To follow the trajectory of Gregg Karukas’ career as a jazz pianist is to track the rise of the smooth jazz genre itself. Karukas found himself in Los Angeles during the 1980s, the time when smooth ...

Jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall’s most recent studio album is the early-2015 release “Wallflower,” an exploration of, mostly, soft-rock hits from the 1970s — indeed, the golden age of soft rock.

You would think a 30-year celebration of anything would merit a huge fanfare, big names and a lot of noise. That’s just not the style of Jazz’SAlive, a festival that always chose integrity first—like ...