Producer John Comerford, who appeared on our show this year to talk about his film “Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense,” suggested before the show that we might look to contemporary pianists Matthew Shipp, Vijay Iyer, or Jason Moran to talk about the Monk legacy. (John’s project is still rolling along; check it out at the “Icons Among Us” Facebook page.)

Shipp indeed made an appearance on our Monk segment, with biographer Robin Kelley. 

Here’s Shipp grooving in person:

A pianist who has pushed the boundaries of jazz — much as Monk did in his day — Shipp told host Tom Ashbrook that the Monk legacy endures:

I’m like a third or fourth generation of pianists that was really touched by Monk’s discipline, his belief in himself, and just the humanness in his music. I mean his music is obviously an Afro-American … jazz music. But at the same time, he has just such an open mind, that he takes in everything … and brings it into his own idiom, where he kind of really discovered the essence of what makes him work as a composer and a pianist. And he was able to just really develop this music that was his vision. So I think that type of thing has really influenced me and other pianists.  

Shipp said Monk’s first generation of heirs includes musicians like Randy Weston, Mal Waldron, and Cecil Taylor. He also mentioned later players, like Anthony Davis and Moran. “The figure of Monk is just a pervasive, pervasive figure,” Shipp said during our show, “…Monk offers an infinity of responses.”

At the end of his book, Kelley also plugs Shipp, Iyer, Moran, and Davis, in addition to Jessica Williams, Marcus Roberts, Danilo Perez, Gonzalo Rublcaba, and Fred Hersch. He writes in his book that those musicians are “just a fraction of the post-Monk generation of pianists/composers whose ideas have been profoundly shaped by a serious engagement with Monk’s music.”

Moran is on tape talking about Monk:

Here’s Vijay Iyer in studio:

And Jessica Williams on stage:

Thelonious Monk performs at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, R.I., on July 5, 1963. (AP Photo)

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Jazz great Thelonious Monk had a genius for unusual and daring composition, for confounding and delighting the world. He did things with rhythm, melody and chords that had never quite been heard before.

Hip America swooned for his music and for his myth: the mystical, elusive “George Washington of bebop.” From the 1940s to the 1970s and beyond, the myth of Monk nearly overshadowed the man. But his music rolls on.

A new biography from Robin Kelley tells the story of the music and the man — of Coltrane and Chopin and genius and Monk.

This hour, On Point: a deep new look at the great jazzman Thelonious Monk.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Robin Kelley joins us from Los Angeles. Professor of history and American Studies at the University of Southern California, he’s the author of the new biography “Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original.” You can read an excerpt here.

And from New York we’re joined by Matthew Shipp, jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. His previous albums include “One,” “Harmony and Abyss,” and “Equilibrium.” His forthcoming album, available this January, is “4d.” You can hear him playing and talking about piano jazz at NPR.org.

Here’s a list of the Monk songs featured during the hour:

“Blue Sphere”
“Introspection”
“‘Round Midnight”
“Evidence”
“Trinkle, Tinkle”
“Brilliant Corners”
“In Walked Bud”
“This is My Story, This is My Song”
“Jackie-Ing”
“Well, You Needn’t”

More links:

In this clip from the documentary “Straight No Chaser,” you can see Monk’s famous “dance” during a performance:

And here’s Monk playing his renowned composition “‘Round Midnight” in Norway in 1966:

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The Wu Tang Clan came out of New York hip hop in the 1990s — intense, poetic, rough, and huge. Nine emcees. Method Man. Ghostface Killah. U-God. Raekwon.

And behind it all — The RZA, aka Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, son of Staten Island, mean streets, and his adopted spiritual home: China’s Shaolin Temple and the realm of Kung Fu movies.

The RZA was a kind of mad genius in the Wu Tang Clan mix. Now he’s sharing his way. A little Buddha. A little Allah. A little Jesus. And a lot of kung fu.

This hour, On Point: The Tao of Wu. And the RZA.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

The RZA joins us from New York. Rapper, producer, and composer, he’s the driving force behind the hugely influential, martial-arts inspired hip-hop empire The Wu-Tang Clan. Born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, he’s had success as a solo artist under several names -- Prince Rakeem, Bobby Digital, the Rzarector. He’s scored movies, including Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” and the anime series “Afro Samurai.” His 2005 book “The Wu-Tang Manual” explained the history and mythology of The Wu-Tang Clan. His new book, out yesterday, is “The Tao of Wu.” 

