NBC's "Baby Boom"

Composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla writes and performs what he calls "new tango," which is influenced by rock, jazz, and twentieth-century classical music. His intense, emotional music was at first deeply unpopular with tango traditionalists, who favored the older, dance-oriented sound.

In 1978, classically-trained jazz pianist Ken Werner released an LP of early ragtime pieces by Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington and others That album has just been reissued on CD. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says it's an exquisite collection.

The jazz singer's new album "Collaboration," with the late Gil Evans, revisits songs they recorded together on their 1957 album Dream of You. Merrill says the mood of the new versions is darker, reflecting Evan's frustration with aging. After living in Europe and Japan, she's back in the United States.