Ancestral (Whirlwind Records), by alto saxophonist-composer-producer-educator-author John O’Gallagher, brings together—for the first time—two giants of jazz drumming, both from Montclair in Essex County. Billy Hart, 84, and Andrew Cyrille, 85, recorded Ancestral with O’Gallagher and guitarist Ben Monder at Sound On Sound in Montclair. Its avant-garde leanings and spontaneous composition just might make it the jazz album of 2025.

Bon Jovi is offering complete three-course meals to all local federal workers affected by the government shutdown just for showing a valid fed ID. The two locations are 207 Monmouth Street in Red Bank and 1769 Hooper Avenue in Toms River.

Deep within Mercer County lies the sleepy hamlet of Hopewell Valley. It’s where alt-folksinger Gabe Parsons is from.  Despite his young age, the locale itself suffuses his sound with a world-weary sophistication. Long Road Traveler is the debut and it is eminently listenable, filled with a longing and yearning intimacy.

Convicted in 2023, the story of Pras and his ascent from aspiring Jersey rapper to multi-platinum recording artist and Grammy winner, then his descent into being a convicted felon, fascinated Hollywood icon Mark Wahlberg so much that it’s being made into a movie.

She plays drums, guitar, keyboards plus co-produces and sings her own songs in a multiplicity of sub-genres, be it punk-rock, indie-rock or instant classic-rock. Asbury Park’s Rachel Ana Dobken has finally released the Acceptance we’ve been writing about since 2023.

Let’s do it again! The first shows of the 2026 Bon Jovi World Tour have been announced and they start at Madison Square Garden July 7, 9, 12 and 14 to be followed by Edinburgh, England, at the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium on August 28, Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, on August 30 and London’s Wembley Stadium September 4.

By all accounts it was a heartfelt celebration when New Jersey Hall of Famer (Class of 2023) Tony Orlando honored Newark composer L. Russell Brown, 85, by giving him the NJHOF “Everyday Hero” award.

Born in Newark 50 years ago, the Grammy Award-winning “Love King of Soul & R’n’B,” Raheem DeVaughn, will give his “20 Lessons of Love” to the nation starting November 21 in New York City and ending January 31 in Georgia.

There’s no one like him. Guitarist-Composer-Vocalist-Musical Director Stephane Wrembel, from Maplewood in Essex County, has been single-handedly keeping alive the tradition that started in 1934 Paris when the three-fingered Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt and French violinist Stephane Grappelli started the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Wrembel’s new album, Django New Orleans II, will be released November 14. But, before that, he will be leading his nonet into Dizzy’s Club within the Jazz at Lincoln Center campus in New York City from October 30 to November 2 in a rare four-night residency for two shows each night.

John is our favorite Beatle. Keith is our favorite Stone. Ray is our favorite Kink. And Deena Shoshkes is our favorite Cucumber.  Hoboken’s Cucumbers have been rocking since 1982. Now singer-songwriter-guitarist Deena has temporarily “gone solo” with the release of a three-song EP called This Is The Time. She wrote the three with a lyricist friend David Graham.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark has announced who the five finalists are for the 2025 Sassy Awards. The 14^th Annual Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition will culminate November 23 as part of the James Moody Jazz Festival. (Vaughan and Moody were both from Newark.) Almost 200 singers from 27 countries vied for the honor.

Jeiris Cook used to sell mattresses. He used to manage a warehouse. He raised his three boys with his wife Jennifer. But in 2016, at the age of 37, in his Jefferson hometown in Morris County, he first taught himself how to play the guitar and started writing songs. Five years later, in 2021, his “Date Night” signaled his arrival. Next month, his “Unbreak My Heart” will be released and it reveals a fully-formed artist comfortable with his talent, and direct in his soulfulness.

Above The Moon—vocalist-guitarist Kate Griffin, bassist Kyle Griffin, guitarist Shawn Murphy and drummer John Gramuglia—have been writing, recording and performing their own original music since 2015. In celebration of its 10^th anniversary, the band is putting out 10 new songs on two EPs.

Craft Recordings, on November 21, will release Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings, a three-CD or five-LP boxed set which contains such trailblazing studio albums as Portrait In Jazz (1960) and Explorations (1961) as well as 26 alternate takes, 17 of which have never been heard.

Remember Jones is the Asbury Park iconoclast who can go from Dean Martin, Dionne Warwick and Amy Winehouse to Joe Cocker, Queen and Tom Jones. Now he’s back with a new show performing Meat Loaf’s 1977 Bat Out Of Hell album in its entirety with a 15-piece orchestra.

Steve Conte and Brian Ray—known collectively as Earls Of Babylon—have released a gritty punk-infused piece of Instant Classic Rock called “Piece Of My Mind.” The flip side is a terrific remake of “Hungry,” the 1966 rocker by the severely under-rated Paul Revere & The Raiders. The new original “takes aim at chronic complainers and finger-pointers,” according to the duo, “a reminder to step back, gain perspective, and recognize that plenty of people have it tougher.”

And we thought James Mastro of famed Hoboken band The Bongos was just a singer-songwriter-guitarist who has a terrific debut solo album, Dawn of a New Error. Little did we know that he’s a shutterbug who constantly took pictures while on tour around the world. Now his photographs will be prominently displayed in an exhibit called “The Passenger” from yesterday to November 23 at the 503 Social Club in Hoboken.

Longtime Essex County resident Tommy James has had a string of hits a mile long. His music has been used in countless movies, TV shows and commercials. It’s timeless. His compositions sound as vital and fresh now as they ever did. One of his songs, “Mony Mony,” originally released in the U.S. 57 years ago in 1968, a #1 in England and #3 in the U.S. and Canada, was released in Indonesia 47 years ago in Chinese.

Zaki Ali is smart. Y’know how oftentimes a band can be tight, edgy, exciting and provocative…then the singer opens his mouth and the whole thing turns to shit? The Great Path of Reconstruction, by the Zaki Ali Band of Hudson County, is an original instrumental progressive metal piece written, recorded and mixed by Ali. But let’s let him tell it.

Steve Hogarth is slated to headline Progstock 2025. It marks the first time he’ll deliver a solo show anywhere in the U.S. For fans in the States, this is not just a novelty—it’s a landmark. Hogarth’s presence has always loomed large in the American underground prog circuits, but a dedicated solo set across the Atlantic might open a fresh chapter.