WRTI Picks from NPR Music

As men went off to combat in World War II, a group of Southern college women took to the bandstand. Meet the Darlinettes — hear their music and stories from their leader and their drummer.

The polymath pianist and composer has released three new albums — including a recording of his own Mass, whose writing was interrupted by a disastrous car accident.

After a tour through the Upper Midwest, the trumpeter pays tribute to the Norwegian settlers' arrival on the American plains with his new album, Midwest.

The longtime president of Blue Note Records, a lifelong jazz fan, signed artists such as Norah Jones, Joe Henderson and Robert Glasper. He died of complications due to Parkinson's Disease. He was 79.

Joel Krosnick, who has been a member of the quartet since 1974, has decided to retire in 2016 and focus on his teaching at the Juilliard School. He says he "will miss every single note."

This week, the ensemble became the first professional U.S. orchestra since 1999 to play in Cuba — 86 years after its first visit to Havana.

The pianist was looking for a fun song to add to his set that evening at a Washington, D.C., jazz club when a waitress made a suggestion. The recording became a huge crossover hit: "The In Crowd."

The great bluesman was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and toured relentlessly his whole life, wringing peerless emotion out of every note he played.

The jazz pianist is celebrating his birthday with a pair of new releases, one of which documents how his creative process plays out in front of live audiences.

Though the 76-year-old Uruguayan violinist has played with many of the top jazz artists in the U.S. and Latin America, he's not as well-known as he should be.