Jan 6th, 2009 · Friend and patron to several generations of composers and artists, Freeman was the catalyst behind the opera Nixon in China by John Adams, as well as pieces by John Cage, Harry Partch, Thomas Ades, Philip Glass and dozens of others.
Jan 6th, 2009 · News from Somalia usually involves violent warlords or pirates hijacking ships off the coast. Other than that, average Somalis don't have much of a voice. The rapper K'Naan is trying to change that, and in the world of hip-hop, he's become an artist to watch.
Jan 2nd, 2009 · Jake Shimabukuro is a genre-demolishing artist who plays jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco and rock. It's all with the mission of showing everyone that the ukulele is capable of much more than just traditional Hawaiian music. He performs a concert from San Francisco.
Jan 2nd, 2009 · A cornetist and jazz scholar, Sudhalter remembers overlooked cornetist Bix Beiderbecke with Marian McPartland. Beiderbecke had a short career in the 1920s, but he influenced a wide spectrum of artists, from Hoagy Carmichael to Miles Davis. McPartland plays Beiderbecke's most famous piano composition, "In a Mist," before getting together with Sudhalter on "Davenport Blues."
Dec 30th, 2008 · This year at NPR Music ends the way the previous 29 have for NPR and its jazz partner WBGO: with live jazz, all night long. Toast of the Nation features jazz groups welcoming the new year across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, Boston to New Orleans. Here's a preview of the night's artists.
Dec 29th, 2008 · Henri Matisse made drawings of her, with spare, pure lines. Aristide Maillol sculpted her in bronze. Now, Dina Vierny, the muse of those 20th-century artists, is 89 years old; she still speaks of them with affection and clarity.
Dec 27th, 2008 · Most artists struggle financially during the best of times and now they face an economy that's bad for everyone. But one Denver artist is confident he'll weather the current economy the same way he's thrived for 40 years.
Dec 26th, 2008 · The language of our lives is changing faster than you can download an iPhone app. Wired magazine's "Jargon Watch" columnist (and conceptual artist) Jonathan Keats runs down the top tech jargon terms of 2008.