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Music & Culture

You Can Now Enter The 2020 Tiny Desk Contest

10:01am February 11, 2020

by Marissa Lorusso

Send in your video before midnight ET on March 30. If you win, you'll play your very own Tiny Desk concert at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C., and tour the country with NPR Music.

Baby Rose plays a Tiny Desk Concert (Kisha Ravi/NPR).

Music & Culture

Baby Rose: Tiny Desk Concert

7:38pm February 10, 2020

by Rodney Carmichael

At 25, she mixes the bluesy melisma of Nina Simone and the deep register of Sarah Vaughan — two of her influences — with songwriting as devastating as her delivery.

Rafiq Bhatia's recreation of standards uses what we've heard before to ask "What haven't we heard yet?" and challenges us to ask "Why not?"

Music & Culture

On 'Standards Vol. 1,' Rafiq Bhatia Questions The Act Of Reinterpretation

5:22pm February 10, 2020

by Frannie Kelley

With his four-song EP, Rafiq Bhatia is putting a new spin on jazz standards and, in a way, posing the question, "What is a standard?"

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Music & Culture

Beyond Santana: Malo And The Forgotten Wave Of '70s Latin Rock Bands

3:25pm February 10, 2020

For "One-Hit Wonders/Second-Best Songs," Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras recommends "Momotombo" by Malo. The band is known for hit "Suavecito," and often overshadowed by rock peer Santana.

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Music & Culture

Jazz Guitarist Jeff Parker Crosses Musical Genres On 'Suite For Max Brown'

1:50pm February 10, 2020

by Kevin Whitehead

Parker's breezy new album, which mixes live music with vintage synthesizers, draws on R&B, early hip-hop, droning electronica, jazz-funk, Afropop and flailing '60s-rock solos.

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Roberta Flack in 1975. Flack's impact as a performer in the pop music space in the 1970s was sudden and massive. Over the next four decades, Flack built a legacy on a quiet belief in limitlessness.

Music & Culture

The Virtuoso

11:35am February 10, 2020

by Ann Powers

Roberta Flack is only solo artist to win two consecutive Record of the Year Grammys and she helped usher in an enduring style of R&B. Could she be pop music's most under-appreciated influence?

Victoria Monét melds fantasy with reality for her latest, "Moment."

Music & Culture

Heat Check: Going All Out

11:09am February 10, 2020

The slow asphyxiation of heartache. The deep resonance of bravado. Heat Check's playlist returns with Victoria Monét, Denzel Curry and Kayla Steen.

Jason Isbell, performing onstage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival on April 28, 2018 in Indio, Ca.

Music & Culture

Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit Announce New Album, Release 'Be Afraid'

11:06am February 10, 2020

by Andrew Flanagan

His band will release Reunions on May 15. On the first single, Isbell pointedly criticizes artists for not speaking their minds more forcefully.

Bong Joon-ho, here with interpreter Sharon Choi, won big at Sunday's Oscars. His film Parasite took best international feature and best picture, and he was recognized for his direction and writing.

Music & Culture

At The Oscars, 'Parasite' Makes Best Picture History

10:57am February 10, 2020

by Linda Holmes

Bong Joon-ho's film about families, class and keeping secrets won best picture. It's the first time a film in a language other than English has won the top prize.

"Ultimately, this is a love song," Christone "Kingfish" Ingram says, "and it's one I truly wanted to put my own spin on."

Music & Culture

Stream Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram's Scorching Kiss-Off, 'Empty Promises'

7:22am February 10, 2020

by Robin Hilton

The young blues-guitar wonder shares an emotionally raw new song ahead of Valentine's Day.