Music

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Extended Family (Tapestry), the CD of a quartet led by tenor saxophonist Fred Hess.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Up!, the new double CD by country star Shania Twain

He is also known as "Questlove" of the hip-hop group The Roots. The Grammy award-winning sextet has six albums to its credit. Their latest CD is Phrenology. Their first single from the album is "Break You Off." One reviewer writes, "To fully savor the sound, you've got to commit to spending time with The Roots, to wallow in both the music and the message.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles blues singer Wynonie Harris who recorded between 1945 and 1952.

He reviews Crazy: The Demo Sessions (Sugar Hill records), a collection of songs Willie Nelson wrote and recorded between 1960 and 1966, hoping to sell them to the big stars of the country era.

Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new series of operetta re-issues on DRG and Ralph Benatzky's Bewitched Maiden on the Preiser label.

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews “The Time of Our Singing” by Richard Powers.

Music critic Ken Tucker reviews American Life, the new CD by Madonna.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews The Headphone Masterpiece, the new CD by singer/songwriter Cody Chesnutt.

Kevin Whitehead reviews two albums: Gong With the Wind Suite from Lee Konitz and Matt Wilson, and the newly remastered Theme and Variations from John LaPorta.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the third album by singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur. It's called Redemption's Son.

Ed Ward profiles guitar prodigy Link Wray.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews two new recordings that rely on new technology: DJ Shadow's The Private Press (on MCA) and The Best Bootlegs in the World. Ever.

Eric Burdon was the lead singer for the British band, The Animals - the 1960s group that gave us, "House of the Rising Sun," "Don Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place." Burdon has written his new autobiography, Don Let Me Be Misunderstood (Thunder Mouth Press) He is currently touring with the New Animals.

He will give us his take on the best albums of the year, including new releases from Eminem, Missy Elliot and The Hives. He is a regular Fresh Air contributor and he also writes for Entertainment Weekly.

Lloyd Schwartz reviews some classic Hollywood musicals now out on DVD: The 1946 film The Harvey Girls, starring Judy Garland and Ray Bolger; the 1954 A Star is Born, starring Judy Garland and James Mason; the 1930 film The Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich; Singing in the Rain; the 1947 film New Orleans (on Kino video), starring Louie Armstrong and Billie Holiday; the 1947 Edgar Ulmer's Carnegie Hall featuring Jascha Heifetz; The Big Broadcast of 1938, starring W.C. Fields and Bob Hope; 42nd Street, the Busby Berkeley film.

Ed Ward reviews When The Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll a four volume set on RCA of mostly African-American music from the late 1920s to the mid-50s.

He is a national icon in Brazil. Along with Gilberto Gil, Veloso created the provocative "Tropicalismo" movement which combined the richness of Brazil's musical past with 1960s rock 'n' roll, surrealism, and dada -– in reaction to the military junta in 1964. Veloso and Gil were jailed and exiled for their efforts. Veloso's memoir Tropical Truth a Story of Music & Revolution in Brazil (first published in 1997) is now translated and published in the United States (Knopf).

Ken Tucker reviews Original Pirate Material the debut collection by white British rapper Mike Skinner otherwise known as The Streets.

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the band The Lovin' Spoonful.