Music Reviews

Of the three Bee Gees, only Barry Gibb is still alive. His new album is Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Volume 1. The HBO documentary, The Bee Gees, tells the story of the group's rise.

Abrams' quartet can groove and play pretty, but they can also do free jazz. Their new album is about being part of something bigger, where each player is stronger for all the ways they interlock.

Dozens of notable jazz musicians died this year, many from COVID-19. Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead remembers some of the legends lost, including Bucky Pizzarelli, Ellis Marsalis and Jimmy Heath.

The holidays have never felt more ambivalent — a feeling captured by Phoebe Bridgers' "Christmas Song"; The Bird and the Bee's "You and I at Christmas Time"; and Nick Lowe's "Winter Wonderland."

The album showcases 45 minutes from Coleman's '71 sets at Baltimore's Famous Ballroom, where the atmosphere was typically lively and the jazz legend was elegant and full of fire.

The pandemic, along with unprecedented political and social upheaval, created a year in which listeners sought to be transported. Enter these 10 albums. At the top of the list: X's Alphabetland.

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Saïs Kamalidiin, a Howard University professor, about a new collection showcasing 25 recordings of early Black classical musicians, called Black Swans.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Illinois artist and mother of three Ja Nelle Pleasure, who has recently experienced food insecurity, about how she is feeding her family this winter.

Recorded over the course of three days in 1967, during a period when the saxophonist was disillusioned with the record business, Rollins in Holland presents a jazz master in an ideal setting.

Jarrett is acclaimed for his intense and physically energetic improvised performances. Kevin Whitehead reviews Jarrett's new album, Budapest, and we listen back to a 2000 interview with him.

The Gospel Truth was a subsidiary of the famous soul label Stax Records. A new anthology, The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection, revisits its brief moment in gospel soul history.

Pedal steel guitar is a staple of country music, but Alcorn bends it around odd corners. Her quintet's new album is beyond category — roaming betwixt jazz and improvised music and rock and country.