Music

Ma began learning Bach's famous cello suites when he was 4. Now in his 60s, Ma has released his third recording of the pieces. Critic Lloyd Schwartz says this latest iteration may be his favorite.

Musician and writer Leonard Cohen died in 2016, leaving behind many unpublished poems and lyrics. His son Adam Cohen discusses The Flame, a collection of some of Leonard's final works.

On what would have been Blanton's 100 birthday, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead recounts the ways in which the bassist revolutionized his instrument during his brief time on the music scene.

Music came naturally to Jon Batiste, the leader of Stay Human, the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Growing up outside of New Orleans as part of a large musical family, he says, "I picked up on all of these things that are integral to who I am as a musician without necessarily studying them."

Robbie Fulks and Linda Gail Lewis come from different generations, but both play the old style of country music — her brother is Jerry Lee Lewis. They share songs and stories from their new album, Wild! Wild! Wild!

Tasjan has played in bluegrass festivals and also opened for punk bands. Critic Ken Tucker says regardless of the musical genre, the singer-songwriter's third album "proves its worth."

Decades after he changed modern music as member of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet, and then as co-founder of the band Weather Report, Shorter continues to break ground with a new triple album.

The alto saxophonist's new record with his band Five Elements is a two-disc set, in which most pieces are played twice, in differing elastic versions.

Miller, who died in 1992, had a career that spanned three decades. A new 36-track tribute album features a very eclectic line-up, including Dolly Parton, Ringo Starr and actor John Goodman.

Linda Gail Lewis and Robbie Fulks have teamed up on a shrewd, witty album that's a throwback to the earliest era of rock n' roll — but it's not pickled in nostalgia.

Aretha Franklin is dead and we still, 50 years after she made her artistic and commercial breakthrough, can scarcely comprehend the still-shocking power of her singing.

The singer-songwriter-producer just released OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES. Rock critic Ken Tucker finds an undercurrent of serenity in the organized chaos of SOPHIE's playful brand of noise pop.

Early in his career, clarinetist Andy Biskin worked as an assistant to the folklorist Alan Lomax. Biskin's new album features new settings of songs drawn from Lomax's The Folk Songs of North America.

In his autobiography, Siren Song, Stein writes about how he started out in the music business as a teen before going on to sign groundbreaking artists like Talking Heads, Madonna, Ice-T and k.d. lang.

The quintet known as The Internet emerged from the Los Angeles music collective Odd Future. Ken Tucker says their fourth album offers "music for modern lovers who are too smart to settle for less."

Though known for her avant-garde concert performances, the 92-year-old soprano recorded songs by 19th-century classical composers, including Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, when she was turning 60.

Last year, Tufts University hosted a symposium on Art, Race and Politics, which included a panel discussion (and later a concert) with musicians Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp and William Parker.

A Massachusetts native who struck gold further South as a country music songwriter, McKenna solidifies her status as a recording artist in her own right on her latest album.

Co-created by visual artist Jamie Hewlett and musician Damon Albarn, Gorillaz is fronted by four animated characters — but critic Ken Tucker says there's "nothing cartoonish" about the new album.