Nate Chinen

Hear stories from New Orleans saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr.'s upbringing, words from his mentee, drummer Joe Dyson, and a performance on his home turf recorded at Snug Harbor.

The jazz icon's 100th birthday is a chance to appreciate an enduring throughline of his career, which often teetered between exquisite composure and raging chaos.

The show, despite a delay caused by the pandemic and brief moments of seriousness, was mostly a highly professional, relentlessly energetic showcase for the pleasure of live music. Plus a few awards.

The cornetist, composer and bandleader combined a distinctly American harmonic palette with an openhearted emotional clarity uncommon in modern jazz.

Though the trumpeter Lee Morgan was killed in 1972, his legacy was well maintained. At least it seemed so, until one fan discovered last year that Morgan's gravesite seemed to have vanished.

Saxophonist Tony Malaby, unlucky at the beginning of the pandemic after catching a very early case of the virus — the subsequent isolation imposed on his playing led him to a unique solution.

We remember some of the luminaries we lost this year: Chick Corea; Milford Graves; Dr. Lonnie Smith; Pat Martino; Dottie Dodgion; Howard Johnson; Slide Hampton; Curtis Fuller; and Ralph Peterson Jr.

WBGO's Nate Chinen reflects on the year in jazz.

The pair took a close look at the subtexts of Euripides' sad, epic tale of Iphigenia — agency, testosterone, violence, faith — and, through a suite of new music, hold them up to the light.

To celebrate their 50-year anniversary, we trace the history and legacy of the independent jazz record label Strata-East founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and the late pianist Stanley Cowell.