Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of works by Sir Michael Tippett. Tippett is generally considered the greatest living British composer. He's in the U.S. for the world premiere of his fifth opera, "New Year," in Houston on October 27.
Jazz trumpeter, cornetist, and composer Olu Dara describes his music as "rhythmic fusion," and is the leader of the Okra Orchestra. His live shows are unusual among jazz concerts due to their dancing audiences. Dara joins the show to discuss his life, career, and contemporary jazz.
Oliver Lake is a jazz and funk saxophonist and composer. He is in town to play a concert with his newest band Jump. Lake joins the show to discuss his career and audience, the music industry, and what it means to be considered an avant-garde musician. (Interview by Danny Miller)
Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "Cracked Sidewalks" the new album from tenor saxophonist Rich Halley and his sextet. Halley lives in Oregon, a reminder, Kevin says, that not all jazz is spawned in New York.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a reissue of music by singer and pianist Fats Waller from 1940-1943, the years just before his death. Although this period is considered by many to be his least productive, Kevin says Waller was great at any time.
Singer, songwriter, musician and arranger Barry Manilow made the pop charts over and over again during the 1970s and early 80s with love ballads such as "Mandy," "Looks Like We Made It," "I Write the Songs" and "Copacabana (At the Copa)." Before becoming a singer he was Bette Midler's accompanist and arranger. He's currently on tour and has a new album of material Here at the Mayflower, (his first pop album since the 1980s) and a new anthology of his hits.
Richard Adler, who co-wrote the musicals The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees with his partner, Jerry Ross, died Thursday at his home in Southampton, N.Y. He was 90. Fresh Air remembers the composer and lyricist with excerpts from a 1990 interview.
This interview was originally broadcast on Aug. 9, 1990.
Carter lived one of the most fulfilled lives any artist could wish for. What's sad about his death Monday at 103 isn't just that a whole era in music has come to an end, but that Carter was still composing, and on the highest level.
The young singer-songwriter has described herself as "half-Japanese, half-American, but not fully either." Critic Ken Tucker says her fourth album, Puberty 2, has an impressively wide range of sounds.
Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two recent reissues of composer Benjamin Britten conducting two of his works, "Albert Herring" and "Billy Budd."
Tony Bennett is one of the foremost interpreters of the American songbook, and he has continued to record classics despite pressure to "give up the old stuff." Bennett joins the show to share and discuss recordings that span his entire career, including discussion of composers such as the Gershwins, Johnny Mercer, Count Basie, and Rodgers and Hart.
It's not not surprising that Rufus Wainwright would become a musician and singer. He is the son of singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle sisters). He has just released his second album, Poses.
The pop-dance-electronic group's founder tells Terry Gross why he stopped complaining about other bands and decided to start making his own music instead. LCD Soundsystem's latest album is called This Is Happening.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new collection of piano pieces written by women in the early 20th century, and performed by Virginia Eskin. Schwartz says it's a delightful listen and an important social history.
Composer Steve Reich, one of the fathers of minimalist music, discusses the cross-cultural influences on his work from African drumming to Jewish cantorial singing. His latest composition is "Desert Music" which features the poems of William Carlos Williams.
John Cage is an avant-garde musician known for his "chance compositions," which use "found" sounds. His music mixes Eastern philosophy with Western high-technology and eschews principles of harmony and melody. Cage is still a radical at 73.
