Sam Wilkes News

NYC Winter Jazzfest will return for its 22nd edition with performances across Manhattan and Brooklyn, featuring the festival’s signature Marathon nights and additional shows and talks.

In October 2025, SFJAZZ will continue its 2025/26 season with an eclectic mix of world-class artists—from jazz legends and rising stars to genre-defying innovators in soul, global music, and beyond. See the lineup here!

Lukas Frank is the songwriter, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist behind Storefront Church. The band is headed to Botanique next week. Learn more here!

Japanese musician Hakushi Hasegawa shares new song, “KYŌFUNOHOSHI,” the final single from their new album Mahōgakkō, their first full-length album for LA-based Brainfeeder, out July 24th. Listen to the single now!

International Anthem has released Small Medium Large — the debut album from SML — on all streaming platforms, following its June 28 initial physical release which put the album at #15 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart. Listen to the album now!

Japanese musician Hakushi Hasegawa/長谷川白紙 (they/them) releases a fourth single, “Gone” featuring rapper KID FRESINO, from their new album Mahōgakkō/魔法学校, their first full-length album for Brainfeeder, out July 24th. Previous singles include “Boy’s Texture,” “Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi),” and “Departed.” Listen to the new single now!

International Anthem has shared the animated video for new single 'Three Over Steel,' the latest preview of Small Medium Large, the debut album out June 28 from SML, a new quintet composed of luminaries from Los Angeles’s thriving jazz, improvised, and indie music scenes. Watch the video now!

'Departed' opens the world of Hakushi's Mahōgakkō with unabandoned whimsy; immediately immersing listeners in a cacophonous yet prismatic array of unrelenting drums, skittering synths and glitched out vocal samples. The track gives a further look into the 'Exploratory Ratio', a self-coined term that describes Hasegawa's long-standing approach of balancing pop and pandemonium in their songwriting. Watch the music video!

Catpack is the organic output of genuine friendship and collaborative spirit among three esteemed musicians, each bringing their unique sounds together to create something fresh and vibrant. ‘The Top’ is an ethereal and spacious voyage, layered with a multitude of synth-sounds and percussion. The song is about “showing loved ones that you love them with love. Listen to the single now!

Beginning with a Bernard Herrmann-like string fakeout, “Life” initially lands as a cinematic symphonic number. Cole’s voice, his drum set, and Sam Wilkes’s bass all join in at breakneck speed, the high velocity something for Cole and longtime creative partner Genevieve Artadi to flit over. Eventually, David Binney (saxophone) enters the fray with an equally blistering solo. Listen to the song now!

Sam Amidon has announced a US Spring Tour with special guests. The tour will feature performances by Beth Orton, Bridget St John, Laura Viers, and more. Don't miss out on this exciting lineup of talented musicians.

Earlier this month Hasegawa released a rendition of “Wonderful Christmastime” originally made famous by Paul McCartney, and available exclusively on Apple Music and featured in their Carols Covered 2023 playlist. Limited edition vinyl for Somoku Hodo comes in translucent green with illustrations by Momoka Aiso and designs by Takeaki Emori.

From her upcoming album, Genevieve Artadi shares a new video, “To Tell How I Adore You,” the latest from Forever Forever. In January, she released the lead single, “Visionary” followed by “I Know” in February. This month, she’ll also perform a release show at the Echo, followed by a string of tour dates with her longtime musical partner Louis Cole.

With an accompanying tongue-in-cheek video that goes hard in an ‘80s hair metal style, “Visionary” climaxes with suitably epic solos from Pedro Martins (guitar), Chiquita Magic (synth bass), Christopher Fishman (piano), and Louis Cole and Daniel Sunshine doubling up on the drums. Watch the new music video now!

Quality Over Opinion was written, performed, and produced by Louis in his home studio with contributions from a handful of close friends, namely Genevieve Artadi (“my no.1 music collaborator”); saxophonist Sam Gendel – Cole’s friend for 17 years; pianist Chris Fishman; Nate Wood from the band Kneebody; Marlon Mackey; and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.

To celebrate the news of the upcoming album, he shares a new single, “I’m Tight.” The new single arrives hot on the heels of “Let it Happen” — “a timeless modern power ballad classic” — released earlier this month. In contrast, “I’m Tight” is a sleek, laser-focused Funk rocket, based on an utterly irresistible bassline.

Continuing his mission to create deep feelings through music, Louis is the figurehead of an LA jazz-adjacent scene that includes Genevieve Artadi (with whom Cole co-founded the alt pop / electrofunk band KNOWER in 2009), Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes, Jacob Mann, Pedro Martins and more. Watch the new music video now!

During 2021 alone, multi-instrumentalist Sam Gendel collaborated with Vampire Weekend, Maggie Rogers, Moses Sumney, Laurie Anderson, and Mach Hommy, as well as released Notes With Attachments with Blake Mills & legendary bassist Pino Palladino. Psychic Hotline release Sam and Antonia’s latest single Something Real today.

Last month, Lionel Boy shared an intimate live performance of “Tide” via FLOOD Magazine’s ‘Neighborhoods’ session.

Native to Hawaii and now living in Long Beach, Lionel Boy mixes spacey synthesizers, impromptu breakbeats, trap hi-hats, contemporary rap & bedroom pop into one cohesive statement of an album.