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A new album features the late Ray Charles playing with the Count Basie Orchestra, but Charles never actually recorded with the group. The tracks were mashed together by an audio engineer who used to play with Charles.

The Most Serene Republic does a terrific job reinventing Stars' fizzy pop gem "Ageless Beauty" without discarding Amy Millan's candy-sweet vocal track. Replacing the original's propulsive power-pop arrangement with a rustically chugging lope, the remix clatters along charmingly.

Mando Diao departs from rock 'n' roll formula on "Good Morning, Herr Horst," adopting haunting chord progressions punctuated by klezmer rhythms. Below the song's whimsical melody and rhythm lies a dark message about the opportunities that come with squalor.

The Shins' fine new Wincing the Night Away is built of the same solid stuff that made its predecessors famous: lush pop melodies, rich harmonies, vaguely obtuse lyrics, and sly, sideways hooks. It also features a gorgeous, brightly swooning ringer in "Phantom Limb."

In terms of integrity, Tyner is the same pianist today as he was with John Coltrane in the '60s. Tyner plays with color, like a big abstract painting, and dances with rhythm. Hear a concert recorded at Yoshi's in Oakland, Calif., with special guest Joe Lovano.

Some of today's best world music acts spring from the discovery of an obscure passion. For brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman, leaders of the band Dengue Fever, it was 1960s Cambodian pop music.

Live from the Monterey Jazz Festival, Otis Taylor plays what he calls "trance blues" — a blues sound drenched in Appalachian country music and moody, psychedelic rock. He discovered blues and folk music after hearing the work of Mississippi John Hurt. Hear a full concert.

Since the mid-'90s, Imperial Teen has been known for its blend of garage-rock, new-wave and shimmering pop-punk. "Do It Better" follows that formula to perfection.

"Cold Blooded," from Shivaree's new covers album Tainted Love, sounds harder and more guitar-heavy than Rick James' original. The song manages to hit a deep funk groove in spite of its near-complete lack of syncopation.

For better or worse, jazz has been in a constant state of change since the day it was born. Hear from five contemporary bands which are forging new boundaries from an open-ended tradition, including Christian Scott, Kneebody and Henry Cole's Afrobeat Collective.