The Rolling Stones Are Recording Again Just Three Months After Foreign Tongues

The Rolling Stones appear to be making new music again only three months after releasing their latest studio album, with British jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine revealing that he recently recorded with Mick Jagger for the band.

The Rolling Stones back in studio story emerged after Pine discussed working with Jagger during his appearance on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions.

Speaking about his long connection with the singer, Pine revealed that he had completed another recording session with Jagger only a couple of weeks earlier and specifically described it as being for The Rolling Stones.

There is one important distinction: the band themselves have not announced another album.

What Pine has confirmed is a recent Rolling Stones recording session involving Jagger, which is enough to suggest that the group’s extraordinary late-career creative run is continuing.

Courtney Pine has worked with Mick Jagger before

Pine is one of Britain’s most influential jazz musicians and is no stranger to working with Jagger.

He previously played saxophone on Jagger’s 1993 solo album Wandering Spirit, and during the BBC interview recalled the unpredictable way those sessions developed.

The saxophonist discussed his career and musical influences during his appearance on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions, which aired on Sunday.

Pine’s comment about the new session was brief, but significant.

Rather than saying he had simply recorded with Jagger, he explicitly connected the work to The Rolling Stones.

That immediately raises the question of what the band might be preparing next.

Foreign Tongues only arrived in July

The timing is remarkable because The Rolling Stones released their 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, on 10 July.

The 14-track record followed 2023’s Hackney Diamonds and continued a creative resurgence that has seen Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood producing new material at a pace few would have expected at this stage of their career.

The official release announcement describes Foreign Tongues as a collection recorded during an exceptionally productive period at Metropolis Studios in West London, with Andrew Watt returning as producer.

The album features guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Robert Smith and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

It also includes a contribution from late drummer Charlie Watts, taken from one of his final recording sessions before his death in 2021.

The Stones may already have more material

The possibility of further music is not completely unexpected.

During the campaign for Foreign Tongues, Jagger made clear that the band had continued writing and that not everything they created necessarily belonged on one album.

That means Pine’s recent session could be connected with unused material, completely new songs or another project entirely.

For now, anything more specific would be speculation.

No title, release date or new single has been announced, and there is no confirmation that another complete Rolling Stones album is imminent.

What is verified is that recording activity has continued.

One of rock’s longest creative partnerships keeps going

The Rolling Stones formed in London in 1962 and have now been making music for more than six decades.

Their catalogue includes “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “Paint It Black”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, “Gimme Shelter”, “Start Me Up”, “Angie” and “Sympathy for the Devil”.

The remarkable part of their current period is not simply that they continue touring or performing their catalogue.

They are still recording original material.

Hackney Diamonds ended an 18-year gap between albums of original Rolling Stones songs, but Foreign Tongues followed less than three years later.

Now, only months after that release, another studio session has taken place.

Is another Rolling Stones album coming?

Not officially.

That is the line worth keeping clear.

Courtney Pine has confirmed that he recently recorded with Mick Jagger for The Rolling Stones, but neither Jagger, Richards, Wood nor the band’s record label has announced another album.

Still, for a group whose members are now in their late seventies and eighties, the fact that they are apparently already working again is significant enough on its own.

The Rolling Stones back in studio story therefore tells us one thing with confidence.

Whatever comes next, The Rolling Stones do not appear particularly interested in slowing down.