WRTI Picks from NPR Music

On the clarinetist's latest album, the blues might be modernized or tweaked, but it's never far away. Fresh Air's jazz critic says The Edenfred Files is modest in a good way, like a musical chapbook or novella. The scale suits Harper's pointedly focused music.

Few had the late Fort Apache Band drummer's intuition for both jazz and Afro-Cuban musical languages. Bandleader Jerry González remembers his colleague, who toured with Mongo Santamaria, Art Blakey, Tito Puente and Max Roach, and earned a Grammy nomination for one of his own albums.

This summer has seen plenty of worthwhile jazz, including a pianist who's been around since the '50s, a Caribbean jazzman, a band of deliberate melody, and a cover from The Jungle Book. Sample recordings from Harold Mabern, Etienne Charles, the band Black Host and Lauren Desberg.

As a first-call trumpeter in many jazz, Latin and Broadway ensembles, Frink made a lot of bands sound good. But she was better known as someone who made thousands of other trumpet players sound better. The foremost brass instructor in New York City, Frink was 62.

Touring the world with Valery Gergiev and Joshua Bell is the opportunity of a lifetime for 120 teenage musicians taking part in the first National Youth Orchestra of the United States, organized by Carnegie Hall. Can their experience give a boost to classical music more generally?

There are youth orchestras and summer music camps all over the U.S., but Carnegie Hall may have created the best music camp ever. For the past two weeks, some of the country's best teenage musicians have gathered to create the first National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America.

The blend of flute and vibraphone or marimba brings a transparent, sparkling quality — light and listenable, but permitting depth and mystery. On new albums, Nicole Mitchell and Anna Webber harness this energy, which has a surprisingly rich history

Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have been friends for decades, but they're known for their differences when it comes to constitutional interpretation. In those dramatic clashes, recent law school graduate Derrick Wang heard an opera.

From an intriguing East meets West merger to Vivaldi played with velocity, NPR Music's Tom Huizenga and host Jacki Lyden explore a wide range of new classical releases.

With a stunning command of her instrument, Beiser stays tightly tied to technology. She takes the sound of her cello and runs it through loop pedals to make her instrument shimmer, drone and groove.