Kevin Whitehead

Bassist Linda Oh's story is so compelling, everyone who write about her mentions it: how she was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, who emigrated to western Australia when she was three. Oh's second album is out. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says her music also covers a lot of ground.

It's tricky making a little band sound this big, but trombonist Ray Anderson knows his tricks.

There have been a few groundbreaking harpists in jazz and improvised music, from Dorothy Ashby to Zeena Parkins. Now, Fresh Air's jazz critic says the Colombian phenomenon joins that list with Double Portion, his new album of solos and duets.

Drummer Mike Reed's quartet People, Places and Things was put together to spotlight music written in Chicago in a fertile period between 1954 and 1960. The group has since expanded its mission to include later works, which are included on a new album titled Clean on the Corner.

Masabumi Kikuchi's fully improvised album Sunrise features late, like-minded drummer Paul Motian.

Scheinman's quartet features players raised on and accustomed to performing all kinds of music.

From a new series, Kevin Whitehead reviews a pair of '60s LPs from the distinctive trumpeter.

In December, Columbia released a box set of the 19 studio albums Dave Brubeck's quarter recorded between 1955 and 1966. Besides familiar titles like Time Out and Dave Digs Disney, there were a host of all-but-forgotten albums. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says a few of them are well-worth tracking down.

Like a comedian, the drummer knows something about offhand dexterity and split-second timing.

Owens mostly dresses Thelonious Monk's tunes for uptown wear -- Monk the Harlem jam-session swinger.