Today, brass bands still invigorate the streets during Mardi Gras, French Quarter jazz clubs deliver the best in live improvisation on any given night, and the Jazz and Heritage Festival brings together the past, present and future of American jazz every spring, proving year after year that New Orleans is still the jazz mecca of the world.

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In 1959, Columbia Records released three discs poised to set the future course of jazz: Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue, " Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" and "Mingus Ah Um" by bassist, bandleader and composer Charles Mingus.

WSJ: Mercurial Charles Mingus | Mingus Ah Um | Masterpiece by Eric Felten

Released weeks later, the 78-rpm record became an overnight sensation and a fitting start to jazz's future.

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Perhaps most important, Mingus, who was born in 1922 and died in 1979, was not looking to divorce jazz's future from its past.

WSJ: Mercurial Charles Mingus | Mingus Ah Um | Masterpiece by Eric Felten

Jazz legend Herbie Hancock saw one future of music when he was blown away by the piano skills of 14-year-old Jennifer Lin , awed by a classical maestro with full-bore improvisational chops.

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It is a reflection and re-awakening of jazz past, as well as a push into the future that still lives in the now.

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