Music

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles "The Flamingos," a Chicago Doo-Wop group that performed from the early 50s through the mid-70s. Their biggest hit was their cover of "I Only Have Eyes for You."

Three members of the New Orleans cajun band BeauSoleil, headed by Michael Doucet, will perform several dance songs.

Three members of the famed New Orleans cajun band Beausoleil, headed by Michael Doucet, will perform several songs from their most recent album.

Singer Irma Thomas. Ms. Thomas has been making records since 1958, and had a string of New Orleans rhythm-and-blues hits in the early sixties. Her popularity, however, is due in large part to her energetic live performances. Her new album, "The Way I Feel," has just been released on Rounder Records.

A live concert with New Orleans songwriter, pianist and singer Allen Toussaint. Tousaint has performed extensively as a session pianist and producer and has written dozens of hits for New Orleans groups like The Nevilles, Irma Thomas, for Paul McCartney, The Wild Tchoupitoulas and The Meters.

Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews two new rap albums, one by Run-DMC, the top rap group, the other by D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, an emerging group that builds on the innovations of the first rappers.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles The Funkadelic, a black psychedelic band whose big hit was the 1978 song "One Nation Under A Groove." Several members of the band, including leader George Clinton, started out with The Parliaments, a fifties Doo-Wop group.

Composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, who introduced America and Europe to bossa nova, the sensual, urbane musical idiom of Brazil. Before he started composing bossa novas in the 50s, he wrote symphonies, drawing from his training as a classical musician. His most widely circulated works include "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Desafinado."

Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews "Lovesexy," the new album by Prince.

Composer William Bolcom. He is best known for his humorous and accomplished piano accompaniment of his wife, the singer Joan Morris, in their performances of American popular songs. His own compositions include the vast choral cantata "Songs of Innocence and Experience," that sets the poems of William Blake to music. He won this year's Pulitzer Prize in Music. Bolcom is also renown for his ragtime compositions, especially his work "Graceful Ghost."