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For those unaware, out February 27th, 2026 via One Trick Dog Records, the kaleidoscopic The Longest Way Round from the Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project draws inspiration from Dominican merengue, West African and Caribbean rhythms, Irish folk music, neo-soul, J-pop and hard bop, among other traditions.

Pianist, accordionist and composer Ben Rosenblum has found resonant truth in those words, a favorite quote of his mother’s. So much so that he’s adopted them as the title of The Longest Way Round, the third and most venturesome release to date by his globally influenced ensemble, the Nebula Project. (Rosenblum readily admits that he has yet to read Joyce’s famously daunting novel, but what better way to commit yourself than to adopt its words for your album title?)

Rosenblum is a world traveler both literally and musically: he spends more days on the road than at home - touring with Grammy winners Rickie Lee Jones and Catherine Russell and contemporary Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia, among others - while as a composer he delights in the juxtapositions between musical traditions from around the world.

From those experiences he’s discovered that the most direct way to find yourself is to journey far from home. “As you travel, you inevitably bump into all of the parts of your character and perspective that are fundamentally tied to the place where you grew up,” Rosenblum explains.

“You just keep running into this familiar part of yourself, no matter how far away you go from it. On my emotional journey, I find that no matter what world music forms I’m drawing from, I always come back to these musical foundations that are intrinsically, inescapably me.”

Returning from the band’s previous outings are trumpeter Wayne Tucker, saxophonist Jasper Dutz, guitarist Rafael Rosa, bassist Marty Jaffe and drummer Ben Zweig, joined for this outing by percussionists Gustavo Di Dalva and Brad Dutz.

1. Merengue x Fantasy
2. Sheridan’s Reel
3-6. Scenes Frozen in Time:
I. Intro
II. Part 1: Berlin
III: Part 2: Old Friends
IV: Part 3: Onslaught
7. Circulo
8. Albatross
9. Blue Water
10. Fool’s Gold
11. Last Call

His first album made up entirely of original compositions on the ________________ of Merengue x Fantasy and the ___________ of Sheridan’s Reel, before we are greeted with the three-part wonderment of Scenes Frozen in Time: after the ________ Intro, we get the _______ of Part 1: Berlin, the _________ of Part 2: Old Friends, before the _________ of Part 3: Onslaught is brought forth.

Along next is the _________________ of Circulo which is in turn backed seamlessly by the _________ of Albatross, the _________ of Blue Water, the set rounding out on the _________ of Fool’s Gold, coming to a close on the _______ of Last Call.

That an album with such a head-spinning blend of influences can sound this cohesive and personal is a testament to Rosenblum’s ability to infuse his own ideas, concepts and, above all, emotions into each piece, as well as to the inherently uniting nature of jazz itself.

“Jazz is a convergence to begin with,” Rosenblum concludes. “West African rhythmic and harmonic traditions fused with European styles in New Orleans, developed their own culture and then traveled on to Chicago, New York and beyond. We’re already coming from a music that is a melting pot, so jazz lends itself to fusion beautifully because it has that aesthetic built into its foundations.” www.benrosenblummusic.com