Azacitidine With or Without Lenalidomide or Vorinostat in Treating Patients With Higher-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes or Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have morphologically confirmed diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) based on one of the following: * French-American-British (FAB) classifications: * Refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB - defined as having 5-20% myeloblasts in the bone marrow) * Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) with 10-19% myeloblasts in the bone marrow and/or 5-19% blasts in the blood * World Health Organization (WHO) classifications: * Refractory anemia with excess blasts-1 (RAEB-1 - defined as having 5-9% myeloblasts in the bone marrow) * Refractory anemia with excess blasts-2 (RAEB-2 - defined as having 10-19% myeloblasts in the bone marrow and/or 5-19% blasts in the blood) * Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-1 (CMML-1 - defined as having \< 10% myeloblasts in the bone marrow and/or \< 5% blasts in the blood) * Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-2 (CMML-2 - defined as having 10-19% myeloblasts in the bone marrow and/or 5-19% blasts in the blood) OR * International prognostic score (IPSS) of intermediate 2 (1.5-2.0 points) or high (\>= 2.5 points); a score of intermediate 1 (0.5-1.0 points) is only allowable in the setting of \>= 5% myeloblasts * NOTE: Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are not eligible * Procedures to obtain specimens for establishing baseline disease must be done within 30 days prior to registration * Patients must not have received lenalidomide, azac…