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Eighties absurdo-disco band Was Not Was has a new album. David Was shares some of his thoughts about embarking on a rock and roll odyssey at a time when he should be figuring out how to stretch his Social Security check.

The Jupiter String Quartet has been playing together for just seven years, but it's already racked up an impressive collection of awards. The group takes music by Benjamin Britten to the WGBH studios in Boston.

The sound of New Orleans Jazz is unmistakable. If you're in the Crescent City, there's one place you're sure to find it: Preservation Hall. A new, jam-packed box set celebrates the Preservation Hall Jazz Band master tapes that survived Hurricane Katrina.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says the government is reviewing a proposal to stop making the penny. It actually costs nearly 2 cents to make a penny, so the government loses money.

English-Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John has died at age 73. She was one of the the biggest pop stars in the 1970's and early 1980's.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Cambodia for a regional meeting of foreign ministers amid the fallout from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

The elections had been hailed as step forward for Kenyan democracy, with politicians focused on economic issues rather than tribal mobilization. Across Nairobi, scenes of celebration mixed with anger.

In 1971, Motown founder Berry Gordy created MoWest, a California label that would last only two years before being dismantled. A new anthology documents this odd and little-known chapter in Motown's history.

As is true for so many great musicians, the compositions of George Gershwin live on well after his death. Case in point: Jazz musician Gordon Goodwin has arranged Gershwin's beloved piece for his brassy Big Phat Band.

The rise of the rapper from Paterson, N.J. with a trio of feel-good hits has felt inexorable and hilariously American. His debut album, finally here, is proof he did it his way.

The rock trio's first album since 2005 sounds as fresh and vital as a debut, but also as nuanced and skillful as the work of three players with a decade-long, inimitable rapport betwixt them.

WBGO Morning Jazz host Gary Walker shares his favorite jazz recordings of 2007. Among the artists he singles out: Michael Brecker, Abbey Lincoln, Maria Schneider and Ron Carter.

Born in the '60s, soul-jazz is a groove-oriented style built from the bottom up. You take a strong bass line, establish a steady groove between the bass and drums, and then embellish that groove with riffs and melody lines that draw heavily from gospel, blues and R&B.

The best albums of 2007 include a plethora of reliable favorites, whether they're treading new stylistic ground (Iron and Wine), returning to roots (Wilco) or merely holding steady (Spoon). And, of course, a few new favorites join the mix, too.

Banning Eyre, senior editor of Afropop.org, shines the spotlight on Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean with his picks for the year's best albums. Among his selections: Watina, an effort by singer Andy Palacio to preserve the culture of the Garifuna people of Central America.

Manouche Jazz, commonly known as "Gypsy Jazz," is a blend of traditional Roma music and swing jazz. Originating in Paris in the early 1930s, it was first popularized by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Hear five songs from the genre's founders and modern jazz musicians.

The singer nicknamed "the Norwegian Kylie" meets the synth-pop, disco-house production duo from Germany for some deep bubblegum grooves.

Side by side, with good humor and the wisdom of experience, two veteran songwriters dwell on what it means to be creatures of habit, all while learning to live with deficiencies and disappointments.

The Queen of Rockabilly has just released a new album with Jack White of The White Stripes. In 2003, Jackson sat down with Terry Gross to explain why she switched from country to rock.

It's fitting that this house-music collection comes out so soon after Daft Punk cleaned up at the Grammy Awards; it's a bedrock part of that band's roots.