Karen Grigsby Bates
Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
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Once Morris Robinson dreamed of fame on the football field. Now, he's moving audiences across the world with the power of his voice, and changing the face of opera. -
The producer of an upcoming Nina Simone biopic has cast Afro-Latina actress Zoe Saldana in the lead role — a move that's proved controversial. Critics say that while Saldana is a talented actress, she's too close to traditional light-skinned Hollywood beauty standards. -
The pop diva was discovered dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room Saturday, the eve of the 54th Grammy Awards. When she burst upon the music world in 1985, there was no doubt in anyone's mind the willowy beauty was a star. Houston's music was stellar, but her personal life was chaotic. -
If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It is Sony Legacy's new 3-CD set of jazz-great Fats Waller's best music. Historians and music critics say no one has ever quite been able to fill Waller's shoes since his death in 1943.
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Fats Waller was often dubbed the "clown prince" of jazz who delighted crowds with his playful stage antics — a reputation that overshadowed his gifts as a musician and songwriter. A new CD collection of his recordings focuses on the music behind the merriment.
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San Francisco's Fillmore District is known for its namesake rock venue, but once it was home to legendary jazz clubs. A new photo book preserves the record of a neighborhood that fell victim to "urban renewal."
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The Nat King Cole Show debuted in 1956, making singer and jazz pianist Nat "King" Cole the first black man to host a nationally televised variety program. Cole reluctantly challenged segregation on television and in American society, but a year later the show ended.
