On Shadow, Wright has taken the words of vocalist Nina Simone to heart — that an artist must reflect her times.

“It’s not like Bach, where you had better play the notes correctly,” Fleck says. “In the case of Rhapsody, it had been done so many ways and with the blessing of [Gershwin].”

“Within our uniquely limited instrumentation, we can get people loud and excited,” Kahil El’Zabar says of his 50-year-old Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

“Einstein was a violinist, Max Planck was also a musician and Stefon Alexander plays saxophone,” says Donald Harrison about the relationship between science and music.

“I’m also at a point in my life where I don’t feel like I have anything to prove, like at all,” Akinmusire says about his art.

“He is always growing, always learning, always moving forward,” said John Zorn of Smith.

“Both of us are quite grounded in the craft, the tradition and the harmonic sense,” Rosenwinkel said of his experience playing with Allen. “Yet I felt we shared something mystical as well.”

“He’s constructing intelligent musical sentences that connect seamlessly, which is the most important part of linear playing,” Charles McPherson said of alto saxophonist Sonny Red.

Larry Goldings’ versatility keeps him in high demand as a leader, collaborator and sideman.

“I listened to players like Ben Webster and Wayne Shorter, two opposites, who spoke to me profoundly about saying a whole lot with less,” Osby says.