This engrossing series of 22 variations, études and deconstructions of Thelonious Monk's most famous piece was commissioned by pianist Emanuele Arciuli from various American composers with whom he had previously worked.

Seb Rochford is a British drummer and member of the experimental jazz band Polar Bear. He has also drummed for the likes of Pete Doherty, David Byrne, Brian Eno and Herbie Hancock. Here he tells Music Magazine about some of his favourites.

A new box set of Philip Larkin's favourite jazz focuses on the pre-war trad he adored – but the poet was no musical stick-in-the- mud. In fact, says Sholto Byrnes, he was one of our most incisive jazz critics

Given the crippling costs of keeping 15 musicians in gainful employ, big bands are largely a thing of the past. But this sumptuous performance by Wynton Marsalis's stellar unit was a reminder that an orchestra remains a vital resource to any jazz musician. It offers both power and precision. Since the early 80s the New Orleans trumpeter has been exploring and extending the heritage of acoustic jazz, using 30s swing, 40s bebop and 50s post-bop as templates for his own creations and this final night of a five-day residency at various venues in London presented a panorama of those vocabularies. There were arrangements of legends like Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson and Jackie McLean and there were also original pieces by JALCO members such as saxophonist Ted Nash. His Dali suite, set in the tripwire time signature of 13/8, was a highlight for the intoxicating swirl of the horns, which culminated in Nash's alto becoming a dramatic echo to a stabbing improvisation by trumpeter Marcus Printup.

However, the presence of British guest musicians also raised the bar. Vibraphonist Jim Hart, tenor saxophonist Jean Toussaint and pianist Julian Joseph all took hard swinging solos and vocalist Cleveland Watkiss was imperious on an express train rendition of McLean's "Appointment in Ghana", in which his scat choruses revealed a timbral richness and phrasal trickery that had the horn players nodding in approval. In a delicious passage of his solo, Watkiss quoted the first part of the theme of Thelonious Monk's "Green Chimneys" at lightning speed before twisting its harmony in an entirely new direction. Yet what became apparent throughout the evening was the relevance of big band music to other genres, simply because of its enormous sonic range.

On slow passages the ornate, rippling textures evoked ambient music, on faster numbers, as the brass plunged deep into the low register, there was funk aplenty, and when the whole ensemble was in full flow, there was a soundtrack in search of a movie. Decked out in sharp suits and seated in three rows under the Hackney Empire's proscenium arch, Marsalis's orchestra indeed offered a big-screen spectacle for eyes and ears alike.

You can read the jazz recession into Terrasson's slight slip down the rankings in recent years, and the trying-too-hard-to-please-ness of this partial recovery with an augmented trio.

So rarely does Martha Argerich perform solo that hearing these previously unreleased recordings of various Chopin pieces is akin to getting a glimpse of an unseen Old Master.

He blew like the legend he is – so why am I blubbing?

Usurped by a late registration

The bass guitarist and composer Hugh Hopper was a pivotal member of Soft Machine, the Canterbury group which went through many incarnations and shifts in musical identity and proved more successful in continental Europe than the UK in the late Sixties and early Seventies. A friend and schoolmate of the founder-member, drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, Hopper contributed to the group's psychedelic debut in 1968 and was their road manager before replacing bassist Kevin Ayers on the jazzier Volume Two album the following year. Hopper was a mainstay of the Softs until May 1973, his trademark fuzz Fender Precision bass riffs and experiments with tape loops as important to the group's ever-evolving sound as Mike Ratledge's Lowrey electric organ through five albums, including the best-selling Third (1970) and Fourth (1971).

Too radical to be properly appreciated during his artistic peak, Guy Warren, or Kofi Ghanaba,was one of the most influential and well-travelled Ghanaian musicians of the mid-20th century.

Talk of the Town

Although born and bred in Chicago, the diminutive powerhouse tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin enjoyed his greatest success in Europe. He lived for 24 years in a beautiful château at Availles-Limouzine, a village near Poitiers in western France. As Mike Hennessey points out in his 2008 biography Little Giant: the story of Johnny Griffin, you can count the number of master saxophonists from the Midwest who have ended up in such accommodation on one finger.

They're standard components of any Frisell project, history and mystery. Here they're presented as a subject rather than as a given. It's a two-CD job, featuring an octet incorporating strings, horns and reeds alongside the familiar rhythm section of Kenny Wollesen and Tony Scherr.

Longevity is not particularly associated with the lifestyle of a jazz musician, especially one who has played smoke-filled clubs and lounges regularly through the decades: a minority have pushed beyond threescore years and ten. Which gives us at least one reason to be cheerful: Stan Tracey, at 81, is still vibrantly with us and can fill the Barbican with people who know his worth.