More links:

In a 2007 Wired magazine feature, the RZA explained the kung fu movie source material and samples in a number of Wu Tang Clan songs.

You can watch a collection a videos at RZA’s MySpace page.  And here’s the trailer for 2008’s “You Can’t Stop Me Now” (as Bobby Digital):

Chita Rivera, during an interview in New York, on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. (AP)

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Broadway legend Chita Rivera is as big and enduring a star as they come on the Great White Way.

At a time when performers like Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze have blinked out tragically young, Rivera is a near miracle of the show going on.

She was there in the original “West Side Story,” a real-life Puerto Rican daughter breaking ground in the 1950s. She was there in the original “Chicago” with “All That Jazz.” In “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” And she’s there today.

She started life as “Conchita.” At 76, she’s a Presidential Medal of Freedom winner.

This hour, On Point: Broadway great, Chita Rivera.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

From New York City, we’re joined by Chita Rivera. Best-known for her roles in “West Side Story,” “Chicago,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” she’s a two-time Tony Award winner for best actress in a musical, and has been nominated for nine Tonys in total. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom on August 12, and she was the first Hispanic ever to win the Kennedy Center Award in 2002. She recently starred in the Broadway and touring productions of “Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life,” and she will begin touring in January with her concert “Chita Rivera: My Broadway.” Her new solo studio album, “And Now I Swing,” will be released next month.

Watch clips from the recent production “Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life”:

Detail from "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game (thebeatlesrockband.com)

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Aerosmith did it. And Metallica. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And Spinal Tap. They’ve all seen their music take the plunge into the world of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and video games.

But the Beatles? Not until now.

Out from the mists of time, the Fab Four are making the leap. “The Beatles: Rock Band” hits the shelves tomorrow. The marketing din is deafening. Soon, you too can grab a plastic guitar and rock out like the Beatles at Shea Stadium.

Is this a revolution? Evolution? Or just fun and games?

This hour, On Point: music, video games, and Beatlemania all over again.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us in our studio is Alex Rigopulos, cofounder and CEO of Harmonix Music Systems, developers of “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Harmonix developed the first Guitar Hero game in 2005, and in 2006 the company was acquired by MTV Games for $175 million. Harmonix now makes the Rock Band games, the first of which came out in 2007.

Joining us from New York is Heather Chaplin, video game critic and journalist who’s written for Salon, Fortune, and The New York Times. She’s co-author of “Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution.”

Also from New York, we’re joined by Lisa Robinson, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where she covers music and the music industry. She has interviewed all four of the Beatles.

They started out taping street musicians all over the world, and layering the tracks — Spain on Nepal on South Africa on New Orleans — until they had a kind of global street symphony.

Then came video, and Bono, and PBS, and a distribution deal with Starbucks.

And suddenly they had a kind of global movement. They call it “Playing for Change.”

This hour, “Playing for Change” creator Mark Johnson on the world and song.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Santa Monica, California, is Mark Johnson, Grammy-award winning music producer and founder of “Playing for Change,” a multimedia music project. Their CD/DVD is “Playing for Change: Songs Around the World.”  Mark directed and produced the documentary “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music,” which is airing on PBS this month.

And from Los Angeles we’re joined by Rocky Dawuni. Called “Ghana’s Bob Marley” by the UK’s New Nation newspaper, he debuted on the African reggae scene in 1996, and is featured in “Playing for Change” on the songs “War/No More Trouble” and “Biko.”

The Playing for Change band is on tour this fall.  Check their schedule here.

Here’s “Stand By Me,” the “Playing for Change” YouTube hit:

And here’s Bob Marley’s “War/No More Trouble” featuring Rocky Dawuni and U2’s Bono on lead vocals:

Aoife O'Donovan and Gregory Liszt of "Crooked Still" in our studio

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Originally broadcast Aug. 12, 2008

When Crooked Still formed in 2001, it was a band of twenty-somethings from the Boston conservatory scene playing a genre-bending blend of bluegrass and folk. Critics raved about the sound of young Americans reinterpreting old Appalachian tunes.

Now, seven years later, with world tours under their belt and a recent overhaul of their lineup, they’re a little older, a little wiser — and every bit as innovative. Bluegrass and folk, pop and blues, maybe even jazz. They play mountain music from an old-time era, polished with percussive banjo-beats and an ethereal voice.

