John Coltrane (left) and Eric Dolphy on stage at the Village Gate in New York City in the summer of 1961. A recording of the performance, once thought lost, was recently discovered in the New York Public Library. Herb Snitzer/Courtesy of Impulse! Records hide caption
Charles Mingus, photographed at a party in New York on Aug. 4, 1976. For poet and critic Harmony Holiday, the complexities that underpin legacies like Mingus' were a constant puzzle this year. Lynn Karlin/Penske Media via Getty Images hide caption
The Complete Live at the Lighthouse collects all 12 sets from Lee Morgan's 1970 residency on Hermosa Beach. Joel Franklin/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
John Coltrane on the cover of A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle. Courtesy of Impulse! Records hide caption
John Coltrane, photographed performing at The Penthouse during a run of performances in Seattle, Wash. in 1965. A recording of one, long lost, is now being released as A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle. Chuck Stewart/Courtesy Universal Music Group hide caption
Lorde's long awaited Solar Power is out Friday. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Milford Graves, circa 2000, in front of his house in South Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. New York Daily News Archive/NY Daily News via Getty Images hide caption
Saint Coltrane: The Church Built On A Love Supreme. Mark Doox hide caption
Archbishop Franzo King who, with his wife Marina, co-founded the St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church, in a portrait shot in Jan. 2020. Colin Marshall/NPR hide caption
Lil Baby performs during a Juneteenth voter registration rally on June 19, 2020 at Murphy Park Fairgrounds in Atlanta, Ga. One week earlier, he released "The Bigger Picture," a song protesting police brutality. Paras Griffin/Getty Images hide caption
Tegan and Sara. Their new album, Hey, I'm Just Like You, is on our shortlist of the best new albums out on Sept. 27. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
John Coltrane performs with drummer Elvin Jones and saxophonist Eric Dolphy in 1961. Impulse! Records is set to release the "lost" Coltrane album Blue World on Sept. 27. Bill Wagg/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption
In 2018, Prince's estate released a recording from the artist's fabled vault called Piano & A Microphone 1983. Allen Beaulieu/The Prince Estate hide caption
Florence the Machine's High as Hope is on our short list of the best albums out on June 29. Vincent Haycock/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
John Coltrane (right) with McCoy Tyner at New Jersey's Van Gelder studios in 1963, one day after the session that would become the newly unveiled Both Directions at Once. Joe Alper/Joe Alper Photo Collection LLC hide caption
John Coltrane and his band recording at Van Gelder Studios in 1963. Jim Marshall Photography LLC hide caption
Billy Strayhorn, pictured here in the 1940s, wrote more than 1,000 works, most of them for Duke Ellington. William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress hide caption
John Coltrane during the recording of A Love Supreme in December 1964. Chuck Stewart/Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History hide caption
John Coltrane during the recording of A Love Supreme in December 1964. Chuck Stewart/Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History hide caption
John Coltrane during the recording of A Love Supreme in December 1964. Chuck Stewart/Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History hide caption
The gospel/folk singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe was accompanied by a jazz orchestra on her debut recording. Chris Ware/Getty Images hide caption