Herbie Hancock. Douglas Kirkland/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Take Five: A Jazz Sampler Hear a weekly mix of five jazz songs picked by jazz radio personalities and jazz musicians around the world.
Special Series
Take Five: A Jazz Sampler
Get to know the music, five songs at a time
Chet Baker was a gifted trumpeter and jazz icon. Keystone/Getty Images hide caption
Guitarist and singer Camila Meza will release a new album, Traces, in February. Chris Drukker/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Following her conversion to Catholicism, pianist Mary Lou Williams began to compose and record religious music. William Gottlieb/Library of Congress hide caption
Billy Strayhorn, pictured here in the 1940s, wrote more than 1,000 works, most of them for Duke Ellington. William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress hide caption
Molly Johnson. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Nina Simone's voice may have had a limited range, but its unique power and melancholy made for a legendary effect when paired with her genre-crossing piano. Getty Images hide caption
Eddie Henderson performs three times at the 2015 Winter Jazzfest. Jimmy Katz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The audience at the main stage of the Newport Jazz Festival. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption
Flame Collective. Cezar Altai/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Audio is no longer available
Wynton Marsalis leads a group of musicians through upper Manhattan's Riverside Church for the New Orleans-style funeral of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton in 2002. Doug Kanter/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Sun Ra's music sounds like it was intercepted from another world. Baron Wolman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Armando Peraza, center, was a key member of Santana for nearly three decades. Bruno Marzi/Splash News/Corbis hide caption
The vocal trio KING features production from Paris Strother, a jazz-trained pianist. Alyssa Tumino/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Jayne Cortez in 1996. The poet often recorded her poems to improvised music. Bob Berg/Getty Images hide caption
Donny Hathaway remains widely admired in jazz, but much of his repertoire has yet to be tapped by improvisers. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption
Lionel Loueke (left) and Miguel Zenon (right) join Jeff Ballard in the drummer's rhythm-oriented trio. Andrea Boccalini/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The gospel/folk singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe was accompanied by a jazz orchestra on her debut recording. Chris Ware/Getty Images hide caption
Keyboardist and producer Bob James' 1970s work helped to establish the sound of smooth jazz — and lives on in hip-hop samples galore. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
In a conversation aired on WBGO, Jessye Norman credits the study of jazz with her understanding of song interpretation. Carol Friedman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Monty Alexander (left) and Ernest Ranglin are known for their fluency in both jazz and Jamaican popular music. Peter Dean Rickards/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Woody Shaw made his first recordings 50 years ago at age 18. Tom Copi/San Francisco hide caption