This week, NPR Music is speaking to creators whose work in 2017 captured something unique about a chaotic year. We begin with two musicians whose intertwined careers are a statement in themselves.
Frantic time-lapse set decoration. An intrusive snow machine. Ugly holiday sweaters. It's time to hunker down and soak up a raucous and reverent Christmas party, courtesy of Hanson.
Chicago jazz piano legend Willie Pickens died this past week at age 86. Fellow musicians remember him as a talented musician and mentor to generations of jazz students.
The brilliant pianist played church music and R&B before joining Charles Mingus' band and forming his own quartet. He joins Marian McPartland for a song in this 1989 episode.
Wide Open gets pretty personal, and so did our conversation. McDonald discusses the reality of being a musician in his sixties and what he calls his "first big hurt" (and no, it's not a romantic one).