1.   Among the jazz artists, drugs and liquor have exacted a terrible toll.

2.   Like their counterparts in classical music and rock such female jazz artists remain rarities.

3.   Among the latest are soul stylist Erykah Badu and jazz artist Madeleine Peyroux, who both appear in the Kansas City area this week.

4.   An accomplished jazz artist, Tisdale recently signed a record contract with Motown.

5.   And he finds it encouraging that the most recent Pulitzer Prize in music composition went to a jazz artist, Wynton Marsalis.

6.   And just as the recent work of Wynton Marsalis is largely influenced by Duke Ellington, more experimental jazz artists also have roots in the past.

7.   And some of them are comparable to the finest jazz artists anywhere.

8.   At the forefront is Krall, now the best-selling jazz artist in the country.

9.   A tribute by jazz artists follows later this year.

10.   A variety of international and Canadian jazz artists perform.