Mentors & Protégés Share KUVO JAZZ has celebrated Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) in April for years, with a different musical “them—e” each year. The 2021 theme is “Mentors and Protégés.” Such a pair were the pianists Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, who together in the 1940’s staked out the playing field for their instrument in what was known as modern jazz. —Jazz View, New York Times Indeed, the art form of jazz (nay, the entire practice of music) depends on the ancient master-to-student conveyance of the disciplines, tips, tricks, theory, and attitude to truly learn the secret, coded language. (Many have been self-taught, but no artist gets very far without confronting the masters’ work in front of them.)