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2:34 pm

Wed November 28, 2012

'Buddy And Jim': Friends In Life And Songwriting

Credit Michael Wilson photo/Paul Moore design / Courtesy of the artist

Musicians and friends Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale team up on a new album of country duets called Buddy and Jim.

By Ken Tucker

Originally published on Wed November 28, 2012 6:04 pm

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Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale are singer-songwriters who've each written hits for country and rock acts, and have enjoyed extensive solo careers as performers and producers. Buddy and Jim is their first collaboration, a mixture of original songs and covers from earlier decades of country, rock, folk and soul music.

The Record

1:03 pm

Wed November 28, 2012

Who Picks The Music You Hear At The Mall?

Credit Kyle Johnson for NPR

Spencer Manio in front of his office (his door is the one with the Ghostface poster) at PlayNetwork.

By editor

Originally published on Thu November 29, 2012 5:26 am

In an episode from the fifth season of Mad Men the show's main character, advertising executive Don Draper, is asked by his client, the cologne company Chevalier Blanc, to supply a Beatles song for a television commercial. The year is 1966, and the 40-year-old Draper doesn't have his finger on the rapidly rising pulse of popular music. So he calls in a team of younger, hipper copy writers, including his wife Megan.

"When did music become so important?" he asks her.

Live At The Village Vanguard

9:00 am

Wed November 28, 2012

Sound Prints Quintet: Live At The Village Vanguard

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Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

The Sound Prints Quintet is (L-R): Lawrence Fields, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Linda Oh, Joey Baron.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Joe Lovano (left) and Dave Douglas, backstage in the Village Vanguard "kitchen."

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Pianist Lawrence Fields, backstage.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Dave Douglas.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Lawrence Fields.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Joey Baron.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Joe Lovano brought his tarogato, a Hungarian clarinet-like instrument.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Joe Lovano, backed by Lawrence Fields.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Linda Oh.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano started the Sound Prints Quintet after playing together in the SFJAZZ Collective band.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Joey Baron is an old associate of both Douglas and Lovano.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

The Sound Prints Quintet is: (L-R) Lawrence Fields, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Linda Oh, Joey Baron.

Credit John Rogers for NPR / johnrogersnyc.com

Joe Lovano (right) and Dave Douglas.

By editor

Originally published on Tue December 4, 2012 2:33 pm

Few jazz bandleaders are as active — and as actively acclaimed — as saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas. But while they've met from time to time on the bandstand, their brief overlap in the SFJAZZ collective — during a season when the compositions of Wayne Shorter were featured — got them to lead a band together. It's a quintet in which they share compositional duties and top billing. And it's a band featuring two up-and-coming musicians in pianist Lawrence Fields and bassist Linda Oh, as well as Joey Baron, a drummer with whom they've grown up in music.

Favorite Sessions

8:03 am

Wed November 28, 2012

KCRW Presents: Orbital

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Credit KCRW

Orbital perform on KCRW.

Credit KCRW

Orbital perform on KCRW.

By editor

Originally published on Wed November 28, 2012 10:14 am

Along with Moby, The Prodigy, Underworld and The Chemical Brothers, Orbital was influential in establishing a blueprint for today's thriving electronic dance-music scene. After an extended hiatus, Phil and Paul Hartnoll recently reunited for select live dates, including a performance in KCRW's studios. It's a treat to hear electronic classics like "Chime" sound as captivating and innovative as they did two decades ago.

World Cafe

5:27 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

Electric Guest on World Cafe

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Electric Guest.

By editor

Sometimes it pays to be somebody's little brother. Were it not for his fraternal ties, singer and multi-instrumentalist Asa Taccone probably wouldn't have been able to get acclaimed songwriter and producer Brian Burton (better known as Danger Mouse) to produce his band's debut album. Taccone's older brother, a friend of Burton's, asked the producer to listen to the songs his little brother had been working on and give some constructive criticism.

