NPR Topics: Music

Tokumaru is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Tokyo. With diverse tastes ranging from Brian Wilson to Sun Ra, he crafts arrangements that can come off like the work of Sufjan Steve...

On tour with a full band, Woven Hand's David Eugene Edwards went solo at Bob Boilen's desk with his mandolin-banjo hybrid, a unique instrument made in 1897 by the Pullman Palace Car Company. He per...

This week, from San Francisco's Herbst Theatre, a 12-year-old pianist confronts a tricky Hungarian Rhapsody, a teen string quartet plays music by Ravel, and a virtuoso clarinetist from Costa Rica c...

A guitarist whose harmonic ideas and sinuous, legato approach make him readily identifiable, Rosenwinkel is arguably the most beloved jazz guitarist of his generation. He returns to New York and th...

News from Somalia usually involves violent warlords or pirates hijacking ships off the coast. Other than that, average Somalis don't have much of a voice. The rapper K'Naan is trying to change that...

Gustav Mahler's larger-than-life symphonies have become orchestra staples. With that in mind, conductor Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony programmed three of Mahler's lesser-known orchestral ...

From before bebop to the present day, some of the best jazz albums of all time have been issued by Blue Note Records. The label celebrates its 70th anniversary this week, and to honor the occasion,...

Steeped in the Piedmont blues of the North Carolina hill country, the trio breathes new life into the African-American string-band tradition. The group brings a claw-hammer banjo, fiddles, snare dr...

Counting fans among lovers of straight-ahead jazz, the avant-garde and jam bands, Charlie Hunter has spent more than a decade defining his guitar style. In a session from Jazz24, Hunter unveils his...

The award-winning bluegrass family band is led by bassist Jere Cherryholmes, and features his wife and four children. Now nominated for the Best Bluegrass Album Grammy Award, the group plays a set ...