Every jazz listener has his or her favorite musician on each instrument.

Some think Stanley Clarke is the best bass player ever. Others are partial to Jaco Pastorious.

If you could assemble a jazz band of your choice and money or whether the musicians were alive or dead didn’t matter, who would you choose?

Pick your favorite jazz musician for each instrument and add a brief explanation of why you picked that person.

You don’t have to rely on what the experts say. Just go with your gut feeling and listening preference. This is your band and you can pick whomever you want.

If you like Kenny G. on soprano sax, pick Kenny G. It’s OK. I’ll try not to laugh at you.

The whole object is to just have fun picking your own your greatest jazz band ever.

Here’s my picks:

1. FEMALE VOCALIST: Norah Jones: Many jazz pursit will want to shoot me for picking Jones here. She seen as a pop vocalist more than she is a jaz singer. But when she sings jazz... man. You knoiw it comes deep from her soul.

2. MALE VOCALIST: Al Jarreau can sing anything. His range is amazing.

3. KEYBOARDS: There’s so many great keyboardists to choose from: Chick Corea, Robert Glasper, Bud Powell, Bill Evans... But my choice is Herbie Hancock. Like Miles Davis he’s restless in jazz. Herbie constantly evolves as a musician and is never content with one particular style. And that’s what jazz is, a progressive, exploratory music.

4. GUITAR: John McLaughlin is faster. Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell are more lyrical. However Pat Metheny is my choice on guitar. His music too is explorative, crossing the lines of jazz, New Age, rock and classical in creating an almost spiritual sound.

5. BASS: The bass is my favorite instrument. Over the years I’ve been enamored with quite a few bass players, Stanley Clarke, Miroslav Vitous, Victor Bailey, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller...

The first bass player I ever dug was Stanley Clarke. His sound was a true hybrid of jazz and rock. But no one, absolutely no one, in my book tops the late Jaco Pastorious. Jaco never slapped the bass he caressed it. His was a magic created by lighting fast finger work on the fretless bass. Jaco has many disciples but nop one since has been able to capture his spacy, reverberating sound on the instrument.

6. SOPRANO SAX: Wayne Shorter. His seamless, economical and somewhat quirky approach adds a touch of class to any date he plays on.

7. ALTO SAX: Fans probably won’t forgive me for not choosing Charlie Parker here but hey, this is my band. Right now I’m feeling Paul Desmond, the West Coast Cool sax man with the light as a feather sound who was often overshadowed by his band leader Dave Brubeck. Remember, it was Desmond, not Brubeck who penned the jazz standard, “Take Five.”

8. TENOR SAX: John Coltrane. Nuff’ said.

9. BARITONE SAX: No one popularized the barry sax like Gerry Mulligan.

10. TRUMPET: Miles Davis. Again, 'nuff said.

11. VIBES: I know, I know, any respectable jazz traditionalist would say Milt Jackson or Lionel Hampton. But I’m not traditional. And while I revere Jackson and Hampton, I prefer the imaginative ways in which young lion Stefon Harris uses the vibraphone. He throws hip hop, New Age and classical into the mix.

12. DRUMS: No one made my jaw drop more than Buddy Rich. The cat was simply amazing.

13. PERCUSSION: Airto Moreia. Return to Forever, Weather Report and other jaz fusion groups of the 1970s came calling for his services. Like a mad witch doctor, his musical potions spiced up any jazz setting. No one plays a tambourine like Airto.

Now it’s your turn. Post your all star jazz band here on Street Beats.