JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of communicating with the industry. However, Radio Free Jazz grew substantially over the next decade, attracting readers and writers from around the world.

In 1980, the magazine's broader focus and appeal prompted a name change, so Radio Free became JazzTimes. In 1990, the magazine also underwent a change, receiving a bold new look that incorporated exclusive cover photography and state of the art graphic design. It carries extensive news coverage of happenings in the Jazz world. It also reviews CDs, concerts, home audio, videos, instruments and books. In addition, it features a guide to artists, events, record labels and music schools.

JazzTimes was purchased by Madavor Media in 2009.

James Edward Heath (born October 25, 1926), nicknamed Little Bird, is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He is the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.

Jimmy originally played alto saxophone but after the influence of Charlie Parker on his work for Howard McGhee and Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1940s, he earned the nickname "Little Bird" (Parker's nickname was Bird) and he switched to tenor sax.

He briefly joined Miles Davis's group in 1959, replacing John Coltrane, and also worked with Kenny Dorham and Gil Evans. He recorded extensively as leader and sideman. During the 1960s, he frequently worked with Milt Jackson and Art Farmer.

In 1975, he and his brothers formed the Heath Brothers, also featuring pianist Stanley Cowell.

Heath composed most of the 1956 Chet Baker and Art Pepper album Playboys.

In the 1980s, he joined the faculty of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in the City University of New York. With the rank of Professor, he led the creation of the Jazz Program at Queens College and attracted prominent musicians such as Donald Byrd to the campus. He also served on the Board of the Louis Armstrong Archives on campus, and the restoration and management of the Louis and Lucille Armstrong Residence in Corona, Queens, near his own home. In addition to teaching at Queens College for over twenty years, he has also taught at Jazzmobile. Heath was a recipient of the 2003 NEA Jazz Masters Award. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Human Letters.

Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973), a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he played with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was indebted to alto star Johnny Hodges, who, he said, taught him to play his instrument.

Webster learned to play piano and violin at an early age, before learning to play the saxophone, although he did return to the piano from time to time, even recording on the instrument occasionally. Once Budd Johnson showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster began to play that instrument in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). Kansas City at this point was a melting pot from which emerged some of the biggest names in 1930s jazz, and Webster joined Bennie Moten's legendary 1932 band that included Count Basie, Oran Page and Walter Page. This era has been recreated in Robert Altman's film Kansas City.

Leroy Jones is a jazz trumpeter from New Orleans, Louisiana. Born February 20, 1958, Jones began playing trumpet at the age of ten, and by the time he was 13 was leading the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band, a group of young musicians organized by guitar- and banjo-player Danny Barker. When the musicians' union forced Barker to disband the group in 1974, Jones became a union musician and took over the running of the group, renamed the Hurricane Brass Band, himself. In 1975 or 1976 he left the group, touring for a time with Eddie Vinson and Della Reese before forming his own group, the Leroy Jones Quintet. In 1991 Jones joined the big band of Harry Connick, Jr., and the exposure with Connick's band (including the opportunity for the Leroy Jones Quintet to open for Connick, which they did in 1994), led to Jones' releasing his first album under his own name; Mo' Cream From The Crop came out on the Columbia Records label in 1994. The Leroy Jones Quintet continues to tour and record, and since 2004 Jones has also appeared with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Dr. John.

Jason Crane (also known by the pseudonym JC2000) is an American drummer and trumpeter notable as a member of Rocket from the Crypt, The Black Heart Procession, and Beehive & the Barracudas.

Crane originally performed as drummer in a band named A Day Called Zero with bassist Tobias Christensen and singer/guitarist/pianist Josh Quon. The band had one release on local label Gravity Records. Crane joined Rocket from the Crypt in 1992 as trumpeter under the pseudonym JC 2000, shortly after the release of their second album Circa: Now!. The album attracted the attention of major record labels and led to a recording contract with Interscope Records. He also performed in a side project named Rice with Rocket from the Crypt saxophonist Paul O'Beirne (Apollo 9). The group, a hardcore punk band with a horn section, also included Carlos Cañedo, Dustin "Dirty" Milsap, and Jason Soares. They sang songs about rice and released one album, Fuck You, This Is Rice, on Lookout! Records in 1992. In 1994 Crane began participating in a side project with Rocket from the Crypt singer/guitarist John Reis called Back Off Cupids. Crane played drums on most of the group's material, which was recorded intermittently from 1994 to 1999 and released in 2000 as an eponymous album.