Music News

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters award, bestowed every year since 1982, is often characterized as the United States' highest honor reserved for jazz. This morning the NEA announced four new recipients of the prize: pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim, composer-arranger-bandleader Maria Schneider, critic and novelist Stanley Crouch, and singer-songwriter and pianist Bob Dorough.

For some years now, citizens of the U.K. have turned music chart manipulation into a cheeky tradition, the idea being to select a song and, largely through grassroots online campaigning (helped along by media coverage, like this very article), to make it the most popular song in the country. Past attempts include driving "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" to the top spot on the singles chart following Margaret Thatcher's death — it reached No. 2.

Composer and conductor Oliver Knussen, one of Britain's most influential contemporary classical figures, died Monday at the age of 66. His passing was announced by his publisher, Faber Music, but no cause of death was given.

Catalonia, a culturally distinct and politically embattled region of northeast Spain, has held on to its distinct culture through centuries as it has struggled to redefine its relationship with the rest of the country.

Since being released from prison on bail in April 2018 following a highly publicized (and still ongoing) legal fight, Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill has become an strident spokesperson for prison reform.

Elvis Costello has canceled his remaining European tour dates through July 16 to recover from surgery of an "aggressive cancerous malignancy," according to a statement on his website.

When the rest of the music world rests, Future keeps working. Just days after the Fourth of July holiday, Navyadius releases Beast Mode 2.

Boston Symphony Orchestra principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe has filed a lawsuit against the orchestra, claiming that she is making substantially less each year than her closest peer — a man.

Richard Swift, a highly regarded producer and solo artist, died early Tuesday morning in Washington state. His death was confirmed by a manager, Adam Katz, but no cause of death was given. He was 41 years old.

A crowdfunding campaign was created last month on Swift's behalf to help pay for treatment of a "life-threatening condition," the details of which were not shared.

Moog, the legendary synthesizer designer and manufacturer based in North Carolina, is the latest American company to sound an alarm over increased operation costs.

Nile Rodgers, co-founder of the band Chic and a widely hailed producer, songwriter and guitarist, is adding one more feather to his ever-present cap: On Monday, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that Rodgers has been named as its new chairman for a three-year term. He follows Philadelphia soul legends Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, who previously served as co-chairs.

Dominique Morisseau has her finger on Detroit's pulse. The award-winning playwright has written a trilogy of plays set in her hometown of Detroit, each considering pivotal moments in Motor City history: the 1940s jazz era, the '67 riots and the Great Recession.

Joe Strummer's barn has been raided.

The enfant raisonnable of U.K. punk's first wave — who with The Clash (like many lumped into it) broke from a retroactively applied punk orthodoxy to explore sounds from any and everywhere — is getting an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink treatment for the many reels of unreleased tape he had archived in his barn.

In the midst of the country's turbulence in 1968, five musicians later named simply The Band hunkered down in a salmon-colored house in upstate New York to craft Music From Big Pink, an album that brought the rural folk Americana sound to popular music and to the classic album canon.

At the end of 2017's More Life, Drake mulled over the idea of staying mum in order to protect his creative process. "Maybe gettin' back to regular life will humble me / I'll be back in 2018 with the summary," he calmly mused on "Do Not Disturb." Now, music fans have once again found themselves amidst the summer Nor'easter of a Drake album rollout. After dropping No.

Ed Sheeran's syrupy, Grammy-winning single "Thinking Out Loud" is now at the center of two lawsuits.

The ginger troubadour was first sued over the hit song last year by the heirs of Edward Townsend, Jr., a co-writer of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," which they claim "Thinking Out Loud" cribs from enough to warrant a lawsuit.