Music & Culture

Remembering Ahmad Jamal, jazz piano legend and Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner

5:53pm April 17, 2023

by Karen Michel

Ahmad Jamal, a prodigious pianist, composer and bandleader whose seemingly effortless mastery resulted in part from a childhood dare, has died at age 92.

While rooted in Chicago's jazz community, the past few years have found Natural Information Society opening for indie stalwarts like Yo La Tengo, Kurt Vile and Big Thief.

Music & Culture

Natural Information Society celebrates its idiosyncrasies, warts and all

3:01pm April 17, 2023

by Andy Beta

The urge to build a community of sound, first found on the streets of Philly playing with The Roots, still drives bandleader Joshua Abrams. Since Time is Gravity deepens the jazz band's own roots.

Music & Culture

Bartees Strange reflects on the success of 'Farm to Table'

12:51pm April 17, 2023

Bartees chats with World Cafe about his sophomore album, Farm to Table, and advice he has for artists on the rise.

Frank Ocean is seen on the display screen during his headlining set on the Coachella stage Sunday during the festival's opening weekend.

Why Frank Ocean's long-anticipated Coachella performance was a mixed bag

11:48am April 17, 2023

by Juliana Kim

Frank Ocean closed the opening weekend of the music festival Coachella. He was originally slated to headline in 2020, but the show was postponed due to COVID.

Music & Culture

Stuck, 'The Punisher'

9:01am April 17, 2023

by Loren DiBlasi

Like the past few years spent waking up to whatever fresh hell awaits, the Chicago unit's brand of urgent, biting post-punk doesn't go down easy.

Music & Culture

Measured maestro of the jazz piano, Ahmad Jamal, dies at 92

5:03am April 17, 2023

Ahmad Jamal was a pianist, composer and bandleader. His influence and admirers spread far and wide in jazz. In 1994, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship.

Claudia Acuña performs a Tiny Desk concert Friday, March 17, 2023, at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Music & Culture

Claudia Acuña: Tiny Desk Concert

5:00am April 17, 2023

by Felix Contreras

The Chilean jazz vocalist makes a lasting impression at the Tiny Desk.

Music & Culture

Ahmad Jamal, measured maestro of the jazz piano, dies at 92

8:59pm April 16, 2023

by Martin Johnson

The pianist's 1958 recording At The Pershing: But Not For Me spent 108 weeks on the Billboard album chart.

A young fan came to the Mumbai home of rapper Saniya Mistri Qayammuddin – aka Saniya MQ — to pay her respects and pose for a selfie.

The improbable fame of a hijab-wearing teen rapper from a poor neighborhood in Mumbai

11:41am April 16, 2023

by Raksha Kumar

First Saniya wrote poems. Then she began rapping. Now she appears on TV and YouTube and before big crowds, spreading her message about justice. Her father the rickshaw driver is her chauffeur.

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Music & Culture

Tim Nelson of Cub Sport on their new album 'Jesus at the Gay Bar'

7:48am April 16, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Tim Nelson of the Australian band Cub Sport. Their new album - a mix of spirituality, self-reflection, and joy - is called "Jesus at the Gay Bar."