Guitarist Buddy Red describes his music as “psychedelic.” The son of Atlanta rapper T.I., a pioneer of trap music, the 26-year-old Red has adopted a style more closely associated with rock 'n roll and the blues. A regular at Northside Tavern in Atlanta, Buddy was chosen the opening act of the 2026 Atlanta Jazz Festival.

It's not an uncommon story: Musicians take another course in life to ensure a steady enough career to support themselves and their families. But sometimes, they have the courage and a passion for playing music to eventually leave corporate life and return to music as their full-time pursuit. The bottom-line reason: Nothing compares to the feeling of playing music well and seeing the enjoyment in the faces of your audience. That's the story of JPaul Whitehead as he tells it in this episode of Music Life and Times.

Steve Williams is a multifaceted musician: composer, arranger, saxophonist. His depth of expertise and versatility has led him over his more than 50 years of playing and performing into a wide range of musical arenas, from the famed One O'Clock Band of his North Texas University days, to the U.S. Navy Commodores, where he played lead alto, was musical director, and contributed some 70 compositions and arrangements, to his current role as lead alto with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. A devotee of big band jazz, his recordings include the Latin Grammy winning album, Caribbean Jazz Project's Afro Bop Alliance and his own album, Steve Williams and Jazz Nation.