What better way to put the swing in spring than catching a live jazz or world music performance at Art After 5? Each Friday evening the Great Stair Hall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art becomes a lively cabaret, with table service, cocktails, elegant cafe-style appetizers, and desserts.

Featuring a retrospective of approximately 50 international films, live concerts, a gallery exhibition, and a panel discussion, Jazz Score celebrates some of the best original jazz composed for film from the 1950s to the present, with a particular emphasis on the rich and largely unexplored history of collaboration among postwar filmmakers and jazz composers, arrangers, and musicians.

The acclaimed African American ensemble Soulful Symphony will bring an all new, jazz inspired program to the Music Center at Strathmore on Thursday, February 21, and to the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Friday, February 22.

A powerful pair of Grammy-nominated jazz artists, singer Tierney Sutton and pianist Jacky Terrasson, together with their bands, are poised to perform their live shows in Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center for the first time on Friday, February 22. The double bill takes place at 8 p.m. and is part of the LaSalle Bank Paradise Jazz Series.

From jazz guitar legend to soul-pop vocalist extraordinaire, Grammy Award winner George Benson has cultivated an international fan base as well as tremendous critical acclaim for three things - incomparable versatility, first-class execution in all he does, and, perhaps most importantly, for never being predictable.

Acclaimed jazz drummer Carl Allen joins conductor Rodney Whitaker and the young performers of the DSO's Civic Jazz Orchestra for a one-night only performance in Allesee Rehearsal Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center on Saturday, February 2 at 7 p.m.

McCoy Tyner is one of the most celebrated and sought-after jazz pianists of the last five decades. His melodic panache, harmonic sophistication and rhythmic flair have transcended convention, making him a living jazz icon.

Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to the Hippodrome stage during February with two great dance programmes: Swan Lake, arguably the most famous ballet of all time, and All That Jazz – a triple bill of jazz ballets that includes David Bintley's latest jazz creation Take Five to the music of Dave Brubeck.

Internationally acclaimed jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has died. He was 82.

Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (EMP|SFM), in collaboration with Earshot Jazz, proudly present Jazz in January2008, taking place Jan. 17 through Jan. 20, 2008 at EMP|SFM.

Music is said to be the universal language, and jazz, in particular, travels well from one culture to the next. A recent conference in Los Angeles looked at the ties forged by jazz between France and the United States. Mike O'Sullivan spoke with noted French pianist Rene Urtreger about the influence of jazz in his country.

Sundays are set to swing at the National Conservation Centre. Visitors to the museum’s café can now enjoy free jazz performances from 12-3pm every week.