Frank J. Barrett, a professor of management and global public policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., is also a jazz pianist who has led his own trios and quartets and traveled ...

Back when Matt Nemeth was a student at Koda Middle School in Clifton Park, he tried his hand at jazz. He had started piano lessons at age 5, so he already knew his way around the keyboard. But jazz.

Trombone at the ready, head cocked slightly to the right, Joe Giordano is listening hard to his big band mates during a rehearsal of "Tiptoe," a Thad Jones tune that's bright, crisp and swinging, all ...