A new compilation from the archivists at the Idelsohn society, called Twas The Night Before Hanukkah: The Musical Battle Between Christmas And The Festival Of Lights, explores both the musical history of Hanukkah in the U.S., as well as the influence of Jewish songwriters and singers on America's Christmas songbook.

Dave Brubeck, one of the most influential and popular figures in jazz, died Wednesday of heart failure in Norwalk, Conn., the day before he would have turned 92 years old. 

Best known for his iconic quartet recordings from the late 1950s and '60s -- particularly on his seminal 1959 album Time Out -- Brubeck brought an inventive polyrhythmic approach to composition that changed the shape and sound of jazz.

"He made the name 'Dave' cool," says Gary Giddins, jazz critic and Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at CUNY's Graduate Center. "He made horn-rimmed glasses cool. The guy looked in so many ways to be so square -- and yet he really did become a defining figure that people just gravitated to."

Giddins joins us to remember Brubeck's iconic style in a career that spanned almost seven decades and more than 100 albums and to play three of his favorite songs from the pianist and composer.

For fourteen years …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead has been the kings of conceptual art punk. The group talks about the political themes on their new album, Lost Songs. Plus, they play live. 

Dark pop group Casket Girls went from a Georgia street corner to Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday night. Download the track "Walking on a Wire"