Search results for

Chicago has beaten out San Francisco for the dubious title of having the nation's most expensive gas. Chicagoans can blame high taxes of almost 80 cents a gallon, along with a special fuel recipe required to protect air quality.

After serving on the jury for a murder case, singer Phil Wade was inspired to write a five-part suite that anchored The Wilders' latest album, Someone's Got to Pay. Wade and Ike Sheldon discuss the origins of the story.

Conductor Marin Alsop examines the rarely heard music from early in Aaron Copland's career. With an ear toward Copland's bold and sometimes jazzy rhythms, Alsop says that listeners can hear hints of the wide expanses that would later open up in music such as Appalachian Spring.

The Oslo-based trio of vocalists introduces a Norwegian Christmas tune, as well as a few traditions from their homeland, in NPR's Studio 4A. The group's latest recording has just been nominated for a Grammy Award.

The world-famous cellist has a challenge for his fans and fellow musicians: Get online and produce a virtual collaboration with him. Simply download Ma playing "Dona Nobis Pacem," add new music, mix and then upload it back to the site, where the rest of the submissions can be heard. Ma says he'll play music, in person, with the winner.

Friend and patron to several generations of composers and artists, Freeman was the catalyst behind the opera Nixon in China by John Adams, as well as pieces by John Cage, Harry Partch, Thomas Ades, Philip Glass and dozens of others.

The latest album by best-selling Irish solo artist Enya explores familiar spiritual themes and brings a fresh perspective on the new year. In an interview, she reveals the influence The Beatles had on her new songs, as well as her attitude toward critics.

George Tillman Jr.'s sketch of the life and death of the Notorious B.I.G. looks at how the Brooklyn rapper changed hip-hop. Corey Takahashi takes a look back at the man who would become Biggie Smalls.

He grew up with John Coltrane, gigged with Art Blakey and shared the silver screen with Tom Hanks. Now, on the eve of 80, illustrious saxophonist and jazz composer Benny Golson is re-creating his greatest ensemble: the six-person Jazztet.

He didn't see it coming when his sensitive crooning launched him to pop fame in 1996. But with one Tony Award-winning musical in the books and another production on the way, his work as a stage composer has put him in the spotlight again.