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  • For World Opera Day, watch scenes that will make you fall in love with the art form — from a crazy day at Mozart's diner to a trippy trip to China with Richard Nixon.
  • Blues Musician Screamin' Jay Hawkins was an eccentric man. He wore outlandish outfits, claimed to practice voodoo and carried a skull named Henry on stage with him at every gig he played. But when his close friend and official biographer, Maral Nigolian, learned that Jay Hawkins had 57 children, she was shocked. After his death last February, Nigolian decided to look for the children of Screamin' Jay Hawkins to bring them together for a reunion. As independent producer Alix Spiegel reports, what seemed like a small simple idea, turned into a full-time occupation. The Website Nigolian posted drew thousands of responses, most from people who hoped to be connected to the man, some from people who actually were. The oldest of what soon became perhaps 75 children, Suki Lee Anne Hawkins remembers mostly her father's absences. She never knew he had any other children. Another child, Debra Roe, was 23-years-old before she learned that Screamin' Jay Hawkins was her father. This summer, Nigolian brought together these two women and some of the other 33 Hawkins children she has identified. It was a kind if practice for a bigger reunion she is planning for March. And it was rough. No one could believe Screamin' Jay had fathered so many. (22:00) Find out more at: http://www.jayskids.com.
  • The 1939 recording by Glenn Miller and his orchestra remains a classic, and one of the most influential songs of the 20th century.
  • When Louis Armstrong recorded Hello, Dolly in 1963, he gave it his unique vocal and instrumental treatment. But he had no idea the song would become a success.
  • The Harlem Renaissance gave birth to a movement that was social, political, and artistic. To be in Harlem in the 1920s and '30s was to experience everything from the poetry of Langston Hughes to the music of Duke Ellington. Liane talks to Shawn Amos, who produced a new four-CD box set that captures the sounds of the period, and updates them with new readings. It's called Rhapsodies in Black: Words and Music from the Harlem Renaissance. (9:30) (NOTE: Rhapsodies in Black is available on Rhino Records #R2-79874).
  • Called one of the greatest improvisers in the history of jazz, Jarrett was famous for his wildly passionate solo recitals. In 1996, Jarrett came down with a mysterious illness- an interstitial bacterial parasite-- that caused him to stop performing for about two and a half years. Jarrett has started performing and recording again, but he still keeps a low public profile, so his condition will not worsen again. His newest CD is Whisper Not (Universal Classics). His other recent CD, Melody at Night, With You, was a solo album Jarrett recorded at his home studio in rural New Jersey.
  • Benjamin Bynum Sr., a prominent nightclub owner who served as a link between the entertainment and political worlds of Philadelphia, died of a brief illness on October 19th at the age of 98.
  • Hear the young mezzo-soprano sing contemporary music of rare beauty, offering a voice of creamy muscularity.
  • 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.
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