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A scheme to entertain a 4-year-old youngster in Spokane by playing a jazz album nearly three decades ago produced a cascade of aftereffects that culminated on stage in Olympia, Washington, this month with crescendos of horns and multiple standing ovations. During the debut of a 16-piece, all-Indigenous big band, the performers on stage hearkened even further back in history to celebrate the little-known, but long line of Native jazz musicians and big bands.

Dorough spent two decades as a jazz player, singer, conductor and arranger in New York before being approached, at his advertising day job, to explain math to children via music.

The jazz legend and barrier breaker was born on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Ala.

Pianist Jason Moran calls James Reese Europe "basically the 'big bang' of jazz." Moran's tribute to the composer and WWI "Hellfighter" pulls his contributions to the genre out of history.

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra celebrates 25 years, and one of the last surviving members of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm reflects on the legacies of all-female big bands.

Over a career stretching back to the 1950s, Malcom John Rebennack came to be a living symbol of the city of New Orleans and its bottomless musical character.

The owner of the revered Village Vanguard in New York City — and a champion of generations of jazz musicians, including Thelonious Monk — died Saturday at age 95.

Wilson, who won three Grammy awards and recorded more than 60 albums, died at her California home Thursday after a long illness. From 1996-2005, she hosted NPR's documentary series Jazz Profiles.

In 1954, after several draining decades as a jazz composer, performer and mentor, Mary Lou Williams quit. When she returned, she claimed her true power as one of jazz's fiercest advocates.

The spirit of Cab Calloway lives on in Masego, the singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who surprised NPR's Tiny Desk audience with a zany sense of showmanship.