Music

Since the 1973 release of his first album, Closing Time, Tom Waits has won fans over with his original songwriting and distinctive, gravelly vocal style. Musicians including Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart have recorded covers of his songs. He has also acted in films, including Sylvester Stallone's Paradise Alley, Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law and Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Waits has two new CDs out this month: Alice and Blood Money.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Belly of the Sun, the new album from singer Cassandra Wilson (Blue Note records).

Writer, musician and broadcaster Jamie Bernstein Thomas. She is the daughter of composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. She hosts The New York Festival of Song on WQXR which features highlights from that concert series. She and her siblings founded the Bernstein Education Through the Arts (BETA) Fund. On Friday, May 24th she will be the speaker for a production of Leonard Bernstein Symphony No. 3, Kaddish based on the Jewish liturgical prayer. The concert will be part of the Cinncinnati May Festival held at Cincinnati historic Music Hall.

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Martha and the Vandellas.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new CD by Andrew W.K. Its called I Get Wet.

Founder of the band Wilco, Jeff Tweedy. He also sings, writes songs, plays guitar and banjo. The band got started as an alternative country band, but has recently left that sound behind. Their new recording is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch). Before forming Wilco in 1994, Tweedy headed the band Uncle Tupelo.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Bonnie Raitt's new album, Silver Lining.

Sue Graham Mingus' new memoir Tonight at Noon is about her love affair with the late jazz musician and composer Charles Mingus. She is a former magazine editor and publisher, and now works as a music producer. She also created and directs repertory ensembles that carry on the music of her late husband. Tonight at Noon... Three or Four Shades of Love, a CD featuring tracks by the Mingus Big Band and the Charles Mingues Orchestra, was recently released on the Dreyfus Jazz Label.

Ken Tucker reviews When I Was Cruel the new release by Elvis Costello. It reunites him with two members of his first rock combo, The Attractions.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews an installment of the legendary Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, produced by Norman Granz. This particular show comes from Carnegie Hall in 1949, and was recently released on CD.

Through his first band, La Perfecta, labeled "the band with the crazy roaring elephants," Palmieri was credited with originating Latin jazz's trombone sound in New York during the sixties. In 1994, Palmieri's lobbying culminated in the announcement of a new Grammy Award category for Afro-Caribbean Jazz.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the proto-punk group The Sonics, who played in the 1960s and 70s.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Inhabiting the Ball the third album by Chicago singer-songwriter Jim Roll. It features collaborations with novelists Rick Moody and Denis Johnson.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews The Element of Swing (Stunt) featuring drummer Ed Thigpen and saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Vienna New Years Concert with Seiji Ozawa (Phillips), a new recording of the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Seiji Ozawa, who is leaving the Boston Symphony Orchestra to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic.

Ed Ward reviews The Blasters' new 2-CD compilation The Blasters Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings (Rhino).

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Come Away With Me, the debut album from vocalist Norah Jones.

An in-studio concert and interview with jazz pianist Jessica Williams, recorded at WHYY. Well hear Williams' original compositions as well as some interpretations of standards. Williams has been recording albums, both solo and with ensembles, since 1978. Her music is often featured on Fresh Air between interview segments. Williams new album is This Side Up, on the Maxjazz piano series.

Singer, songwriter, and actor Chris Isaak. His new album is called Always Got Tonight. He's the star of the semi-autobiographical Showtime series The Chris Isaak Show, now in its second season. Isaak's 1991 hit Wicked Game still stands as his signature song.

Soprano Eileen Farrell has died at the age of 82. Well listen back to a 1992 interview. Her career began in radio, with her own show on CBS, in the 1940s. In the fifties she started singing opera, and performed with every major opera company and symphony orchestra in the US, including five seasons with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Starting in the sixties, she began putting out albums of jazz standards. Her 1999 autobiography is entitled, Cant Help Singing. She was also a professor of music at Indiana University and the University of Maine.