Celebrating the birth of flutist Herbie Mann April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003 While Herbie Mann was born in Brooklyn, he was an early pioneer of the fusion of jazz and world music as well as R&B and pop. | JazzCorner

Herbie Mann helped to popularize the flute as a jazz instrument and introduced the music of other cultures into the mainstream of American jazz. His first instrument was clarinet, and when he began his career he was primarily a tenor saxophonist. But by the late 1950's he was concentrating on flute, a choice almost unheard of for a jazz musician at the time. In 1962, he became one of the first American jazz artists to embrace Brazilian music and work with Brazilian musicians, recording an album