Terry Gross

Part 1 of Terry Gross's interview. Schrader's newest movie is Patty Hearst, about the magazine heiress's kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. He recently collaborated with Martin Scorsese on the film The Last Temptation of Christ.

Clarence Major is an experimental, African American writer. His latest novel, Painted Turtle: Women with Guitar -- along with his last book, Such Was the Season -- uses more conventional narrative techniques. He joins Fresh Air to discuss language and storytelling in the black community.

Sheed wrote the text for The Kennedy Legacy, which features photographs of the late president. He joins Fresh Air to discuss his work as a critic and author. Sheed grew up interested in sports; a bout of polio turned him into an avid reader. His parents ran one of the largest Catholic publishing houses.

Jane Alexander has worked onstage and, most notably, on a made-for-TV movie about Eleanor Roosevelt. She recently founded her own production company. Alexander joins Fresh Air to talk about some of her film roles and the place for older women in the motion picture industry.

Composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla writes and performs what he calls "new tango," which is influenced by rock, jazz, and twentieth-century classical music. His intense, emotional music was at first deeply unpopular with tango traditionalists, who favored the older, dance-oriented sound.

The jazz singer's new album "Collaboration," with the late Gil Evans, revisits songs they recorded together on their 1957 album Dream of You. Merrill says the mood of the new versions is darker, reflecting Evan's frustration with aging. After living in Europe and Japan, she's back in the United States.

A revival of Ain't Misbehavin', featuring the original cast, is now playing on Broadway. Critic-at-large Laurie Stone says she jumped at the chance to see it. Overacting and exaggerated choreography plagued the first act, but the cast showed restraint during the last half.

Shawn Slovo based her screenplay for A World Apart on her experiences growing up under apartheid in South Africa. Her parents were white activists in the African National Congress; her mother was a journalist who was imprisoned; her father was forced out of the country.

The hit songwriter sang bass with the doo-wop group The Crowns; he switched to lead vocals when they became The Drifters. King got his start at Harlem's Apollo Theater before finding national fame. As a solo performer, he had hits with original songs like "Stand by Me" and "Spanish Harlem."

New Fresh Air performer-in-residence Dick Hyman plays some of the music of Jelly Roll Morton. Hyman says the pianist and composer bridged the gap between ragtime and jazz, incorporating the phrasing and style of wind and reed players.