Music

Music & Culture

Remembering Jazz Tuba Player Howard Johnson

1:51pm January 22, 2021

by Terry Gross

In the 1960s and '70s, Johnson, who died Jan. 11, played on recordings by Charles Mingus, McCoy Tyner and Carla Bley. He also led his own ensembles, including Gravity. Originally broadcast in 1984.

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Music & Culture

Matt Berninger's First Solo Album Was Inspired By Willie Nelson's 'Stardust'

1:37pm January 22, 2021

The National's lead singer set out to create something warm and welcoming on his new album, Serpentine Prison.

Rep. Clyburn Wants To Make 'Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing' The U.S. National Hymn

7:38am January 22, 2021

For more than 100 years Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing has been known as the Black National Anthem. But Congressman James Clyburn believes it's time for it to be honored as the official National Hymn.

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Max Richter plays a Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Music & Culture

Max Richter: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

5:00am January 22, 2021

by Tom Huizenga

Watch the composer, in a bucolic southern England setting, play six of his most tranquil, yet probing pieces.

A new Dusty Springfield anthology collects singles from her time with Atlantic Records.

Music & Culture

On A New Anthology, Dusty Springfield's Take On Southern Soul Gets Another Look

5:45pm January 21, 2021

by Oliver Wang

In 1968, the British singer flew to the U.S. after signing with Atlantic Records. Her acclaimed recordings from this period are collected in Dusty Springfield: The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971.

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Music & Culture

With 'Some Kind Of Tomorrow' 2 Jazz Musicians Improvise Together Over Zoom

1:53pm January 21, 2021

by Kevin Whitehead

Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias play together in a new remotely recorded digital album. These seasoned improvisers line up just right, despite the recording challenges.

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Press pause and hit play on a playlist of essential songs selected by the NPR Music staff.

Music & Culture

Press Pause And Hit Play: The Best New Songs You Missed In 2021

1:44pm January 21, 2021

by Lars Gotrich

A regularly updated playlist that keeps track of new songs deemed absolutely essential by the NPR Music staff.

Darlene Love in 1964. Love was the uncredited singer on a handful of the biggest hits produced by Phil Spector during the era when he was making his "Wall of Sound" production technique famous.

Music & Culture

The Voices Of Black Women Were Essential To Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound

11:39am January 21, 2021

by Maureen Mahon

The full impact of Spector's musical legacy is impossible to measure without accounting for the creative labor of singers like Darlene Love and the damage Spector's manipulations did to their careers.

Celtic harpist Kim Robertson is featured in this week's episode.

Music & Culture

Thistle & Shamrock: Wintersong

9:00am January 21, 2021

Listen to Fiona Ritchie's hour-long curation of winter songs featuring artists Maddy Prior, Atwater Donelly and Kim Robertson.

PUP performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Music & Culture

PUP: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

5:00am January 21, 2021

by Lyndsey McKenna

The Canadian punk band might have generated a noise complaint with this Tiny Desk quarantine performance.