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Here are the new releases coming your way between now and Thanksgiving — we've got award contenders, goofy comedies, a smattering of romance, plenty of anti-heroes, and a musical documentary in LEGOs.

Jazz singer Nina Simone, once dubbed the "High Priestess of Soul," died two years ago. Now the RCA record label has released an anthology of her music, called The Soul of Nina Simone. Musician and writer David Was has a review.

Singer and entertainer Rufus Wainwright will perform at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday in tribute to Judy Garland's legendary performance there in 1961. Musician and Day to Day contributor David Was listened again to the album recorded at that performance 45 years ago, Judy at Carnegie Hall, and says today's artists have a lot to learn from Garland.

David Lipsky says that his favorite comic, Runaways, is both a brilliant reading experience — and an embarrassment festival. The tiny digests by Brian K. Vaughan have been a fount of guilt, awkwardness and grave personal doubts, but he still pulls them out on the subway, because they are just that good.

The humorist, who made his name with personal essays and other nonfiction, tells Steve Inskeep that his return to fiction kept taking him to surprising places. But the unhappy endings? Those he could have predicted.

The great jazz drummer is celebrating his eighth decade all year by touring the world and releasing a new album. Here are five songs, from 1966 to the present day, which showcase DeJohnette at the top of his powers.

Dizzy Gillespie wasn't content to stick with music people could dance to. The jazz trumpeter had more complex melodies, harmonies and rhythms in mind.

In times of great danger, some survivors report encountering a phantom presence, which guides them to safety. Writer John Geiger chronicles the phenomenon in his new book, The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible.

There's a book that can help you walk the walk and talk the talk of fictional spy hero James Bond. Steve Inskeep speaks with Author Christopher Hitchens about The Book of Bond by Sir Kingsley Amis, published in 1965 under the pen name William (Bill) Tanner.

The year's best jazz albums reach into your world rather than demanding that you reach into theirs, KPLU's Nick Francis says. Here, he picks 10 fun recordings with a contemporary attitude compliant to listeners' daily lives.