Leo Sidran

Jazz, born out of the Black American experience, has evolved into a global art form that models democratic ideals through improvisation, listening, and collective creation. April 30, celebrated each year as International Jazz Day, connects musicians and communities in more than 190 countries through a shared language of expression and dialogue.

As Miles Davis’s centennial is celebrated around the world, keyboardist and producer Jason Miles reflects on helping shape the trumpeter’s late-career sound on Tutu, Amandla, and Music from Siesta. From synthesizers and sampling to popcorn and boxing at Miles’ house, Miles shares memories of friendship, innovation, and the restless drive to keep evolving.

A new documentary, KÖLN TRACKS, revisits the mythology surrounding The Köln Concert, Keith Jarrett’s iconic 1975 solo performance that became the best-selling solo piano album in jazz history. Through conversations with filmmaker Vincent Duceau and pianist Dan Tepfer, Leo Sidran explores how memory, limitation, and myth helped shape one of jazz’s most enduring recordings.

On what would have been his 98th birthday, Leo Sidran remembers Johnny Griffin, the Chicago-born tenor saxophonist known as “The Little Giant.” Through Griffin’s own words, we revisit his belief that jazz was made by people who chose to feel good in spite of conditions, and how he eventually found a different rhythm of life in France.

Singer songwriter Emily Cavanagh on how she accidentally became famous in Ireland, started her non profit Song For You, lost the use of her legs and had to relearn how to walk, and what it means to spend a career at the intersection of songs and service.

Leo Sidran in conversation with Emily Cavanaugh. Emily is the founder of Song For You, a nonprofit organization bringing personalized songs to patients, loved ones, and frontline workers during times of crisis.

WBGO’s Ray Long explores Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea’s inspiring tale of turning an early childhood dream to reality, as Flea releases Honora - a solo debut that finds him reinvented as a jazz trumpeter.

WBGO's Dave Popkin catches up with Carla and Vanesse Thomas about their recent star-studded benefit concert for ALS research, plus growing up in Memphis as daughters of the great Rufus Thomas, and more.

Long before 4/20 became a global code, marijuana already had a place in jazz culture — and few figures embodied that connection more than Mezz Mezzrow. The Chicago-born clarinetist became a legendary supplier in Harlem, so closely associated with cannabis that for a time, marijuana itself was nicknamed “Mezz.”

Celebrating Madeleine Peyroux on her birthday. A look at her early years, tracing how a runaway teenager found her voice busking on the streets of Paris — and how that formative period shaped one of the most distinctive jazz singer-songwriters of her generation.