Seattle's music scene has produced a diverse and talented crop of up-and-coming musicians, each of whom makes bold contributions to this vibrant city.Read More
Music
Los Angeles-based jazz vocalist Judy Wexler recently released her fifth album, Crowded Heart. Why, in the age of streaming, did she choose to release it solely as a CD?Read More
Compared with monkeys, humans have a brain that is extremely sensitive to a sound's pitch. And that may reflect our exposure to speech and music.Read More
Ron Howard's new Pavarotti film fails to make us feel much for its subject, and does little to bolster the magical, complicated art called opera. Read More
Over a career stretching back to the 1950s, Malcom John Rebennack came to be a living symbol of the city of New Orleans and its bottomless musical character.Read More
The higher the Dominican singer-songwriter's star rises, the tighter he grips his artistic freedom. The new Candela caps a trio of albums connecting dots between bachata, merengue, trap, pop and more.Read More
After 18 years, Apple is killing iTunes — sort of. The software is being broken into separate pieces for separate uses on Mac computers: Music, podcasts and TV will soon have their own apps.Read More
The financially embattled organization surprised its musicians, and its audience, by shortening its season and cutting the players pay and vacation, it announced Thursday.Read More
Gangsta rap had been known as aggressive, rebellious and political, but the Geto Boys' 1991 hit made it something new: vulnerable. Hip-hop's relationship with mental health has never been the same.Read More
In her U.S. debut as Don Giovanni, Lucia Lucas became the first known trans person to sing a principal role on an American opera stage.Read More
To make his latest album, Omoiyari, the Japanese-American artist decided to turn to the past. He visited Japanese internment camps and made music inspired by the stories he found there.Read More
A solo piano version of "It's Too Late" and a full-band take on "You've Been Around Too Long" were just two of the songs she performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival more than 40 years ago.Read More
The vibraphonist has a "love-hate relationship" with his instrument that has been helpful in perfecting his craft — but it wouldn't mean much without the deep emotional well he pulls from.Read More
The film by Erik Nelson honors World War II fighter pilots and is called The Cold Blue. It's being released this Friday, along with Thompson's score, in time for the Memorial Day Weekend.Read More
Harold Arlen's son and his estate are suing Google, Apple, Amazon and scores of record labels for illegally selling and streaming his music.Read More
BBC music broadcaster Stephen Johnson's remarkably diverse aesthetic and personal sensitivity are on full display in his new book on the Russian composer's music — and his own personal struggles.Read More
Hailing from Anchorage, Alaska, Christopherson is a thoughtful songwriter with a powerful sense of perspective.Read More
Aisha Fukushima has a story to tell about hip-hop and rap, but it’s not the only story there is. Fukushima, a 2009 graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, returns May 19 to share this story and her world-wide journey as an artist and activist as Whitman’s 2019 commencement speaker. Read More
Now 88 years old, Cuba's musical matriarch wants to perform for audiences until she dies. "What I have left to live for is smiles," Portuondo says. Read More
The video is a true tear-jerker, driving home the song's rawest emotions by depicting motherhood's joys and drudgery with equal affection and care.Read More
Petty's song has been used by striking workers in defiance, by political candidates to show grit, on national stages in the aftermath of tragedy. We asked what "I Won't Back Down" means to you.Read More
Steve Inskeep speaks with superstar pianist Lang Lang about his new album, Piano Book, a reexamination of the classical music repertory he learned as child.Read More
New Orleans has a fairly spotty track record when it comes to preserving cultural landmarks, but Buddy Bolden's blighted former residence may avoid being lost to time, as he nearly was.Read More
In Melbourne for its eighth iteration, the All-Star Global Concert brought together marquee names in jazz around a concert program of international, but borderless, collaboration.Read More
Smithsonian Folkways archivist and Pete Seeger expert Jeff Place talks about Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, due out on what would have been Seeger's 100th birthday.Read More
One of the three gorgeous voices at the heart of Mountain Man, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig releases her first solo album, Dawnbreaker, on June 28. Hear the title track.Read More
