Contemporary Jazz

It's all about the improv; that's what distinguishes jazz from most other pop music. And you can pick your fave instrument for solos: guitar, sax, horn, keyboards, even bass. There are ensembles and soloists and all sorts of assemblages. The vista is as wide as a player's (or listener's) imagination.

Now that you have a sense of where the leading lights are headed, it's time to do what jazz musicians do themselves: branch out a little off the narrow path and improvise. So be free, be brave: go for it. This is, after all, America's musical gift to the world.

We hate to break it to you, but the beret and round sunglasses are so '50s hipster. But we get it…we, er, dig where you're coming from. You're tuned in. So, hepcat, here are some memorable riffs that will flip your modern wig. And lose the beret, OK?

With the advent of fusion and so-called "smooth jazz" in the '80s, coupled with the decline of jazz radio, many people were wondering if time-honored jazz traditions were about to become extinct. Fortunately, at more or less the same time, a group of young players (beginning with Wynton Marsalis and continuing with the likes of Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, and Brad Mehldau) pushed back on the jazz pendulum. And not a moment too soon.