Search results for

Being relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to play and extremely portable, the harmonica has long been the perfect instrument for a nation on the move. Its popularity has waxed and waned, and it's most often heard in blues music today. But every now and again, the harmonica crosses over to jazz.

The guitarist opens up about his music, his legendary journeys on the road with The Rolling Stones and his occasionally contentious relationship with lead singer Mick Jagger in a new memoir called Life.

Lara Downes is among the foremost American pianists of her generation, a trailblazer both on and off the stage, whose musical roadmap seeks inspiration from the legacies of history, family and collective memory. As a chart-topping recording artist, a powerfully charismatic performer, a curator and tastemaker, Downes is recognized as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene.

Trotter, aka Black Thought, reflects on his childhood in Philly, his decades-long friendship with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and his life as a musician. Trotter's new memoir is The Upcycled Self.

Nearly 50 years after his untimely death, Redding's influence as a spirit of soul music remains. Jonathan Gould, author of a new biography of the singer, explains why.

The Spam Allstars are generating a buzz in the music business for their rhythmic mixtures of electronica, Latin, funk, hip-hop and dub. And the band members are just as diverse as the music they groove to. The Spam Allstars share their music as well as their inspiration.

This week’s Dress Circle (6/8 7:00 p.m.) is a return to one of our favorite topics, “Involuntary Musical Imagery” otherwise known as stuck song syndrome, sticky music, and cognitive itch, or, as the Germans call them, orhwurm. Of course, their earworms. Those pesky songs that you love to hate. You hear them, and they stay with you for a very long time afterwards.

We’re going where the “neon lights are bright” and “there’s magic in the air” on this week’s Dress Circle (6/29 7:00 p.m.) as we look at songs about Broadway from stage and screen. Even though a great deal of music has been written about being on the stage and theatres, we decided to limit it to only those songs that expressly mention “Broadway” in their titles.

We’re celebrating the career of composer/lyricist William Finn, whom we lost in April, on this week’s Dress Circle (6/22 7:00 p.m.) with thirteen songs from a variety of his often autobiographical musicals.

If you hadn’t noticed, July just happened recently. To welcome it on this week’s Dress Circle (7/6 7:00 p.m.), we’re looking at some of the musicals that have opened in New York this month. We don’t have an exhaustive list, but we were still able to amass a baker’s dozen of songs that span 157 years of musical history.