Music

In Volume 6 of its Complete Motown Singles series, the Hip-O Select label surveys the Motown magicians making noise in 1966: the Isley Brothers, the Supremes, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and others. Fresh Air's rock historian has a review.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Tell-Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol 8. It is the latest in Columbia Records' officially-released collection of previously unreleased or alternate tracks by Bob Dylan.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews TV On The Radio's new album Dear Science.

Widely regarded as one of the best guitarists of all time, blues legend B.B. King is still recording at age 82. Music critic Milo Miles reviews King's newest album, One Kind Favor.

Photographer William Claxton got his start taking photos of jazz musicians in natural settings instead of smoky lounges. His 1967 film Basic Black was considered the first fashion video. He died Oct. 11 from congestive heart failure.

The third album from the William Parker Quartet is named Petit Oiseau, after a character in a poem written by Parker. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead assesses whether the album — whose French title translates to "Little Bird" — takes flight.

Raphael Saadiq, the lead vocalist in the late-1980s R&B band Tony! Toni! Tone!, has emerged as solo artist with his new album The Way I See It. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the debut album from Richmond, Va.-based jazz nonet Fight the Big Bull.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the guitarist and singer's new album, The Blues Rolls On. Released in early September, the disc includes collaborations with B.B. King, George Thorogood, James Cotton and more.

In the 1947 film, It Happened In Brooklyn, Frank Sinatra plays a soldier who returns after four years at war and decides to pursue a singing career. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the recently-released DVD version of the film.

Bassist Charlie Haden is known as a great jazz musician, but his lineage is all country: Growing up, he performed alongside his brothers and sister in the Haden Family Band, a country group led by parents, Carl and Virginia.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Hold Up The Sky, Andy Zwerling's first album in 37 years. Zwerling's previous album, a retrospective called Somewhere Near Pop Heaven, became a surprise hit in Croatia in 2003.

Fresh Air music critic Milo Miles reviews Classic African American Gospel, a Smithsonian Folkways "Classic" that spans over a half century of recordings. Featuring Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Terry and others, the compilation illustrates a truly American musical tradition.

A collaboration between a novelist and a musician.

Fresh Air's jazz critic takes a fresh look at the reissue of the album Head On (Blue Note/EMI), a 1971 session led and recorded by Bobby Hutcherson.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells the story of the Staple Singers, an American gospel, soul and R&B group.

A new novel three decades in the making features time travel, screwball hidden identity plots and lively background music. Reviewer Maureen Corrigan calls The Little Book by Selden Edwards an "an ideal late-summer reading getaway."

Record producer Jerry Wexler died on August 15. He was 91. Wexler created the careers of some of the greatest musicians of the time, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin.

He's put out hit records for half a century, toured with the Beach Boys, even hosted his own TV show. So why is the latest album from the indefatigable country-pop singer called Meet Glen Campbell?

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Real Animal, the new album by Austin, Texas-based underground legend Alejandro Escovedo.