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The Thelonious Monk Institute presented Bill Clinton with an award at its annual jazz competition this year. T.S. Monk, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves and Kevin Spacey were also on stage for the ceremony.

A Jazz Institution Moves Back Home To Los Angeles

Jazz's highest-profile competition recently crowned a new victor in a star-studded gala. But for the Thelonious Monk Institute, competition is only a small part of its desire to be back out West.

Mary Lou Williams began arranging in 1929. By 1942, she was among the most renowned arrangers in the business.

How Mary Lou Williams Shaped The Sound Of The Big-Band Era

In jazz, arranging — designing parts to fit together and creating new spins on familiar songs — is often unglamorous. But Williams' incomparable success as an arranger only further proves her genius.

Looking Back at The Extraordinary Life of Hazel Scott

It was 2008 when I authored the biography, "HAZEL SCOTT: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC." At that time, Hazel Scott’s name conjured fond but distant memories among an older generation.

Patti Austin, Singing Gershwin's Praises

Songstress Patti Austin's newest CD, Avant-Gershwin, allows her to cover the classic and sometimes controversial music of legendary composer George Gershwin. Austin talks about her music with Tony Cox.

Unreleased in its entirety until now, Brazilian singer-songwriter Joyce Moreno's <em>Natureza</em> is a snapshot of the artist on her own terms.

Unreleased for decades, Joyce Moreno's 'Natureza' is a snapshot of newfound freedom

Recorded with Claus Ogerman, Natureza could have made the Brazilian singer-songwriter an international star. Now released, the long-lost album captures a turning point in her approach to music.

Album of the Week: Beethoven tackled two ways, by Haochen Zhang and the Dover Quartet

Two new recordings — the Dover Quartet's 'Beethoven Complete String Quartets Volume 3: The Late Quartets' and Haochen Zhang's 'Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos' with Nathalie Stutzmann and The Philadelphia Orchestra — demonstrate the risks and rewards for interpreters of the great composer's oeuvre.

Harry Connick, Jr., whose new holiday album, 'Make It Merry,' arrives in the midst of a national tour.

Harry Connick, Jr. makes it merry with a new holiday album and tour

'Make It Merry,' which arrives in the midst of a 23-city tour, is Harry Connick, Jr.'s fourth Christmas album. He talked about the message and mechanics of his whole holiday enterprise with WRTI's Nate Chinen.

Laufey is a trad-pop superstar (and that's enough)

The young Icelandic-Chinese singer, now a Grammy nominee, has been pegged by some as her generation's jazz savior — a burdensome role that arguably misreads her talents.

Relatives of Abdelwahab Zaydoun, a 27-year-old Moroccan who set himself on fire to protest his unemployment and died from his burns, react to his death in Casablanca last month. A year after street protests in Morocco prompted some reforms, Moroccans remain discontent with the gap between rich and poor, and the slow strides toward democracy.

In Morocco, The Arab Spring's Mixed Bounty

On Feb. 20, 2011, Moroccans took to the streets in protest in a country considered one of the most stable in the region. King Mohammed VI acted quickly, offering constitutional reforms and early elections. But progress toward democracy has also revealed the limits of civil disobedience.

A member of the Occupy Wall Street movement places tape over a window of a foreclosed home during a march in the impoverished community of East New York in Brooklyn in December.

The Mortgage Deal: A Reality Check

The $26 billion settlement reached by the federal government, most states and the nation's largest banks to compensate homeowners for abusive foreclosure practices is unlikely to end the housing crisis, analysts say. It could also lead to a new round of foreclosures, which would drive prices even lower.

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