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Ray Charles once said that blues sensation Louis Jordan was his biggest influence. This album covers Jordan's career from 1942 to 1951, when he had an unprecedented 57 hits on the R&B charts.

The saxophonist James Carter has recorded tributes to Billie Holiday and the gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, among others. On a new record called Gold Sounds, he and a top-shelf trio pick a less obvious target: the work of the alternative rock band Pavement.

Ed Gordon talks with jazz saxophone ace Kirk Whalum about his religion, his music and his new CD, Kirk Whalum Performs the Babyface Song Book.

Blue Note has recently reissued recordings that feature three so-called "second-tier" saxophonists: The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions by Ike Quebec; Tex Book Tenor by Booker Ervin; Let Me Tell You 'Bout It by Leo Parker.

In "Osama Rach," the late Kenyan singer Otieno Jagwasi confesses an obsession with Osama bin Laden. "I am asking President Bush and Osama, 'Why do you have to kill innocent people when you just want to kill each other?'"

The unmistakable voice of Roberta Flack has been part of the American soundtrack since the 1960s.

Madeleine Peyroux gained fame for sounding like Billie Holliday and putting an idosyncratic touch on old standards. This time, she interprets more recent material (Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan).

Pittsburgh-based NPR member station WDUQ broadcasts more than 100 hours of jazz programming every week -- a lineup that includes its share of holiday music around this time of year.

Pianist and composer Andrew Hill was one of the least-known, but one of the most revered — among musicians and fans — of the jazz players who came on the scene in New York in the 1960s. He died today at the age of 75, several years after he'd been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Every decade or so, jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis says, he makes a political album. From the Plantation to the Penitentiary is his latest. The songs criticize hip-hop culture, a lack of strong black leadership and materialism.