Music & Culture

Amid Explosive Performances And Big Awards, Some Smaller Grammy Nods

7:11pm February 16, 2016

The Grammy Awards telecast was full of explosive performances and awards, but it was easy to miss the smaller awards. NPR reflects on conversations with two of last night's winners that you might have missed.

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Helene Grimaud's new album, Water, is inspired by environmental activism and the sheer number of compositions dedicated to water.

Music & Culture

On Helene Grimaud's New Album, 'Water' Is A Metaphor And Motivation

6:03pm February 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

An environmental activist as well as a pianist, Grimaud was motivated by composers' fascination with water. Each piece on her new album is inspired by it.

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Toshiko Akiyoshi developed a reputation as a fierce bebop player. But she says she wasn't completely accepted in the jazz world as a woman and an Asian.

Music & Culture

Toshiko Akiyoshi's Jazz Orchestra Brought The Club To Concert Halls

5:10pm February 16, 2016

by Tom Vitale

It's been 60 years since the Japanese musician moved to the U.S., changed the sound of the big band, and counted Oscar Peterson and Charles Mingus among her fans. It wasn't an easy road.

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Composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Stucky, who died Feb. 14.

Music & Culture

Remembering Composer Steven Stucky

4:06pm February 16, 2016

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The Pulitzer Prize-winning American musician, teacher and author was 66 years old. He had been diagnosed with cancer in November.

Kendrick Lamar performs "The Blacker The Berry" at the 2016 Grammy Awards, held Monday night.

Music & Culture

For 20 Minutes, The Grammys Transcend The Awards-Show Blahs

4:02pm February 16, 2016

by Stephen Thompson

The awards themselves went more or less as expected. But two performances, one from Broadway's Hamilton and one an extended medley by Kendrick Lamar, overwhelmed everything that surrounded them.

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Police drive past the Olympia concert venue in Paris a few hours before a makeup concert by U.S. rock group Eagles of Death Metal on Tuesday.

Rock Band Returns To Paris To Finish Show; Frontman Pans France's Gun Laws

2:57pm February 16, 2016

by Bill Chappell

"The only way my mind has been changed is maybe that until nobody has guns everybody has to have them," lead singer Jesse Hughes tells a French TV show.

Music & Culture

Ben Folds: Tiny Desk Concert

2:00pm February 16, 2016

by Bob Boilen

Performing solo in the NPR Music offices, the singer, songwriter and pianist performs three songs from his new album and two old favorites: "Emaline" and "One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces."