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A Conversation with Composer John Kander John Kander and songwriting partner Fred Ebb are best known for creating the music behind Cabaret and Chicago and for the song "New York, New York." Liane Hansen visits with Kander at his home studio in Manhattan.

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A Conversation with Composer John Kander

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A Conversation with Composer John Kander

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Four from Kander and Ebb

'Maybe This Time' from 'Cabaret,' sung by Liza Minnelli

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'All That Jazz' from 'Chicago,' sung by Bebe Neuwirth

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'Wilkommen' from 'Cabaret,' sung by Joel Grey.

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'A Quiet Thing' from 'Flora the Red Menace,' sung by Liza Minnelli

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Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are the heart and soul of some of the most recognizable songs of stage and screen: "Cabaret," "All That Jazz" and of course, "New York, New York."

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A familiar sight and sound: John Kander at the piano. Liane Hansen, NPR hide caption

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Liane Hansen, NPR

A familiar sight and sound: John Kander at the piano.

Liane Hansen, NPR

Their partnership lasted 40 years, and when Fred Ebb died in 2004, they still had four different musicals in the works.

Kander has just turned 79. Liane Hansen paid a visit to his Manhattan home studio... a cozy basement room with a garden view and a baby grand piano.

Minstrel Show is one of the four projects under way before Ebb's death. The others are an original musical called Curtains, a musical based on The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder and a musical version of the Friedrich Durrenmatt play The Visit.

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This story was produced by Elaine Heinzman.