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Music Reviews

Belated New Music From Drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers Is A Gem

Fresh Air

Blakey led his band for almost 40 years, making many classic records with top musicians. Just Coolin', a newly unearthed 1959 recorded studio session, showcases his stylistic precision.

Belated New Music From Drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers Is A Gem

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HAIM Radiates Sunniness In 'Women In Music Pt. III'

Fresh Air

The new album by three Los Angeles sisters feels like it was meant to be blasted loud in your car as you try to time all the green lights along Sunset Boulevard.

HAIM Radiates Sunniness In 'Women In Music Pt. III'

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'Gaslighter': The Chicks After The Fire

From its brash title track to a denouement that begs to be set free, Gaslighter — The Chicks' first album in 14 years — is a story of painful awakening. Betsy Whitney/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Betsy Whitney/Courtesy of the artist

Music Features

'Gaslighter': The Chicks After The Fire

Long known as firebrands ready to take on abusers, country music and the president, the trio now known as The Chicks is finding – on its first album in 14 years – beauty in loss and lonesomeness.

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire Mixes The Playful And Solemn On A New Album

Fresh Air

The Bay Area trumpet player broke out in jazz over a decade ago. A new album by his quartet, on the tender spot of every calloused moment, shows just how pretty Akinmusire can play.

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire Mixes The Playful And Solemn On A New Album

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Drummer Chad Taylor Radiates Good Vibrations On 'The Daily Biological'

Fresh Air

Taylor brings hi-hat funk to his new trio's album. It's a slightly odd line-up, with no bass instrument — which opens up possibilities for different ways to kick the rhythm along.

Drummer Chad Taylor Radiates Good Vibrations On 'The Daily Biological'

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Pop Smoke's First And Final Album Falls Between Two Worlds

The rapper Pop Smoke, whose posthumous debut album was released July 3, 2020. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Pop Smoke's First And Final Album Falls Between Two Worlds

The rapper quickly drew attention over the course of 2019, as one of the newest and brightest stars of an emerging generation of New York artists.

Pop Smoke's First And Final Album Falls Between Two Worlds

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Bob Dylan's 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' Breathes, Expands And Contracts

Fresh Air

The good songs on Dylan's latest record inflate with interest; the mediocre songs start to shrink and slink away. And there's a striking amount of upbeat rhythm & blues on the album.

Bob Dylan's 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' Breathes, Expands And Contracts

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'Hamilton' Comes Home, Just In Time For The Fourth Of July

Leslie Odom Jr. originated the role of Aaron Burr on Broadway in Hamilton. Like the rest of the original cast, he's available to watch at home in the film, which arrives Friday on Disney+. Disney+ hide caption

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Disney+

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Hamilton' Comes Home, Just In Time For The Fourth Of July

The very good movie version of Hamilton, filmed with the original cast at the height of the show's popularity, will perk up faithful cast album fans — and new viewers, too.

Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson's 'Negro Folk Symphony'

A drawing of composer William Dawson in 1935 by Aaron Douglas. Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, long neglected, has received a new recording. Aaron Douglas/Tuskegee University Archives hide caption

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Aaron Douglas/Tuskegee University Archives

Deceptive Cadence

Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson's 'Negro Folk Symphony'

Broadcast nationwide in 1934 and praised by listeners and critics alike, a masterful symphony soon fell silent. A new recording hopes to help revive an American treasure.

Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson's 'Negro Folk Symphony'

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Lady Gaga And Carly Rae Jepsen, Both With Bold Albums, Make Isolation Less Lonely

Fresh Air

The electric instrumentation of Lady Gaga's flashy disco record Chromatica and Carly Rae Jepsen's Dedicated Side B provide a much-needed jolt for the COVID era.

Lady Gaga And Carly Rae Jepsen, Both With Bold Albums, Make Isolation Less Lonely

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