Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed relapsed/refractory
acute myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome or
blastic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia.

- Patients that have received cumulative doses (or its equivalent to other
anthracycline) of more than 290 mg/m^2 of idarubicin will be excluded from the study.
No other limitations in terms of number of prior therapies or type of therapies apply
to this study.

- ECOG performance status (PS) 0-2 OR Karnofsky PS 60-100%

- Total bilirubin ≤ 2 mg/dL

- AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal

- Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL

- LVEF ≥ 50%

- Not nursing or pregnant

- Negative pregnancy test

- Fertile patients must use effective contraception

- At least 2 weeks since prior chemotherapy and recovered, unless there is evidence of
rapidly progressive disease, at least 24 hours since prior hydroxyurea for rapidly
proliferating disease

- At least 2 weeks since prior imatinib mesylate

- At least 2 weeks since prior histone deacetylase inhibitors, including valproic acid

- Maximum cumulative dose of prior idarubicin or equivalent anthracycline drug ≤ 290
mg/m2

- No concurrent epoetin alfa or hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors during the
first course of study therapy

- No concurrent prophylactic hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors

- Myelodysplastic syndromes requiring treatment, previously treated with either
azacytidine or decitabine, unless it was contraindicated; blastic phase chronic
myelogenous leukemia; failed prior imatinib mesylate-based therapy

- Patients with MDS should have received therapy with either 5-azacytidine or
5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, unless the patient had a contraindication to such therapy,
and should require therapy.

- Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent
document.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients with clinical evidence of CNS disease should be excluded from this clinical
trial because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive
neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other
adverse events.

- No unstable angina pectoris

- Considered ineligible for or refused potentially curative therapy, including
allogeneic stem cell transplantation, with or without standard induction therapy

- No history of allergic reaction attributed to compounds of similar chemical or
biological composition to vorinostat (SAHA) or other agents used in this study

- No ongoing or active infection

- No symptomatic congestive heart failure

- No cardiac arrhythmia

- No other uncontrolled illness

- No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance

- No other concurrent investigational agents

- No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies

- No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients