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Ever since the new "Queen of Blues" made her debut at age 19, she's been working to re-create the blues for a new generation. On Copeland's latest release, Never Going Back, she incorporates pop and jazz into her soulful singing, which conveys a message of inspiration and empowerment for the modern woman.

Drummer Matt Wilson calls his quartet Arts and Crafts because it makes music from scratch. From his "Scenic Route" to bassist Martin Wind's "Cruise Blues" (music for the trip of life) to Carl Sandburg's "Bubbles," this band keeps it musical and fun.

A Love Supreme, by John Coltrane and his powerful quartet, remains a towering and seemingly untouchable jazz classic. But the virtuosic genre-benders in the Turtle Island Quartet have done it justice, re-working the seminal album for strings and winning a Grammy for their trouble. They perform a live version on this week's JazzSet.

On this edition of All Songs Considered Sonic Youth,Bat For Lashes, Mamer, Marianne Dissard, Mulatu Astatke and Heliocentrics, and Manchester Orchestra.

World-renowned trumpet visionary Jon Hassell composes what he calls Fourth World music. It's an innovative sound that melds various ethnic styles, particularly African and Asian, with electronic techniques. On World Cafe, his band performs three songs from his new album in a session with host David Dye.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews two new albums: Booker T. Jones's Potato Hole, and Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, whose roster once included heavyweights Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver. Singers were a rarity, but Sheila Jordan has outlasted them all.

Jazz singer and pianist Blossom Dearie was a great singer with the tiniest of voices. Dearie died Feb 7. She was 82. Fresh Air remembers her with an interview from 1998.

The great Les McCann is a veteran entertainer who's spent many years in jazz clubs, making sly humor of hard work. The gravel in his voice pairs sweetly with Javon Jackson's smooth tenor, as they revisit McCann's history-making LP Swiss Movement — celebrating its 40th anniversary this year — and more.

Lionel Gilles Loueke (GIL), Ferenc Nemeth (FE) and Massimo Biolcati (MA) form the core of Gilfema, a cross-border collaboration with a jazz foundation. In a session from WBGO, the band displays an egalitarian aesthetic rooted in finding common ground as musicians.