Terry Gross

Pete Dexter is a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and also has a monthly column for Esquire Magazine, "Sports Scene." Dexter's first novel, "God's Pocket," is set in Philadelphia. The novel tells the story of a reporter investigating a murder committed by a construction worker. Dexter joins the show to discuss his novel, work as a journalist, and respond to listener calls.

Philip Foner is the foremost historian on the labor movement in the U. S. He is the author of over eighty works, including a four volume history of the American labor movement, "Organized Labor and the Black Worker," and "Women and the American Labor Movement." Foner's specialities include labor history, African American history, and the history of women and Socialism. Foner has recently edited a collection of speeches and writings of Irish-American labor organizer Mother Jones.

Jazz composer and arranger Manny Albam currently teaches at Glassboro College in New Jersey in addition to taking commissions. Albam will be doing some work for the Philly Pops. A new collection of his work "Manny Albam: The Jazz Workshop," has recently been released. Albam joins the show to discus his career and share records.

Clarinetist Kenny Davern takes a lot of inspiration from the small jazz bands of the 1920s and 1930s, although he has worked in contemporary and avant-garde jazz. Davern started playing professionally in the 1950s and has worked with many jazz legends. In the 1970s he played soprano saxophone with Bob Wilbur in the group Soprano Summit. He now plays clarinet exclusively. Davern is in town to perform, and joins the show to discuss his distaste for "Dixie Land" music, his musical influences, and career in jazz.

Husband and wife Cecil Womack and Linda Womack are songwriters who have decided to step into the limelight with their album "Love Wars." The child of a gospel singer, Cecil Womack sung with his brothers, including Bobby, as The Valentinos. Linda and Cecil met in the studio. Their album was noted by many critics in 1983.

Journalist Fred Kaplan's latest book is "The Wizards of Armageddon," which looks at the politics of nuclear warfare and weapons. He joins the show to discuss Defense policy and the budget and the issue of nuclear war in contemporary politics. (Interview by Dave Davies)

Noted playwright Edward Albee is the author of "The Zoo Story" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," which was lated adapted into an Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton film. Albee has won many awards including two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1967 for "Delicate Balance," and one in 1975 for "Seascape."

Robert Townsend is the author of the 1970 bestseller "Up the Organization," and his newly revised edition of the book is called "Further Up the Organization: How to Stop Management from Stifling People and Strangling Productivity." Townsend contends that most workers are "docile, bored, and dull," and advocates a type of "non-violent guerrilla warfare," in which workers dismantle all but those aspects of organizations that serve them. Townsend is known for his tenure at Avis and also worked at Twentieth Century Fox and American Express.

Humorist and reporter Calvin Trillin is staff writer for the New Yorker and a humor columnist at The Nation. Trillin recently joined the show to discuss his love of rich regional and ethnic food which he chronicled in his book "Third Helpings." His New Yorker Magazine series "U. S. Journal" ended in 1982, but a collection of 16 of his stories about murder have been collected in the book "Killings."

Jazz legend BILLY TAYLOR is a pianist who has worked with his own trio as well as musicians such as Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Charlie Mingus, Art Tatum, and Miles Davis. Taylor is also a composer whose song "I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free" became a civil rights anthem. Taylor is also known for being the guiding force between the public radio programs "Jazz Alive" and "Billy Taylor's Piano Jazz." Currently, Taylor is the editor for the arts on the CBS Sunday morning program.