Farah Jasmine Griffin's 2001 book on Billie Holiday posed a challenge to biographers and our understanding of Holiday. Here, she reflects on her changing connection to Lady Day since its release.
This week's podcast includes the stadium guitar rock of Sheer Mag, country legend Tanya Tucker, the hip-hop boy band BROCKHAMPTON, a wonderfully strange turn from R&B singer Raphael Saadiq and more.
There's still room for Roc Nation's controversial NFL partnership to do impressive work — as long as the black billionaire behind it makes room for the struggle already in progress.
Notes On A Conditional Form comes out Feb. 21, 2020.On its first single, Matty Healy warns: "It's Monday morning and we've only got a thousand of them left."
A trio of critics discuss the mercurial pianist's personal take on Beethoven and Rachmaninoff and what it means to color outside the lines in classical music.
NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Christian McBride about the impact of Miles Davis' seminal album Bitches Brew — an electrified sound that ushered in decades of jazz fusion 50 years ago.
Hersch often works in small settings, either as a piano soloist, or in a duo or trio. But he amplifies his message on his latest album by teaming up with Germany's WDR Big Band.
Poets Ciona Rouse, Caroline Randall Williams and Adia Victoria are the Blair House Collective. These poems honor two of the "living, breathing, earthbound women" who inspire the Collective's work.
This week's essential mix includes stirring solo work from Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard, a surprise release from Big Thief, a cathartic instrumental from The Messthetics and more.
Every summer since 1895, orchestras have performed casual classical concerts, known as Proms concerts, in the heart of London. The tradition is underway right now.
On Sept. 27, Simpson will simultaneously release a new album and an anime film on Netflix, both titled Sound & Fury. Each promises to showcase the Kentuckian's louder, looser side.
Celtic Frost's "The Usurper" opens this week's playlist of string-swept folk and liquid metal, plus Lightning Bolt's explosive noise-rock, the hypersonic hardcore-punk of Das Drip and more.
The only place Holiday received formal vocal instruction also gave her bad-girl cred and an ambitious spiritual discipline. It was The House Of The Good Shepherd For Colored Girls, a Catholic convent.
This week'sHeat Check playlist is dedicated to that warm, willowy sweet spot of summer denial. Stream new tracks by Jorja Smith, Brockhampton and Bakar.
