Episodes

Sam Cooke put the spirit of the Black church into popular music, creating a new American sound and setting into motion a chain of events that forever altered the course of popular music and race relations in America.

'I.M. Pei: Building China Modern' follows the architect on a personal and architectural journey from west to east, where he was invited to design a museum to house the antiquities of his native Suzhou.

The creative chemistry of four brilliant artists – drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and singer Jim Morrison – made The Doors one of America’s most iconic, influential, and frightening rock bands.

Hailed as "country music's Frank Sinatra" in a recent review of his latest release I AM WHAT I AM (Vanguard Records), American Masters celebrates this "Lonesome Fugitive" in Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself premiering Wednesday, July 21 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings.)

El bajista Israel “Cachao” López, ganador de múltiples premios Grammy, murió en Coral Gables, Florida en marzo de 2008, a la edad de casi 90 años. Un maestro legendario a nivel internacional y considerado uno de los músicos más grandes del género afro-cubano de todos los tiempos, él había hecho su hogar en los Estados Unidos durante las últimas cuatro décadas.

Composed of clips, stills, readings from Kazan's autobiography and his speech on directing (read by Elias Koteas), a videotaped interview done late in Kazan's life, and Scorsese's commentary on and offscreen, A Letter to Elia takes a close look at the life of art and its creation - the work, the distractions, the inspirations, the complications, the intersections between art and experience.

This fall, as the world remembers John Lennon on what would have been his 80th birthday, and the 40th anniversary of his death, American Masters presents LENNONYC, a film that takes an intimate look at the time Lennon, Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, spent living in New York City during the 1970s. October 9th at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

A profoundly enigmatic musical poet, there have been many documentaries about Glenn Gould, but they were typically sidetracked, focusing on the pills and fashions - missing the man, the magic and the message of music. American Masters pierces through the misconceptions in Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould airing nationally, Monday, December 27 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings).