NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz has been a defining voice in modern jazz since the 1960s, collaborating with Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, and Roy Hargrove, as well as appearing on Miles Davis’ landmark Live-Evil (1971, Columbia Records). In the early 1970s, he formed NTU Troop blending soul, funk, African folk music, hard bop, and avant-garde jazz, and helped define the spiritual jazz movement. With two Grammy Awards and a career spanning more than five decades, Bartz continues to break new ground, most recently reuniting NTU Troop and collaborating with London-based Your Brother’s Keeper on Where Rivers Meet (2026, Brownswood Recordings).