Music

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a number of CDs devoted to the music of Hoagy Carmichael: Stardust Melody (Bluebird); Hoagy Sings Carmichael (Pacific Jazz); Stardust Melody: Beloved and Rare Songs of Hoagy Carmichael (A-Records); Bill Charlap: Stardust (BlueNote).

Gino Yevdjevich is the lead singer of the Bosnian-Bulgarian punk rock band Kultur Shock. He was a rock musician in Sarajevo when the Bosnian War broke out. During the war, he played a major role in rewriting the musical Hair into a new version called Hair: Sarajevo, AD 1992 which played in Sarajevo for three years to standing room only crowds. Yevdjevich now lives in Seattle; he moved there in 1996 when a theatre produced his play Sarajevo: Behind Gods Back. His band Kultur Shock has a new CD called F.U.C.C. the INS

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the third album by Marshall Mathers (otherwise known as Eminem) The Eminem Show.

Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews violinist Ida Haendels new 2-CD set on Decca and the video on VAI.

From the South African production of the opera Carmen, and Yiimimangaliso: The Mysteries, an opera based on the medieval Chester Mystery plays: Music Director Charles Hazlewood and Singers Sandile Kamle and Pauline Malefane. The operas were staged in Londons West End to rave reviews. They are currently making their American premiere at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina that runs May 24-June 9. (www.spoletousa.org). Hazlewood went to South Africa and auditioned over a thousand performers for Carmen.

He's been called the 'not-so missing link between soul and country'. His songs have been recorded by Vince Gill, George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Shelby Lynne and many others. But he's also recorded over a dozen of his own solo albums and has sung background vocals on more than 40 albums. In 1999 he collaborated with his hero, blue grass legend Ralph Stanley on the album, I Feel Like Singing Today which was nominated for a Grammy.

Rock historian Ed Ward reviews The Stiff Records Box Set

Since the 1973 release of his first album, Closing Time, Tom Waits has won fans over with his original songwriting and distinctive, gravelly vocal style. Musicians including Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart have recorded covers of his songs. He has also acted in films, including Sylvester Stallone's Paradise Alley, Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law and Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Waits has two new CDs out this month: Alice and Blood Money.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Belly of the Sun, the new album from singer Cassandra Wilson (Blue Note records).

Writer, musician and broadcaster Jamie Bernstein Thomas. She is the daughter of composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. She hosts The New York Festival of Song on WQXR which features highlights from that concert series. She and her siblings founded the Bernstein Education Through the Arts (BETA) Fund. On Friday, May 24th she will be the speaker for a production of Leonard Bernstein Symphony No. 3, Kaddish based on the Jewish liturgical prayer. The concert will be part of the Cinncinnati May Festival held at Cincinnati historic Music Hall.

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Martha and the Vandellas.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new CD by Andrew W.K. Its called I Get Wet.

Founder of the band Wilco, Jeff Tweedy. He also sings, writes songs, plays guitar and banjo. The band got started as an alternative country band, but has recently left that sound behind. Their new recording is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch). Before forming Wilco in 1994, Tweedy headed the band Uncle Tupelo.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Bonnie Raitt's new album, Silver Lining.

Sue Graham Mingus' new memoir Tonight at Noon is about her love affair with the late jazz musician and composer Charles Mingus. She is a former magazine editor and publisher, and now works as a music producer. She also created and directs repertory ensembles that carry on the music of her late husband. Tonight at Noon... Three or Four Shades of Love, a CD featuring tracks by the Mingus Big Band and the Charles Mingues Orchestra, was recently released on the Dreyfus Jazz Label.

Ken Tucker reviews When I Was Cruel the new release by Elvis Costello. It reunites him with two members of his first rock combo, The Attractions.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews an installment of the legendary Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, produced by Norman Granz. This particular show comes from Carnegie Hall in 1949, and was recently released on CD.

Through his first band, La Perfecta, labeled "the band with the crazy roaring elephants," Palmieri was credited with originating Latin jazz's trombone sound in New York during the sixties. In 1994, Palmieri's lobbying culminated in the announcement of a new Grammy Award category for Afro-Caribbean Jazz.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the proto-punk group The Sonics, who played in the 1960s and 70s.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Inhabiting the Ball the third album by Chicago singer-songwriter Jim Roll. It features collaborations with novelists Rick Moody and Denis Johnson.