Music

Billie Holiday performs in New York City in 1947.

Music & Culture

New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer

10:19am December 03, 2020

by Elizabeth Blair

The film continues writer Linda Kuehl's unfinished investigation into Holiday's life through never-before-heard interviews with jazz luminaries, and explores her experiences with institutional racism.

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Music & Culture

Becoming Isis Tha Saviour

10:01am December 03, 2020

by Chiquita Paschal

A former ward of the state who gave birth while imprisoned, Philly rapper Isis Tha Saviour uses hip-hop to transform her trauma into freedom.

In a year when great new songs often served as necessary distractions or moral and urgent illustrations of humanity, the best of them all was both.

Music & Culture

Listen To NPR Music's 100 Best Songs Of 2020

7:56am December 03, 2020

Think of it as a silver lining playlist, a whopper of a mixtape to close out a bummer of a year.

Music & Culture

The 100 Best Songs Of 2020

7:24am December 03, 2020

Think of these 100 songs (Nos. 80-61 here) as a silver linings playlist for the worst year of our collective lives.

Music & Culture

The 100 Best Songs Of 2020

7:15am December 03, 2020

The great songs of 2020 were as abundant as the rest of the year was a drag. Think of these 100 jams as a silver linings playlist for the worst year of our collective lives.

Music & Culture

Loudon Wainwright III And Vince Giordano Play From The Great American Songbook

1:37pm December 02, 2020

by Terry Gross

Wainwright and Giordano collaborated on the 1920s and '30s style music for the series Boardwalk Empire and the film The Aviator. Now they've gotten together again on the album I'd Rather Lead a Band.

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The Mingus Big Band, playing a set at The Jazz Standard in 2008.

Jazz Standard, One Of New York's Top Clubs, Closes Due To Pandemic

1:37pm December 02, 2020

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

It is the first major jazz club in New York City to shut its doors permanently due to the coronavirus crisis. Its owners announced the club's closing on Wednesday, after more than two decades.