Kevin Whitehead

Everybody knows jazz is an American invention that mediates between African and European musical conventions. But for decades, African and European improvisers have been forging their own bonds and hybrids, without American mediation. As a case in point, here's a newly issued historical recording by the South African-born bassist Harry Miller: Harry Miller's Isipingo: Which Way Now.

Jazz alto saxophonist Jackie McLean passed away in March. McLean was a disciple of Charlie Parker and a leading hardbop saxophonist in the '50s.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new reissue of the 1958 Duke Ellington's Spacemen album, The Cosmic Scene.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews The Clarinets, a new album from the clarinet-playing trio of Anthony Burr, Oscar Noriega and Chris Speed.

Clarinetist Ben Goldberg is a key figure in the Bay Area improvisational scene, where he became known in the early 1990s as a member of the New Klezmer Trio.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews It's All in the Game, by tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead looks at the work of jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. This week, Monk received a special posthumous citation from the Pulitzer Prize committee for "a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz."

Sidney Bechet played soprano saxophone in the early decades of jazz, before John Coltrane popularized the instrument. A new anthology, Mosaic Select: Sidney Bechet, offers listeners a chance to hear Bechet's music, transferred and restored from rare recordings from 1923 to 1947.

The new CD from the Mary Lou Williams Collective is Zodiac Suite: Revisited. The trio, created by pianist Geri Allen, plays the tunes of Mary Lou Williams.

The jazz trio headed by Sam Rivers has a new CD out, Violet Violets (Stunt label). Rivers' horn work is complemented by bassist Ben Street and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood.