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Jazz 2005: Kevin Whitehead's Top 10

Fresh Air

For lovers of jazz music, the year 2005 brought a wealth of reissues by critical artists from Jelly Roll Morton to John Coltrane. The music, the result of exhaustive archival and restoration work, adds new details to one of America's richest musical traditions.

Jazz 2005: Kevin Whitehead's Top 10

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Culture

Charlie Sexton's 'Cruel and Gentle Thing'

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Charlie Sexton burst out of Texas in 1985 with the hit, "Beat's so Lonely." He spent the next two decades working with veteran musicians such as the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Ron Wood and Bob Dylan. Sexton's latest CD is titled "Cruel and Gentle Things."

Charlie Sexton's 'Cruel and Gentle Thing'

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Top Music Picks for 2005

Music 2005: Ken Tucker's Top 10

Fresh Air

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker offers his picks for the best music of the year, including Fiona Apple's latest album and a Bob Dylan DVD. He also addresses the topic of women in music, and he talks about the year in hip-hop. Tucker is the film critic for New York magazine.

Music 2005: Ken Tucker's Top 10

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Music Interviews

Corky Siegel's Triple Blues Threat

Corky Siegel has new music out — just pick your album. The blues harmonica player has released three separate recordings this year, each featuring different players and styles.

Corky Siegel's Triple Blues Threat

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'One Kiss:' A Box Full of Girl Groups

Think of hits by 1960s girl groups and The Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" or The Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" come to mind. But what about "Needle in a Haystack" by the Velvelettes, or "I Never Dreamed" by The Cookies? A new boxed set compiles some of the forgotten gems of the era.

'One Kiss:' A Box Full of Girl Groups

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'Gold Sounds': Where Jazz Meets Alt-Rock

The saxophonist James Carter has recorded tributes to Billie Holiday and the gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, among others. On a new record called Gold Sounds, he and a top-shelf trio pick a less obvious target: the work of the alternative rock band Pavement.

'Gold Sounds': Where Jazz Meets Alt-Rock

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Costello, Toussaint Team for New Orleans CD

Elvis Costello and New Orleans piano legend Allen Toussaint have recorded a new album in New Orleans. The session is in part a symbolic effort to show the city's music industry is not dead.

Costello, Toussaint Team for New Orleans CD

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System of a Down: 'Hypnotize'

Music critic Christian Bordal reviews the two-CD collection Hypnotize, the latest from the Armenian-American, Los Angeles-based rock group System of a Down. The band's follow-up album to their best-selling surprise hit Mezmerize finds the band once again pounding out a genre-bending blend of rock, reggae, punk, metal and rap.

System of a Down: 'Hypnotize'

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Madonna's New 'Confessions' of Dance

Fresh Air

Confessions on a Dance Floor, the new CD from Madonna, represents her renewed devotion to dance music. The songs echo propulsive disco favorites of the '70s, updated with Madonna's flair for the dramatic.

Madonna's New 'Confessions' of Dance

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Culture

Fern Jones: 'The Road to Glory'

If the Oklahoma-born singer Fern Jones is remembered at all, it's for co-writing the gospel hit "I Was There When it Happened," which has been covered by Johnny Cash and others. She died in 1996, at age 73. Now, Jones' one album and several singles have been re-released on a CD titled The Glory Road.

Fern Jones: 'The Road to Glory'

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Cellist Channels Bela Bartok... Led Zeppelin, Too

On the CD Goulash!, Matt Haimovitz and his stringed instrument explore the music of Hungary, Romania and Transylvania. And he throws in a version of the rock band's "Kashmir" for good measure.

Cellist Channels Bela Bartok... Led Zeppelin, Too

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