Patrick Jarenwattananon

This summer has seen plenty of worthwhile jazz, including a pianist who's been around since the '50s, a Caribbean jazzman, a band of deliberate melody, and a cover from The Jungle Book. Sample recordings from Harold Mabern, Etienne Charles, the band Black Host and Lauren Desberg.

As a first-call trumpeter in many jazz, Latin and Broadway ensembles, Frink made a lot of bands sound good. But she was better known as someone who made thousands of other trumpet players sound better. The foremost brass instructor in New York City, Frink was 62.

The blend of flute and vibraphone or marimba brings a transparent, sparkling quality — light and listenable, but permitting depth and mystery. On new albums, Nicole Mitchell and Anna Webber harness this energy, which has a surprisingly rich history

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.

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.

They met in New Orleans' performing-arts high school, became Donald Harrison's rhythm section as teenagers and have now released their first album. The collective plays original music live.

Byron has a way of homing in on an artist's legacy and transforming it with intelligence and adventure. In this case, he takes on the music of Thomas Dorsey and of Sister Rosetta Tharpe in concert.

In New York's SoHo lies a small merchant which peddles preserved insects, skulls, bones and more. Unnerved — well, mostly — the improvising harpist generates a Caribbean bounce amid the glass cases.

Self-taught and enterprising, Tucker contributed to plenty of great jazz recordings as a sideman in New York and Los Angeles. But the log of his discography barely begins to describe the legacy he left behind in his adopted hometown of Savannah, Ga.

For jazz musicians, Barron is considered an institution. So it's fitting that the pianist gets to celebrate his 70th birthday at another jazz institution. Here, he demonstrates his ebullient clarity.