Fall Preview

An alert, expressive drummer, Albert "Tootie" Heath was also the last of the legendary Heath Brothers. He died on April 3 in Santa Fe, NM, at 88.

Casey Benjamin, whose saxophone gleam and vocoder-processed singing exerted a deep influence on the last 20 years of jazz-infused hip-hop and R&B, died on March 30 in Maryland. He was 45.

Brad Mehldau has always drawn from classical music as well as jazz in his pianistic practice — a confluence evident in a pair of new solo albums.

Pianist and composer Jim Beard toured with Steely Dan and collaborated with Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny and many others. He died on March 2 at 63.

With a third archival release, 'Reaching for the Stars,' the elusive pianist and composer Hasaan Ibn Ali comes just a bit more into focus.

Jahari Stampley, a dazzling young pianist from Chicago, took first prize at the prestigious Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, prevailing over a field of 10 other competitors.

Drummer, composer and bandleader Billy Hart has been named a 2023 recipient of the Living Legacy Jazz Award, Presented by PECO.

On her new album, 'The Glass Hours,' bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh entrusts form with feeling, enlisting some exceptional peers. Read more in our Album of the Week review.

Among the two dozen or so artists honored with a 2023 JJA Jazz Award, a few stand out for dominant wins in multiple categories.

Gretchen Parlato's new album 'Lean In' highlights her deep simpatico with West African guitarist Lionel Loueke — and explores the ins and outs of motherhood. She opened up about that subject in a recent conversation with WRTI.