"...a focus on contemporary genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing, and jazz ... also included--Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, and gagaku."

"... includes the published recordings owned by the non-profit Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label and the archival audio collections of the legendary Folkways Records, Cook, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk, Monitor, Paredon and other labels. It also includes music recorded around the African continent by Dr. Hugh Tracey for the International Library of African Music (ILAM) at Rhodes University as well as material collected by recordists on the South Asian subcontinent from the Archive Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (ARCE), sponsored by the American Institute for Indian Studies, and the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music, which contains recordings from more than 70 nations."

"The list of artists is enormous, ranging from past greats to musicians performing and recording today, including: Abbey Lincoln, Andre Previn, Art Farmer, Benny Carter, Bill Evans, Billy Strayhorn, Bix Beiderbecke, Cannonball Adderley, Charlie ByrdCharlie Parker, Chet Baker, Chuck Mangione, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Dizzie Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Dolphy, Gerry Mulligan, Grover Washington, Jr., John Coltrane, Karrin Allyson, Lester Young, Marian McPartland, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Ramsey Lewis, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, Tony Bennett, Wes Montgomery, Zoot Sims, and a long list of others."