Tribute/Appreciation

Actor Spalding Gray, famous for his autobiographical monologues, was found dead on March 7 in New York's East River. He'd been missing for two months. In the first of a two-part series, Terry Gross speaks with people who knew Gray well, including his wife, Kathie Russo, and his friend, Robby Stein. The second program features excerpts of Gray’s Fresh Air interviews.

The 78-year-old singer is currently performing at Birdland in New York City. Previously, Carroll spent 25 years playing at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. This year, she received three lifetime achievement awards; one of them was the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award. Carroll has a number of albums to her credit; her latest is the new solo album Morning in May.

Conductor Maurice Peress. He specializes in reconstructing historic American concerts. He’s worked with Ellington and Bernstein, and is the author of the forthcoming book, “Living With American Music: Dvorak to Duke Ellington.”

To celebrate the centennial of the birth of composer Hoagy Carmichael we feature a tribute to him, as part of our American Popular Song series. Carmichael wrote, "Star Dust," "Heart and Soul," "The Nearness of You," "Skylark" and many more. We feature performances by singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist Dave Frishberg. We'll also talk with Richard Sudhalter, who has written a forthcoming biography of Carmichael. And we talk with Carmichael's son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael who now manages his father's music catalogue.

A preview of Monday's show, the next installment of our American Popular Song series. This show pays tribute to Hoagy Carmichael and features performers, pianist Dave Frishberg, and singer Rebecca Killgore.

Another edition of our American Popular Song Series, profiling composer Jerome Kern. He wrote the songs "All the Things You are," "Can't Help Lovin' That Man," "I'm Old-Fashioned," "Ol' Man River," and "The Way You Look Tonight." A number of those songs are from the broadway musical "Showboat" which he wrote. We'll focus on the music he wrote before then, before 1927.

Novelist, screenwriter and biographer A.E. Hotchner. His memoir "Papa Hemingway" (Carroll & Graff) about his friend and colleague, Ernest Hemingway has just been republished. Hotchner met Hemingway when he was a 20-something journalist, on assignment to interview Hemingway for Cosmopolitan magazine. That first interview in 1948 developed into a 14 year friendship.

We remember one of America's great lyricists, Yip Harburg. He wrote over 500 songs including, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Brother Can You Spare a Dime," and "It's Only a Paper Moon." We talk with his son, Ernie Harburg and his wife Deena Rosenberg. They have collaborated on the new show "Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Yip Harburg's America" which is showing this week in Philadelphia. Rosenberg worked closely with Yip Harburg for nearly a decade including working with him on the early concept of this show. Yip Harburg died in 1981.

Film director Stanley Donen (DAH-nen) talks about directing Fred Astaire in "Funny Face," and "Royal Wedding." Last year, Donen received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures. His other films include: "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) "It's Always Fair Weather" (1955) "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) and "Charade" (1963)

Today marks the Centennial of Fred Astaire's birthday. First, we'll hear from Will Friedwald on Astaire's singing ability. He says while Astaire didn't have the best voice, he was still wonderful to listen to. Friedwald is author of several books on Singers including: The Tony Bennett autobiography "The Good Life," "Sinatra! The Song is You: A Singer's Art," and "Jazz Singing :America's Great Voices from Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond"