Record Store Day has always been good to jazz. While the queues form for coloured vinyl represses and pop 7-inches, the jazz section of any RSD list tends to be where the serious collectors quietly lose their minds. Unreleased sessions, first-time-on-vinyl pressings, all-analogue remasters from the original tapes. Releases that make a trip to the shop feel like an archaeological dig.
This year is no different. If anything, the 2026 slate is the strongest in years: three Miles Davis releases, three John Coltrane releases (including previously unheard recordings), two Chet Bakers, a Bill Evans BBC session that's never been officially released, and a Cecil Taylor boxset that will make free jazz devotees forget they have a mortgage. Plus a genuinely delightful wildcard: a full jazz reinterpretation of Pavement's back catalogue. Here's what to know.
The headline acts
John Coltrane: The Tiberi Tapes
This is the one. Musician Frank Tiberi followed Coltrane and his Classic Quartet into clubs in New York and Philadelphia in the early 1960s, recording them on a portable tape recorder. Those tapes are scheduled for a full release in September 2026 as part of Coltrane's centennial celebrations, but for RSD they're being previewed as a single LP sampler on Verve. Previously unheard Coltrane, captured in the clubs where he was at his most exploratory. This is an RSD Exclusive, which means once it's gone, it's gone. Expect it to be the first thing serious jazz collectors ask for.
That's not all. France 1965: The Complete Concerts is a 4xLP set on Charly Records documenting the quartet's European touring in the final years of Coltrane's life. And From Form To Spirit, also on Charly, is a 3xLP set. Three Coltrane releases in one day. It's an embarrassment of riches.
Miles Davis: three eras, three releases
Miles gets the full span treatment this RSD. The New Sounds is a 75th anniversary pressing of his 1951 debut for Prestige, mastered from the original mono tapes and pressed on 10-inch vinyl in a period-correct sleeve. Limited to 4,900 copies worldwide. The lineup on that session includes Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Art Blakey, Walter Bishop Jr. and Tommy Potter, which tells you everything about where jazz was heading.
Lady Be Good: Live in Europe with The Birdland All-Stars captures Davis in a live setting, while From Bebop To Blue is a 3xLP set covering his evolution across styles. If you're new to Miles on vinyl, any of these is a strong starting point, but The New Sounds is the collector's pick for its all-analogue mastering and limited run.
Bill Evans at the BBC
Evans has become something of an RSD tradition. His estate and the labels that hold his catalogue have made a habit of releasing vault material on Record Store Day, and jazz collectors have learned to expect something good. This year it's Bill Evans at the BBC: The Complete 1965 London Sets, a 2xLP set on Elemental that marks the first official release of these recordings. An extensive booklet with photographs from the session and liner notes is included. If past Evans RSD releases are anything to go by, this will be AAA mastered and beautifully packaged. It will also sell out quickly.
The Resonance Records slate
Reissue producer Zev Feldman has built a reputation as the person most likely to make jazz collectors reach for their wallets on RSD. Through Resonance Records, he specialises in finding and releasing previously unheard live recordings with meticulous mastering and exhaustive liner notes. This year he's outdone himself.
From the vaults of Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago come four separate releases: Joe Henderson (quartet, February 1978, 2xLP), Ahmad Jamal (trio, March 1976, 2xLP), plus Yusef Lateef and Mal Waldron sets. All were transferred and cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab, pressed at Le Vinylist in Quebec. The Henderson and Jamal are limited to 2,000 copies each. The Lateef and Waldron are limited to 1,800.
If you're only buying one jazz release this Record Store Day, buy the Coltrane Tiberi Tapes. If you're buying two, add the Bill Evans. If you're buying three, you've already picked up an Ahmad Jamal and you're pretending you didn't see the Joe Henderson.
The deep cuts
Chet Baker: Live in Japan 1987 is split across two volumes, both on LP. Baker recorded these Fukui performances just a year before his death in Amsterdam at 58. Late-period Baker is a different animal to the boyish vocalist of the 1950s: weathered, fragile, and playing with a stripped-back intensity that makes every note feel hard-won.
Charles Mingus: Town Hall Concert 1964 Vol. 1 lands on Candid. The original 1964 Town Hall concert was famously chaotic (Mingus was still writing charts during the performance), but the music that emerged was extraordinary. This is essential listening for anyone interested in jazz at its most ambitious and unpredictable.
Cecil Taylor: Fragments is the complete 1969 Salle Pleyel concerts, released as an LP boxset on Elemental. Taylor's piano playing is not for the faint-hearted. It's dense, physical, and completely uncompromising. If you already know you want this, you don't need me to tell you. If you've never heard Cecil Taylor, this might not be the place to start, but it's worth knowing it exists.
Charles Tolliver: Right Now… and Then is one of the 15 War Child releases for this year's RSD, meaning £1 from every copy sold goes to the charity. Tolliver is a trumpeter and composer whose work on the Strata-East label in the 1970s helped define a generation of independent, artist-led jazz.
Abbey Lincoln: That's Him! is a mono reissue mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, one of the most respected names in vinyl mastering. The album features Sonny Rollins, Kenny Dorham, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Max Roach. 4,200 copies worldwide, pressed on 180g vinyl with a period-correct sleeve. A pressing that sounds as good as it looks.
The contemporary picks
It's not all mid-century legends. Kokoroko: Live at Metropolis captures the London-based afrobeat and jazz collective on a 12-inch for Brownswood, the label run by Gilles Peterson. Roy Hargrove: Bern, Live in Switzerland documents one of modern jazz's most gifted trumpet players in concert. Melody Gardot: Bye Bye Blackbird offers a 12-inch EP from the vocalist who's spent the last decade building a devoted following across Europe.
Don Cherry: Blue Lake is a 2xLP on Charly that sits somewhere between jazz, world music and free improvisation. Cherry, who played on Ornette Coleman's landmark The Shape of Jazz to Come, spent decades exploring music from every continent. This is him at his most expansive.
And Alabaster DePlume: Dear Children of Our Children, I Knew / Cremisan on International Anthem represents the newest wave of UK jazz, where the boundaries between improvisation, spoken word and spiritual music dissolve entirely.
The wildcard
Here's the one that made me do a double-take: James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Ali Jackson & Reginald Veal: Gold Soundz, A Jazz Tribute to Pavement. A 2xLP jazz reinterpretation of Pavement's catalogue, featuring some of the finest players in contemporary jazz. The idea of "Cut Your Hair" or "Summer Babe" filtered through a hard bop lens sounds absurd, and that's exactly why it'll be brilliant. Pavement's own Perfect Sound Forever EP is also getting an RSD reissue this year, so the two sitting side by side in the same shop on the same day feels like some kind of cosmic joke.
The shopping list
For the time-pressed, here's how I'd rank the jazz releases by a combination of musical importance, scarcity and likelihood of selling out fast:
Queue early: Coltrane Tiberi Tapes, Bill Evans at the BBC, Joe Henderson (2,000 copies), Ahmad Jamal (2,000 copies)
Move quickly: Tony Bennett MTV Unplugged (2,200 copies, first vinyl pressing), Cecil Taylor Fragments, Chet Baker Live in Japan Vols. 1 & 2
Worth grabbing: Miles Davis The New Sounds (4,900 copies), Abbey Lincoln That's Him! (4,200 copies), Jazz Dispensary: Magia Brasileira (6,000 copies)
Don't sleep on: Gold Soundz Pavement jazz tribute, Don Cherry Blue Lake, Kokoroko Live at Metropolis
Twenty-five-plus jazz releases in a single day. Your local shop won't stock all of them, so check the RSD survival guide for tips on calling ahead and planning your route. And if you're still not sure where to start with jazz on vinyl, the genre guide has you covered.