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With Passover beginning, Jews around the world prepared to commemorate this major holiday with food, prayers and songs. We're on the hunt for music that helps spool out stories of enslavement and liberation.

The advent of bebop added a fresh sound to American music. It also added new voices to some metropolitan radio stations: the late-night jazz DJs who specialized in presenting this new music to their fellow hipster nightflies. Appreciative musicians often wrote them tributes like these.

Many jazz standards are themselves about making lists. Here are five of them, including Louis Armstrong's take on "Let's Do It," Johnny Hartman's version of "These Foolish Things" and a classic reading of Jobim's "Waters of March."

Since the Harlem Renaissance, African-American musicians have portrayed black history as extended musical works. Jazz is full of such long-form compositions. Hear five examples from composers such as Oliver Nelson, Wynton Marsalis and Duke Ellington.

A new opera by David T. Little chronicles three generations of soldiers' experiences in journalistic style — and resurrects some important questions about the function of art.

Hear five tunes spanning the saxophonist's career, from '60s mysticism to modern spirituals.

From the radiant voices of a Latvian choir to a fresh young string quartet and a seasoned symphony, NPR's Tom Huizenga and host Jacki Lyden spin an eclectic mix of new classical releases.

Bremen may be best known for its love of soccer and Beck's beer. But in April, more than 20,000 jazz fans and industry professionals descend upon the German port city for a festival designed specifically to showcase new acts from across Europe.

Hear five pioneering examples of women who composed for and directed their own groups.

Before Easter, hear five powerful and diverse musical portrayals of Jesus' last days and crucifixion, from Bach's monumental St. Matthew to Golijov's brilliant Latin American mashup to a dark and terrifying Russian vision from Sofia Gubaidulina.