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The 1970s band the New York Dolls was hugely influential, despite making only two studio albums. Today we remember Johansen, aka Buster Poindexter, who died Feb. 28. Originally broadcast in 2004.

In a program from 1987, Hancock solos on "Dolphin Dance" and then improvises with Marian McPartland.

Machito emigrated to the United States in 1937, after years of being a professional musician in Cuba. The timing was perfect, as Afro-Cuban jazz (a variety of Latin jazz) was on the verge of becoming popular. Machito and his band became a master of the genre, as displayed on this energetic album.

In 1951, Jimmy Smith began playing the Hammond organ. Within a few years, he was considered to be THE master of the instrument. Smith also was one of the founders of the "hard bop" funk school of the 1950s. Smith's talents, including his quick agility with organ peddles, come through on this album.

In 1958, Brown v. Board of Education was four years old, and the Civil Rights Movement was heating up. As a tribute to the cause of African-American freedom, jazz legend Sonny Rollins recorded Freedom Suite. This classic contains one of the first extended compositions for the tenor saxophone (it's more than 20 minutes long).

Mary Lou Williams taught herself how to play the piano and performed in public by the time she was six. She composed for the New York Philharmonic, arranged for Duke Ellington, and modernized her style as one of the few "stride" pianists. 1927-1940 tracks this boogie woogie master's musical development as a young woman.

Born in 1909, Ben Webster is considered one of the most important swing tenors in jazz. He also was a master of ballads, as exemplified on 1959's Ben Webster & Associates. The album features trumpeter Roy Eldridge and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.

In 1960, "the first lady of song," Ella Fitzgerald, recorded the album that Murray Horwitz calls "his favorite Ella Fitzgerald performance of all time." Wishes You a Swinging Christmas includes classic holiday pieces by Irving Berlin and Mitchell Parish.

James P. Johnson was sometimes called the "perfecter" of stride piano, the difficult piano form where the left hand "strides" up and down between bass notes and chords, while the right hand plays the melody. This album captures his agility with the technique.

Raul Midon is a singer, composer and guitarist who straddles pop, R&B, folk, Latin and jazz. He tells Ashley Kahn about his career and his new CD State of Mind.