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Learn how the 85-year-old composer got his start spoofing on John Cage, and hear his best impression of the coyote howl from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The trumpeter demonstrates his love for his mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, in a performance of "Fiesta Mojo." He also joins host Marian McPartland for Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas" in a 2004 session.

The composer and singer-songwriter's new album is a set of 10 vignettes about buildings in L.A. Throughout The Ambassador, Kahane speaks many musical languages fluently and beautifully.

"If they hold an instrument, they will not take a drug. They will not hold a gun," says Santa Cecilia Orchestra conductor Sonia Marie De Leon De Vega. "It's that powerful."

A star mezzo shares forthright and inspiring thoughts about making a life as an artist. "You will never make it," she says. "'It' doesn't exist for an artist."

Watch the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir perform an extended piece derived from an ancient canon of repentance. Unfolding as a long prayer, the music is rich, multilayered and mesmerizing.

Under music director Alan Gilbert, the orchestra is taking a page from the visual arts world by launching an 11-day festival featuring both established and emerging composers.

Around 1945, jazz's traditional funeral rites manifested in a more modern form of tribute. Now, some of the music's most powerful tunes are written in memory of late colleagues. Hear five examples.

Musicians and insiders talk to NPR about the jazz label's legacy. "It's just like the Empire State Building or the White House," says one. "It's a monument."

During the '60s, Shorter came to the fore not only as a saxophonist, but as a composer with a sixth sense for how to break the rules of harmony. His band launches new ideas off old themes in concert.