Activities: Formal Dinner Party

The perfect soundtrack for a romantic, candlelit dinner.

Sinatra's artistry is so all-encompassing you could easily spend your entire life listening to no one else. But even the most fanatical Frank lovers might want to mix it up once in a while, so here's a batch of vocalists bound to appeal to admirers of Ol' Blue Eyes.

Make your next dinner party extra sophisticated with the lush sounds of CTI Records. From 1968 to the late '70s, producer Creed Taylor blended jazz, soul and Brazilian music into a sumptuous, engaging form of fusion.

Trumpeter and singer Chet Baker came out of the first flowering of the West Coast school of cool modern jazz in the early 1950s. This playlist explores that time and place, with a particular emphasis on languid ballads.

This one's all about the ivories, featuring the classic piano-led jazz trios and quartets of the 1950s and '60s, from post-bop to the birth of the modern era.

From World War II through the early '60s, The Golden Age of Big Band Jazz brought us some of the greatest interpreters of song, arguably ever. This velvet sound was the stuff of legend.

Listen to the best recordings from the most influential female jazz musicians of all time.

Starting in the late 1940s, a new, more cerebral and mellower response to bebop became one of the dominant strains in jazz. Enjoy the birth, maturation and continuation of cool jazz, with an emphasis on ballads.

An offshoot of hard bop that flourished in the '60s and early '70s, soul jazz fed on the bluesy passion of R&B. Most associated with hard-driving organ trios and honking, bluesy horns, it's jazz with groove, grit and soul.

Dinner date at home? Guests? Just cocktails? Or maybe you just need to feel cool and sophisticated while out and about. This classy combination of jazz and classical music will help set the mood

The solo piano piece is music at its most contemplative. Enjoy these works from the classical, romantic and modern eras in any setting that calls for the quiet intimacy of the pianist and his or her instrument.

For a period in the late '50s and early '60s, Blue Note was the most stylish label in jazz. The music brought both soul and a questing sense of experimentation to bebop, and Reid Miles' gorgeous LP designs remain influential to this day.

Beginning during World War II, bebop signaled the end of the big band swing era and the birth of modern jazz. Enjoy this introduction to the style, focusing on the post-war era when bebop was in its prime

Often referred to as "Hot Jazz," "Early Jazz," or "New Orleans Jazz," Dixieland is the earliest form of jazz music.

A varied mix of Spanish baladas by musicians from Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain. This playlist includes chart topping hits as well as some lesser known gems.

Celebrate the return of one of television's best shows with this playlist of every song to be featured on the hit series.

Get dressed up, grab a cocktail, and listen to some upbeat standards by jazz greats from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis and beyond.

This playlist is comprised of songs from the most notable ballets, as well as movements and waltzes used in classical numbers by ballet companies all over the world.

Throw on your gown and tails and head to the ball with these fifty legendary waltzes.

Get to know the music of the best known child prodigy and classical rock star in history, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Take on the brilliant world that is Bach, from simple lute works to full choral masterpieces. Perfect for the aficionado or newcomer.

Explore the ornate and beautiful era we call the baroque period. Hear the best tunes from 1600 to 1750 including masterworks by Bach, Vivaldi, and many more.

Manhattan was the center of jazz in the 1950s and '60s, from post-bop to modal experimentation to the controversial "New Thing" of free jazz. Revisit that vibrant time and place.

This playlist takes you back to a time when Sinatra was king, men wore suits, and everyone swilled martinis like the world was going to end in nuclear winter. Thankfully, it didn't, and the swingin' lounge music of the era lives on.

Since the late 1950s, bossa nova has entranced listeners around the world. Enjoy over five decades' worth of music from Brazil and beyond, all influenced by the languid sensuality that began on Ipanema beach.

During the late 1950s and early '60s, John Coltrane and many of his peers searched for a sound beyond bebop. This cool post-bop set, with saxophones aplenty, balances adventurousness and melody.