Pascoal said he had composed thousands of pieces. "I am 100 percent intuitive," he once told NPR. Miles Davis called him one of the most important musicians in the world.

Known for his intellectual and illuminating touch on the podium, the refined conductor was also surprisingly outspoken when it came to politics and his peers.

From his deep baritone chest to wonderfully fluttering head voice, Michael Mayo joyfully bends notes to his will.

Trombone Shorty releases new album from New Orleans, a tribute to the city's soul, marking the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

In a new album, the youngest ever Van Cliburn winner puts his own stamp on Tchaikovsky's undervalued set of piano pieces called The Seasons.

The South African pianist and Zulu healer guides us through a meditation on stillness and an invocation of Blackness.

She recorded a magical debut album on Blue Note and was later named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.

London's Sunday Times once called Laine "quite simply the best singer in the world."

With his beard, long hair and brown felt fedora, the jazz flugelhorn player and composer cut an unforgettable figure in American culture.

Routinely called a "musician's musician," the pianist had an atypical career that even he called mysterious. He spent it returning to a handful of favorite composers, with acclaimed results.