Saxophonist Devin Daniels and trumpeter Julien Knowles distinguished themselves on breakthrough releases this year — Daniels on the star-making LesGo! and Knowles on his solo debut, As Many, As One, each of which features the other as a band member. Craig Allyn hide caption
Kamasi Washington, Tyla and Iron & Wine. B+ / Jeremy Soma / Kim Black. Illustration by Jackie Lay./Courtesy of the artists. hide caption
The cornetist, composer and bandleader Ron Miles combined a distinctly American harmonic palette with an openhearted emotional clarity uncommon in modern jazz. Johnathan Chimene/WBGO hide caption
Joshua Redman's Still Dreaming (feat. Ron Miles, Scott Colley & Brian Blade) comes out May 25. Jon Brown/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
A selection of NPR Music's best 50 albums of 2017. (Clockwise from upper left) Far from Over by Vijay Iyer, Plunge by Fever Ray, Everybody Works by Jay Som, Aromanticism by Moses Sumney, Luv Is Rage 2 by Lil Uzi Vert and 4:44 by Jay-Z. Courtesy of the artists hide caption
For Ron Miles, the better he knows how a tune works, the less he has to play to put it across. John Spiral hide caption
JD Allen. Frank Stewart/courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Mingus Big Band keeps a regular Monday-night gig at the Jazz Standard in New York City. Jimmy Katz hide caption