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First Impressions of Earth is the third album by the Strokes. The record offers some self-criticism — and some frantic career adjustment in the midst of the music. The Strokes begin a 17-city tour on March 3.

With some of the fastest reflexes in the history of jazz piano, Art Tatum deftly mastered stride, swing, and boogie woogie. Although nearly blind, Tatum had a knack for playing out-of-tune keyboards with sticky notes. On The Chronological Art Tatum: 1949, Tatum was at the apex of his career.

With her diverse singing style, Dinah Washington had an influence on many R&B and jazz singers, particularly Nancy Wilson and Esther Phillips. In 1954, she recorded perhaps her most memorable live jam session, with Clifford Brown. The result was Dinah Jams, which also includes solos by flügelhornist Clark Terry.

A jazz prodigy before he turned 20, Sonny Rollins ranks with John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins as one of the great tenor saxophonists. In what is often termed his breakthrough album, 1956's Saxophone Colossus contains diverse musical elements, including a calypso, ballad, and Kurt Weill classic.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra began its stellar career by performing at the Village Vanguard, one of the most famous basements in New York City, in the 1960s. In 1999, the band re-released many of its classic songs on the album, Thad Jones Legacy, which includes detailed notes and a selected discography.

Pulitzer Prize winner Gunther Schuller once called Sarah Vaughan the "greatest singer of the 20th Century." Her voice won a 1948 talent show at the Apollo Theater, launching a career that included singing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. This album captures Vaughan at her purest.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new reissue of Blossom Dearie's 1959 album, My Gentleman Friend, on Verve records.

NPR's Tony Cox talks with pioneering African-American hard-rock band Living Colour's founder and guitarist, Vernon Reid, and singer Corey Glover, about their music career and new CD, Collideoscope.

Believers may always debate who should worship which god, but for jazz musicians like John Coltrane and Kurt Elling, a more universalist approach is preferred. Jazz vocalist Elling talks about his vocal version of Coltrane's "Resolution," part of the legendary suite "A Love Supreme."

NPR's Tony Cox talks to legendary timbalero Pete Escovedo about his musical family, his career and his new live CD.