WRTI Picks from NPR Music

The best-known father figure in jazz has famous musical sons. But the Marsalis clan is even more extensive, as you can see when students reflect on his influence.

It's amazing how satisfying Philip Glass' string quartet music sounds on four guitars. The interlocking parts are transparent and the music seems to breathe.

Singer Sheila Jordan, who leaped to fame in George Russell's version of "You Are My Sunshine," recalls her dirt-poor childhood and the thrill of hearing Charlie Parker play through a club's back door.

After decades of performing, the celebrated soprano's enthusiasm for music is irresistible. She chooses some of her favorite recordings for an informal session of listening and conversation.

The Norwegian group has a age-old salve for those who can't stand "Jingle Bell Rock" — 15th-century English carols.

A big band from Brazil has developed a unique, jazz-influenced take on a holiday tradition. Maestro Spok and his 17-piece crew present an adventurous program at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

While the Nazis may have used the children's opera Brundibár as a propaganda tool, it also was a symbol of hope for the children who performed it. It is now a way to remember profound loss.

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.

Fiddler Mark O'Connor claims Shinichi Suzuki, creator of the popular Suzuki Method of violin instruction, was a fraud. O'Connor has created his own teaching system.

Robert Lee Watt, the first black French horn player to join a major U.S. symphony, spent 37 years with the LA Philharmonic. He faced a lot of resistance along the way, as his new memoir recounts.