All Songs Considered

5:24 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

The Albums We Missed This Year

Credit Courtesy of the artists

Clockwise from upper left: Acid Pauli, Kendrick Lamar, Samuel Yirga, Kelan Philip Cohran, Waxahatchee, Pallbearer, Matthew Dear

By editor

Originally published on Thu November 29, 2012 4:07 pm

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Hear The Discussion

Music

5:13 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

Modern Offices No Longer Mechanical Orchestras

By editor

Originally published on Tue November 27, 2012 5:55 pm

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Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish have more on the music of the office environment.

The Record

4:23 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

R. Kelly's Queer, Campy 'Closet' Reopens

Credit Parrish Lewis / IFC

R. Kelly (left) as Sylvester, and Eric Lane as Twan, in Trapped in the Closet, which relaunched with new chapters last week on IFC.

By Neda Ulaby

Originally published on Tue November 27, 2012 5:55 pm

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There's really been nothing like Trapped in the Closet ever before.

R&B star R. Kelly has been making (and remaking) a series of short music videos that tell a flamboyant narrative in less-than-five-minute installments. The first batch of several dozen appeared online in 2005. Now, there's a total of 40 "chapters" that aired last Friday on IFC, with the latest ones being released online one at a time for the next week.

Around the Nation

2:34 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

Kennedy Center's New Organ No Longer A Pipe Dream

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Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

After years of waiting, the Kennedy Center has a new symphonic organ replacing its old Filene organ. The $2 million project will culminate in the organ's debut on Nov. 27. William Neil (left), the National Symphony Orchestra organist, speaks with NSO Assistant Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl (center) during the organ's test with the orchestra on Oct. 18.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

The organ console and concert hall as seen through the pipes of the organ chamber set behind the orchestra. The new organ boasts 1,000 more pipes than the previous one — nearly 5,000 pipes in total.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Jacquelin Rochette, artistic director of Casavant Bros., gives a tour of the labyrinthine organ chamber. The Montreal-based company was founded in 1879 and specializes in building, renovating and installing pipe organs.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Pipes inside the organ chamber range from five-eighths of an inch to 32 feet long, with varying shapes and diameters. Each pipe is meticulously tuned to create the organ's unique tonality.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

The cluster of pipes in the center are the only ones that remain from the old Filene Great Organ, installed in 1972.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Weiler pulls on the "Filene" stop, named after Catherine Filene Shouse, the donor of the first Kennedy Center organ dismantled earlier this year. The wooden console has 103 stops, which are responsible for balancing the treble and bass — the lows and highs of each pipe.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Bahl (left) speaks with Neil (center) and Weiler about the organ's test performance with the orchestra on Oct. 18. After six weeks of toning and tuning, the team just needed to make a few final refinements. "We had to tone it down today. We heard too much organ," said Weiler. "It's much easier to make an organ softer than louder, but the power is there."

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

A concert hall organ has to have the right balance — powerful enough to be heard over the orchestra and chorus, but blending in like any another instrument.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Rochette stands along a narrow passageway deep inside the organ chamber.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

After years of waiting, the Kennedy Center has a new symphonic organ replacing its old organ installed in 1972. The $2 million project will culminate in the organ's debut on Nov. 27. William Neil (left), the National Symphony Orchestra organist, speaks with NSO Assistant Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl (center) during the organ's test with the orchestra on Oct. 18.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Neil plays the organ while organ consultant Jeff Weiler pushes and pulls stops during the test. Building the organ took nearly two years, plus more than three months for installation.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

The new organ was tested with the orchestra on Oct. 18.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Organ consultant Jeff Weiler (left) and Casavant artistic director Jacquelin Rochette oversaw the tremendous task of building, installing and voicing the Kennedy Center's new organ.

By Nina Totenberg

Originally published on Wed November 28, 2012 9:16 am

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It was almost spooky. Each night after 11 p.m., when nothing was stirring in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, two men would enter. One would sit at the organ, playing a key or series of keys, and the other would crawl around inside the organ pipes, 40 feet off the floor. The process went on for months.

It was the all but final phase of installing a new organ for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. And on Nov. 27, the organ makes its formal debut.

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