Remembering Pat Dowell, Longtime Film Reporter For NPR
Pat Dowell, a freelance film reporter for NPR, died on Sunday. Dowell had been dealing with health issues for some time, but her death came as a surprise. She was 66 years old. Pat was a freelancer for...
View ArticleB.B. King, Legendary Blues Guitarist, Dies At 89
It seemed as if he'd go on forever — and B.B. King was working right up until the end. It's what he loved to do: playing music, and fishing. Even late in life, living with diabetes, he spent about half...
View ArticleCultural Capital: 50 Years Of Investment In U.S. Arts And Humanities
The National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, two federal grant-making agencies aimed at investing in American culture, turn 50 on Tuesday. There will be a yearlong celebration commemorating the...
View ArticleFor John Scofield, Everything Old Is New Again — Even The Hard Parts
Jazz guitarist John Scofield has had a pretty remarkable career. Without even finishing music school, he found himself on the Carnegie Hall stage playing with jazz legends Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan...
View ArticlePaul Kantner, Co-Founder Of Jefferson Airplane, Dies At 74
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: We're going to travel up the California coast now to remember one of the architects of the San Francisco Sound of the '60s. (SOUNDBITE OF...
View Article'Serpent' Film Explores, Revives Lost Cultural Knowledge For Colombians
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Can time go backwards? Can two people from different generations be the same person? These questions are at the heart of a new film from...
View ArticleIn Life And In Film, The Past Is Ever Present For Director Terence Davies
Watching a Terence Davies film is like watching paintings come to life. On the other hand, the filmmaker jokes, "The people who don't like my films say it's about as interesting as paint drying."...
View ArticleZappa On Zappa: 'Eat That Question' Tells A Contrarian's Story In His Own Words
Musician and composer Frank Zappa was a lot of things: biting satirist, ferocious critic of societal norms, outspoken defender of free speech. He saw himself as not only an entertainer, but also a...
View ArticleToots Thielemans, Jazz Harmonica Baron, Dies At 94
Jean-Baptiste "Toots" Thielemans, the Belgian-American musician who cut a singular path as a jazz harmonica player, died in his sleep Monday in his hometown of Brussels. He was 94. He began his...
View ArticleGuitarist Conjures The Sound Of The Kora From Thousands Of Miles Away
Derek Gripper was a musician with a problem. He'd been playing classical music since he was 6 years old — violin, then piano and finally guitar. He was poised for an international career as a classical...
View ArticleRemembering Robert Goldstein, NPR's Music Librarian And Our Friend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L1JjEecEfc For 20 years, Robert Goldstein was NPR's music librarian. He went on to become a manager in our research and archives division, and shared his love of music...
View Article30 Years Of 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot,' The Classic 'Cult Classic' Film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhRCVm-1r2k Thirty years ago this week, an unknown filmmaker walked into a club in Washington, D.C., with a videotape in his hand. It was one of those nights when anyone...
View Article'It's Better To Be An Outsider': Wolfgang Muthspiel's Global Guitar Odyssey
Mention Austria and music in the same phrase and some people will think Haydn and Mozart . Others will think of The Sound of Music , with its singing Von Trapp family. In recent years, another musician...
View ArticleDanilo Brito: Tiny Desk Concert
After four chords, the notes start to fly — Danilo Brito and his four collaborators, three Brazilians and one American, are off like jackrabbits in front of a hound, having hustled their instruments to...
View ArticleJohn Abercrombie, Jazz Guitarist, Dies At 72
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit (SOUNDBITE OF JOHN ABERCROMBIE'S "BACKWARD GLANCE") ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: That's guitarist John Abercrombie. He created a sound uniquely his own over a career that...
View ArticleJohn Williams, Classical Guitar's Standard-Bearer, Still Recording In Retirement
Classical guitarist John Williams reached millions of ears and even hit the charts when he played the main theme to the Oscar-winning 1978 film The Deer Hunter . But by then, Williams was already a...
View ArticleNew York's Spring Art Auctions Have Seen Some Yawns And Some Records
Updated at 2:50 p.m. ET Friday The biggest surprise at Wednesday night's Sotheby's auction was a painting by Chicago-based artist Kerry James Marshall . Past Times set a record for a living African...
View ArticleIn Memoriam: The Musicians We Lost In 2018
Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit NOEL KING, HOST: As 2018 comes to a close, we're going to take a moment to remember some of the musicians we lost this year. Here is our annual musical montage....
View ArticleDick Dale, King Of Surf Guitar, Dies At 81
Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit AILSA CHANG, HOST: Fans and fellow musicians today are remembering the king of the surf guitar. Dick Dale died Saturday at the age of 81. He and his band, the...
View ArticleBeyond The Summer Of Love, 'Get Together' Is An Anthem For Every Season
This story is part of American Anthem, a yearlong series on songs that rouse, unite, celebrate and call to action. Find more at NPR.org/Anthem . The song sometimes called the "hippie national anthem"...
View Article
