Music

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews The Trouble With Being Myself, the new album from Macy Gray.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the long-awaited reissue of trombonist Rod Levitt's octet's first album: The Dynamic Sound Patterns of The Rod Levitt Orchestra.

Rock critic Ken Tucker concludes his look at the current pop-rock bands, with a look at the Brooklyn-based quartet High Strung. Their debut CD is These Are Good Times.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new compilation of Bob Hope's singing, Best of Bob Hope (Capitol).

Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips died today in Memphis at the age of 80. He was revered as one of the leading catalysts in post-World War II American music. As a record producer in the 1950s and 60s, his recordings launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, to name a few. This interview first aired September 15, 1997.

A conversation with music writer Peter Guralnick about the death of Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips. Guralnick is the author of a two volume biography of Elvis Presley: Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews New Beginnings (MaxJazz) the new CD by trumpeter Terell Stafford.

Music critic Milo Miles has an appreciation of Celia Cruz, the Cuban singer who died last week at the age of 77.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Fever to Tell, the debut album by the rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs, led by singer Karen O.

He originated the staccato, three-finger banjo technique that became known as the "Scruggs style." He got his start playing with Bill Monroe's band in the 1940s, and then teamed up with guitarist Lester Flatt (fronting The Foggy Mountain Boys). The two penned and recorded the tune "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," which was used on the Bonnie and Clyde film soundtrack and was one of the first crossover hits of the genre. They also recorded "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," the theme song for the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. It topped the charts in 1962.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about the Richmond Sessions music recorded in Richmond, Virginia in the 1920s, just as recording was getting off the ground.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Electric Version, the new CD from The New Pornographers.

Music Critic Milo Miles reviews the new album by Mariza.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Phantoms, the new CD from tenor saxophonist Virginia Mayhew.

Lead singer for the band the Jayhawks, Gary Louris. The Minneapolis band has seven albums to its credit — the latest is Rainy Day Music. The band is considered pioneers of the alternative-country movement, but have incorporated everything from pop to folk to rock and country.

Rock critic Ken Tucker continues his look at the latest in pop rock. He reviews the CD Red Head by the Boston-based musician known as Bleu (his real name is William McAuley).

Soul singer Barry White, the sweet-talking, deep-voiced performer who rhapsodized about love, died on July 4. He was 58. The cause was kidney failure. His hits included "My First, My Last, My Everything," "Never Never Gonna Give Up," and "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More." Before he became a hit as a solo performer, White put together the female vocal trio Love Unlimited and founded the Love Unlimited Orchestra, a 40-piece ensemble, to accompany himself and the trio.

Veteran producer, pianist, singer, club owner George Wein. He's the founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In the early 1950s he founded the jazz clubs Storyville and Mahogany Hall in Boston where jazz giants Art Tatum, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Miles Davis played. In 1954 he launched the Newport Jazz Festival where he presented Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dave Brubeck and others.

Writer and producer Chris Albertson is considered an authority on blues singer Bessie Smith. His 1971 biography of Smith has been reissued in a new revised and expanded edition. It's called Bessie, and it contains new details on Smith's early years, new interview material, and a chapter devoted to events and responses that followed the original publication.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews St. Louis Shoes (Blue Note) by composer and saxophonist Greg Osby.