With us today we’ve got Crooked Still’s banjo player, their fiddler, and their singer-guitarist to put their sound in our ears.

This hour, On Point: breakout bluegrass innovators, Crooked Still.

-Jane Clayson, guest host

Guests:

Aoife O’Donovan, lead singer and founding member of Crooked Still.

Gregory Liszt, banjo player and founding member of Crooked Still. In 2006, he toured with Bruce Springsteen as a member of the Seeger Sessions Band.

Brittany Haas, fiddler for Crooked Still.

More:

Crooked Still’s official website tells the band’s story and has all the information you could want on tour dates and recordings.

Double-bass player Corey DiMario’s blog, “Play the Bass, Drive the Bus,” has a big selection of videos from Crooked Still’s performances.

This is Crooked Still performing “Captain, Captain” (also heard in today’s show) from a recent show at the Basement in Nashville:

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The classical guitar — and for that matter, the instrumental root of every head-banging Guitar Hero rocker — goes back to the lute and Spanish vihuela.

In the 18th century, the modern six-string guitar emerged for a heyday. It came back, classically, with Spanish great Andres Segovia in the 1920s. And half a century later, Segovia handed the tradition to a young Eliot Fisk.

Now virtuoso in his own right, Fisk carries the torch for a musical tradition — and a role for the guitar as exquisite cultural bridge.

This hour, On Point: A conversation with classical guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

Eliot Fisk joins us in our studio. He is a world-renowned classical guitarist, one of the great Andres Segovia’s last students. Segovia called him “brilliant, intelligent, and gifted,” an artist “at the top line of our artistic world.” King Juan Carlos of Spain honored his contributions to Spanish music. He teaches at the Universitat Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He’s founder and artistic director of Boston Guitarfest, an international festival now in its fourth year.

Here’s a (very casual) video of Eliot doing his sound check  in our studio before the show. He’s practicing the “Phrygian Pick,” from the final movement of Robert Beaser’s Guitar Concerto.  He talks with On Point producer Stefano Kotsonis. The video was shot by our intern Molly Connors:

And here you can watch Eliot perform an excerpt from the final movement of Guitar Concerto — which premiered at Carnegie Hall last month — for Tom and members of the On Point staff in our studio after the show:

Following is the playlist of pieces heard during the broadcast, in the order in which they were played:

1. Manuel Ponce: Prelude
from “Segovia: Canciones Populares” (1996 CD)

2. Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra), by Francesco Tarrega (Granada, 1896)
LIVE

3. Spanish Dance No. 5 by Enrique Granados
A duet by Eliot Fisk & Angel Romero at Boston Guitarfest 2008.

4. Finlandesa: Quasi Andante
from “Segovia: Canciones Populares” (1996 CD), a Finnish folk tune transcribed by Andrés Segovia

5. Two Pieces from Siglo de Oro: “Cancion del Emperador” (Narvaez-Josquin, 1538) and “Fantasia Que Contrahace la Harpa de Ludovico” (Alonso Mudarra, 1546, Seville)
LIVE IN STUDIO

6. Scarlatti: Sonata in A Major
A duet by Eliot Fisk & the great Mexican castanet player Lucero Tena.

7. Paganini: Capriccio No. 23 in E-Flat Minor
Version 1 (guitar): From “Paganini: 24 Caprices”(1992 CD by Eliot Fisk).

Version 2 (violin):  From “Paganini: 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1” (1989 CD by Midori).

8. Two Etudes by Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)
LIVE IN STUDIO

9. Ciaccona by Johann Sebastian Bach
LIVE IN STUDIO

10. Paganini: Capriccio No. 24 in A Minor
from “Paganini: 24 Caprices”(1992 CD)

Leonard Bernstein conducts his New York Philharmonic Orchestra in New York City, July 9, 1959. (AP Photo)

Originally broadcast on Sept. 18, 2008

New York City is taking some hard blows this season as the titans of Wall Street come tumbling down.

But there was a time, in the heart of the American Century, when New York was on top of the world. The colossus of world wealth and energy and culture.

And at the pinnacle of that energy and culture was Leonard Bernstein. From Broadway and “West Side Story,” to Carnegie Hall and Shostakovich, to CBS and the television nation, Bernstein — conductor, composer, magnetic showman — was everywhere.

This hour, On Point: New York looks back on Leonard Bernstein and the American Century.

