To The Left, To The Left: Behind The Beyoncelogues
Actress Nina Millin, who performs Beyonce lyrics as monologues, speaks with NPR's Audie Cornish about how a karaoke failure blossomed into a series of viral performances.
Music & Culture
Remembering Horace Silver, Hard Bop Pioneer
Jazz pianist, bandleader and composer Horace Silver died Wednesday at age 85. Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead says that Silver had been off the scene awhile, but his influence is as strong as ever.
Kevin Eubanks On JazzSet
At the annual Detroit Jazz Festival on Labor Day 2011, an amphitheater full of Motor City music lovers grooves with the Kevin Eubanks Band — outdoors, free, and in Surround Sound on JazzSet.
Regina Carter, Wynton Marsalis On JazzSet
From a traditional blessing to a children's dance, hear a violin address the African diaspora — and a trumpet tell a bedtime story.
A Double Dose Of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Free-Funk
Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society's Man Dance and its sequel Barbeque Dog are now available again as downloads, after being out of print for ages.
Album Review: 'While You Were Sleeping'
Singer-songwriter Jose James' music lives at the intersection of jazz harmony, pop songcraft and hip-hop rhythm.
Parquet Courts' Misery Is Exhilarating
The quartet has drawn comparisons to the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, and Sonic Youth, but rock critic Ken Tucker says this album proves Parquet Courts is an original.
Just In Time For Father's Day: Bad Dads In Opera
Renee Montagne talks to music commentator Miles Hoffman, who says his candidate for opera's most evil father is the character of Alberich from Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung.
'Fresh Air' Remembers Jazz Singer Jimmy Scott
Scott, who had a rare genetic condition that made him sound like a woman, was popular in '50s but didn't make any records between 1975 and 1992. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1992 about his comeback.
Nobody Panic! It's Only A Pop Song About Sex
Jody Rosen says that 1909's "I Love My Wife — But Oh! You Kid!" not only spurred guardians of public morality to action but also changed American popular music forever.