As I reflected on the past 12 months, I realized that 2016 was a banner year for jazz releases. It was extremely difficult to narrow my selections of outstanding recordings to just 16. My criteria for this list is that these were all CDs that moved me emotionally. They are albums that I would like to keep in my permanent collection.

WEMU’s first free Sesi Motors 5:01 Jazz Show for 2017 will be a salute to the legendary trumpet player and widely respected teacher, Louis Smith. Louis passed away in August, 2016. He had suffered a stroke, but recovered valiantly and lived for years afterwards with his loving and generous wife, Lulu. Louis was equally generous and was very wise as a teacher. Trumpeter Paul Finkbeiner will lead the Louis Smith salute on Friday, January 6th at 5:01PM sharp at Rush Street Nightclub, 314 South Main Street in Ann Arbor.

"Our best musicians in the jazz tradition were radical imaginers," Samora Pinderhughes says. A pianist and composer in his mid-20s, he has asserted his connection to that lineage with The Transformations Suite , an earnest and ambitious new work combining music, words and visuals. The piece, which took five years to chisel into shape, was inspired by African-American resistance and protest movements, as well as the oppression that many still endure. Pinderhughes now lives in Harlem, but he grew up in the Bay Area, in a family of academics and social activists. Shortly after releasing The Transformations Suite last fall, he brought the project to the Way Christian Center in Berkeley for a performance that was several things at once: a homecoming, an album-release concert, a rousing community gathering. Along with a group of smart young jazz musicians, the ensemble features spoken-word poetry by the accomplished actor Jeremie Harris and passages of soulful singing by Jehbreal Jackson.

On May 5th – Cinco de Mayo – WEMU wraps up the 2017 winter/spring Sesi Motors 5:01 Jazz shows with a real showstopper – the magnificent Latin jazz group, Tumbao Bravo . While Paul Vornhagen continues to head up Tumbao Bravo on saxophone, flute, piccolo and percussion, he has added new members and new repertoire while retaining tunes of years past and some veteran players. Joining Paul for “5:01 Jazz” are Olman Piedra – timbales, Brian DiBlassio – keyboards, Gregory (Greco) Freeman – congas and, Joe Fee – bass.

On May 5th the Detroit Music Awards honored WEMU for 40 years of jazz broadcasting with a Distinguished Service Award at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit.

Early in her musical career, in the ‘90s, Diana Krall played a regular gig on Saturday evenings in Boston. When she drove down to New York City on Sunday mornings, she’d plan the trip so she could get close enough to hear the FM signal of WBGO in time to hear Singers Unlimited. She’s been hearing herself playing piano and singing ever since on WBGO. Diana Krall performs live in-studio, and speaks with Michael Bourne. Recorded 5/5/17. Nowadays, she can listen to wbgo.org during her travels around the world or in her hometown, Nanaimo, British Columbia. “I listen to you all the time,” she said when she came in for a recent session with a killer band, featuring frequent quartet-mate Anthony Wilson on guitar, along with bassist Robert Hurst, drummer Karriem Riggins and violinist Stuart Duncan.

A great musician never forgets the early life lessons that shaped them. Chris Collins, Artistic Director of The Detroit Jazz Festival has never forgotten and now carries on the Detroit jazz tradition of teaching and mentoring the next generations of jazz musicians. Chris talked with me this morning about what mentoring and creating music with aspiring players means to him.

Despite a last minute cancellation of some of the final performances, the free 38th Annual Detroit Jazz festival provided a ray of light shining down on the festival goers experiencing new and familar regional and national acts all Labor Day weekend in downtown Detroit.

Today would have been the great pianist Art Tatum's 108th birthday. WEMU celebrated his birth in 1909 with Dr. Imelda Hunt, author Does A Genius? - A Tribute To Art Tatum. Dr. Hunt is a new faculty member of the Department of Africology and African Studies at Eastern Michigan University. She brings a deep understanding of African-Americans in the midwest including her hometown of Toledo, Ohio - also Art Tatum's hometown. Dr. Hunt's research revealed Art Tatum's neighborhood, the legendary department stores, dance halls, and nightclubs where he performed and details about his loving and supportive family. Dr. Hunt also shared how the experience of listening to Art Tatum's brilliant music inspired her to write many poems, two of which she shared in conversation. Enjoy the genius of Art Tatum and a heartfelt appreciation from Dr. Imelda Hunt.

As WEMU continues our yearlong celebration of 40 years of jazz, it is great to invite former staff members to join the party this Friday.

To wrap up our 40 Years of Jazz celebration, WEMU is inviting area musicians and jazz fans to come in the studio and be a Guest DJ. Today’s guest was drummer Sean Dobbins. Sean remembers years ago when his main musical mentor, trumpeter, and teacher Louis Smith told Sean to listen to WEMU to hear more of the music he wanted to play. WEMU has been a big part of Sean’s life and Sean has been a big player in our sound and programming for years.

If you want to know where jazz is going today, you must check in with the next generation of musicians who are taking it in new directions. One such musician is pianist, vocalist, lyricist, and composer Hannah Baiardi. Hannah is in her fifth year of studying jazz and improvisational music at The University of Michigan with the esteemed professional music faculty including Ellen Rowe, Benny Green and Dennis Wilson. Hannah has taken full advantage of the opportunities at UM. That means she was able to record in the outstanding studios of The Duderstadt Center.

