ÌFÉ isn't playing anything new. In fact, the band takes on something quite old: ritual Afro-Caribbean music that takes a lifetime to absorb and master.
The band's hologram avatars, plus the newly recorded song "I Still Have Faith In You," will be featured on a December television special. The avatars will also be hitting the road on tour.
Dorough, who died Monday, spoke with Terry Gross in 1982 and 1996. The kids who learned from his fun, educational songs probably didn't know what a great jazz pianist, singer and songwriter he was.
A new four-disc compilation presents recordings Armstrong made for Verve in 1957. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the album includes a wealth of alternate takes, warm-ups and rehearsal sequences.
In the midst of all the world's chaos, Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer — both the album and the "emotion picture" — is a heroine's journey set to a symphony.