Music Interviews

100 Years Of Jazz Clarinetist Artie Shaw

In the 1930s and ’40s, Artie Shaw’s band ranked with the Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller bands in popularity. But he largely rejected pop tunes and stuck with music by composers such as George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Fresh Air remembers one of jazz’s greatest clarinetists and big-band leaders with excerpts from a 1985 interview.

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

Get To Know Clarinetist Artie Shaw

Shaw displayed an impossibly round, mellow tone from the top to the bottom of the clarinet. He employed loop-de-loop breaks that were hard to finger, and equally hard to figure out. Explore Shaw’s swinging musical persona of the late 1930s in five songs.

Studio Sessions

Regina Carter: Translating African Folk To The Jazz Violin

Carter’s new album marks a new direction for the jazz violinist: The record interprets African folk songs, both traditional and contemporary. Carter and members of her band recently visited NPR to explain and perform songs from Reverse Thread.

Music News

Legendary Jazz Pianist Hank Jones Dies At 91

Hank Jones was the last of a musical dynasty, as well as a linchpin in the history of jazz. Jones played with everyone from Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw to Charlie Parker and Marilyn Monroe. Jones died Sunday night after a brief illness. He was 91.

A Blog Supreme

The Late Pianist Hank Jones On NPR

A musician whose career spanned the majority of jazz history and whose playing reflected the lion’s share of it, died Sunday, May 16. He was 91. Hear recent interviews, performances and features with the elegant pianist.