“The more sophisticated the lyric, the easier the melody should be,” Lins offered as a songwriting guideline.

“Everything came together like the universe intended,” says Luke Stewart of the members of Irreversible Entanglements, from left, Camae Ayewa, Stewart, Tcheser Holmes, Keir Neuringer and Aquiles Navarro.

“This is not an album for dancing,” Fonseca says about his new recording, La Gran Diversión. “But if you want to move, to dance, you’re welcome.”

“The idea of joy was really important,” says Souza in the wake of the pandemic and the toppling of Brazil’s authoritarian regime.

“We play traditional rhythms, but the nature of the traditional rhythms is that there’s improvisation and a lot of room for expression,” Santos says of his music.

“Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet on record, that was it!” said Freeman of his early influences.

Parks has battled and triumphantly come back from bouts of manic behavior that left him “getting pretty abstract,” he said, to the point that he had to cancel a tour and seek help.

“Blue Note music has been such an integral part of my musical and life experience for so long,” says Redman. “It’s surreal to be a part of this lineage.”

“There’s a lot of untapped potential in that classic big band literature,” Argue says, noting that it serves as inspiration.

​“He was the coolest,” Fortner says of Nat “King” Cole. “Didn’t break a sweat.”