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Jay McShann, nicknamed "Hootie," helped define the Kansas City style of jazz, which mixed blues and boogie woogie. In this program from 1980, McShann talks about those early days in Kansas City and meeting a young sax player named Charlie Parker.

We asked Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael of the band Maroon 5 to share a piece of music that they love, that inspires them and that they listen to again and again. Hear why they chose Prince's Purple Rain.

Norah Jones became an immediate star after the release of her 2002 album Come Away With Me. Having sold more than 36 million records, Jones decided to move in a different direction with her new fourth album, titled The Fall. Rock critic Ken Tucker says it's an improvement over her last two.

Deceptively complex, Cosí fan tutte is a comic farce that often leaves romantically inclined listeners more than a little bit queasy. The libretto springs plenty of jokes, but Mozart's music tells you to hold on to your heart — you never know which way the romantic winds might blow.

He didn't see it coming when his sensitive crooning launched him to pop fame in 1996. But with one Tony Award-winning musical in the books and another production on the way, his work as a stage composer has put him in the spotlight again.

He grew up with John Coltrane, gigged with Art Blakey and shared the silver screen with Tom Hanks. Now, on the eve of 80, illustrious saxophonist and jazz composer Benny Golson is re-creating his greatest ensemble: the six-person Jazztet.

New Orleans is not only the cradle of jazz. It's also the birthplace of great jazz piano, dating back to the early 1900s, when Jelly Roll Morton tickled the ivories. Hear three pianists who are keeping upholding that great tradition — Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler and Jon Cleary — onstage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with Keys to New Orleans.

The singer and multi-instrumentalist relies on violins, guitars and whistling to craft a unique sound that's difficult to describe. On his latest album, Noble Beast, Bird even uses his words as instruments, creating lyrics from archaic and esoteric words that conform to the melodies in his head.

The "First Lady of Gospel Music" delivers a sampling of her vast music ministry in this Tiny Desk home Concert.

What happens when cultural doors open between the U.S. and Cuba? Beautiful moments like this mix of Mozart and a Cuban classic — with Brooklyn pianist Simone Dinnerstein and an orchestra from Havana.