Music & Culture

Steve Reich in New York City in 2005. During the coronavirus crisis, the composer has been is Los Angeles, working on a new piece.

Music & Culture

Our Daily Breather: Steve Reich Composes During The Coronavirus Crisis

10:00am May 26, 2020

by Tom Huizenga

In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Steve Reich tells NPR Music about his new composition.

Blue Note recording artist Nduduzo Makhathini and vocalist Omagugu Makhathini perform a healing duet from their home in South Africa.

Music & Culture

Nduduzo Makhathini And Omagugu Makhathini: Alone Together Duets

8:00am May 26, 2020

Watch Blue Note recording artist Nduduzo Makhathini and vocalist Omagugu Makhathini perform a healing duet from their home in South Africa.

Jimmy Cobb was the last surviving member of what's often called Miles Davis' First Great Sextet.

Music & Culture

Jimmy Cobb, The Pulse Of 'Kind Of Blue,' Dies At 91

2:35pm May 25, 2020

by Natalie Weiner

The drummer was the last surviving musician to play on Miles Davis's iconic 1959 album.

Music & Culture

Ella Fitzgerald And Louis Armstrong Go 'Cheek To Cheek' On A 4-Disc Set

12:05pm May 25, 2020

by Lloyd Schwartz

Fitzgerald's warm, yet ultra-cool voice was at the opposite pole of jazz singing from Armstrong's gravelly growl. There's absolutely no reason their voices should blend so effortlessly — but they do.

Queue Listen Now

Noah Cyrus' new EP The End of Everything incorporates contemporary pop, country, the gospel music of her grandfather and is inspired by a YouTube video about the end of the universe.

Music & Culture

Noah Cyrus On Growing Up In Public And 'The End Of Everything'

7:53am May 24, 2020

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to the singer-songwriter about stepping out from under her family's shadow, the end of the universe and the influence of her grandfather's gospel music on her songs.

The Coronavirus Pandemic Canceled His Concerts. This Is The Song That Helps Him Cope

7:53am May 24, 2020

Peter Russell of Washington, D.C., shares the song that's helping him get through these times, Franz Schubert's 'An Die Musik.'

Clem Snide with Scott Avett play a Tiny Desk (Home) concert.

Music & Culture

Clem Snide With Scott Avett: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

11:26am May 23, 2020

by Stephen Thompson

Clem Snide and Scott Avett play spiritually searching songs from Forever Just Beyond while maintaining social distancing for their Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Woods' album Strange To Explain was inspired by sleepless nights after singer Jeremy Earl became a father. "Those first few months of having a newborn kind of put me in a dreamlike state," he says.

Music & Culture

Inspired By Sleepless Nights, The New Woods Album Is 'Strange To Explain'

8:00am May 23, 2020

NPR's Scott Simon talks to Jeremy Earl about his band Woods and its new album, Strange to Explain, which he wrote in the months following the birth of his daughter.

Music & Culture

Pandemic Strikes Jazz Community

5:38pm May 22, 2020

by Christian McBride

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Christian McBride, the host of Jazz Night in America, about the toll the pandemic has taken on the jazz community.

Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga in the video for "Rain On Me."

Music & Culture

In Their First Collaboration, Lady Gaga And Ariana Grande Get Exuberantly Dystopic

5:13pm May 22, 2020

by Jon Lewis

Lady Gaga shared her second single ahead of Chromatica, including a first-time feature from Ariana Grande — and of course, a video to boot.