Latest Jazz from NPR Music

Jazz has become a point of pride for Americans: a homegrown art form forged from folk traditions. Still, the black jazz pioneers who lived through eras of discrimination have a complicated sense of pride in the U.S. Hear five improvised takes on American patriotic songs, from the reverent to the ironic.

For saxophonist Dayna Stephens, serenity has been a key to dealing with a rare kidney disease. It's filtered into his playing and composing, which is on the upswing despite health challenges that drain hours from his days and thousands of dollars a week from his limited budget.

On his latest album, the guitarist puts his funky jazz-rock stamp on compositions that nod to Al Green, Afro-pop and rhythm & blues, with a couple old collaborators in tow.

Medeski joins host Jon Weber to perform a surprising duet and pieces from his new solo piano album.

In this 2008 episode, the vocalist and pianist covers Frank Sinatra, accompanies Marian McPartland and performs an original song.

Montreal is a city of two cultures: French and English, usually commingling, sometimes colliding. The Montreal International Jazz Festival — Canada's grandest music event of the year — props up the city's elite Francophones. Here are five French or Quebecois artists featured this year.

We wave the jazz flag with music transcribed from Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens — quintet and septet recordings from the 1920s — and a new Grammy-winning arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue."

One of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook presents a set of timeless music.

Bucky Pizzarelli and his son, John, have been collaborating since John was a kid. They perform live in NPR's studios.

When a studio engineer and drummer from New Orleans met one of the best trombone players in Richmond, Va., a funky, danceable, street-style brass band was born. Watch 11 musicians squeeze behind NPR Music's Tiny Desk, turn up the funk and fly the "RVA" flag high.