Do you remember how he glowed? How New York and the country glowed when Bernstein took the podium? You can join the conversation right here.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from New York City is Barbara Haws, archivist and historian of the New York Philharmonic since 1984. She’s co-author of the new book “Leonard Bernstein: American Original.” The Philharmonic’s Bernstein festival begins on September 24.

Also with us from New York is Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, and former managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra. A cellist, he played under Leonard Bernstein for the LSO. Carnegie Hall’s website features a special section devoted to this season’s Bernstein festival.

Joining us from Los Angeles is Tim Page, former music critic for The Washington Post, where he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997. He’s now a visiting professor of musicology at the University of Southern California. He contributed an essay to “Leonard Bernstein: American Original.”

And from Hanover, New Hampshire, is Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

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Bob Dylan, almost 68 now, is America’s grand old man of … what? Folk? Rock? Touring honky tonk? Everything?

He’s out with his 33rd studio album, called “Together Through Life.” It’s #1 in the UK. He’s touring — a hundred gigs a year. And just lately, he’s been talking — not to a music critic, but to a bonafide historian, Douglas Brinkley.

Brinkley followed Dylan through Europe on his “never-ending tour.” His interviews became the cover story of this month’s Rolling Stone. Dylan talked about Texas, Elvis, patriotism, morality. About Duluth and Neil Young and Marcus Aurelius and Caravaggio.

This hour, On Point: Douglas Brinkley on Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone.

It’s been a long time since Blowin’ in the Wind. Since Blood on the Tracks. What does this man, this artist, this American mean to you? How do you see Bob Dylan? Tell us — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

Douglas Brinkley joins us from Austin, Texas.  He’s a professor of history at Rice University and author of Rolling Stone’s current cover story, “Bob Dylan’s America” (not available online). He’s the editor of “Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954″ and two volumes of letters of his late friend Hunter S. Thompson, “The Proud Highway” and “Fear and Loathing in America” (a third and final volume is on the way). The author of many works of history and current affairs, on subjects from Hurricane Katrina to Henry Ford, he’s also profiled Ken Kesey, Norman Mailer, and Kurt Vonnegut for Rolling Stone.

More links:

David Fricke reviews “Together Through Life” in Rolling Stone.

Dylan’s own vast website has news about his tour, as well as a complete discography and an archive of song lyrics.

Here’s Dylan goofing in that 1965 press conference in San Francisco:

And in a different vein, On Point’s Wen Stephenson was moved by a moment in Brinkley’s piece where Dylan pays tribute to Neil Young (you can watch videos of Young and Dylan covering the other’s songs).

from iconsamongus.com (click image above to visit the site)

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Jazz, the great American art form, is so great it’s been a problem. How do you keep going, changing, staying vital, fresh, when the shadows of the greats are so long and deep?

There’s Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, and on and on.

So is jazz now? Or is jazz then? A new documentary tours the new horizon of jazz. The new icons. New names. Benevento. Blanchard. Glasper. Shipp. Jason Moran. The Bad Plus. And their sound.

This hour, On Point: on the new frontier of jazz.

What, who, does “jazz” mean to you? Miles? Monk? Dizzy? Or somebody new? And if it’s too new, too different, is it still jazz? Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from New Orleans is John Comerford, president of Paradigm Studios and executive producer of the big, new four-part documentary, “Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense.” It’s currently airing on the Documentary Channel, Mondays at 9 PM, with the music and voices of a whole new pantheon of jazz.

Also from New Orleans, we’re joined by Alan Evans, drummer with the jazz/funk band Soulive. They’ve recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli, and John Scofield, and opened for The Rolling Stones, The Roots, and John Mayer. Their latest album is “Up Here.”

More links:

Here’s the music heard in the segment ins and outs during this show, in the order played, with links to the artists’ websites:

“Fleur de Lis” -- Nicholas Payton, from the album “Into the Blue”

“Flow, Pt. 1″ -- Terence Blanchard, from the album “Flow”

“Blue Skies” -- Robert Glasper Trio, from the album “Mood”

“Principle” -- Greg Osby, from the album “9 Levels”

“I Know You Know” -- Esperanza Spalding, from the album “Esperanza”

“End of the World Party” -- Medeski, Martin and Wood, from the album “End of the World Party (just in case)”

The New York Times’ Ben Ratliff reviews “Icons Among Us.” On the LA Times music blog, Chris Barton reviews the film and features some video clips. “Icons Among Us” on MySpace features more video.

