On a tiny Croatian island, a jazz festival is giving musicians room to breathe

The life of a touring jazz musician isn't what it used to be. And with budgets being slashed from major arts festivals, conditions aren't improving. The Croatian-American vocalist Thana Alexa offers a solution with the Ponta Lopud Jazz Festival , located on a tiny, car-free island off the coast of Dubrovnik in Croatia. It's a spectacular place for a music fan, but it might be even better for the artists.

"My question was: What would happen if very creative people at different points in their career were put on an island together with no plan to leave for a few days?" Alexa said. "And then after talking about music all day, actually play music and create something together."

In this episode of Jazz Night in America , we go behind the scenes of this musicians-first festival, where artists are invited to work on themselves and find inspiration.…