Bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955) admired the music of Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and incorporated some of Stravinsky’s music into his jazz solos. Stravinsky respected the music of Charlie Parker, too.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Portrait_of_Charlie_Parker_in_1947.jpg

Attribution: William P. Gottlieb / Public domain

JS Bach’s (1685-1750) brilliant masterwork The Art of Fugue, is adaptable to many different instruments, and even today, more than 300 years after it was written, remains fresh, interesting and astonishing in its complexity.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Johann_Sebastian_Bach.jpg

Attribution: Elias Gottlob Haussmann / Public domain

The composer/pianist Dave Brubeck (1920-2012) was mentored by French composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), who taught Brubeck to take creative risks, and encouraged him to play jazz.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Dave_Brubeck_%281964%29.jpg

Jac. de Nijs / Anefo / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

Both Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) and Sun Ra (1914-1993) were “out of this world,” by way of being influenced by the cosmos.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Skrjabin_Alexander.jpg

Public domain

Mozart’s (1756-1791) brilliant Clarinet Concerto in A Major is a testament to the friendship and enduring respect he felt for the clarinetist Anton Stadler (1753-1812.)

2018 marked the centenary of the great American composer, conductor and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), whose fluidity with jazz and classical music captured the sound and ideals of mid-20th century America.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Leonard_Bernstein_by_Jack_Mitchell.jpg

American jazz pianist virtuoso Dorothy Donegan (April 6, 1922 - May 29, 1998) played everything from stride piano to Bach and Rachmaninoff, with a joie de vivre that belied the sexism and racism she faced.

Hank Jones (1918-2010), whose career spanned 7 decades, was known for his elegant and impeccable style as a jazz pianist. Even into his 90’s, he practiced classical exercises and etudes daily.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Hank_Jones_MJF.jpg

The poco allegretto movement of Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) has an evocative melody that has captured the imagination of a wide range of artists, from film composers to Carlos Santana and jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby.

Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/JohannesBrahms.jpg

Ken Fischer was President of Ann Arbor’s University Musical Society for three decades. From 1987 to 2017, UMS showcased everyone from the Vienna Philharmonic to the Royal Shakespeare Company, Yo Yo Ma to Wynton Marsalis. In fact, it was Marsalis who wrote the forward to Fischer’s new memoir, Everybody In Nobody Out…