Music

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg looks back on the long nights he spent in a private club in Rome where the only requirement for membership was that you be a native-English speaker. He reflects on how the language brought together people who otherwise had nothing in common.

Rock historian Ed Ward takes on the notion that old-time rock and roll had no message or meaning, that it was simply fun. This is the message that the purveyors of collections of 50s and 60s hits are conveying in ads that recall the "fun" of the era without also evoking the harsher realities.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the work of TK Productions, the Miami recording company that in the mid-70s brought out acts like K.C. and the Sunshine Band ("That's the Way I Like it" and "Get Down Tonight"), George McRae ("Rock Your Baby") and Betty Wright ("Where is the Love"), musicians who combined classic southern rhythm and blues with the up-tempo beat of disco.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead pays tribute to bandleader and arranger Gil Evans, who died on March 20. A reissue of Evans' music from the early 60s has just been released, and Whitehead uses that record to comment on Evans' varied contribution over the course of his 40-year career.

New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack (also known as Dr. John) plays two songs recently made popular by other New Orleans artists. This is part six of a seven-part performance series.

Comic Sandra Bernhard. She's best known for her appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman" and in the Martin Scorsese film "The King of Comedy." She's now starring in the Off-Broadway one-woman show "Without You I'm Nothing," that is part stand-up comedy, part satire on the "women of rock and roll."

Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews "I'm Your Man," the new Leonard Cohen album.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Manchurian Candidate," starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh. The film was originally produced in 1962 but was never distributed because of a squabble between Sinatra, who owned the rights to the film, and the producers.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the first two compact discs of Stravinsky conducting his own music. Included are two of Stravinsky's most accessible works, "The Rite of Spring" and "Petrushka." Also included are three abstract scores, "Symphony in C," "Symphony in Three Movements," and "Symphony of Psalms."

Folk singer Bill Staines gives an introductory lesson in yodeling.

Pianist Ursula Oppens. She's widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of new music. Many contemporary composers, like John Adams, have written works for her.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Alan Freed, one of the most famous, and most notorious, disc jockeys of the 50s and 60s. Freed was one of the first disc jockeys on a mainstream station (WJW in Cleveland) to play the black rhythm and blues that was the foundation of early rock and roll.

Tango innovator Astor Piazzolla. Since the early 60s, Piazzolla has been leading groups that play an updated tango that connects this Argentinian form with the musical innovations from Europe and America, both classical and contemporary. The adjustments have earned him the enmity of Argentinians, and for most of the 70s he lived in France where he wrote film scores. Piazzolla is a classically trained composer who wrote symphonies and studied with Nadia Boulanger, the renown French instructor of composition.

Jazz singer Chris Connor. She was best known for the work she did during a brief stint with the Stan Kenton band. Connor recorded sparingly throughout the 70s and for many jazz fans it was as though she ended her career. She's now performing again and has just completed work on a new album.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "She's a Great Great Girl," the second album from singer Daryl Sherman.

New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack pays tribute to one of his own, the New Orleans pianist and singer Cousin Joe. This is the fifth of a seven-part performance series with Rebennack, who is also known as Dr. John.

Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews three albums by older black male vocalists who are trying their hand at new genres, or trying to extend the traditions they first performed in. The albums are "Forever and Ever," the second solo album by Howard Hewett, a former singer with the black rhythm and blues group Shalamar, "On the Strength," by the rap group Grandmaster Flash, and "I Need Money Bad," by John Whitehead.

Irish rock musician Pierce Turner. His first band, The Major Thinkers, became popular with New York's East Village crowd and had a hit song in "Avenue B." Turner's debut album, "It's Only a Long Way Across," was produced by minimalist composer Phillip Glass.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the cast recording of "Into the Woods," the latest Stephen Sondheim musical. Sondheim is the composer of "Sweeney Todd," "Pacific Overtures" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a reissue of the post-World War II work of Woody Herman and The Thundering Herd, one of the best-known big bands. There were almost half a dozen version of The Thundering Herd, but it was the configuration featured on this album that made Herman a household name.