Music

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a recent recording in which Seiji Ozawa leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in music of Gabriel Faure. The album also features soprano Lorraine Hunt and cellist Jules Eskin.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Little Willie John, an unrecognized rhythm and blues singer in the 50s who recorded the song "Fever" long before Peggy Lee made it a pop hit.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews "The Man Who Shot John Lennon," the "Frontline" documentary on Mark David Chapman. The program relies on audiotaped psychiatric interviews with Chapman, and on a close analysis of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, which Chapman followed as though it were a script for Lennon's murder.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "The Current Set," bassist Mark Helias' second album as band leader and writer. Helias is probably best known for his work in the late 70s and early 80s with saxophonists Dewey Redman and Anthony Braxton. "The Current Set" features trumpeter Herb Robertson, trombonist Robin Eubanks and alto saxophonist Tim Berne.

Hammer dulcimer virtuoso John McCutcheon returns for another performance.

Record producer Thomas Z. Shepard, one of the most imaginative and successful producers of Broadway and classical recordings. Shepard has produced the cast recordings for "Sweeney Todd," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "La Cage Aux Folles," and "Me and My Girl," which has just been nominated for a Grammy.

Fresh Air's film critic Stephen Schiff. Schiff is the Critic-at-Large for Vanity Fair magazine where he writes feature articles and the monthly film review column, "Short Schiff." From 1978 to 1983, Schiff was the film critic for the weekly Boston Phoenix. He has served three terms as chairman of the National Society of Film Critics.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the No Speak record series, all-instrumental albums brought out by the producer Miles Copeland. The artists are Pete Haycock, formerly of the Climax Blues Band, William Orbit, Stewart Copeland, guitarist for the Police and the group Wishbone Ash.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a reissue featuring the Kolisch Quartett, a little-known but innovative European ensemble that played in the 30s and 40s. They recorded sparingly, but two of their works have just been reissued.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles The Buzzcocks, a British punk group that had more influence on the British punk scene than better-known bands like The Sex Pistols. The band was based in Manchester and had an even grittier veneer than that of the notorious London punk bands.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a reissue of a 1964 session featuring pianist Paul Bley. In the early years of his career, Bley worked closely with pianist Charles Mingus and saxophonist Ornette Colemen. Since the 60s, he's led his own small groups.

Banjo and pedal steel guitar player Winnie Winston will perform several pieces. A four-time world champion on the banjo at the country's top bluegrass competition, the Union Grove Old Time Fiddler's Convention in North Carolina, Winston has played with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Dave Bromberg and the late Steve Goodman.

Exiled South African singer Miriam Makeba. At 20, she became the lead vocalist for a top South African band. And when her performances brought her international acclaim, she used her forum to speak out against Apartheid. She was subsequently banned from her native country, and then later from America for her marriage to the radical Stokely Carmichael. For the past 20 years, she's toured with her mentor, singer Harry Belafonte, and last year she toured with Paul Simon's Graceland Tour.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "How Ya Like Me Now?," the new album by Rap star Kool Moe Dee.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Cho-Liang Lin's performance of Mozart's Third and Fifth Violin Concertos.

Rock singer, songwriter and record producer T-Bone Burnett. He's produced the work of musicians like Marshall Crenshaw, Los Lobos, Roy Orbison and Elvis Costello. In 1975, Burnett travelled and performed with Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Review." Burnett's new solo album, which he produced and wrote the songs for, is titled "The Talking Animals."

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, best known for their sexually suggestive songs in the 50s about "Annie," a woman of dubious reputation.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the album "Nine Below Zero," by the trio of pianist Wayne Horvitz, cornettist Butch Morris and drummer Bobby Previte. Kevin says the album is one of the more successful attempts to humanize the new electronic instruments like synthesizers, drum machines and rhythm boxes.

Adrian Cronauer, the airman disk-jockey whose stint as a rebellious Armed Forces Radio Network announcer during the Vietnam war is the basis for the movie "Good Morning Vietnam," starring Robin Williams. Cronauer, 49, is a former announcer for WQXR in New York and is now studying communications law at The University of Pennsylvania.

Singer Margaret Whiting. Her father, Richard Whiting, wrote many of her most popular songs, including "Too Marvelous for Words," "My Ideal," "She's Funny That Way," and "On The Good Ship Lollipop." Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer and other great songwriters of the day were like uncles to her. She is now performing at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City.