VARIETY PUZZLE — Many of you are music aficionados and probably know way more about jazz than I do, but I can certainly appreciate what WYNTON MARSALIS has done for the music industry.

In addition to being an extremely talented trumpet player and composer, he helped rescue the jazz scene in New York City by founding “Jazz at Lincoln Center,” a company whose mission, according to its website, is “to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz through performance, education and advocacy.”

Today, Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon offer us a puzzle featuring Mr. Wynton’s description of the function of a band’s rhythm section. In my opinion, the acrostic was on the relatively easy side, although I did not know that Biblical character ELIJAH went up to heaven in a whirlwind, as the clue indicates. All I know about ELIJAH, if it’s the same person, is that he’s always late to our Seder.

My favorite clue today was “Stop talking like a pirate?” for AVAST, which is probably better read “Stop, talking like a pirate?” and is a dandy bit of misdirection.

Let’s check in with our constructors:

Constructors’ Notes:

Oh, just getting in step for Mardi Gras! How about some Professor Longhair?

Your thoughts?