Twenty-five years ago, New York’s jazz clubs went dark after the September 11 attacks. Some reopened within days. Others never recovered. A look at the musicians, clubs and institutions that kept the music alive.

Dave Popkin catches up with prolific saxophonist Joshua Redman at the 2026 D.C. Jazz Festival.

At a late-summer celebration in Central Park, Verve Records marked its 70th anniversary alongside SummerStage’s 40th season. From a new generation reimagining Getz/Gilberto to Samara Joy and Christian McBride carrying the jazz tradition forward, the evening was a reminder that musical history is kept alive by the people who believe in it — sometimes quietly, one person at a time.

The first Labor Day parade took place in New York City in 1882, but it didn’t get moving until a group of workers from Newark arrived with a band. Leo Sidran traces the musical origins of the holiday and considers the enduring question of musicians as both artists and workers.

Leo Sidran revisits a 2023 conversation with singer Samara Joy about her experience studying at SUNY Purchase

WBGO's Doug Doyle reports on the impact of the late Cassandra Wilson

Singer, composer, and producer Sofia Rei talks with Leo Sidran about “Folk and Futurism,” rediscovering tradition from a distance, and how her collaborators and students continue to influence the music she makes.

Willard Jenkins speaks with Joi Brown, Artistic Director of The Music Center at Strathmore.

Dave Popkin talks with Isaiah Collier about his new music from his EP Joy - as well as honoring and continuing the legacy of John Coltrane, on the centennial of his birth.

Willard Jenkins chats with 2026 D.C. Jazz Festival artist-in-residence Janelle Gill