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Pianist Ben Folds has crafted a series of alt-rock hits over the past 15 years. For his pseudo-"greatest-hits" package, he's commissioned new arrangements of those songs from university a cappella groups across the country. Folds and host Jacki Lyden compare and contrast the various versions of his songs.

Balancing glitchy, pithy pop with raucous reggae, trap and R&B, these Heat Check picks from The Weeknd and Koffee give us a moment's escape from the ordinary.

Greg Tate's death left an immeasurable hole in the universe of cultural criticism. Vernon Reid, Matana Roberts, Jared Michael Nickerson and Christina Wheeler pay tribute to his music as Burnt Sugar.

Deanna Witkowski draws on a variety of influences — from Chopin to Cole Porter to a relatively unknown Brazilian rhythm called baião. It's no wonder the pianist finds her music going in different directions — sometimes within the same song — as in her "Wide Open Window." Hear Liane Hansen's performance chat with Witkowski in NPR's Studio 4A.

Pickles, pots and protein were also employed in their quirky song about pandemic lockdowns and frontline workers.

To commemorate Cohen, pianist Simone Dinnerstein performs a set of variations on the iconic song "Suzanne" in this studio session from our archives.

This trio has become a reference point of their own for new school instrumentalists, a coveted achievement for any jazz group, though their appeal stretches far outside the jazz ecosystem.

Watch the Pakistan-born singer and her masterful band perform songs of love and loss in a decrepit, yet generously resonant, convent in Brooklyn.

On this week's Wingin' It, journalist and musician Sylvie Simmons talks to NPR's Lynn Neary to share her favorite road trip song, "Bohemian Rhapsody," by Queen.

Chicago and Steve Miller were also among the acts chosen by the nominating committee for the 2016 class, which will be inducted in a ceremony in New York on April 8.