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On WQXR's Conducting Business podcast, we debate what makes for a really great holiday album. Is it oversized brass fanfares and choirs? Or cozy songs that you'd like to think were recorded beside a crackling fire?

Blowing in from Chicago is the hot recording from trumpeter Marquis Hill, a rising regional star in Chicago whose third release, The Poet, is a skillfully…

The Nat King Cole Show debuted in 1956, making singer and jazz pianist Nat "King" Cole the first black man to host a nationally televised variety program. Cole reluctantly challenged segregation on television and in American society, but a year later the show ended.

I'm Not Jim is a collaboration between Walter Salas-Humara of The Silos and award-winning novelist Jonathan Lethem. The duo Elegant Too rounds out this unlikely quartet, whose first record is a mix of giddy pop and mournful blues called You Are All My People.

The pianist for the BMI/New York Jazz Composers Orchestra is also a singer and a former musical director at an Episcopal church. Her latest studio album elaborates on familiar jazz forms while embracing sacred texts, including a piece for Easter vespers.

Pianist Avery Gagliano has quite the busy schedule these days. She participated in the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw in mid October, released her Steinway recording debut Reflections on November 5th, and made her Carnegie Hall recital debut on November 30th—all while pursuing her Bachelor’s at Curtis.

The saxophonist, who began his career in the '70s, has played with notable names like the Beach Boys and Cannonball Adderley. He's still flowing with music.

Brian Setzer got his start in the '80s rockabilly band Stray Cats with hits like "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut." From the '90s until now, his main gig has been with his 17-piece big band, with six albums and Grammy Awards in tow. Hear an interview and performance from WXPN.

Diana Krall's latest album is dominating the market for sultry Brazilian tunes. But reviewer Tom Moon recommends an alternative: the U.S. debut album of Magos Herrera, a Mexican-born jazz vocalist with a gift for understatement.

Musician Ahmad Jamal has been a major jazz figure since the 1950s. Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse is a set of never-before-released recordings of Jamal in his prime.