But even as he wrote hit after hit in the world of popular music, Gershwin aspired to master the complex, longer forms of classical music. He sought out lessons from…

Some sections of this piece could only be played by a masterful Classical guitarist. Other parts are written to feature a Blues master and are designed to turn the player loose, bringing all prior Blues knowledge into their improvisations. I come from a Jazz background, and I know there is nothing like…

The Open Road bridges classical structure and jazz improvisation, drawing inspiration from the vibrant sounds of the 1970s and 80s rather than the traditional swing or bop eras. The piece opens with an extended introduction driven by…

By 1943, Ellington had pushed onto the classical concert stage, and while he continued to write for and lead his big band, much of his creative energy in the next decades was devoted to blurring the distinction between “classical” and “jazz”…

The son of a Baltimore record store-owner, Glass studied flute as a child and entered the University of Chicago at age 16. He progressed from there to Juilliard and was building a solid career for himself, when at 26…

Leonard Bernstein was, without a doubt, the best-known classical musician America has ever produced. Respected worldwide as a conductor and composer…

To call Jessie Montgomery “in demand” in recent years is to engage in truly comic understatement. In the past four years, she’s been Musical America’s Composer of the Year, Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year, Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony, has won a Grammy Award…