Music

E. T. Mensah, who died 20 years ago, played highlife, an offshoot of jazz that for years was the most popular style of music in southern Africa. Milo Miles reviews a new anthology of Mensah's music.

The singer-songwriter began performing at age 14 in a band with her sisters and her father. Critic Ken Tucker says the songs on Loveless' latest solo album, Real, have a "tough edge."

Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen explores questions of time, memory, nature and human isolation. His recent collaboration with soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan has garnered worldwide attention.

Decades after Parker's death, a new album compiles previously unknown performances by the alto sax legend. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the record will please both jazz experts and casual listeners.

The Brazilian trio, which won a Grammy in 2002, is known for mixing new and classic bossa nova tunes with electronica. Critic Milo Miles says The Best of Bossacucanova has a "captivating flow."

Merle Streep sings badly in the new film Florence Foster Jenkins, based on a NYC heiress and arts patron who performed arias and art songs totally off key, but made recordings and performed at Carnegie Hall. Streep is actually a very good singer which she's shown in previous films.

Critic Ken Tucker reviews new music by the British punk band The Mekons and the American country-rock band The Mavericks. Both groups have recorded new songs that were inspired by recent news events.

Pianist and composer Dave Burrell was an important part of the free jazz scene of the 1960s, recording with Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown, Archie Shepp and others. His new CD with his Full-Blown Trio, Expansion, marks Burrell's first recording for a U.S. label in almost 40 years.

While on tour for her album, Over and Even, Shelley stopped by WHYY to play some of her songs along with accompanist Nathan Salsburg. She tells Fresh Air's Sam Briger she's always wanted to perform.

Rock critic Ken Tucker offers up his top 10 lists of the best albums and singles of 2008.music. Here's his look at some of his own favorites.

The Late Late Show host talks about belting out songs with celebrities like Elton John, Steve Wonder and Adele. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross he doesn't know what he did to deserve this great gig.

Rock historian Ed Ward says that musicians in Düsseldorf, Germany, including Klaus Dinger of the band Neu!, helped start a new German pop movement in the 1970s and '80s.

The energetic lead singer for The Dap-Kings spoke to Fresh Air in '07 and again in '16, after she'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. "I want to perform," she said in July. Jones died on Nov. 18.

After a cancer diagnosis, and treatment soul singer Sharon Jones has returned to performing. She's the subject of a new documentary Miss Sharon Jones! by academy award winning film maker Barbara Kopple.

Born in 1916, Christian died when he was just 25 years old. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead calls him "the single greatest influence on a signature 20th-century instrument."

Maxwell creates an atmosphere of free-floating sensuality on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker says the record is "dreamy and roomy enough to accommodate a wide array of emotions."

Much of the music on Cray's new album stems from a year he spent teaching at the University of Nevada in Reno. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Outside In is a reminder of the power of open spaces.

The young singer-songwriter has described herself as "half-Japanese, half-American, but not fully either." Critic Ken Tucker says her fourth album, Puberty 2, has an impressively wide range of sounds.

The singer-songwriter brings a fluid sense of musical boundaries to her first major-label album. Critic Ken Tucker says Hero features "very good, state-of-the-art pop country" music.

The New Orleans-based musician completed recording his final album a month before he died last November. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead calls American Tunes a "fond last look" at Toussaint's talent.