Accessibility links
Music Reviews Music reviews of new albums in pop, rock, folk, jazz, blues, classical, world, and hip-hop.

Music reviews

Fieldwork: A Jazz Trio's 'Simulated Progress'

Fresh Air

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Simulated Progress, from the co-operative trio Fieldwork. The CD features Vijay Iyer on piano, Steve Lehman on alto and sopranino saxophones and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums and percussion.

Fieldwork: A Jazz Trio's 'Simulated Progress'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4774949/4774950" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Arts & Life

Sounds of Philadelphia: Cameo and Parkway Records

Fresh Air

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about Philadelphia's Cameo and Parkway record labels. From the late 1950s to the late-'60s, their hits included "The Twist," "South Street" and "Bristol Stomp." ABKCO Records has just released a Cameo-Parkway four-CD retrospective.

Sounds of Philadelphia: Cameo and Parkway Records

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4769880/4769881" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music

New Applause for British Bar Band's Lone Effort

Fans of the band The Clash have long rooted around in record bins for the one album of a similar but obscure British bar band from the 1970s called The 101ers. John Brady reviews Elgin Avenue Breakdown, which has been re-released by Astralwerks.

New Applause for British Bar Band's Lone Effort

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4764447/4764448" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Jazz Artists Connick, Marsalis Mark the 'Occasion'

Jazz music icons Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis share a hometown of New Orleans, an enduring friendship — and now, a new album of musical collaborations. Payal Kumar of member station KKJZ in Long Beach, Calif., reviews their new CD Occasion.

Jazz Artists Connick, Marsalis Mark the 'Occasion'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4760774/4760775" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Arts & Life

'Magic Hollow': A Beau Brummels Retrospective

Fresh Air

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Magic Hollow, a new four-CD retrospective of the band The Beau Brummels, a '60s British Invasion-era pop group from California. Their biggest -- and only top 10 -- hit was "Laugh, Laugh."

'Magic Hollow': A Beau Brummels Retrospective

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4760638/4760639" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Blanchard Evokes the Sound of Miles

Trumpeter Terence Blanchard set out to make a record in the spirit of a Miles Davis Quartet record. He even hired Miles Davis' piano player, Herbie Hancock, to oversee the sessions. The result is a CD, Flow, which doesn't mimic Davis' sound, but takes it to a more contemporary setting.

Blanchard Evokes the Sound of Miles

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4734125/4734126" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">