Tribute/Appreciation

Terry remembers Fresh Air's longtime language commentator Geoff Nunberg who died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 75.

Rock critic Ken Tucker says Prince, the singer, songwriter and instrumentalist who died yesterday at his home in Minnesota, was "the most inventive and prolific pop musician of his generation."

Leonard was known for crisp dialogue and memorable villains. "The bad guys are the fun guys," he said in a 1983 interview. "The only people I have trouble with are the so-called normal types." He died Tuesday at the age of 87.

From the late 1950s up until her last stage appearance in 1990, Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland was one of the world's most admired and celebrated opera stars. She died Sunday at age 83. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz looks back at the life and work of the singer known as "La Stupenda."

Fresh Air remembers the iconic screen actor, who starred in such films as Easy Rider, Hoosiers and Apocalypse Now. Hopper sat down with Terry Gross in both 1990 and 1996 to discuss his film career, his battle with drugs and his career as an artist.

We remember film critic Gene Siskel who was half of the Siskel and Ebert movie-review team. Two weeks ago he left their TV show to recuperate from brain tumor surgery he received last year. He died on Saturday. The duo began their TV collaboration in 1975 on Chicago Public Television .The program later became a national PBS show and then moved on to a successful commercial television run. Gene Siskel was film columnist for the Chicago Tribune. (ORIGINAL BROADCAST 3/21/96)

We remember jazz composer and musician Jaki Byard. ("BY-ARD") He was found dead from a gunshot wound a week ago in his house in Queens. His death was ruled a homicide. He was 76. Byard was considered a stylistic virtuoso, who moved quickly in his playing from boogie-woogie to free jazz. He played with Charles Mingus and Rahassaan Roland Kirk and the Duke Ellington orchestra. Byard was also the composer of the first Fresh Air theme. We remember him with an interview and concert that originally aired 6/5/87. Byard is joined by tuba and bass player Ralph Hamperian.

We remember poet and author Denise Levertov who died on Saturday at the age of 74. Her publisher says the cause was complications from lymphoma. (Rebroadcast of 12/4/1987)

Composer Saul Chaplin passed away Saturday at the age of 85. We pay tribute to Chaplin by playing a recording of a 1972 interview with Sammy Cahn at New York's 92nd St. Y. Cahn collaborated with Chaplin on many of his most known works.

Nigerian singer Fela was considered one of the most popular and innovative musicians in Africa. He died last Saturday of complications from AIDS at the age of 58. Fela was a songwriter and bandleader who played the sax and keyboards. Music critic Milo Miles remembers the life and work of a performer who made every album and every show a celebration of ordinary people and an attack on authority