Mateo's Magic Bus on KFFR - My Favorite Things 2025 Best in Jazz, Blues and Soul Review

Broadcast high in the Rockies Thursdays 2PM - 4PM MT on KFFR 88.3-FM, KWTR 89.1-FM, and KFFR.org, Mateo’s Magic Bus takes listeners on a journey around the world, exploring the roots of jazz and blues alongside music from today and the past decades that has been influenced by these incredible art forms.

On this week's ride, DJ Mateo takes his annual look over the shoulder at the best music of the past year. 2025 was another amazing year for jazz, blues, and soul - one of the best ever! This is the playlist from the show plus many bonus tracks that we'll be playing on Part II in the coming weeks. Many of the artists we review were interviewed on The Bus throughout 2025, and/or played at KFFR's studios/events & we're able to go more in depth and provide some behind the scenes looks at these great artists from around the U.S. and world.

From New Zealand's Oscar Lavën, to the Trio of Bloom, Colorado's own RADO, to Minneapolis' Ace Box Shift, Kendra Morris in Brooklyn, Scotland's Fergus McCreadie, Chicago's Lowdown Brass Band, the female jazz supergroup, Artemis, and San Diego's Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, we cover the waterfront of great jazz, blues and soul from 2025.

Click here to access the playlist on Spotify & to the left is the playlist on iTunes. Also, If you'd like to follow along for all the backstory and detail on all these artists, click on the chevron in the upper left of the SoundCloud plugin below for a listen and you can select tunes off the playlist as you follow along.

Thanks to all our great fans and weekly riders on The Bus for the past 7 years & here's to a great 2026 - buckle up for a great ride!

Rock on,

DJ Mateo