NPR Music - JAZZ

First Listen: Jason Moran, 'All Rise: A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller' Fats Waller sang, emceed, told jokes, wrote hits, and played mean piano. Decades later, a fellow jazz pianist tries to capture his life-of-the-party spirit with drastically new versions of his tunes. Read this story

MARIAN MCPARTLAND'S PIANO JAZZ Gerald Wilson On Piano Jazz The late bandleader, composer, arranger and trumpeter was famed for sophisticated musical ideas and dedicated to the infinite possibilities of jazz. Hear a 2006 session. Read this story

MUSIC INTERVIEWS Modern Misbehavin': Jason Moran Gets Into The Mind Of Fats Waller On a new tribute to Waller, Moran explores his subject's many contradictions: "The son of a preacher, the man who likes to drink, the man who finds his sorrow but expresses it through comedy." Read this story

MARIAN MCPARTLAND'S PIANO JAZZ Chris Potter On Piano Jazz The saxophonist is an expressive, inventive, quick-thinking improviser. In a 2001 session, Potter performs "I Should Care" with bassist Scott Colley. Read this story