Music director and conductor Maurice Peress has spent the last several years resurrecting the composer's early works, including restoring and completing arrangements and organizing performances.
Two members of the Philadelphia-based support group called Parents of Gays join Fresh Air talk about how they grew to accept their children's sexual orientation, and how they help other parents do the same. To ensure anonymity, the members only use their first names.
Television actor Dorian Harewood is known for roles in Roots, Strike Force, and Trauma Center. He stars in a new miniseries as groundbreaking athlete Jesse Owens. Harewood joins Fresh Air's Danny Miller to talk about the making of the program, as well as Owens' career.
Little tells Fresh Air about his experiences as an African American actor on- and off-Broadway. He considers how black actors have risen to greater prominence on stage and screen.
Jack Eric Williams played one of the villains in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and found success during a run of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera. He has written a musical of his own called Mrs. Farmer's Daughter, about the life of actress Frances Farmer, which is now in production in Philadelphia.
The accomplished musician made his mark as a member of Count Basie's band. Foster later earned his Ph.D. in music and worked as an educator. He now leads his own big band, an endeavor he admits is difficult to sustain financially.
Peggy King appears on Fresh Air for the second time since she ended her hiatus from singing. She has a new album called Oh, The Memory We Made--Tonight.
Davis is an avant-garde composer whose work draws heavily from jazz traditions. He wrote a new opera called X, based on the life of Malcom X. He performs the overture live in-studio.
Japanese-American sculptor has been commissioned to build public art around the world. A new piece, Bolt of Lightning, which celebrates the life Benjamin Franklin, will soon be installed in Philadelphia. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his early success and his gradual process of unlearning his formal training to develop his own unique style.
Maya Lin's concept was accepted while she was still and undergrad at Yale. She has recently worked as a set designer and is studying to be an architect.
Scholar Frank McCourt and his brother, actor Malachi McCourt, grew up poor in Ireland before finding success in the United States. Both brothers were voracious readers and were able to find success without a high school education. They wrote and perform together in a new, autobiographical play.
Physician and activist Patch Adams started a collective of medical professionals which provides free, community-based healthcare out of a suburban home. A strong critic of the for-profit health care industry, he advocates against unnecessary procedures and more patient-centered care.
Bill Lee pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 1969-1979. He was later traded to the Montreal Exos where he played until 1982. Lee, known as "Space Man," was known for hid antics and sarcastic quotes. He currently plays baseball in Canada and South America and does commentary and book reviews for the CBC. Lee has written a new memoir called "The Wrong Stuff."
One of the largest Bram Stoker repositories is here in Philadelphia at the Rosenbach Library. English writer and professor Clive Leatherdale is in town to research Bram Stoker and vampire folklore for an upcoming book whose working title is "Dracula: The Novel and the Legend." Leatherdale is a teacher at Aberdeen University in Scotland.
Acoustic jazz guitarist and composer Marty Grosz began playing at the age of 13. He is the son of satiric artist George Grosz who fled Germany with his family in 1933. Grosz takes inspiration from obscure jazz and pop from the 1920s. He regularly plays with Woody Allen at Michael's Pub. Grosz is in town for the Cool Jazz Festival and his brought his guitar into the studio.
Julia Robinson is the Philadelphia Director of Housing. She began her career as an activist in the Fair Housing movement in the 1960s, when she found that she and her husband could not purchase a suburban house because they were black. Robinson has an M. A. in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and has taught there and at Temple University. Robinson is also the head of the Mayor's Task Force on the Homeless. She joins the show to discuss housing and neighborhood issues in Philadelphia.
Composer and arranger George Russell is in town to speak at the Philadelphia International Jazz Arts Conference. Russell began his career as a jazz drummer before devoting himself to composing. He has since become central to the development of jazz and 20th century music theory. He has developed his on theory of harmony based on jazz called the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. Russell has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts since 1969.
Kenny Burell has been one of the premier jazz guitarists since the 1950s. His new album is "Groovin' High." Burrell is in town to participate in the Philadelphia Jazz Arts Conference, where he delivered a talk on the importance of Duke Ellington. Burrell joins the show to discuss his guitar-playing brothers, his influences, and why he was Duke Ellington's favorite guitar player despite not having recorded with him.
Richard Schickel has been the film critic for Time magazine since 1973. He is also the author of several books, and has written and produced several documentaries about film for television. His new biography is "D. W. Griffith: An American Life." Schickel joins the show to discuss Griffith, film and film criticism, and journalism.
Bob Greene is a journalist whose Chicago Tribune column is nationally syndicated. He also writes the "American Beat" feature for Esquire and is a contributor to the television show "Nightline." Greene has written a book chronicling the changes he experienced upon becoming a father, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine: A Father's Journal of His Child's First Year." Greene will discuss being a working father, balancing home and family life, and respond to listener calls.
