It's interesting how many of today's brighter young talents, from Laura Marling to Duffy, have been reared not on the conveyor-belt exercises of stage school, but on more individually fulfilling engagement with the outré influences of older generations. J

Further to your obituary of Barney Rosset (28 February), Evergreen Review and Grove Press were oases in the deserts of Dullsville in the late 1950s, as far as international publications featuring avant-garde writing were concerned, writes Michael Horovitz. I particularly valued Rosset's championing of Samuel Beckett some time before he became a household name. And it was in an early Evergreen Review that I was delighted to discover the then still unknown student Pete Brown's first minimal poems, near-haiku with a Cockney music-hall punchline, which he had simply sent in on spec.

Talk about a striking case of "Snap!". To be seen at the Royal Court now - on both the mainstage and in the Theatre Upstairs - is the spectacle of a helpless ageing man in a bed, hooked up to things like saline drips and catheters, and flanked by two women who are warring because of him.

There's an inter-denominational inclusivity theme to Carole King's seasonal offering. The star turn is "Chanukah Prayer", a haunting, jazz-inflected Jewish hymn on which she's joined by her daughter Louise Goffin (who also produced the album) and grandson Hayden Wells.

Everybody needs Tim Buckley in their life, for self-medication as well as entertainment.

The Project consists of a heavenly host of global talent who all happen to be women.

Conservative MP Louise Mensch has admitted she "probably" took drugs before dancing the night away at a jazz club with classical violinist Nigel Kennedy.

Although best known as the drummer in tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes's quartet, Tony Levin was an adventurous musician who liked to move forward.

Despite a version of Earth Wind & Fire's "After The Love Is Gone" that is so good you can play it for days, this dream-team collaboration between jazz singer Elling and big-time weirdo producer Don Was delivers less than it promises.

An exemplary account of how Brazilian music found its keenest popular focus in the 1960s, as a chic, modernistic jazz-inflected pop form of remarkable stylistic integrity.

Buddy Rich may have been the greatest drummer in the world, but he didn't have the charisma or the elegance of the tall and handsome Jack Parnell. As a fellow drummer Rich was Parnell's idol, and it was Jack who arranged for Rich's famous appearance in The Muppets television series. On the show Rich played an unforgettable drum battle with the puppet Animal, who was brought onstage in chains screaming "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The most demanding job that any drummer could have was to play drums in the Oscar Peterson Trio and it was a testimony to Martin Drew's ranking amongst the best in the world that Peterson chose the Englishman for his group. A huge man who was unusually passionate about his music, Martin Drew would never compromise.

This summer’s packed programme of music festivals continues with the Brit Jazz Festival, which kicks off tomorrow at London’s renowned jazz venue, Ronnie Scott’s.