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Toshiko Akiyoshi's Jazz Orchestra Brought The Club To Concert Halls

It's been 60 years since the Japanese musician moved to the U.S., changed the sound of the big band, and counted Oscar Peterson and Charles Mingus among her fans. It wasn't an easy road.

How Latin Grammy nominee Giovanni Parra imbues his music with the 'flavor of Colombia'

Parra’s sixth album, “Milonguín,” was nominated for a Latin Grammy last year. This is his fifth nomination.

Meshell Ndegeocello opens the lid on her self-contained world

The artist's first album as a lead for Blue Note grew from a jarring realignment in her personal life. On The Omnichord Real Book, she finds ways to embrace jazz without taking on its baggage.

After his First Symphony flopped, Sergei Rachmaninoff briefly switched careers. A London critic wrote, "It was such a spectacle as has rarely been seen anywhere in the Empire."

New Research Reveals Rachmaninoff's Secret Career

After his First Symphony flopped, the Russian composer made ends meet with a short-lived and little-known career in vaudeville and the circus.

Byron Janis, photographed in 1968 at the Chateau Thoiry, where he discovered two rare Chopin manuscripts, one of which sits on the antique piano.

Chopin In The Shadows: The Supernatural Adventures Of Byron Janis

The famous 89-year-old pianist has spent a lifetime perfecting Chopin. Along the way, the composer has reached out from the great beyond in a few startling ways.

Brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna composed the music for the new Pixar film <em>The Good Dinosaur</em>. "The entire process of making a music score is additive, so every little detail becomes part of the whole," Mychael says.

The Good Dino-Score: Behind The Music Of Pixar's Latest

Writing music for The Good Dinosaur was a seven-month journey for brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna, not all of it glamorous.

"Sometimes when you watch Bernstein conduct ... it's his own involvement and enthusiasm at that moment, his own kind of oneness with the work," archivist Barbara Haws says.

The Complex Life Of Leonard Bernstein, A Once-In-A-Century Talent

Born 100 years ago on Aug. 25, 1918, Bernstein was a larger-than-life character — on stage as a conductor, at the piano as a composer, on TV as an educator and in a sometimes tangled personal life.

Wallace Roney performing at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, as part of the 2014 Winter Jazzfest. The trumpet player died Tuesday, March 31.

Wallace Roney, Intrepid Jazz Trumpeter, Dies From COVID-19 Complications At 59

The pugnacious post-bop player and composer, who was mentored by Miles Davis and Clark Terry, had been hospitalized since last Wednesday.

A detail from the cover of David Bowie's album <em>Hunky Dory</em>, first released in 1971.

NPR 50: The long tail of David Bowie's explosive 'Hunky Dory'

Bowie was still an aspiring pop star, with but one successful single under his belt, at the time of Hunky Dory's release. It wouldn't last.

John Mellencamp performs during the Farm Aid 2021 music festival at the Xfinity Theatre on Sept. 25, 2021 in Hartford, Conn.

John Mellencamp reflects on a world estranged on new album 'Strictly a One-Eyed Jack'

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp returns with his first album of original songs in five years, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack.

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