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Ted Leo of the group Ted Leo and The Pharmacists plays a special solo set before a performance at New York's River to River Festival.

Whether blaring to the stratosphere or holding back to fit a room, Jon Faddis' trumpet is always in conversation. Faddis is a personal hero to many aspiring trumpeters. Here, he performs at Jazz Standard in New York with his quartet and guest percussionists from West Africa.

With his third album, Three Flights from Alto Nido, Greg Laswell continues to refine his acoustic sound, which combines powerful guitar riffs and sweeping piano with rousing vocals. In a session on World Cafe, Laswell plays songs from the new album.

Recently, the jazz-guitar virtuoso released his first studio recording in more than a decade. In a session on Jazz24, Jordan talks about his musical and personal evolution over the past 10 years, as well as his ongoing study of music's role in the healing process.

Everyone Is Crying Out to Me, Beware, the second album from Ukrainian-born singer-songwriter Alina Simone, is utterly haunting. With bare-bones arrangements and Simone's powerful, poignant vocals at the forefront, the record burns through a collection of songs by Siberian punk-folk singer, Yanka Dyagileva, with cathartic fervor. Though the lyrics are in Russian, the emotions are raw and easily felt.

Fresh Air's jazz critic has a listen to a re-issue of The Hawk Flies High, the 1957 album from tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins — who's often credited with legitimizing that instrument in the jazz world.

In Jakob Dylan's full-length solo debut, Seeing Things, the singer-songwriter proves adept at insightful lyrics that provide commentary on modern times. Hear his performance, as well as an interview with host David Dye, on WXPN's World Cafe.

Just when it seemed to be permanently defunct, the British space-rock group Spiritualized returned with its first album since 2003, Songs in A&E. The band is touring in support of the disc, and lands at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club on July 25 for a live concert, webcast on NPR.org.

For its 10th album, Superhero Brother, G. Love & Special Sauce pulls back from the numerous guest appearances heard on recent albums and instead focuses on the core group. Hear G. Love perform solo versions of songs from the new album at WXPN.

Before pursuing a career in music, Lee was a Philadelphia schoolteacher. Then he started going to open-mic nights with a car stereo full of classic R&B records. He recently brought his folky, soulful style to NPR headquarters for a solo performance.