Since 2002, April has been designated on Jazz Appreciation Month. The National Museum of American History will kick off the celebration with a salute to Benny Carter:

To kick off Jazz Appreciation Month 2016, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra salutes the masterworks of this year’s featured poster artist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer and arranger, Benny Carter. Affectionately known as “King,” Carter was a major contributor in the development of jazz. As a musician, he helped shape the alto sax as a solo instrument in jazz; as a composer, he helped create the vocabulary of swing; and as a bandleader and arranger he broke down racial boundaries in jazz and spread the music around the world. As Miles Davis once said, “everyone should listen to Benny Carter, he’s a whole music education.

Carter’s legacy includes arranging the music for the Hollywood film “Stormy Weather.”

To find new ways to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month, visit Smithsonian Jazz or JAM at the National Museum of American History.