“It’s a fact — I love drummers,” says Jane Ira Bloom of working with Brian Shankar Adler. “I just light up next to the rhythmic energy of drums and percussion.”

Drummer Chad Taylor’s quintet for his new recording, Smoke Shifter, from left: Bryan Rogers, Matt Engle, Taylor, Jonathan Finlayson and Victor Vieira-Branco

While much free-jazz remains well off the beaten path, its adherents are more passionate and obsessive than ever.

For this year’s Gerry Mulligan Jazz Challenge, students can submit a video recording of “Outback Of The Barn” on the instrument of their choice.

“I think that’s where we’re at now. Just us traveling to Iceland and being in this environment, it’s already changed whatever you think of, what you thought that song was going to be,” says Soulive’s Alan Evans.

Lovers of the big band experience, clockwise from top left, John Clayton, Leigh Pilzer, Ted Nash, David Pietro and Christine Jensen.

Sullivan Fortner continues a winning streak with his third Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year after earning the Gilmore Larry J. Bell Artist Award last October.

Currently entering its 31st year, Vail Jazz Workshop is an intensive residency program for highly dedicated and advanced high school-aged jazz musicians.

​Peplowski first came to prominence in legacy swing bands, including the final iteration of the Benny Goodman Orchestra, before beginning a solo career in the late 1980s.

Marsalis will, if he chooses to use it, have a strong voice in perpetuating his vision through a role in choosing his successors.