Music & Culture

American jazz musician Woody Herman rehearses in London during a tour of England.

Music & Culture

100 Years Of Woody Herman: The Early Bloomer Who Kept Blooming

2:04pm May 16, 2013

by Kevin Whitehead

In a career that ran from the 1930s into the 1980s, and included work in big bands and rock 'n' roll, the clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader changed to reflect the times. Herman would have turned 100 on May 16.

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Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches performs at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, in March.

Music & Culture

Big Songs, Big Hype (Oh Yeah, They're Women)

1:19pm May 16, 2013

by Lizzy Goodman

Three heavily hyped new bands have little in common, except being led by women. How important is that?

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Vampire Weekend's third album is titled Modern Vampires of the City. Singer Ezra Koenig (far left) says he sees it as the closing chapter of a trilogy.

Music & Culture

Vampire Weekend: New Sounds Signal The End Of An Era

9:17pm May 14, 2013

by NPR Staff

Singer Ezra Koenig says the band's new album, Modern Vampires of the City, is the final part of a trilogy — and the product of a lot of reflection on time and aging.

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Bing Crosby: From The Vaults, Surprising Breadth

3:27pm May 13, 2013

by Kevin Whitehead

Four albums of reissues and archival recordings from Crosby's own vaults are getting a high-profile release; they demonstrate that his influence on modern singing is so huge, we barely notice it anymore. He could sing anything from Latin to Hawaiian to The Great American Songbook.

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Rudresh Mahanthappa's latest album is Gamak.

Music & Culture

Balancing Influences: Saxophonist Mahanthappa Blends Styles

6:52pm May 12, 2013

by NPR Music

Rudresh Mahanthappa's work always seems to be filed under jazz, but it's hard to find a style he doesn't touch: hip-hop, country, metal and soul fused with traditional sounds from India, Africa and Indonesia. And he makes it rock.

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LL Cool J's latest album is called Authentic.

Music & Culture

LL Cool J On 'Accidental Racist' And Authenticity

10:57pm May 11, 2013

by NPR Staff

"The last thing that I want to do is be a hack," says the rapper and actor. His latest album, his first since splitting with the record label that launched his career, is called Authentic.

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Swedish-born guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen has released more than two dozen albums.

Yngwie Malmsteen: 'I've Always Been A Little Bit Of An Extremist'

10:11am May 11, 2013

by NPR Staff

Malmsteen is the king of the neoclassical shred guitar. The Swedish musician and composer has somehow bridged centuries, from Paganini to his own arpeggiated acrobatics. Here, the guitarist speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about being a family man and growing up on Bach and Jimi Hendrix.

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Music & Culture

Ala. Juke Joint Shuttered After More Than 50 Years

10:11am May 11, 2013

Longtime blues joint Gip's Place, in Bessemer, Ala., has been forced to close its doors. Weekend Edition profiled the place two years ago. Host Scott Simon takes note of the closing.

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Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan star in Baz Lurhmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby — but the new film's music is so bold it may as well be a character, too.

Music & Culture

'It Led Us On A Journey': The Musical World Of 'The Great Gatsby'

9:47am May 11, 2013

by NPR Staff

In overseeing the new film's soundtrack, music supervisor Anton Monsted says he hoped to create a "sliding door" effect between the Jazz Age and the hip-hop era.

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Charles Bradley was signed by Daptone Records partly because of a James Brown act he used to perform. His new album is Victim of Love.

Music & Culture

On Two New R&B Albums, An Old Soul Sound That Glows

5:55pm May 08, 2013

by Oliver Wang

New York's Charles Bradley and London's James Hunter Six both mix inspiration and replication.

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