Latest Jazz from NPR Music

Whether career sidemen, appealing experimentalists or critically acclaimed bands finally getting a look, new names are getting invited to the granddaddy of jazz festivals with greater frequency. Hear music from some of this year's crop, including Jonathan Batiste, David Gilmore and Dee Alexander.

Piano Jazz celebrates its 30th anniversary with a return visit from pianist, composer and arranger Dick Hyman, who appeared on the show during its first season in 1979. Always the fleet-fingered pianist and versatile musician, Hyman performs Gershwin, Jobim and a James P. Johnson rag before winding up the hour playing an improvised blues tune with host Marian McPartland.

In 1963, a jazz-obsessed, college-educated black Beat poet in New York wrote a "theoretical endeavor" linking the sociopolitical and the sonic. A half-century later, Amiri Baraka's book remains the first of its kind — and among the most important — in African-American studies.

The jazzy, soulful singer challenges himself throughout his latest album, No Beginning, No End.

Session musician Stephen Bruner has played bass in other people's bands for more than a decade. He can play metal, R&B, hip-hop, jazz. With his second album, he's stepping to the front of the stage.

Bunch learned to arrange for big bands while held captive in a German POW camp during WWII. After returning stateside, he worked with the likes of Woody Herman, Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman, and was Tony Bennett's pianist for a number of years. Bunch died earlier this year, so Piano Jazz remembers him with this 1991 session.

Virginia's No BS! Brass Band taps into, and ultimately expands, the brass-band tradition. Whether kicking it with funk or clearing room for a screeching free-jazz solo, the group redefines what large brass ensembles can do.

Benson and the late Nat King Cole have a lot in common: Both started as acclaimed jazz instrumentalists, but became pop stars when they started singing. Cole was a huge influence on Benson, and the guitarist — who turned 70 this spring — pays tribute on his latest album.

Ron Carter has set the standard for modern jazz bass players. He rose to fame with Miles Davis, but went on to play with Stan Getz and Thelonious Monk. His recording work spans 2,000 albums, and he's had equally successful careers as a bandleader, composer and educator. Hear the bassist in a session on Piano Jazz.

The violinist joins host Michael Feinstein to play Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'" and more.