“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”

Mike Reed is bringing a fresh concept to a live music festival in September with the inaugural Sound & Gravity.

Marcus Shelby, shown here leading his ​Bay Area-based big band, is the artistic director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

“I really like free-jazz, and my foundation is ’50s and ’60s jazz,” says Nanami Haruta. “So I tried to combine all of that music in one album.”

“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.

Branford Marsalis with pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner at this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

“As much as I may want to get away from the legacy of The Meters, it’s such a fundamental part of my musical upbringing that I’ll always have that,” says George Porter Jr.

Nels Cline issues his jazziest Blue Note offering yet with Consentrik Quartet: from left, Ingrid Laubrock, Cline, Tom Rainey and Chris Lightcap.

Chicago area native Pat Leary has released two volumes of solo piano improvisations, with a third on the way.

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock (left) performs “Chameleon” at the International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with Elena Pinderhughes, Oran Etkin, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, Etienne Charles, Tomoaki Baba, Tia Fuller and Nils Landgren.