Damon Choice plays his vibraphone at his home, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014, in Houston. Choice is a Houston native and one of the best-known vibraphonists in jazz. ( Michael Paulsen / Houston Chronicle ) ...

The vibraphone: 37 cold metal bars sitting on top of aluminum resonators. Not the ideal vehicle for artistic creativity. Yet that is the very thing about the instrument which amazes me — how, ...