Call it stereotyping, but the truth is occasionally we’ll see a pairing of musician and instrument we don’t expect. We’d be surprised, for example, to find a burly, hulking guy playing a piccolo. We’d ...

Gerry Mulligan wasn’t just a baritone sax icon—he was a revolutionary voice in jazz. From his pioneering pianoless quartets to his arranging work on Birth of the Cool, Mulligan proved that space, ...

In 1976, when the World Saxophone Quartet played its first concert, it introduced a new sound to jazz. No bass. No drums. No piano. Just four saxophones: the late Julius Hemphill playing alto, with ...

If the conventional history of jazz is dominated by a series of major innovators who have dictated the sweeping changes in style which have brought the music to its present point, there has been an ...