Jazz

Jazz singer Dianne Reeves has received a lot of exposure recently through her singing in the film Good Night and Good Luck. Before the movie, she already had a devoted following after winning Best Jazz Vocal Performance Grammys for each of her last three recordings. Reeves is about to go on national tour with her Christmas Time is Here show. Some of the cities it will be stopping in: Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto.

Musicians Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, two New Orleans natives, have been friends for years — back to the days when Connick took piano lessons from Marsalis' father, Ellis

Trumpeter Gregory Davis has been with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band since its inception in 1977. The group, known for revitalizing the New Orleans brass band sound by incorporating funk, jazz, gospel and rock, will play at the upcoming "Big Apple to the Big Easy" Benefit Concert at Madison Square Garden Sept. 20, 2005.

The latest album from legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins is Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert. Rollins, who turned 75 last week, talks about the album, the Sept. 11 attacks and the death of his wife Lucille.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Song X: Twentieth Anniversary, a reissue and remix of a 1985 collaboration between guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

The legendary jazzman turns 87 on July 31, 2005. He and his trio have just released a new CD, For My Father, and he joins John Patitucci and Jack De Johnette for the Great Jazz Trio's upcoming CD, S'Wonderful.

Gareth Cook covers science for The Boston Globe. Last week, he won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism for his yearlong series of stories on stem-cell research. The judges praised Cook's work for explaining "the complex scientific and ethical dimensions of stem cell research."

Lewis Black is a playwright, stand-up comic, actor, and a commentator on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He's been described as having the mouth of a shock-jock and the heart of a liberal. His new book is entitled Nothing's Sacred.

In his 30-year career, musician Fred Hersch has performed in solo, duo, trio and quintet settings. In 2003 he received the prestigious Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, which he used to work on his latest project, Leaves of Grass. For it, Hersch leads a 10-piece ensemble, which includes vocalists singing the words of Walt Whitman set to compositions by Hersch. He is touring the ensemble this month.

With his latest CD, Ivey Divey, bandleader Don Byron pays homage to saxophonist Lester Young. Byron is a prolific musician who gets inspiration from all kinds of music. One of Byron's most-played recordings is Bug Music, heard, among other places, on NPR.