“I had to play the music I loved with the people I wanted to play it with,” said Bloom. “Nothing would stop me.”

“Just because I’m at the organ doesn’t mean I have to fall into the predictable traditional approach to the instrument,” says Goldings.

“He would always call me his grandson,” Whitaker says of the late Dr. Lonnie Smith. Smith’s personal assistant sent Whitaker one of the master’s B-3s after he died in 2021.

Saxophonist Greg Ward, left, gets a lesson in how to wear the blindfold before journalist Michael Jackson administers the test.

“We do have a lot of differences, but we are much more similar than different,” says Lee. “I really truly believe that my very personal story can reach out to and appeal to a lot of people.”

“Given a good support system, each artist has the potential to be more than just a performer, but an ambassador of hope,” says Louis Marks, left, ropeadope CEO, with Fabian Brown, president.

“It locked together 20 years of all that I’ve been looking for,” Ryan Truesdell says of his compositional contribution to Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions.

“I figured you’d get this one,” laughed John Clayton, left, after Rufus Reid guessed Billy Childs. “This one’s a little soft pitch.”

Saxophonist George Coleman, seated left, captivated a sold-out room at Smoke Jazz Club in April.

Finzer, second from left, with drummer Lewis Nash, left, bassist Rufus Reid, second from right, and pianist Renee Rosnes.