Members of the Treme Brass Band play a jazz funeral for their bass drummer, Lionel Batiste, in New Orleans. Sean Gardner/Getty Images hide caption
Legacy : A Blog Supreme The music is only about 100 years old, but it's already seen scores of geniuses creating joyful noises against all odds. We examine time-honored masterpieces and tell the narratives around them — and in doing so, refract the cultural history of the United States and beyond.
A Blog Supreme
From NPR JazzLegacy
Paul Bley. Hans Kumpf/Courtesy of ECM Records hide caption
Phil Woods. An Iren Oetsby/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Ornette Coleman at his 85th birthday party in March 2015. John Rogers for NPR hide caption
Bruce Lundvall attends a ceremony hosted by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which produces the Grammy Awards. In addition to his role as record executive, he also once served as director of the Recording Academy. Noel Vasquez/Getty Images hide caption
George Coleman. Ray Foley/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Ralph Sharon, who performed with Tony Bennett for over 40 years, plays in his hometown of Boulder, Colo. in 2010. Scott D. Smith/Retna/Corbis hide caption
John Blake Jr. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
John Blake Jr. On Billy Taylor's Jazz At The Kennedy Center
Bassist Charlie Haden in 1978. Haden died on Friday in Los Angeles. Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis hide caption
Horace Silver performs for television in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1979. JazzSign/Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis hide caption
Percussionist Pete Escovedo and his daughter Sheila E. perform together in Rome in 2013. Jun Sato/WireImage hide caption
Clifford Brown turned in a number of fine solos playing with bandleader Art Blakey in 1954. Francis Wolff/Courtesy of Blue Note Records hide caption
Sun Ra's music sounds like it was intercepted from another world. Baron Wolman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Evidently, pianist Kris Bowers' bookshelf includes James Baldwin's uncollected writings and Robin Kelley's biography of Thelonious Monk. Janette Beckman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
John Coltrane during the recording of A Love Supreme in December 1964. Chuck Stewart/Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History hide caption
Pianist Oscar Peterson was the biggest name to emerge from the golden age of jazz in Montreal. Bettmann/CORBIS hide caption
Kenny Burrell performs at his 80th birthday concert in 2011. Reed Hutchinson/UCLA hide caption
Clockwise from top left: Anthony Braxton, Keith Jarrett, Richard Davis, Jamey Aebersold. Carolyn Wachnicki/Rose Anne Colavito/Ken Halfmann/John Nation/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Kenny Clarke performs at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968. He spent the second half of his career in Europe. JazzSign/Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis hide caption
The late documentary filmmaker Jean Bach stands next to an enlarged 1958 photograph of many jazz musicians titled "A Great Day in Harlem." Her documentary about the photo shoot was nominated for an Academy Award in 1995. Thomas Monaster/New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Chico Hamilton. Todd Boebel/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Frank Wess appears at a tribute concert in 2007. Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images hide caption
Sathima Bea Benjamin in 1974. Ian Bruce Huntley/Courtesy of Matsuli Music hide caption
Albert Murray in 1974. Craig Herndon/The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption
Cedar Walton in 2008. John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com hide caption