Music & Culture

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.

Bradley Cooper plays composer Leonard Bernstein in Maestro.

To become the 'Maestro,' Bradley Cooper learned to live the music

2:56pm January 02, 2024

by Terry Gross

In his new biopic Maestro, Cooper was determined not to imitate the legendary Leonard Bernstein. Instead, the actor worked with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin to find his own rhythm.

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Music & Culture

The force is still strong with 91-year-old legendary composer John Williams

7:25am January 02, 2024

The man behind the music in more than 75 films including Star Wars had hinted he might be ready to retire. He said recently if something came along that caught his fancy, he would "keep an open mind."

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Barbra Streisand shares her secret for keeping performances honest

12:00pm January 01, 2024

by Terry Gross

When she was starring in Funny Girl on Broadway, Streisand says she'd alter the music slightly each night. Her new memoir is My Name is Barbra. Originally broadcast Nov. 8, 2023.

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Music & Culture

New Year's anthems

5:15pm December 30, 2023

by Ann Powers

It's harder to build a New Year's playlist than it is for other winter holidays. NPR has some tips on finding the right music to ring in the new year.

Scenes from the year's top global TikToks.

Top global TikToks of 2023: Mr. Bean of math, makeup demo, capybaras!

12:57pm December 30, 2023

by Danielle Preiss

The most popular global TikToks of the year are a mix of the over-the-top, the weird and the wonderful. Here's a closer look at five favorites.

A new book of world history has a playlist to go along with it

8:19am December 30, 2023

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore has compiled a playlist to go along with his book, "The World".

Music & Culture

Add listening to this New Orleans jazz drummer to your 2024 bucket list

8:07am December 30, 2023

by John Burnett

One of the most in-demand jazz drummers in New Orleans in Herlin Riley, who enthralls audiences with his rhythms and the enthusiasm he brings to his art.

Herlin Riley performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 30, 2011.

Herlin Riley: master of drums in the cradle of jazz

5:30am December 30, 2023

by John Burnett

With a long career playing among jazz and R&B greats, he remains one of the most in-demand drummers in New Orleans.