“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.

“I’m not getting any younger, and in my later years I want to make sure my own visions can be realized,” says pianist George Colligan.

Butcher Brown, clockwise from top left: Marcus Tenney, DJ Harrison, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville and Andrew Randazzo. (Keyboardist Harrison couldn’t make the gig, so special guest Jacob Mann sat in with the band at the Reno Jazz Festival.)

​“I love the place that fate or whatever has positioned me in Gil Evans’ life and legacy,” said Ryan Truesdell.

Christie Dashiell, left, and Terri Lyne Carrington demonstrate the resilience of Max Roach’s classic ’60s protest recording.

“I feel that the discipline that we call music is an all-dynamic proposition that includes discovery, momentum and transposition,” Braxton said.

Joe Satriani, left, and Steve Vai are in the midst of an action-packed European tour.

“Hamiet was one of the most underrated musicians ever,” says Whitaker of baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.

“As human beings, when we talk to one another we can come together in one community,” said Sunny Jain, leader of Red Baraat. “To me, that’s the most important thing.”

“I would follow Barry [Harris] wherever he went,” Pasquale Grasso says of one of his early mentors. “His concept of music resonated with me, and I loved how he approached it.”