Music

Soul singer Barry White, the sweet-talking, deep-voiced performer who rhapsodized about love, died on July 4. He was 58. The cause was kidney failure. His hits included "My First, My Last, My Everything," "Never Never Gonna Give Up," and "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More." Before he became a hit as a solo performer, White put together the female vocal trio Love Unlimited and founded the Love Unlimited Orchestra, a 40-piece ensemble, to accompany himself and the trio.

Veteran producer, pianist, singer, club owner George Wein. He's the founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In the early 1950s he founded the jazz clubs Storyville and Mahogany Hall in Boston where jazz giants Art Tatum, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Miles Davis played. In 1954 he launched the Newport Jazz Festival where he presented Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dave Brubeck and others.

Writer and producer Chris Albertson is considered an authority on blues singer Bessie Smith. His 1971 biography of Smith has been reissued in a new revised and expanded edition. It's called Bessie, and it contains new details on Smith's early years, new interview material, and a chapter devoted to events and responses that followed the original publication.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews St. Louis Shoes (Blue Note) by composer and saxophonist Greg Osby.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Welcome Interstate Managers the new CD by Fountains of Wayne.

In the summer of 1998 she began work on her new album, Roads of Travel, and it was released in March, 2003. It includes a duet with her father, Johnny Cash. Other guest vocalists include Sheryl Crow and Steve Earle. Last month, Cash's stepmother June Cash died.

John is the son of jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. John's albums include Live At Birdland, The Rare Delights of You and Kisses in the Rain. This interview first aired October 23, 1997.

He's been called the most inventive American tenor player in creative music. His father, Rodd Keith (also known as Rod Rodgers) was killed when he was struck by cars on the Hollywood Freeway after leaping or falling from the Santa Monica Boulevard overpass. Eskelin only knew his father for the first eighteen months of his life. As he grew up he was inspired and intrigued by the continuous stories he heard about him and his musical talent. He has produced a collection of his father's recordings titled I died Today - Music of Rodd Keith.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Say You Will, the new CD by Fleetwood Mac, their first collection of new material in eight years. It's also without Christine McVie.

The 78-year-old singer is currently performing at Birdland in New York City. Previously, Carroll spent 25 years playing at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. This year, she received three lifetime achievement awards; one of them was the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award. Carroll has a number of albums to her credit; her latest is the new solo album Morning in May.

Music Review: 'Steel Guitar Jazz' from Buddy Emmons

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Italian Job, starring Edward Norton.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Friendship, the new recording of trumpeter Clark Terry and drummer Max Roach (Columbia). The 1977 album Streams of Consciousness (Piadrum label) has also been reissued featuring Max Roach and Abdullah Ibrahim.

We celebrate the centennial of Bing Crosby's birth with jazz critic and writer Gary Giddins. His biography of Bing Crosby is called Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams — The Early Years, 1903-1940. In this first volume of the biography, Giddins chronicles the rise of Crosby's career. Giddins may be best known as a jazz columnist for The Village Voice. He won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award for his book Visions of Jazz. He was one of the experts featured in Ken Burns' Jazz series on PBS. This interview first aired on January 24, 2001.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Beneath This Gruff Exterior, the new album by John Hiatt and a new John Hiatt tribute album, The Songs of John Hiatt.

We remember singer June Carter Cash, who died Thursday at the age of 73. She was a Grammy-award winning singer, a songwriter, musician, actress and author. She was married to the legendary Johnny Cash, and she came from the Carter Family, the country music pioneers. June Carter Cash died of complications from heart surgery. (Original airdate: June 18, 1987.)

Music critic Milo Miles shares his thoughts on the New Orleans Jazz Fest.

The legendary songwriting trio, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland. They wrote many early Motown hits, and helped turn the company into a powerhouse. Their songs include "You Can't Hurry Love," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Baby, I Need Your Loving," "Heat Wave" and "Stop! In the Name of Love." Their songs were recorded by Diana Ross & The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. In 1990 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new DVD which features five Cole Porter musicals made between 1940 and 1957. Included are: Broadway Melody of 1940, Kiss Me Kate, High Society, Silk Stockings and Les Girls.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two new releases from two new bands: Up The Bracket by the British band The Libertines and Love and Distortion by the San Francisco band The Stratford 4.