Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber says he's had to deal with phantoms offstage

10:26am January 05, 2024

In an interview, Lloyd Webber said a poltergeist caused some mischief around his London home. He never saw the ghost but did see weird activity — such as scripts placed in neat piles in odd places.

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Maddie Zahm talks about her album and the whirlwind of going viral

6:44pm January 04, 2024

NPR's Juana Summers talks with singer-songwriter Maddie Zahm about her new album, Now That I've Been Here, and her whirlwind couple of years since going viral for the song "Fat Funny Friend."

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Music & Culture

Billy Joel has called Long Island, N.Y., home — now the Piano Man is movin' out

7:18am January 04, 2024

Joel listed the property complete with two pools, a helicopter landing pad and a bowling alley for $49 million. He promised that selling the house didn't mean he was leaving Long Island for good.

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Music & Culture

Best Buy says it will soon stop selling DVDs and Blu-ray discs

7:18am January 04, 2024

The Minnesota-based retailer says the move is in response to the changing ways its customers are consuming media these days — mostly through online streaming.

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Remembering jazz pianist and 'Compared to What' singer Les McCann

6:09pm January 03, 2024

by Greg Bryant

The pianist Les McCann, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 88, was known for his song "Compared to What." But he had a long and celebrated expansive career that preceded — and followed — that hit.

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The legendary jazz concert with Charlie Parker playing plastic sax has been reissued

6:09pm January 03, 2024

by Bill Brownlee

Seventy years ago, Charlie Parker and four other be-bop legends created what many call the greatest jazz concert ever— with Parker playing a plastic saxophone. A reissue of the recording is out.

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Many states have introduced tablets into prisons, allowing users to do things like listen to music and send messages. Several incarcerated people told NPR that while the devices aren't perfect, the ability to stream music has been a game-changer.

People in prison explain what music means to them — and how they access it

1:25pm January 03, 2024

Three people incarcerated at prisons across the U.S. spoke to NPR's Morning Edition about how music helps them reconnect with the past, endure the present and envision the future.

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Charlie Parker, on plastic sax, is one reason to hear concert's reissued recordings

5:14am January 03, 2024

by Bill Brownlee

Seventy years ago, jazz great Charlie Parker played a plastic saxophone at what many call the greatest jazz concert ever. A new deluxe reissue of that recording is out now.

One of the world's greatest instrument collections is in South Dakota, of all places

5:27pm January 02, 2024

by Elizabeth Rembert

The National Music Museum has one of the world's largest and most significant collections of historical instruments. It's located in a place you might not expect — Vermillion, South Dakota.

Les McCann performs at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1974.

Music & Culture

Les McCann, jazz pianist with a soulful holler, dies at 88

4:02pm January 02, 2024

by Nate Chinen

An impromptu jam of "Compared to What" gave McCann a career-defining moment at the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival.