Music

Music critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album "Endtroducing" by DJ Shadow. Tucker says this album signals a shift in hip-hop music away from gangsta rap towards a more instrumental form.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the new Great Performances special on PBS (March 7, 9PM most stations), "Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall."

The 37-year old musician is a former member of the New York bands Last Roundup and the Shams. Her latest album is "Amy Rigby: Diary of a Mod Housewife." Rigby says a mod housewife is "woman being dragged kicking and screaming into adulthood." She also says her favorite subjects for songwriting are: "making a living, having a family, and trying to keep a sense of humor about it all." Most of her album is produced by Elliot Easton, guitarist for the Cars.

Critic Milo Miles on experimental acoustic guitarist John Fahey. Fahey's latest album is "City of Refuge."

We remember jazz drummer Tony Williams, who died of a heart attach Sunday at the age of 51. As a teen prodigy, Williams played with the Miles Davis Quintet, and later drummed with Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane. (REBROADCAST from 5/25/90)

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "Earthling," the latest album by David Bowie.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the re-issued CD "New and Old Gospel" by Jackie McLean. It was a collaboration with Ornette Coleman--who played trumpet during the session--and originally recorded in 1967.

Critic Milo Miles reviews the new collection by the Almanac Singers, an early urban folk group that included Woody Guthrie, Lee Hays, Pete Hawes, Millard Lampell and Pete Seeger. The CD is "The Almanac Singers: Their Complete General Recordings" (on MCA).

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Apollo Records. Many of their albums are being reissued by Delmark.

Jazz critic Kevin Whithead reviews Sun Ra's album "The Singles," which compiles songs he wrote in different styles, and that never made it onto his albums.

A concert and interview with singer Rosemary Clooney taped before a live audience in San Francisco, January 18th, as part of the City Arts & Lectures series. Clooney sings some of her best known songs, accompanied by a quintet directed by John Oddo. She also talks with Terry about her life. Her 1996 album "Dedicated to Nelson" has been nominated for a Grammy.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album "Fountains of Wayne" (Atlantic) by the band Fountains of Wayne. He says it features "guitar-driven, hooky songs."

We'll broadcast a studio performance with Rosemary Clooney next week. For now, we share this excerpt which we couldn't fit into the final broadcast.

Commentator Milo Miles looks at the singing career of Jesse Stone. Stone helped shape the sound that was to become rock and roll. As chief arranger during the early days of Atlantic records, he guided the company towards a more swinging, urbane sound. A new collection focuses on his own singing career.

Our music critic says Spice, the debut from the British act the Spice Girls, is tough and catchy fluff.

Freelance journalist and music critic Fred Goodman. In a new book, "The Mansion on The Hill" Goodman chronicles how the record industry has changed rock 'n roll from the music of the counterculture to a billion dollar commercial enterprise. Goodman's past publications have appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, New York, and Spy.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the CD "Serpentine," featuring drummer Han Bennink and trumpeter Dave Douglas.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles veteran bluesman Z.Z. Hill. Hill's career spanned decades, but took off in the 1980s, just when rap was becoming the dominant form of black music.

Commentator Milo Miles reviews two new re-releases of singer Tracy Nelson's earlier recordings with the band Mother Earth. Nelson is still making albums today, but Miles says they don't have the same looseness and charm as these reissues.

A live concert in the WHYY Forum with jazz clarinetist Don Byron and his "Bug Orchestra." On their new recording "Bug Music," they play the music of The Raymond Scott Quintette, John Kirby & His Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra -- and a lot of cartoon music. Byron has become best known for playing klezmer, but musically he's all over the map: he plays jazz with his Don Byron Quintet, modern classical music with the Semaphore quintet, and he toured Europe with Music for Six Musicians, an Afro-Cuban ensemble.