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On "Nile," Valerie Troutt approaches her lyrics with stirring conviction, but she never oversells the song. Fortunately, she doesn't have to — "Nile" is a ballad blessed with an enchanting melody and arrangement, brimming with thoughtful, heartfelt optimism.

A show in Washington, D.C., features paintings, lithographs and other representations of the banjo. One of America's most endearing musical instruments also played a turbulent role in racial history.

Jazz great Gerald Wilson is still going strong at 87. He will perform this weekend in New York as part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center series. His most recent album, In My Time was released last year.

When Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff started Philadelphia International Records in the early '70s, they followed in the footsteps of great regional soul labels like Detroit's Motown and Stax in Memphis.

When Bobby Lounge played at last year's New Orleans Jazz Fest, he made a powerful impression. Bobby Lounge is, in fact, a pseudonym for a reclusive, middle-aged art teacher from rural Mississippi. His lyrics conjure the weirdness of Southern gothic writing. Reporter Adam Burke visits Lounge.

Weekend Edition Sunday music director Ned Wharton takes a look beyond Mariah and Bono at some Grammy nominated music you might not have heard. Jimmy Sturr's Shake, Rattle and Polka, anyone?

Miles Davis is among the new inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For most of his career, the great jazz trumpeter played music that had very little to do with rock 'n' roll. But his influence on popular music is still being felt today.

The Los Angeles-based band refurbishes an enigmatic, but entrancing piece by the late Julius Eastman, whose music is enjoying a well-deserved resurgence.

With so much emphasis on virtuosity in jazz, artists who pare their musical arsenals down to the soul-baring essentials usually prove the most alluring. Such is the case with Gretchen Parlato, who taps into Wayne Shorter's adventurism with her thoughtful lyrics, which touch on the joys of inward search.

Long before Louis Armstrong came along, the trumpet and New Orleans were intertwined. For local jazz legend Nicholas Payton, the instrument represents the essence of the Crescent City.