Using nothing more than simple instruments and an audacious will to improvise, these ten giants of jazz have taken us places no man has gone before. And they’re still here, still playing—and always dressed to kill. What a time to be alive.

Pharoah Sanders (above)

Age:

76

Musical lane:

A freethinking astral traveler and spiritual gangster, he’s the official saxophonist of your soul’s awakening. His deﬁnitive song may be “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” a 32-minute vision quest that journeys from moments of pastoral beauty to demon-purging squall—just like life itself.

The look:

“I got tired of wearing suits and ties,” he says. “I decided I would look another kind of way.”

Suit his own, shirt $345 Ermenegildo Zegna, hat $275 JJ Hat Center, scarf Kiton, pocket square Polo Ralph Lauren, shoes his own, bracelet Fratelli Rossetti, ring vintage

Ron Carter

Age:

79

Life on a string:

A graduate of the Miles Davis Sideman University, Carter still tours and gigs around the world, leading his bands on the same upright bass he’s been using since 1960. “It’s on all these records,” he says. “I maintain it. It’s like having a Bentley.”

That herringbone suit:

It was designed by his wife, the former model Quintell Williams-Carter.