The first Roots Music Project of 2018 is a special one! Host Jeremy Baldwin welcomes Ann Arbor's own Americana band Corndaddy to the WEMU studios for a live interview and performance!

89.1 WEMU and Golden Limo have partnered once again to provide shuttles to and from the Detroit Jazz Festival during Labor Day Weekend.

The 39th annual Detroit Jazz Festival was marked by two overriding themes: a sense of musical discovery and a series of unfortunate weather events.

An initiative now has the funds to help expand pre-kindergarten programs across Long Island.

The New York State Board of Regents’ reassessment of high school graduation standards won’t change the state’s troubled standardized testing system, but could allow more ways for students to graduate.

SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson is calling the Excelsior Scholarship a success despite statistics that show it was used by only 3.2% of SUNY students to help pay tuition costs in its first year.

The New York State Board of Regents is expected to decide in October whether to allow local public school officials to have the final say over education at private schools.

Fewer Long Island students chose to opt out of New York’s standardized testing last spring, compared to two years ago.

A proposal to eliminate the Regents exam in New York has alarmed some social studies teachers on Long Island. They worry if the state cuts the standardized tests, history will be the first to go.

Suffolk County plans to allow school districts to install cameras on school buses to improve child safety.

Connecticut four-year colleges cost more and have lower rates of completion than their national peers. That’s the finding of a report to be released Tuesday by an affiliate of a national public education advocacy organization.

The New York State Senate majority held a roundtable on Long Island this week to figure out how to make state funding for public schools more fair to schools with extra needs.

The State University of New York has opened a new branch of Empire State College on Long Island.

A federal court in Bridgeport heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that challenges a state law designed to promote racial diversity in Connecticut’s schools.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says the state’s educational partnership with the Dalio Foundation is on track to start funding programs by the summer.

Connecticut has reached a milestone settlement agreement in the 30-year-old Sheff v. O’Neill Hartford school racial discrimination case.

Residents in the Riverhead Central School District will vote next month on two proposals that would pay for facility upgrades.

Long Island school officials say limited state budget increases and a growing student population will create a crisis in the near future.

Long Island’s high school graduation rate increased slightly in 2019. That’s according to data from the state Education Department.

There are eight fiscally stressed school districts on Long Island. That’s according to a report released Thursday by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Legislation introduced in New York could place a four-year freeze on tuition costs at state and city universities.

A fiscal report about four public universities in Connecticut shows a $457 million operating loss in 2019, despite increased state funding and higher tuition.

Microbes are the bacteria that live in our guts. Scientists are learning how they help us process medication.

A Stony Brook University scientist who discovered a penguin supercolony in Antarctica has won a national science prize of $250,000.

Six lunar modules from the Apollo Program still sit on the surface of the moon, each with a name plate: “Made in Bethpage.”

Audio File Edit | Remove Saturday marks 50 years since the first moon landing. Now, NASA is tapping a team from Stony Brook University to investigate how going to space impacts human health. The team is one of eight NASA has selected to help further exploration of our solar system with robots and astronauts. Timothy Glotch, a professor of geosciences at Stony Brook, leads the team. Professor Glotch, thank you for joining All Things Considered. What do you hope to find in your research? So the overall goal of the RISE2 team, which is the name of our team, is to help pave the way for humans to safely return to the moon and explore and get back safely to Earth. So as you mentioned one of our goals is to try and understand the health effects of exploration. We have a team of geochemists working with folks in the medical school at Stony Brook University to understand the reactivity of dust on the moon, and how if you breathe that in how that might lead to potential health effects. And how

A Southern Connecticut State University study explores the link between cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and Type 2 Diabetes.

The Sahara – the world’s largest desert – was once underwater. Now a 20-year study led by a Stony Brook University professor has profiled the aquatic animals that once lived there.

A new study from Yale University found some users of the popular e-cigarette brand Juul might be inhaling unexpected chemicals.

A new study from Yale University and Oregon Health and Science University looks at how doctor’s prejudices toward LGBT patients change during medical school.

You don’t have to be a mathematician to see beauty in math – you don’t even have to be able to do anything beyond basic algebra. That’s according to new research from Yale University and the U.K.’s Bath University.

Video games often get a bad rap for isolating young people. However, they might be an effective treatment for older adults with depression. Scientists from several universities, including the University of Connecticut, are investigating.

Scientists at Yale and other universities came to some surprising findings when they studied a group of genetically modified mosquitoes released in Brazil.

Researchers at Stony Brook University hope to find new ways to treat depression among teenagers – using a computer or smartphone.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a medical marijuana clinical trial led by the Yale University School of Medicine. Researchers say it’s the first of its type to be run on human subjects.

A team of marine scientists are on a mission to preserve biodiversity in oceans around the world. To do it, they need accurate maps that will help them identify areas in need of protection. There are several ongoing projects to create these maps. But they’re led by different groups, using different methods that can produce conflicting results.

A group of genetically engineered super-strong mice from Connecticut are headed to space. Their mission? Study a new therapy to prevent muscle loss.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has won a $750,000 grant from TD Bank to support its new cancer research facility.