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Award-winning double-bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, 42, describes his music.

Astral artist Rachel Lee O’Brien stopped by WRTI’s Performance Studio recently and shared a program of music for harp celebrating her Appalachian roots. She was accompanied by Angela Massey on flute. Both are featured here in our video series, WRTI Presents ASTRAL.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead pays tribute to Fats Waller on the centennial of his birth, and reviews Fats Waller: The Centennial Collection, a CD and DVD.

Guitarist and singer Marty Grosz and cornet player Randy Reinhart join us for a special in-studio performance in honor of the 100th birthday of Thomas "Fats" Waller. He would have been 100 on May 21. Grosz and Reinhart will perform songs composed by the great pianist and vocalist. Waller wrote many hit songs, appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s, and wrote Broadway musicals. Some of his best-loved songs include "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Honeysuckle Rose" and "The Joint is Jumpin'." There's a new CD/DVD set called Fats Waller: The Centennial Collection on Bluebird Records.

Saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano drops by the studio to chat with NPR's Tony Cox about his latest project out on Blue Note Records, I'm All For You, a collection of ballads.

The Brazilian singer Flora Purim helped create the sound of jazz fusion. Now, as she releases what she says will be her final album, it's time to give her artistic legacy its due.

Tenor Joshua Blue and soprano Raven McMillon from the cast of Rigoletto stopped by the WRTI Performance Studio to sing for us and share some insight about the popular opera. Opera Philadelphia presents a run of four performances at the Academy of Music starting April 29th.

He's the founder of the Newport Folk Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival, which turns 50 this year. A new three-CD set, Happy Birthday Newport: 50 Swinging Years, celebrates the milestone. In the early 1950s, Wein founded the jazz clubs Storyville and Mahogany Hall in his hometown of Boston, where jazz giants Art Tatum, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Miles Davis played. In 1954 he launched the Newport Jazz Festival, where he presented Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dave Brubeck and others. The other music greats he knew and worked with: Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong. Last year, Wein published his autobiography, Myself Among Others: A Life In Music.

Day to Day remembers the life and memorable songs of musician Ray Charles, who died today at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer.

Saxophone legend John Coltrane's 1964 recording A Love Supreme is one of the masterworks in the canon of jazz. A new edition includes the only live performance of the complete work. Writer Ashley Kahn, whose new book goes behind the scenes of the landmark album, has an essay on the project.