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Pianist Hazel Scott was one of the few artists who successfully integrated jazz and classical music. For 1955's Relaxed Piano Sounds, Scott teamed with the two men who owned Debut Records — drummer Max Roach and bassist Charles Mingus — for one of the best piano trios ever recorded.

Argentinian pianist Pablo Ziegler has spent his career experimenting with tango, fusing it with jazz and bebop. Ziegler's album Bajo Cero ("Below Zero") is considered by many to be a contender for a Grammy next year. Reese Erlich reports.

George Shearing is perhaps best known as the inventor of a unique quintet sound that combined piano, vibraphone, electric guitar, bass, and drums. He also influenced the development of small-combo Afro-Cuban jazz. This album focuses on Shearing's MGM period, when he was at the height of his popularity.

Bud Powell was one of the great jazz innovators. He transferred many of Charlie Parker's pieces to the piano by playing speedy single-note lines with his right hand. Powell's innovative technique is displayed on these albums, which feature Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, and Fats Navarro.

In 1963, Gerry Mulligan brought an outstanding sextet to the Nola Studios in New York City to create an album that paid homage to the bossa nova and samba craze. The result of their piano-less collaboration was Night Lights, summed up by jazz critic Murray Horwitz as an album in which "Poland meets Brazil."

Swedish-American Cal Tjader is ironically one of the icons of Afro-Cuban jazz. The versatile vibraphonist successfully navigated the worlds of both Latin jazz and mainstream bop, influencing Carlos Santana and other artists. This album was recorded at the 1959 Monterey Jazz Festival.

Bessie Smith became known as "the empress of the blues" in the 1920s, when most vocalists called themselves blues singers. On The Essential Bessie Smith, she shows how her famous voice could captivate a room without the aid of a microphone.

Since Anita O'Day made her solo debut in the 1940s, she has been charming listeners with her dynamic incorporation of bop modernism into vocals. Her raspy voice, which inspired a string of followers, is showcased on 1957's Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day.

Dr. John is more than just a legendary blues pianist. He's a genuine New Orleans character — a little swig of Bourbon Street — straight out of central casting. Dr. John, a.k.a. Mac Rebennack talks with Co-host Steve Inskeep about his new album Dis Dat or D'Udda.

David Greenberger has a review of Private Astronomy: A Vision of the Music of Beiderbecke, the latest CD from musician Geoff Muldaur and the band Futuristic Ensemble. They explore the music of Bix Beiderbecke, the legendary cornet player from the 1920s.