Kevin Whitehead

Rollins recorded his first sessions in 1949, and played his last live shows in 2012. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, then we listen back to a 1994 interview with the tenor saxophonist.

More blues singer than Broadway, the Bird helped introduce bebop to jazz — and along the way redefined jazz velocity with his scrappy sound and pithy melodic figures.

Carney rounds up diverse musicians in a sextet that cuts across generations, stylistic preferences and social circles. Their interpersonal chemistry flows on a new album.