Music

We remember the world best known player of the mouth organ, Larry Adler. He died recently at the age of 87. He got started on vaudeville, and went on to perform with Fred Astaire, George Gershwin, Jack Benny and many others. When George Gershwin first heard Adler play Rhapsody in Blue on the mouth-organ he said, "It sounds as if the goddamned thing was written for you." Adler also played classical music and performed with a number of symphony orchestras. Adler moved to England after being blacklisted during the McCarthy hearings.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews Avalon Blues, (Vanguard) a new tribute album to country blues performer Mississippi John Hurt.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Del and the Boys by the Del McCoury Band.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Three Mo' Tenors, a PBS Great Performances program and a new CD. It features the African-American tenors Rodrick Dixon, Victor Trent Cook and Thomas Young.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two new Armstrong reissues: Louis and the Angels and Louis and the Good Book (both recorded in the 1950s, and released on Verve).

August 4th is the 100th anniversary of Armstrong's birth. The archive contains 5000 photographs, 350 pages of autobiographical manuscripts, 270 sets of band part manuscripts, 650 home-made tape recordings and more. Hear excerpts from the tapes. Director of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives Michael Cogswell is in the process of converting the Louis Armstrong House in Queens, where Louis and his wife Lucille lived for almost thirty years, into a museum and educational center. The House is expected to open in 2002.

It's not not surprising that Rufus Wainwright would become a musician and singer. He is the son of singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle sisters). He has just released his second album, Poses.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews –Fear Not the Obvious— (Bloodshot Records) the debut album by a group called the Yayhoos.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new anthology Woody Herman - Blowin' Up a Storm: The Columbia Years 1945-47.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the New edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

The grandson of singer and songwriter Jimmy McHugh, McHugh and his family manage the estate of the legendary artist. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh was famous in the forties and fifties for songs like “The Sunny Side of the Street.” Today, McHugh talks about the resurgence of interest in his grandfather’s jazz standards. Several remakes of McHugh’s songs presently hold top spots in the jazz charts.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews The Score starring Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Ed Norton.

Critic Milo Miles reviews White African (Northern Blues label) by blues man Otis Taylor.

Writer David Hajdu is the author of the new book, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina. (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux). The book focuses on the early 1960s when the four of them changed the nature of popular music. Hajdu is also the author of the award-winning biography, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. Hajdu also writes for The New York Times Magazine, and Vanity Fair.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews White Blood Cells the new CD by the Detroit duo The White Stripes.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Freefall featuring pianist Kenny Barron and violinist Regina Carter.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews the music of the "mysterious" German band Neu!. The band has just reissued its first three albums from the 1970s: Neu!,,Neu!2, and Neu! '75. (

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Harper Collins).

Singer-songwriter Steve Earle has released ten critically acclaimed albums; his latest CD is called Transcendental Blues. He's just published his first book, a collection of short stories called Doghouse Roses. Earle is also politically active. He currently serves as a board member of the Journey of Hope and is affiliated with both the Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and the Abolitionist Action Committee.

Rock historian Ed Ward on the music of three blind bluesmen.