Patrick Jarenwattananon

Every year, NPR Music invites some of the world's best jazz keyboard players to Washington, D.C., for a special performance of holiday tunes. Hear Stanley Cowell, Sullivan Fortner, and others perform.

After releasing his fourth album earlier this year, the alto saxophonist premieres a new set of compositions: a suite for jazz octet inspired by A.A. Milne's poetry for children.

One of the world's great percussionists leads a band driven by decades-long friendships, emotionally resonant anthems and flying drumsticks.

The pianist's first visit to France and the 3,000-seat Salle Pleyel concert hall ended in disaster. Fifteen years later, after he became an international star, Monk returned to the same stage with his own band, planning a surprise.

Here, the three jazz sidemen come together as a trio. Their format isn't earth-shatteringly new, but after nearly 25 years as a band, their rapport is. Listen to a live concert.

The jazz vibraphone pioneer played with Stan Getz and Chick Corea, was an early adopter of jazz fusion, and became the Dean of Berklee College of Music.

He had gigs before and enjoyed prominent freelance work afterward. But the mellow saxophone and flute player's career was kickstarted by spending more than a decade in the front row of Count Basie's "New Testament" band.

Chicago bassist Matt Ulery writes beautiful music in an unpretentious way. It's intricate stuff, with interlocking parts and multiple sections, but it comes out sounding folky and simple. His small group, featuring bass clarinet and accordion, has it down pat.

The saxophonist came to the U.S. from Chile with little money and less command of English. But she did have some serious ability at the saxophone, which has now found footing in the New York scene.

After releasing his latest album, last year's Spirit Fiction, the saxophonist put his decade-old quartet on hiatus. He now takes a new group into a venue haunted by the ghosts of his parents.