Wynton Marsalis

Listen to the Miles Davis-drenched Wynton Marsalis original "Black Codes" and you get a sense of the history that Marsalis, then a 23-year-old sensation, was taking on. Lucky for jazz fans everywhere, he was more than up to the task, as head honcho of the up-and-coming Young Lions of acoustic jazz, and as a brass master of the trumpet who could swing a live take on the standard "Donna Lee" like it was the last night on Earth, then turn around and settle into a rich, wistful croon on the Hoagy Carmichael classic "Skylark."

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More than just a great jazz trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis is a vital, living link between the musical past and present, giving standards like "Autumn Leaves" a fresh, Young Lions swing and, on the Katrina-relief track "Dippermouth Blues," a Dixie-style tip of the hat to his New Orleans forefathers King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Meanwhile, as head of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Marsalis broke important new ground with outstanding originals like "Juba and a Brown Squaw" from his landmark Blood on the Fields suite, the first jazz-based work to win a Pulitzer Prize.

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A big part of jazz genius is how well you play with others, and Wynton Marsalis brings collaboration to a whole new level, drawing out the best in his comrades and letting them underscore the finest in his own talents. Witness the gorgeous grain of the Cassandra Wilson vocal on "Rosewood" or Patrick Doyle's unmistakeable violin bowing on double bassist Edgar Meyer's "Fiddle Tune." And on "Napoli – Variations on a Neapolitan Song," Marsalis even goes classical on cornet with Donald Hunsberger and the venerable Eastman Wind Ensemble.

When Wynton Marsalis first electrified the jazz world in the early '80s, few could know the impact the young trumpeter would have on the American art form. Picking up where his early idol, Miles Davis, left off, Marsalis reveled in acoustic jazz, rather than smooth jazz or fusion, and, with outings like a tight take on the Ellington standard "Caravan," inspired the Young Lions movement of exciting new players. Since then, he has evolved into a vital force. His playing is never less than technically brilliant — check out "Sparks" from an exclusive iTunes session — and his artistic spirit is relentlessly exploratory, whether he's paying homage to his native New Orleans with a good-time take on Jelly Roll Morton's "Dead Man Blues" or creating new musical expressions with works like the Pulitzer Prize-winning original "Work Song (Blood on the Fields)."