Jul 18 Watch Piano Virtuoso Fleisher on Overcoming Disability That Nearly Silenced Career In the 1960s, piano virtuoso Leon Fleisher lost the use of his right hand due to a condition called focal dystonia, but he focused on teaching and continued to play pieces designed for one-handed pianists. Jeffrey Brown and Fleisher discuss… Continue watching
Jul 04 Watch From Josh Ritter, a Song That Became a Debut Novel "Bright's Passage," the debut novel by singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, details a young man's return home from World War I. Jeffrey Brown and the musician-turned-novelist discuss his first work of fiction. Continue watching
Jun 17 Raphael Saadiq Revives Soul Sounds for New Album Music man Raphael Saadiq has gone from church choir to the R&B pop charts in the 1980s, and now back to his retro roots with new music that reflects the classic sounds of his youth. Continue reading
Apr 27 Watch Amos Lee For more on this story, go to Art Beat: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/… Continue watching
Feb 14 Watch Bassist Esperanza Spalding Scores Best New Artist Grammy The NewsHour recently profiled jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, who won best new artist at Sunday's Grammy Awards. Jeffrey Brown has an excerpt of her song "Little Fly" from the album "Chamber Music Society."… Continue watching
Jan 10 Abigail Washburn Uses Banjo as Tool for Diplomacy By Lauren Knapp For over a decade Abigail Washburn, a singer-songwriter and clawhammer banjo player, knew she wanted to help improve Chinese-American relations. She just never thought she'd be doing it through song. Continue reading
Dec 30 Watch Remembering the Times and Tunes of Jazz ‘Ambassador’ Billy Taylor Fans are mourning the passing of longtime jazz pianist, educator and advocate Billy Taylor, who died Tuesday of heart failure. Taylor earned his Ph.D in music education and spread his passion for jazz, lecturing and writing for students and radio… Continue watching
Oct 28 Watch Esperanza Spalding Takes on Dual Role in Jazz Jeffrey Brown profiles Esperanza Spalding, the young jazz phenomenon who pulls double duty on stage by playing the bass and singing. The classically trained bassist has appeared at the White House and is currently on a world-wide tour. Continue watching
Sep 16 Watch Musical Legend Herbie Hancock Fuses Jazz, Global Rhythms Jeffrey Brown catches up with music legend Herbie Hancock, who celebrated his 70th birthday earlier this year and is touring in support of his latest album "The Imagine Project."… Continue watching
Sep 02 Andrew Bird Cultivates a ‘Sonic Arboretum’ A successful multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Andrew Bird recently joined instrument and acoustic engineer Ian Schneller to create a novel live music experience, something they're calling the "Sonic Arboretum," at the Guggenheim Museum. Continue reading