Jazmine Sullivan's "Pick Up Your Feelings"; Matthew Sweet's "At a Loss"; and Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" prove that people experience heartbreak in as many ways as a heart can be broken.
For over two decades, Madlib's work has been defined not by any one style, but by the artist's stylistic breadth and tireless output. On a new album, the polymath compiles his artifacts.
In 1968, the British singer flew to the U.S. after signing with Atlantic Records. Her acclaimed recordings from this period are collected in Dusty Springfield: The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971.
Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias play together in a new remotely recorded digital album. These seasoned improvisers line up just right, despite the recording challenges.
A new five-CD set features Stampfel's recording of a favorite song for each year of the last century. The resulting collection is a wonderful survey of popular music — as well as lots of great fun.
Of the three Bee Gees, only Barry Gibb is still alive. His new album is Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Volume 1. The HBO documentary, The Bee Gees, tells the story of the group's rise.
Abrams' quartet can groove and play pretty, but they can also do free jazz. Their new album is about being part of something bigger, where each player is stronger for all the ways they interlock.
Dozens of notable jazz musicians died this year, many from COVID-19. Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead remembers some of the legends lost, including Bucky Pizzarelli, Ellis Marsalis and Jimmy Heath.
The holidays have never felt more ambivalent — a feeling captured by Phoebe Bridgers' "Christmas Song"; The Bird and the Bee's "You and I at Christmas Time"; and Nick Lowe's "Winter Wonderland."
The album showcases 45 minutes from Coleman's '71 sets at Baltimore's Famous Ballroom, where the atmosphere was typically lively and the jazz legend was elegant and full of fire.
The pandemic, along with unprecedented political and social upheaval, created a year in which listeners sought to be transported. Enter these 10 albums. At the top of the list: X's Alphabetland.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Illinois artist and mother of three Ja Nelle Pleasure, who has recently experienced food insecurity, about how she is feeding her family this winter.
Recorded over the course of three days in 1967, during a period when the saxophonist was disillusioned with the record business, Rollins in Holland presents a jazz master in an ideal setting.
Jarrett is acclaimed for his intense and physically energetic improvised performances. Kevin Whitehead reviews Jarrett's new album, Budapest, and we listen back to a 2000 interview with him.
The Gospel Truth was a subsidiary of the famous soul label Stax Records. A new anthology, The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection, revisits its brief moment in gospel soul history.
Pedal steel guitar is a staple of country music, but Alcorn bends it around odd corners. Her quintet's new album is beyond category — roaming betwixt jazz and improvised music and rock and country.
Much of the music on Miles' new album has a poppy accessibility — but it isn't quite easy listening. Instead his quintet stretches the material and lets things get a little warped.
Three new songs from established acts speak to the times: "Ghosts," by Bruce Springsteen; "Can't Put It in the Hands of Fate," by Stevie Wonder; and "Didn't Want to Be This Lonely," by The Pretenders.
Price, now 93, was the first African American soprano to have a major career at the Metropolitan Opera. Critics and fans agreed that she had one of the most beautiful singing voices they'd ever heard.
For 30 years, trumpet and flugelhorn player Diego Urcola has toured and recorded with Cuba-born saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera. For his own new album, Urcola hired his boss as featured sideman.
Once known as a loud bar band, Low Cut Connie bends classic rock to meet ever-more complex emotionalism. The resulting album is filled with songs about lovers, losers and beautiful dreamers.
Reed players Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg join formidable drummer Dana Hall on a new album that features humor, sobriety and a piece that's funky one minute and chamber music the next.
Prince's creativity is more impressive than ever on a new version of his highly praised 1987 album — now with three discs of previously unreleased material.
In a year when Hollywood's splashy sequels are continually delayed, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin delivered a big-budget revenge thriller that toes the line between authoritativeness and absurdity.
