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Antony Hegarty, lead singer for Antony and the Johnsons, has a striking sound — "between male and female ... at once ethereal and earthy," one critic writes. The group's new CD is The Crying Light.

She says she never encountered any other female jazz guitarists growing up. But then again, Mary Halvorson is no run-of-the-mill jazz guitarist. She demonstrates her unique, hard-edged attack with her trio on WNYC's Soundcheck.

Hiromi's Sonicbloom brought a high-energy kickoff to 2009's Toast of the Nation broadcast, as she performed a set from where all four members met: the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. The quartet performs with High-Romantic lyricism, jazz-fusion electronics and arena-rock bombast.

Moving away from the '70s-style avant-funk of its earlier releases, the Michigan band NOMO mixes the severity of vintage analog electronics with organic, funky Afro-jazz to create a playful and cerebral hybrid. "Brainwave," from the band's recent Ghost Rock, is perhaps the most concentrated, concise demonstration of this fusion.

Alumni of Gillespie's many different bands still get together to ensure that his dazzling songwriting gets heard with the power and verve it demands. The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars (the big-band edition) played a special celebration with the vocal quartet New York Voices, live from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to ring in 2009.

If classic jazz has a contemporary voice, it's that of guitarist, vocalist and bandleader John Pizzarelli. He's fashioned an ultra-cool style that's both modern and rooted in the jazz tradition. Here, the John Pizzarelli Trio swings on "Here Comes the Sun" before Pizzarelli and McPartland perform "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning."

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, son of Indian immigrants, says he didn't think about his ethnic identity growing up. But on his new album Kinsmen, he and other like-minded South Asian American jazz musicians, fuse American jazz with a global sound that embraces the music of India.

Chestnut is a musical agent of sweet and serious soul. JazzSet celebrates Martin Luther King Day with a concert from the pianist, his quintet and vocalist Cynthia Scott at the Kennedy Center. The group performs a spiritual, hymns and gospel songs.

Reed is relatively new to the national jazz scene, but he's been singing for more than 50 years. After a life of addiction and incarceration, Reed has emerged triumphant, ready for his moment in the spotlight. With accompanist Gary Fisher, Reed performs "Sleeping Bee" and "Ask Me Now" before he and host Marian McPartland get together on Ellington's "All Too Soon."

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss took home the highest honor at Sunday's Grammy Awards: album of the year for Raising Sand. The duo also won record of the year for their song, "Please Read the Letter." In all, Plant and Krauss won five Grammys, the most of the night. Coldplay and Lil Wayne each won three Grammys.