Born Peter Sims, the New York native played what he called his first jazz gig in 1957. It was immortalized as a Sonny Rollins live recording, and led to work with Joe Henderson, John Coltrane and more. The first-call player of New York’s ’50s and ’60s heyday was 74 years old.

Heavy Rotation is where public-radio tastemakers share their new favorite songs. For a limited time, download music from Foxygen, Marcus Miller, Rayna Gellert, Mary Bridget Davies and Esme Patterson.

The producer of an upcoming Nina Simone biopic has cast Afro-Latina actress Zoe Saldana in the lead role — a move that’s proved controversial. Critics say that while Saldana is a talented actress, she’s too close to traditional light-skinned Hollywood beauty standards.

Recap the episode in music: a present, future and living history of New Orleans trumpet featuring Irvin Mayfield, the all-female Pinettes Brass Band and legendary Lionel Ferbos. Plus, a treatise on Davis and Annie’s relationship as musicians.

Few jazz bandleaders are as active — and actively acclaimed — as saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas. Inspired by Wayne Shorter, but featuring their own tunes, they’ve launched a band together, featuring friends new and old. Watch a live performance.

Israeli export Anat Cohen is equally conversant in modern and traditional jazz, classical music, and a host of Afro-Cuban styles. The exciting tenor saxophonist and clarinetist joins a quartet with Marian McPartland.

As the Chicago-based independent record label celebrates 20 years, it continues to support sounds uncommon to its indie-rock peers. Drawing from an inclusive underground music community in the Windy City, here are five examples of the label’s creative and improvised releases.

Recorded live at The Blue Whale in Los Angeles, the Grammy-winning pianist and his quartet make psychic connections to Freddie Hubbard via “Bolivia.” Reedman Bob Sheppard pulls four times his weight, performing on soprano, alto and tenor saxes, as well as playing flute in “Quiet Girl.”

Much like his father before him, French spent decades leading the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, a group in existence for more than 100 years. His outspoken, colorful personality made him a stalwart of the local music scene — and briefly won him national attention, too.

After the musical bonanza that was the Mardi Gras episode, things slow down for some plot development in episode eight of Treme‘s third season. Recap the live music of the episode, featuring Sonny Landreth, Lil Queenie Harris and some “modern jazz.”

This weekend, New York’s Central Park hosted Jazz And Colors, a massive concert where 30 different groups all played the same 18 songs. But it was more than just a spectacle, and way more than just a jazz festival. See photos from throughout the park.

The saxophonist has built up an impressive educational pedigree. But he’s really flourished by backing up greats like Kenny Barron and Idris Muhammad, and being a first-call player on both the East and West Coast. He leads his quartet live at his alma mater.

RIP Ted Curson, a new jazz singer, the Jazz Composers Collective’s modern history, Hurricane Sandy and downtown New York and Miles Davis in 1985. Plus: a Branford Marsalis interview, Arbors Records’ Mat Domber, and what the Pittsburgh Steelers radio announcer does in his spare time.

The pianist, composer and teacher joins Marian McPartland in Harold Arlen’s standard “Get Happy.”

He came to New York in the early ’90s and became a top-notch jazz musician. Then he went back to Israeli to study the Middle Eastern musics of his ancestry. Now, the bassist surfaces all of it in his winding, funky compositions, performed live in downtown Manhattan.

For JazzSet‘s 20th anniversary, Bridgewater leads her quintet from the Caramoor Jazz Festival.

Yirga finds his way into Ethiopian standards, displays his flair for jazz over solo and ensemble pieces, and performs effortless homages to vintage soul. He holds everything together with voracious talent that helps him savor each musical flavor.

On Tuesday night, pianist Jason Moran hosted an Election Night Jam at the Kennedy Center, where he mixed American classic tunes and campaign songs new and old. It represents the latest chapter in jazz’s engagement with politics, including a few “presidential” nominations.

The spectacle, vice and musical mayhem of Mardi Gras returns to the program. Recap this year’s episode, with The Neville Brothers, the Morning 40 Federation, the Storyville Stompers, the Golden Comanche tribe, the Marines marching band and many more. Plus, two more legends make cameos.