passing away of cerebral syphilis in 1986. The album makes its first reappearance on vinyl since its original release with all-analog mastering. NL

Various Artists: Jazz Dispensary: Magia Brasileira [Jazz Dispensary/Craft Recordings]

Groove-heavy, weed-themed imprint Jazz Dispensary has set their bleary eyes on Brazil for this year’s Record Store Day, pulling together a fantastic bunch of tunes from the archives of Pablo, Prestige, and Muse Records. Highlights of this compilation include Paulinho da Costa’s disco-funk delight “Carnival of Colors,” the snappy “Suddenly” from pianist Dom Salvador, and “Shake (Ginga Gringau),” a carnaval-ready jam by percussionist Dom Um Romão. RH

Various Artists: Panama Latin Treasures [Tamayo]

One of the best Record Store Day releases of recent memory was 2022’s Panama's Soul Gems, an incredible collection from Tamayo Records of rare funk and soul sides from the ’60s and ’70s recorded by Panamanian groups like the Happy Sound and the Invaders. Suffice it to say that this new collection from Tamayo is high on my RSD want list. So far, the tracklist for this compilation has not been revealed, but it apparently includes some more traditional sounds of salsa, descarga, and guaganco recorded between 1967 and 1979. And the audio for this set has been restored and remastered by Frank Merritt at the Carvery in London, who has lent his sure hands and ears to reissues of Afrobeat and Tuareg classics. All signs are pointing to this one being a true highlight of this year’s RSD batch, but with only 1,500 copies being released worldwide, it’s also going to be a tough one to get my hot little hands on. RH

OTHER LATIN RELEASES OF NOTE:
Various Artists: Cuban 45 Boxset Curated by DJ Koco AKA Shimokita [Mr. Bongo]