The 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll results have arrived. Mary Halvorson's About Ghosts tops the list of New Jazz Albums, which also includes Ambrose Akinmusire's honey from a winter stone and Cecile McLorin Salvant's Oh Snap, which is also No. 1 on the list of Vocal Jazz Albums. Congratulations, all!

"I have seen this woman perform live a number of times, and one of the great thrills of watching her has been beholding what she has discovered, what she has unearthed in music that other artists wrote," Wesley Morris says of Cécile McLorin Salvant, his guest on the New York Times' Cannonball. "Their songs become hers, and to a listener, they mean something deeper than the original and often sound completely new." The episode is focused on the art of the cover song—a phrase Salvant doesn't use—and opens with a list of Morris's all-time favorites, on which he includes Salvant's take on Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights," from her 2022 Nonesuch debut album, Ghost Song. Hear the episode here.

Cécile McLorin Salvant has released a lyric video for "I am a volcano," the opening track to her new album, Oh Snap. You can watch it here. It comes on the heels of a six-part Q&A series in which she reveals, among other things, a discomfort with frogs, such as those featured in the new video.

Cécile McLorin Salvant sat down for a Nonesuch Q&A about her new album, Oh Snap, covering a wide range of topics, including her songwriting process, working on the project in secret, AutoTune, bodily fluids, frogs, and embracing weirdness. You can see what she had to say in the six-part series filmed by Matthew Edginton here.

"I am so happy to be here on the Big Ears podcast today, speaking with the wonderful, extraordinarily talented Cécile McLorin Salvant," music critic Natalie Weiner says of her guest on the Knoxville festival's podcast. "She really does embody the Big Ears mission of stretching beyond whatever genre is. And she kind of came out into the jazz world, took it by storm, but very quickly stretched beyond that. But also, while still being in it, I don't know. You know, using words to describe the kind of magic that she creates on stage feels pretty futile." You can hear their conversation here.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s new album, Oh Snap, is out now. It comprises 12 very personal songs by the singer/composer (plus a cover of a verse from the Commodores’ 1977 hit “Brick House”) mostly recorded outside of a traditional studio environment. The songs showcase her genre-spanning tastes and influences from her 1990s childhood in Miami—from boy bands to grunge to classical to folk—and include party tracks with beats, samba grooves, and quiet folk songs. Salvant wrote the intimate songs as part of a creative quest: To place spontaneity and joy at the center of her writing process. The album features longtime collaborators Sullivan Fortner, Yasushi Nakamura, and Kyle Poole, plus cameos from singers June McDoom and Kate Davis.

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs “What does blue mean to you?,” the new single from her upcoming album, Oh Snap, at SFJAZZ in a new video you can watch here. She is joined by Sullivan Fortner on piano, Yasushi Nakamura on bass, and Kyle Poole on drums for the performance, which was filmed live at SFJAZZ in May 2024.

“I was commissioned to write something based on Toni Morrison’s archive," Cécile McLorin Salvant says of “What does blue mean to you?,” a new song from her upcoming album, Oh Snap. "I read Beloved as I was looking through her archive ... The song is about all these colors that are in the book and the ways that the characters interact with the colors. I’m really glad we put that on the album because it is quite different from all the other songs, but you could say that about every song probably."

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs the title track to her upcoming album, Oh Snap, live with pianist Sullivan Fortner in a new video you can watch here. The album, due September 19, comprises 12 very personal songs by the singer/composer (plus one cover) mostly recorded outside of a traditional studio environment. The songs showcase her genre-spanning tastes and influences from her 1990s childhood in Miami—from boy bands to grunge to classical to folk—and include party tracks with beats, samba grooves, and quiet folk songs. Salvant wrote the intimate songs as part of a creative quest: To place spontaneity and joy at the center of her writing process.

The 73rd DownBeat Critics Poll results are in, and among the winners are repeat winner Ambrose Akinmusire, Trumpeter; Darcy James Argue, Arranger; Mary Halvorson, Guitarist and Group of the Year (Amaryllis); and Cécile McLorin Salvant, Vocalist.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s new album, Oh Snap, is due September 19. It comprises 12 very personal songs by the singer/composer (plus a cover of a verse from the Commodores’ 1977 hit “Brick House”) mostly recorded outside of a traditional studio environment. The songs showcase her genre-spanning tastes and influences from her 1990s childhood in Miami—from boy bands to grunge to classical to folk—and include party tracks with beats, samba grooves, and quiet folk songs. Salvant wrote the intimate songs as part of a creative quest: To place spontaneity and joy at the center of her writing process. The album features longtime collaborators Sullivan Fortner, Yasushi Nakamura, and Kyle Poole, plus cameos from singers June McDoom and Kate Davis. You can watch a video for the title track here.

Congratulations to winners of the 2025 JJA Jazz Awards Cécile McLorin Salvant for Female Vocalist of the Year, which she won last year, and, with pianist Sullivan Fortner, Duo of the Year; Ambrose Akinmusire for Trumpeter of the Year, which he won last year; and Mary Halvorson for Guitarist of the Year, which she won last year.