Music

Performances continue and we hear from Tom Riis who compiled and edited a book containing the complete score of “In Dahomey.” Riis directs the American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado and is the author of “Just Before Jazz.”

Our guest pianist tomorrow will be Dick Hyman. One of our guest singers will be Vernel Bagneris who has explored this period in his own musical revues. To give you a preview, we asked him to sing a sing that he's performed on stage, which was originated by Bert Williams. It's called "Somebody Lied."

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews “Sonny Rollins: The Freelance Years: The Complete Riverside & Contemporary Recordings” (Riverside)

Singer/guitarist Alex Chilton has been playing music for decades. As a teenager he was a member of the Memphis Band Box Tops. He was 16 years old when they recorded their hit, the R&B song “The Letter.” Later with the band “Big Star” he became a underground hero. After dropping out of sight to kick an alcohol addiction, Chilton returned to performing. By then many younger bands, REM and The Bangles, considered him a legend. Chilton’s new release (as a part of a trio) “Set” (bar-none) was recorded on the spur of the moment, and without overdubbing.

Andrew Ward is the author of “Dark Midnight When I Rise: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, Who Introduced the World to the Music of Black America” (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux). The Jubilee singers were nine former slaves who who set off from Nashville in 1871 to raise money to rescue their school, Fisk University, from bankruptcy. They toured the U.S., Britain, and Europe introducing audiences to African-American spirituals. The Jubilee singers are also the subject of an upcoming American Experience documentary on PBS. (Monday, May 1, 2000 at 9:00)

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the pioneering Bluegrass group of the 1950s Reno & Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews “Ecstasy” the new collection by Lou Reed.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews “Too Much Coffee Man” (Blue Note) by singer-songwriter Bob Dorough.

Contributing editor for Vanity Fair David Margolick. In his new book “Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights” (Running Press), Margolick traces the history and impact of the song “Strange Fruit,” a ballad about lynchings which became Billie Holiday’s signature song. It was written by a Jewish school teacher who was inspired to write the song after seeing a newspaper photograph of a lynching.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Monk's Dream (Verve records), the new record from soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and trombonist Roswell Rudd.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two new CDS from two Southern hip hop groups: "Tha G-Code" (Cash Money) by Juvenile and "World Party" (Arista) by Goodie Mob.

Singer Keely Smith. She has been called “The Queen of Swing” and “the First Lady of Las Vegas”. Smith is perhaps best known as the duet partner and wife of Louis Prima. Smith and Prima drew crowds to the lounges of Las Vegas in the 1950s. Their hits include “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail,” “Just a Gigolo,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and “That Old Black Magic.” Smith talks about her marriage to Prima, the music they made together, and her career. Smith has just released a new CD called Swing Swing Swing

This year marks the centennial of the birth of German-born Kurt Weill, considered one of the 20th century’s most influential composers. And Monday, April 3, is the 50th anniversary of his death. He and lyricist Bertolt Brecht revolutionized musical theatre with a blend of cabaret and classical traditions resulting in “The Threepenny Opera” “Seven Deadly Sins” and others. In 1933 Weill, a Jew, fled Berlin and in 1935 came to America where he began working in American theatre. We talk about Weill with Kim Kowlake (Koe-WALL-kee), President of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

Our rock historian Ed Ward steps in to review the new film “High Fidelity,” starring John Cusack.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Tatiana Troyanos album "Troyanos in Recital."

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews “Tenor & Fallen Angels” (hatology) the new reissue by Joe McPhee.

Actor John Cusack He stars in the new film “High Fidelity” based on the novel of the same name. He plays a 35 year-old used record store owner who keeps top-five lists for everything, and can’t keep a relationship. By the time Cusack was 22 he had a number of films to his credit: “The Sure Thing,” “Eight Men Out,” “Say Anything,” and “Fat Man and Little Boy.” Later he went on to make “The Grifters,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “The Thin Red Line,” and “Grosse Pointe Blank” which he cowrote.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "Two Against Nature" the new release by Steely Dan.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz profiles the work of Pierre Boulez (“pee-AIR boo-LEZZ”). Boulez recently played a four-concert series of 20th century music at Carnegie Hall. Lloyd, who attended the shows, says Boulez is not only a conductor, a composer and a theorist, but a cultural icon as well.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the performance of Elliott Carter’s new comic opera “What Next?” by Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony.