John Scofield

Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, the Neville Brothers and Chicago's Buddy Guy will headline the 40th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, running April 24-26 and April 30-May 3. As always, the event will unfold at the Fair Grounds Race Course...

After 17 years, nine studio albums and countless tours, Medeski, Martin and Wood are, in a sense, a band without a country. And they couldn't be happier. Dedicated to what keyboardist John Medeski calls "the spirit of jazz" through a fierce devotion to...

Music fans can count on a rich variety of styles and stars this summer in the Midwest. Here's a sampling of what's on tap: June 4-8: 28th Annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival,Sedalia, Mo. (454 miles), 866-218-6258, www.scottjoplin.org. Concerts, a turn-...

Music fans can count on a rich variety of styles and stars this summer in the Midwest. Here's a sampling of what's on tap: June 4-8: 28th Annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival,Sedalia, Mo. (454 miles), 866-218-6258, www.scott joplin.org. Concerts, a...

Critic's Picks Bob Dylan (Nov. 13 at Nassau Coliseum, Nov. 16 at Continental Airlines Arena). Dylan's Never Ending Tour gets an injection of new material this fall as more of Dylan's impressive new "Modern Times" (Columbia) album comes into his set of...

From Mariah Carey (sizzling again) to 50 Cent (cooling off), it's a what've-you-done-lately pop world. Few things are more fickle than the here-today, gone-by-lunch life cycles of the music industry's seasonal pop and hip-hop stars. Yet, in 2005, the...

Don't believe the hype. Despite flagging record sales and a lack of commercial radio airplay, the death of jazz music has been greatly exaggerated. Evidence arrives once again this Labor Day weekend in Grant Park when The 27th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival...

For every musician who yearns to achieve stardom in youth, there's another who prefers to develop slowly and surely outside the spotlight, allowing his art to blossom in its own good time. Chicago guitarist John McLean perfectly fits this description,...

Congress has dropped funding for state and local agencies involved in a program that has been critical to Chicago's recent success in curbing violent crime. Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative effort between federal and local law enforcement...

Typically, the jazz nominations for the 45th Grammy Awards are a mix of prime choices, vaguely defined categories and entries that belong elsewhere. On the prime side, there is the classy best jazz instrumental album lineup. It's hard to go wrong with...

Complete list of nominees announced Tuesday for the 47th annual Grammy Awards, to be presented Feb. 13 in Los Angeles: Record of the Year: "Let's Get It Started," The Black Eyed Peas; "Here We Go Again," Ray Charles and Norah Jones; "American Idiot,"...