Music & Culture

Jazz helped Mary Lou Williams stay alive — but after several draining decades as a musician, she quit the scene. When she returned, she claimed her true power as one of jazz's fiercest advocates.

Mary Lou Williams, Missionary Of Jazz

by Jenny Gathright

In 1954, after several draining decades as a jazz composer, performer and mentor, Mary Lou Williams quit. When she returned, she claimed her true power as one of jazz's fiercest advocates.
Sampa The Great's debut studio album, The Return, will be released Sep. 13.

Sampa The Great Finds Her Place

by Dhruva Balram

Sampa The Great has followed a long — literally, as in criss-crossing the world — road on her way to developing and refining a singular, stunning voice. "Now, I'm like, let's go," she tells NPR Music.
The crowd at Los Dells Festival in Wisconsin celebrates music and identity.

Latin Music In The Heartland

by Felix Contreras

We visit the third annual Los Dells Festival in central Wisconsin, featuring Café Tacvba, Salt Cathedral, Ximena Sarinaña and Natalia Lafourcade.
Come From Away plays a Tiny Desk Concert on Aug. 12, 2019 (Laura Beltrán Villamizar/NPR).

Come From Away: Tiny Desk Concert

by Josh Rogosin

Sixteen performers from the Broadway cast crammed behind the Tiny Desk to sing songs and share stories about thousands of airline passengers who were stranded in Newfoundland after 9/11.