This is my final installment of Black History Month celebrations and selections on Visions. I couldn’t possibly cover the pantheon of the greatest Black jazz musicians in a month, the shortest month of the year no less, but I hope you’ve enjoyed listening as much as I’ve enjoyed putting these episodes together.

Visions typically covers the period of jazz from the late 1960s to the present, but I couldn’t celebrate Black History Month through jazz, aka black music, without taking it back a little further to the 1950s and even 1940s. And I still haven’t even covered the half of it! But I’ll keep celebrating black music each week, each month, each year of Visions.

During this episode, I feature music from 1956 to 2026. You hear Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Lee Morgan, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Mulgrew Miller, Immanuel Wilkins, Tomeka Reid, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Belgrave, Duke Ellington, and many more.

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for Feb. 23, 2026

• “Punjab” – Joe Henderson*
• “Angela” – Lee Morgan
• “New Breed” – Billy Harper
• “Waltz for Monk [Live]” – The Mulgrew Miller Trio
• “A Night In Tunisia” – Dizzy Gillespie Big Band
• “Len Sirrah” – Elvin Jones*
• “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” – Cécile McLorin Salvant
• “BLUES BLOOD” – Immanuel Wilkins
• “Thème de Yoyo” – The Art Ensemble of Chicago
• “a(ways) For CC and CeCe [feat. Jason Roebke, Mary Halvorson & Tomas Fujiwara]” – Tomeka Reid
• “Firewater” – Herbie Hancock
• “Odoms Cave” – Marcus Belgrave*
• “Fleurette Africaine” – Duke Ellington
• “Darn That Dream” – Dexter Gordon
• “Kahlil the Prophet” – Jackie McLean

* indicates Detroit artists

This episode of Visions is my third installment of Black History Month celebrations. This time I play a limited selection of classics from the 1950’s-1980’s.

You hear from Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Grant Green, Nancy Wilson, John Lee Hooker, The Quintet (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach), Steve Lacy, Vi Redd, Henry Threadgill, Clifford Jordan, Walter Bishop, Jr., plus Detroit’s Yusef Lateef, Dorothy Ashby, and Barry Harris.

This episode celebrates blues, big band, vocalists, ballads, and jazz standards, all by black jazz musicians. Enjoy the episode!

Check out the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Visions Playlist for Feb. 16, 2026

• “Speak Low” – Grant Green
• “Bouncing with Bud” – Bud Powell
• “Since I Fell For You” – Nancy Wilson
• “Bermuda Blues” – Henry Threadgill
• “Born in Mississippi, Raised Up in Tennessee” – John Lee Hooker
• “John Coltrane” – Clifford Jordan
• “Salty Papa Blues” – Vi Redd
• “Evidence” – Steve Lacy with Don Cherry
• “Airmail Special (Live At The Newport Jazz Festival, 1957)” – Ella Fitzgerald
• “Corner Pocket (Live)” – Count Basie
• “Freedom Suite” – Walter Bishop, Jr.
• “Attica” – The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe & Bill Lee
• “Hot House (Live)” – The Quintet (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach)
• “The Dreamer” – Yusef Lateef*
• “Round Midnight” – Dorothy Ashby*
• “Body and Soul” – Barry Harris*
• “You Don’t Know What Love Is” – John Coltrane

* indicates Detroit artists