First Listen: Baaba Maal, 'The Traveller'
On his first album since 2009, the Senegalese legend seeks a balance between his instantly wrenching voice and the modern tools he uses to enhance it.
Music
First Listen: Dylan LeBlanc, 'Cautionary Tale'
The third album from the Muscle Shoals singer-songwriter unfolds with the wariness of a social and spiritual outsider who broods his way to graceful defiance.
Flamin' Groovies On World Cafe
Known for '70s power-pop, the San Francisco band celebrates its 50th anniversary in this session.
Remembering French Composer, Conductor And Musical Provocateur Pierre Boulez
Once an outspoken avant garde critic of the establishment, Boulez went on to serve as the conductor of both the New York Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Originally broadcast in 2005.
Composer Pierre Boulez, A Revered Iconoclast, Has Died At 90
Saying that a musical language always includes both rational and irrational parts, Boulez told Fresh Air in 2005, "What I tried to find, that's freedom — but a freedom which is based on discipline."
Song Premiere: Chris Bathgate, 'Calvary'
Hear the Michigan singer-songwriter's first new song in five years, from an EP called Old Factory.
Songs We Love: Siimba Liives Long, 'W.I.A.'
Delivered over a Brazilian jazz-funk sample, the Ethiopian-American rapper's quizzical style is Native Tongues-meets-Dr. Seuss, esoteric yet accessible
Phil Cook On World Cafe
Last on World Cafe with Hiss Golden Messenger, Cook returns with songs from his first solo album.
Foundation In Austin, Texas, Subsidizes Mental Health Care For Musicians
Musicians who are dealing with mental health and substance abuse problems in Austin, Texas, can get help from an organization there that provides reduced cost care --basically whatever the musicians can afford to pay-- from cooperating doctors and therapists.
Paul Bley, Influential Jazz Pianist, Has Died
Bley's long-standing commitment to thoughtful yet intuitive performance proved adaptable to many different settings for nearly seven decades. He was 83.