Kevin Whitehead

Werner named his new album after his state of mind when he's improvising. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Werner's piano sings with the voice of experience.

McLorin Salvant's powerful voice takes center state on her new album, a duo with pianist Sullivan Fortner. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the music on The Window is riveting.

A just-reissued album, from 1981, features diverse musicians playing songs that Nino Rota composed for Federico Fellini movies. Critic Kevin Whitehead calls it a charming album that's long overdue.

On what would have been Blanton's 100 birthday, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead recounts the ways in which the bassist revolutionized his instrument during his brief time on the music scene.

Decades after he changed modern music as member of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet, and then as co-founder of the band Weather Report, Shorter continues to break ground with a new triple album.

The alto saxophonist's new record with his band Five Elements is a two-disc set, in which most pieces are played twice, in differing elastic versions.

Early in his career, clarinetist Andy Biskin worked as an assistant to the folklorist Alan Lomax. Biskin's new album features new settings of songs drawn from Lomax's The Folk Songs of North America.

Last year, Tufts University hosted a symposium on Art, Race and Politics, which included a panel discussion (and later a concert) with musicians Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp and William Parker.

A new album revives the lost tracks of a studio session Coltrane recorded with his quartet in 1963. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album is solid — but not revelatory.

Royston is a trained composer who knows how to manipulate her materials all sorts of ways. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the music on Beautiful Liar is "sleek and sturdy" and "made to be played."

Braxton is known for his brainy compositional procedures, and the quartet he led between 1985 and 1993 was his great workshop. Quartet (Willisau) 1991 Studio is a two-disc showcase of their music.

O'Farrill is a New Yorker of Cuban, Mexican, Jewish, African-American, German and Irish descent. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says his new album with Stranger Days reflects O'Farrill's robust heritage.

Irabagon brings an infectious sense of fun to music-making, even when the playing is dead serious — as is the case on his "mildly subversive" new album.

A new four-disc compilation presents recordings Armstrong made for Verve in 1957. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the album includes a wealth of alternate takes, warm-ups and rehearsal sequences.

Critic Kevin Whitehead remembers the late musician, who was known for his animated piano recitals and group improvisations, and who sometimes used his forearm to play dense clusters on the keys.

The Algeria-born French pianist combines serious improvising with a playful attitude on his solo recital album. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Solal pulls listeners along "like a great storyteller."

Coltrane played his last engagements as a sideman with Davis in the spring of 1960. Recordings from those European shows have been bootlegged for years; now a few are collected in a new anthology.

A new 2-CD set features a decades-old recording of Mingus and his quintet at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. Citic Kevin Whitehead says the album showcases one of Mingus' most explosive bands.

In April, the singer, songwriter and pianist will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In anticipation, two compilations of Simone's early singles have been released.

Wilson became famous in the 1930s, playing in Benny Goodman's small groups and recording his own combo sides with a young Billie Holiday. A new collection reveals what else Wilson was up to back then.