This week, Porridge Radio bid farewell, Victoria Canal says hello, and the inmates of Parchman Prison lift their spirits. Plus, a return for CoCoRosie and Songhoy Blues.

Violinist and bandleader Jenny Scheinman plays jazz - Yes, AND folk, rock, gospel, and country music. She and her band stretch out in new music from 2024's All Species Parade, in-studio.

Sax player, composer, MC, and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin brings her wide-angled view of jazz to play some of her latest tunes, live, with her band, in-studio.

This week, Bad Bunny celebrates Puerto Rican music, Xixa brings the cosmic cumbia, and Moonchild Sanelly’s body positivity gets really specific. Plus, Japanese Breakfast gets gothic.

Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band can do it all – jazz, neo-soul, funk, blues, and hip hop - showcasing the deep roots of Black American Music. Igmar Thomas’ very large band plays in-studio.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Mary Chapin Carpenter plays her own re-imagined and rearranged songs from her some 30 years of travels, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)

This week, a look at three upcoming music festivals in New York: Winter JazzFest, globalFest, and Prototype Festival.

New York-based band Jarana Beat, led by Sinuhé Padilla-Isunza, draws from Mexican folk and Afro-Indigenous music. They play their cross-cultural celebratory sounds, in-studio.

Hear highlights from the 2024 Soundcheck Podcasts by Mexico City-based cellist Mabe Fratti; Norwegian punk cabaret sextet Kaizers Orchestra; Cuban big band Orquesta Akokán, and others.