The Dentsu Aegis Network, which had been funding the ambitious, three-day 50th-anniversary music festival with headliners including Jay-Z and Santana, says that the August event will not happen.Read More
The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge became a household name in 2016, not for its beautiful scenery or because 300 bird species flock there, but because a militant, anti-government group had taken over headquarters for 41 days, leading to a fatal shooting. Three years later, an Oregon symphony offers music as healing.Read More
"Hello Sunshine," the first single from Bruce Springsteen's upcoming album Western Stars, shares the same melancholy space as early '70s ballads by Jimmy Webb and Kris Kristofferson.Read More
The acclaimed Concertgebouw Orchestra issued a warmly worded statement Tuesday saying its disagreements with the conductor have been resolved by both parties.Read More
There's a grainy video of the first time Nirvana played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" live, at a small club in Seattle in April 1991. Nirvana was largely unknown outside of punk and indie rock circles in the Pacific Northwest. The band hadn't even recorded the song yet, which meant that nearly everybody in the room was hearing it for the very first time. Still, the reaction Read More
Chief organist Olivier Latry looks ahead at the church's extensive renovation process after the Notre Dame cathedral fire on April 15.Read More
NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Christian McBride of Jazz Night in America about the forgotten all-female big bands that toured the United States during World War II.Read More
The young composer's opera, which debuted at the Los Angeles Opera, was inspired by her own experience as a survivor of sexual assault.Read More
The famed musician and current chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame talks to NPR about a recent letter he and many other songwriters sent to the head of Spotify.Read More
The song was everywhere during the 1967 gatherings in San Francisco. After it was used in a public service announcement, it became an anthem for the rest of the world.Read More
Nézet-Séguin uses every part of his body when he conducts — including his eyes, eyebrows, shoulders and feet. He's the music director at New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra.Read More
Written by a feminist poet who struggled with bouts of depression, the song is an aspirational counterpoint to "The Star-Spangled Banner" — calling on America to use its riches for the common good.Read More
Nirvana's Kurt Cobain died 25 years ago Friday. The band's former manager Danny Goldberg discusses his memories of Cobain and his new book, Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain.Read More
World Cafe premieres this tightly syncopated groove from Gilfillian which draws on the vibes of '70s Afro-rock and funk. Read More
On his new album titled c.1300-c.2000, the pianist begins with a medieval song by Machaut and ends with an étude by Philip Glass. Read More
The New York State Supreme Court dismissed most of the fallen music director's claims against the Metropolitan Opera and its general manager, Peter Gelb. Even so, both sides are claiming victory.Read More
It's not enough to say the Bruce Springsteen hit is misunderstood. Its contrasts — between grim verses and a joyous chorus, damning facts and fierce pride — are what give it its anthemic power.Read More
The newly disclosed sale agreement of Westminster Choir College to a conglomerate partly owned by the Chinese government appears to state that the prospective owners can close the school at any time.Read More
Join KJEM 89.9FM in Pullman at the Gladish Auditorium, April 11th, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. Jazz Night spotlights local to the Palouse groups Jazz Wires and Fatt Jazz. No ticket […]Read More
The former member of The Walker Brothers and singer of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" was also one of experimental music's most beloved composers.Read More
The bill for Woodstock 50 has been announced featuring acts like Imagine Dragons, Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus. The lineup is prompting conversation online. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson weighs in. Read More
The jazz legend and barrier breaker was born on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Ala.Read More
The DIVA Jazz Orchestra celebrates 25 years, and one of the last surviving members of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm reflects on the legacies of all-female big bands.Read More
Woody Guthrie was born into the Dust Bowl's devastation and displacement. His signature song, taught in classrooms and sung at protests, offers an expansive, inclusive idea of what home can be.Read More
