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It's been a remarkable year for jazz, and narrowing down a Top 10 list for 2008 takes a bit of work. Once again, there's room for enthusiasm and optimism about the state of jazz and its ability to inspire musicians and listeners alike. Here's a look (and a listen) back at some of the year's highlights.

Actress Jane Fonda is back on stage as a musicologist out to solve a musical mystery in the play 33 Variations. Fonda talks about the role and explains why she's "smitten" with Beethoven.

History professor David Blight of Yale University talks with NPR's Noel King about what Independence Day meant to abolitionist Frederick Douglass and America's enslaved population.

Beginning in the early '50s, Taylor treated his projects and artists with lush care and extensive support, eventually creating a Grammy-winning, cross-genre artistic hub with his label, CTI.

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Namwali Serpell about her new novel — The Furrows: An Elegy.

The classical pianist, who turns 200 today, changed the art of performance forever with his over-the-top concerts, creating a craze that historians have dubbed "Lisztomania."

Hear the towering – and polarizing – author in conversation about his 4,000-page book, The Oxford History of Western Music.

Film director Noah Baumbach speaks with NPR's Steven Inskeep about his latest film, "White Noise," based on the 1985 Don DeLillo novel of the same name

British author Robert Aickman was considered the father of the "strange stories" genre: not exactly ghost stories, but haunted tales of inner fears and unspoken desires. Now, his work is being republished, and inspiring a new generation of writers.

The musician died this month at age 58. His collaborators are paying tribute to "a great artist who belongs to the world.”