“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”

“I’m not sure if everybody wants just angry music,” says Tobia Meinhart. “Maybe we need something more hopeful and inspiring instead.”

“I had no idea I was gonna be a musician,” says Ayala. “God put music on my plate.”

Susie Ibarra’s Pulitzer-winning extended composition Sky Islands is a musical call to action that draws attention to the Earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity.

To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.

“I eventually want to keep experimenting with being able to add my own granito de arena, my little thing that I can add to it,” says Lucía about her brand of jazz with a Mexican flavor.

“I like to think of composition, especially in jazz, as setting up a system of constraints and finding the freedom within those constraints,” said pianist Dan Tepfer, shown here with saxophonist Ben Wendel.

“Billy was very friendly to me when I was young. One of my greatest inspirations,” said drummer Bill Goodwin about fellow drummer Billy Higgins.

Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.

Elena Pinderhughes (left), Paquito D’Rivera, Birsa Chatterjee, Jon Faddis and Terri Lyne Carrington at the James Moody Centennial Celebration.