Nick Morrison

The traditions of Mardi Gras are a huge part of New Orleans' cultural identity. Hear five artists whose music you might find playing on the streets of the Crescent City during Mardi Gras.

During the 1940s and '50s, Dameron focused his considerable compositional talents on the emerging jazz style called bebop. During a relatively brief period, Dameron composed a body of work that helped define and expand the parameters of this music.

We're now a decade into the 21st century, so it's time to check in on the blues and see how it's doing in the relatively new world of loops, samples and remixing technology.

The soprano saxophone has never been a dominant instrument in mainstream jazz, but it's been in the mix since the beginning. Take a quick tour of the soprano sax throughout jazz history with the help of these five songs.

When Ritenour visited the KPLU/Jazz24 studios on an unseasonably cool August afternoon, he arrived with a rhythm section hot enough to raise Seattle's temperature a few degrees: drummer Will Kennedy and bassist Melvin Davis. Together, they laid down three delightful tracks.

It's hard to overstate Rollins' contribution to jazz. As the groundbreaking saxophonist celebrates his 80th birthday, he can look back on a performing and recording career that spans more than 60 years and has influenced generations of jazz players.

Summer is a time for family gatherings, and over the years, there have been some very notable families of jazz musicians. Hear five songs by some of those talented families — songs selected to accompany your own family's backyard cookout.

Influencing everyone from The Rolling Stones to Cassandra Wilson, the blues recordings that came out of the Mississippi Delta from the late 1920s through the late '30s have had an enormous impact on American music. Hear songs from Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Son House and more.

Martin Luther King Jr. opened the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival with these words: "Jazz speaks for life." The 1960s civil-rights movement inspired blues and jazz songs about the setbacks, hardships and hard-won victories that moved (and that continue to move) America closer to racial equality.

The trumpeter's quintet is one of the finest hard-bop jazz bands on the road today. When the whole group came into the Jazz24 performance studio, it performed the hard-hitting Donald Byrd classic "Low Life," as well as a couple of originals.