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It would be impossible to put all of Charlie Parker's significant recordings on one album, but Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker Collection comes close. This two-CD set contains most of Bird's 1945 bebop sessions, as well as "Ko-Ko," one of NPR's "100 Most Important Works of the 20th Century."

Timbales virtuoso. Vibraphonist. Bongo player. Saxophonist. These are just a few of Tito Puente's titles. Perhaps best known for his appearance in the 1992 film The Mambo Kings, he also helped fuel the cha-cha craze in the 1950s. This five-disc set gives a broad overview of Puente's innovative, danceable style.

Django Reinhardt was burned in a fire when he was 18 and lost the use of two fingers. Yet he managed to rise to the top of the jazz world. The Classic Early Recordings allows us to hear Reinhardt in his early years, when his unique gypsy flamenco guitaring was just becoming popular in the United States.

By the time Gerry Mulligan and Ben Webster recorded this album, they already had an established working relationship. For years, the two saxophonists had been playing in informal, private jam sessions in Los Angeles. The CD reissue of Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster has five bonus tracks.

When people think of Latin jazz, they often think of just one name: Tito Puente. Nicknamed "The King of Mambo," the Puerto Rican recorded more than 100 albums and won multiple Grammy Awards. In 1984, Puente performed his Latin magic in front of a San Francisco audience, resulting in El Rey: Live 1984.

Dizzy Gillespie once said that he heard Roy Eldridge playing trumpet and uttered, "That's the job I want." Later, the two musicians were bitter rivals, but eventually agreed to produce a record. The result was 1954's Roy and Diz, a classic repertoire of dueling trumpets.

Sheilah Kast speaks with comedian and Broadway diva Lea DeLaria about her new CD of jazz standards, Double Standards, from Telarc Records.

Sheilah Kast talks with The Big Phat Band's leader, Gordon Goodwin, about his revival of big-band music for a new era. Goodwin pulls in some of L.A.'s best studio sidemen to perform his intricate and swinging arrangements. The group is not only popular in jazz venues; it also has a following in high schools and colleges, where they often perform. Their CD XXL will be released next month in a dual CD/DVD format on Silverline records.

Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century, exuded joy and exuberance as a trumpet player and singer. He rose from poverty in New Orleans, before achieving worldwide fame. In this 1928 album, a young Satchmo shows the extraordinary inventiveness that put him on the map.

Erroll Garner became a jazz star even though he never learned to read music. He taught himself to play the piano and landed a gig on the radio at age 10. As an adult, Garner recorded the live album, Concert by the Sea, on one melodic night in a church in Carmel, California.