Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new album featuring live sets from the 1960s by late pianist Earl Hines. Whitehead says some may find Hines's older style corny, but the album is as enjoyable as any record made this year.
TV critic David Bianculli recommends two returning, unexpectedly popular PBS shows. Alive from Off Center showcases avant-garde performers and musicians, while American Masters features a diverse array of documentaries -- including, Bianculli says, some real masterpieces.
Milt Hinton isn't just an in-demand bass player -- he's also an accomplished photographer who has taken thousands of pictures of jazz musicians. He joins guest host Marty Moss-Coane to talk about growing up in the south and, later, in Chicago--where Al Capone had an unexpected impact on his youth. Hinton's collection of his photos, Bass Lines, has just been published.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews a retrospective of the late photographer's work, which focuses on movement, urban settings, and harrowing portraits of animals. The exhibition, Stone says, reveals our own voyeurism and vulnerability.
Foote is best known for writing the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird. A new book compiling the first four plays of his Orphan's Home series, called Roots in a Parched Ground, has just been published.
Robert Mugge makes documentary films about unique and vital American music. His subjects include Al Green, Sonny Rollins, and native Hawaiian musicians. PBS will broadcast six of his movies this summer.
The Warner Bros. studio created several iconic cartoon characters for their shows Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, including Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. Writer Steve Schneider has published a book about their history and influence, called That's All Folks!
Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews A World Apart, about a white anti-apartheid activist whose family needs her more than the movement does. While the film has a few missteps, Schiff says it's directed with a steady hand.
Conductor Roger Norrington seeks to recreate the sound of classical pieces -- particularly by Beethoven -- as they were originally performed. His orchestras plays period instruments; Norrington emphasizes the dynamics and tempos that were written in the scores -- markings often ignored by other conductors.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews the police procedural, now in its second season. He admires how the show takes its time with each storyline, exploring one over the course of several episodes -- and often featuring long-term guest stars.
Mystery novelist Tony Hillerman's books feature Navajo detectives in the American Southwest, and are informed by that tribe's religious practices. He's not Indian himself, but grew up in their communities.
The Hungarian pianist isn't well-known in the United States, but a number of reissued recordings on the Price-Les$ label, which classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz calls "glorious," will give listeners a chance to hear what they've been missing.
Despite his association with the 1960s anti-war movements, SDS co-founder and current California State Legislator Tom Hayden says he was as unlikely to become a beatnik in the 50s as he was a hippie in the 60s. His new memoir, which reflects on his political activity over the decades, is called Reunion.
Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the 1960s British rock band, whose members later founded several other groups, most notably the Electric Light Orchestra.
Book critic Stephen Schiff calls John Cheever, the subject of a new biography by Scott Donaldson, "the saddest man I ever met." The story of the author's life is brutal, told skillfully, but with prose that could't hope to match Cheever's.
Harry Whittington built a career on churning out pulp paperbacks. His mystery novels have received recent critical acclaim; four of them were just reissued by Black Lizard Books.
