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Over the course of his life, Nat King Cole became a jazz innovator and an icon of American popular music. Take Five celebrates Cole's birthday — he was born on March 17, 1919 — with a "five-tool" (that's baseball lingo, we'll explain) approach, highlighting the breadth of his work.

The journey home for Thanksgiving can be challenging and frustrating, fraught with bus loads of college kids, crowded planes and slow-moving traffic. Fortunately, music eases frustration, so here are five jazz songs to lift your travel-weary spirits.

Americans have been observing Labor Day since 1894, through cycles of economic good times and bad times. Here are five songs by great blues and soul artists on the subject of work — and, whenever possible, the avoidance thereof.

Attempting to make your way into jazz is never easy, but the jazz writer and cultural critic Gary Giddins has rendered it a bit more approachable. His new book, Jazz, is a new guide for novice listeners and longtime fans alike. Giddins picks five songs from his list of 101 entry-way jazz recordings.

Springtime brings songbirds back to the sky. The first "bird" many think of when they think jazz is sax legend Charlie Parker (it was his nickname). This Take Five doesn't focus on Bird, Birdland or the many song titles that riff on that theme. Instead, this jazz ornithology lesson features songs of a different feather flocked together.

For more than a half-century, a certain idyllic seaside town in Rhode Island has been synonymous with jazz. These five recordings from 1964 — featuring Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz, Max Roach, Ben Webster and Dave Brubeck — prove why.

No, the title isn't just a clever pun. Like John Coltrane and the saxophone, Miles Davis' figure looms large over our ideas about jazz trumpet. But there are hidden secrets in the horn and a host of musical linguists uncovering new languages for an instrument imbued with a bop history. Here are five of the best examples.

We asked listeners to name the best opening track on an album — and you responded with roughly 800 songs. Join host Bob Boilen, author Tom Moon and Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein as they look at what an opening track means to an album.

On this edition of All Songs Considered, we've got select highlights from the First Listen Series, plus a look back at the recent All Tomorrow's Parties music festival.

Summer is a time for family gatherings, and over the years, there have been some very notable families of jazz musicians. Hear five songs by some of those talented families — songs selected to accompany your own family's backyard cookout.