This is FRESH AIR. Here on the show, we memorialize jazz composer Benny Golson and drummer Roy Haynes. Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead remembers a few more musicians who passed in 2024. For some of ...

The 1950s and early '60s were a high point for jazz. Jazz was popular. You could hear it on TV, on college campuses, and on US State Department tours. It was an era of mind-boggling creativity. Cool ...

Albert "Tootie" Heath has died at age 88. He played drums with basically all the greats of the 1950s, '60s and beyond and is on the first albums that Nina Simone and John Coltrane made as bandleaders.

A special concert was performed Monday night at the Ford Theater in Hollywood. It was part of the Angel City Jazz Fest. Local jazz master Bennie Maupin and his group brought to life music from Los ...