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Tapes 'n Tapes' simple pop music treads the line between stupid and clever in a way that's oddly intelligent, not to mention enormously entertaining. The band often mines familiar territory — Talking Heads, Violent Femmes, Pixies — but it infuses those sounds with its own weird sense of mystery and mischief.

The Puerto Rican alto saxophonist and composer's new album explores national identity through spoken word and music. He brings that music to life at the Newport Jazz Festival, joined by his big band.

For decades, singer songwriter Geoff Muldaur has been reinterpreting blues and jazz of the '20s and '30s. Today, we'll play some of the tracks from Muldaur's new album, Texas Sheiks, and he'll perform some songs live. Muldaur's band, also called Texas Sheiks, is currently on tour.

World-renowned trumpet visionary Jon Hassell composes what he calls Fourth World music. It's an innovative sound that melds various ethnic styles, particularly African and Asian, with electronic techniques. On World Cafe, his band performs three songs from his new album in a session with host David Dye.

The Grammy-nominated honky tonk band BR549 lost two founding members in 2001. Front man Chuck Mead and drummer Shaw Wilson tell NPR's Scott Simon how they set out to record and tour again.

Jazz historian Frank Driggs has amassed a collection of some 100,000 photographs and mementoes over the years. The materials, worth an estimated $1.5 million, trace jazz from its beginnings with 1920s road bands to meccas of bop such as Birdland in the 1950s.

Dr. Dog's "Worst Trip" combines classic rock with indie-pop and soul; its universal, accessible sound seems modern while recalling Todd Rundgren, The Band and The Kinks. Mostly, though, its captivating pop hooks and lush instrumentation lead back to the Beatles, and John Lennon in particular.

Every summer has that album: one that defines the season while hearkening back to the mysteries and epiphanies of summers past. The newest incarnation may well be the work of Sound Team, which transforms indie-rock into a meatier, more inventive genre.

The Texas band Midlake has changed its sound dramatically on The Trials of Van Occupanther, transforming its poppy, keyboard-driven music into a deeper, '70s-influenced folk-pop experience. But there's also a refreshingly modern touch to "Roscoe."

Drummer Paul Motian has spent more than 50 years in music, working with jazz luminaries like Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk. At 75, he has a new CD of bebop jazz: Garden of Eden, featuring his own band.