NPR Staff

For three years, the jazz musician and his collaborator Mike Ladd have been working with war veterans-turned-poets to bring their words to light. NPR's Arun Rath speaks with Iyer and Iraq veteran Maurice Decaul about the album that resulted, Holding It Down: The Veterans' Dreams Project.

The jazz artist, who turned to singing when an injury ended his football career, claims three people as his main influences: his minister mother, his absentee father, and Nat King Cole. He discusses his musical life and the new album Liquid Spirit with NPR's Audie Cornish.

Up until recently, the likely composers of the great American symphony looked remarkably similar: all white, overwhelmingly male. But recent developments have opened up the doors to composers who were once lost to history.

From church services to arguments at the table, the jazz musician finds himself drawn to the music of the everyday. His debut album, Live Today, is anchored in jazz grooves and layered with influences from hip-hop to gospel.

On the new album Dysnomia, the band Dawn of Midi uses acoustic instruments — drums, bass and piano — to create what often sounds like looping, minimal electronic music.

Daniels is one of the world's most celebrated countertenors: male vocalists who sing in a range usually associated with women. Hear a sneak preview from the new opera Oscar, starring the famous countertenor as Oscar Wilde.

On his latest album, the guitarist puts his funky jazz-rock stamp on compositions that nod to Al Green, Afro-pop and rhythm & blues, with a couple old collaborators in tow.

The jazz composer's latest project is an opera based on the life of Emile Griffith, a gay boxer who became a world champion in the 1960s — at a price.

Bucky Pizzarelli and his son, John, have been collaborating since John was a kid. They perform live in NPR's studios.

The quartet's new album of Tchaikovsky and Schoenberg is the last to feature the cellist and longtime member of the group.