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Young jazz musician James Carter talks with NPR's Tony Cox about his new CD, Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge.

NPR's Tavis Smiley talks to Victor Goines, the renowned saxophonist and clarinetist. Goines is also director of the Institute for Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School in New York, and has collaborated on a benefit CD for the school, Flowers for Juilli.

Kinky Friedman used to perform offbeat country songs with his band, the Texas Jewboys. He later turned to writing mysteries. Now he wants to be governor of Texas. His slogan for the 2006 campaign: "How Hard Can It Be?" NPR's Ketzel Levine has a profile of the Texas funnyman.

The rock band Phish, noted for its devoted followers and free-ranging concerts, announces that it will break up after their summer tour. Band members posted a notice on the group's web site Tuesday notifying fans of the decision. The group is scheduled to go on tour supporting its new album, out in June. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and critic Peter Shapiro.

Elvin Jones, a renowned drummer and member of the John Coltrane Quartet, died Tuesday in a New Jersey hospital of heart failure. He was 76. Jones' powerful, complex playing helped changed the role of the drummer in jazz groups and influenced a generation of rockers, including The Doors, the Grateful Dead and Santana. NPR's Renee Montagne has a remembrance.

The Ride is the latest album from Los Lobos, a band known for mixing folk, blues, rock and Latin rhythms. The group, which marks its 30th anniversary this year, was formed by classmates at an East Los Angeles school. The Ride, their 12th album, is on the Hollywood Records/Mammoth label. Critic David Greenberger has a review.

Composer Charles Ives died 50 years ago Wednesday. Though Ives is now widely recognized as one of America's most important composers, his work was not performed during his most creative years. Biographer Jan Swafford says Charles Ives was a "Walt Whitman of sound," able to write pieces in traditional European styles, but with an American accent. Swafford has a remembrance.

British singer and pianist Jamie Cullum, 24, puts a contemporary-rock spin on jazz standards. He says he's trying to adapt jazz to speak to his own generation. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Cullum about his new album, Twentysomething.

Bill Frisell is renowned as a versatile musician with a repertoire of blues, country, and rock — but he says he's a jazz guitarist at heart. Frisell describes his first foray into jazz, when he heard master guitarist Wes Montgomery. Marcie Sillman reports.

NPR's Mike Pesca profiles the efforts of Bruce Springsteen fan and political activist Andrew Rasiej to get "The Boss" on the Kerry bandwagon. Rasiej has reserved Giants Stadium on September 1 in an effort to goad Springsteen into headlining a concert there to protest the Republican National Convention, which will nominate President Bush for another four years in office on the same day, just across the river.