-
Renee Klahr/Think of the best songs of 2021 as a playlist catering to the most basic human urges. Within it, booties were called, muffins were buttered and bloody revenge was contemplated. It was quite a year. -
Renee Klahr/Think of the best songs of 2021 as a playlist catering to the most basic human urges. Within it, booties were called, muffins were buttered and bloody revenge was contemplated. It was quite a year.
-
Liane speaks with Weekend Edition Sunday music director Ned Wharton about the latest crop of new releases on CD.
-
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead continues with part three of his Avant-Garde Made Easy series. This time he considers composer, improviser and saxophonist Anthony Braxton.
-
We continue our "Avant-Garde Made Easy" series by jazz critic Kevin Whitehead with the music of trumpeter Lester Bowie.
-
Blues musician John Hammond has spent his entire career covering the works of great American songwriters like Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon and Mose Allison. For his latest project, Wicked Grin, Hammond selected twelve songs by Tom Waits. In an unconventional twist, he asked Waits himself to produce the record. Liane speaks with John Hammond about his friendship with Tom Waits and the recording sessions that yielded this CD.
-
Host Lisa Simeone talks with jazz musician Paul Horn about his recordings inside buildings around the world. His most famous recording inside the Taj Mahal became a best seller in 1969. He went back twenty years later and recorded again and for the first time the two recordings are now available on the same cd. We also go with Paul Horn to the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington DC for a short concert. (For more information, visit www.transparentmusic.com. This site will open in a new browser window.)
-
Renee Montagne talks with bluesman R.L. Burnside about his new album Wish I Were in Heaven Sitting Down. She also speaks with Matthew Johnson, head of Fat Possum Records.
-
In 2000, saxophonist Joe Lovano was voted Down Beat Readers and Critics Poll Winner Tenor Player of the Year. Early in his career, Lovano played with Woody Herman and the Mel Lewis Orchestra. He's also worked with Elvin Jones, Carla Bley, Lee Konitz and Charlie Haden. And he played with the Paul Motian Trio which featured his Berklee School of music classmate, Bill Frisell. In 1991 he began work as a leader, and has recorded a number of albums. His latest is Flights of Fancy: Trio Fascination, Edition Two.
-
Liane Hansen speaks with guitarist/composer Ralph Towner, from the jazz/classical/world music group Oregon. After playing together for 30 years, the quartet has had collaborations with orchestras in the past, but only now has put their orchestral repertoire on disc:Oregon in Moscow (Intuition Records #3303) features the group performing with the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra. We'll also hear from producer Steve Rodby, who organized the Moscow project.
-
Host Lisa Simeone talks with Rob Bamberger about the life and music of Mildred Bailey (1903-1951). Bailey was a popular singer of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. She sang with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and was married to bandleader and xylophone player, Red Norvo. Rob Bamberger is the host of the radio program, Hot Jazz Saturday Night, on member station WAMU,Washington DC (www.wamu.org) and on NPR Worldwide, NPR's international service. Listeners can reach Rob by e-mail at "hotjazz@wamu.org". A new re-mastered collection of Mildred Bailey's Columbia 78s is on Mosaic Records (www.mosaicrecords.com).
-
Jazz composer and arranger Bob Belden has written a musical suite based on the 1947 "Black Dahlia" case, involving the murder of a young actress. His influences include novelist James Ellroy and composers Alban Berg and Jerry Goldsmith. Belden is also known for producing Grammy-winning reissues of classic albums by Miles Davis.