Rodney Whitaker (9:30, 7:30)

In the Eighties, Detroit-born bassist Rodney Whitaker started as a first-call side musician for the likes of Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, and Mark Whitfield before joining the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and becoming a leader in his own right with 1996’s Children of the Light. He’s since built a career as an educator, directing Michigan State’s highly decorated Jazz Studies program. Fortunately he hasn’t stopped as a performer and recording artist, as last year’s Oasis (The Music of Greg Hill) attests. – Michael Toland