Here’s an 8-minute trailer for the film and an excerpt featuring Soulive (from YouTube):

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For most human beings, music is magic. It can take us back in time, move us through emotions, change our heart rate, blow our minds.

It’s done that for eons — in caves, under bandstands, off LPs on the stereo, off the Walkman, the boom box, and now the iPod.

But the iPod goes everywhere, with all our music, if we like, all the time. The permanent, omnipresent soundtrack.

Novelist Arthur Phillips put American hipsters in Eastern Europe at the heart of his first big book, “Prague.” Now he’s channeling the iPod era. This hour, On Point: Arthur Phillips on music, his new fiction, and the age of iPod.

You can join the conversation. Is your soundtrack always with you now, on your earbuds? Does that change the way we live? The way we live with music? Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Arthur Phillips joins us from New York. He’s the author of the previous novels “Prague,” “The Egyptologist,” and “Angelica.” He plays jazz saxophone and is a five-time Jeopardy! champion. His new novel is “The Song is You.” Read an excerpt at his website. 

Joining us in our studio is Tim Riley, a music critic for NPR, editor of the Riley Rock Index, and author of “Fever: How Rock Transformed Gender” and “Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary.”

In this hour, we played excerpts from a number of songs referenced by Arthur Phillips in his novel.  Here’s the playlist, in the order we played them:

1. “I Cover the Waterfront” – Billie Holiday
2. “Waters of March (Aguas de Marco)” – Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis Regina
3. “April in Paris” – Ella Fitzgerald
4. “The Boy With the Thorn in His Side” – The Smiths
5. “Monkey Man” – The Rolling Stones
6. “Flathead” – The Fratellis
7. “A Little Less Conversation” – Elvis Presley
8. “Not Fair” – Lily Allen
9. “Foxey Lady” – The Cure

Phillips himself has created an iTunes playlist for “The Song Is You,” which includes several of these songs and a few others.

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The Blind Boys of Alabama came up hard in the 1930s, out of the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind.

They found their way in gospel. In decades on the road. And just lately, into Grammy glory. Sessions with Ben Harper and Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed and Peter Gabriel. Legend status.

Now they’ve taken it to New Orleans, where gospel meets Preservation Hall.

This hour, On Point: The Blind Boys of Alabama sing for New Orleans.

You can join the conversation. Have you followed their work? Their path? Their gospel?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Norwich, Vermont, are three of The Blind Boys of Alabama:

Jimmy Lee Carter goes back to the group’s original days. He was born blind, attended the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind, and joined the group. He’s the last remaining original Blind Boy, others having died or stepped out because of illness. He’s been there as they recorded more than 60 albums, won 5 Grammys, and toured the world. He leads the Blind Boys of Alabama now.  They’re new album is “Down in New Orleans.”

Eric “Ricky” McKinnie plays drums, percussion, and sings with The Blind Boys. He joined 19 years ago, and has seen a few miles himself with the group since then.

Joey Williams is lead guitarist and back-up singer with The Blind Boys. He’s been with the group since 1992. He’s one of the younger members of the group and is one of the few members who is not blind.

Also joining us, from New Orleans, is Ben Jaffee, creative director of The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He’s the son of co-founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe and was raised in the French Quarter. He plays the tuba on The Blind Boys of Alabama’s latest album.

More links:

The Blind Boys’ website has their current tour dates. Tonight they play with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Then they move on to Ithaca, NY, and Ottawa, Canada, before taking off for Australia and New Zealand.

Here are a couple of videos of The Blind Boys doing their thing. In the first, Prince jumps on stage with the band at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, CA:

And here’s Ben Harper recording “Shall Not Walk Alone” with The Blind Boys:

Click here for more Blind Boys videos on YouTube.

Jon Nelson (Photo: Kate Iverson)

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Mashup music isn’t new. All the way back in the ‘60s, fans were remixing Elvis and “Blue Suede Shoes.” Eminem — Slim Shady — laid his vocal track over AC/DC and Vanilla Ice.

But we’re living in a mashed-up musical world right now. From the mainstream to the underground, songs are being sampled, pulled apart, remixed, mashed up. If you’re a fan, you know that Girl Talk does it. Danger Mouse. DJ Spooky. Negativland.

And it’s not just music. My guest today, Jon Nelson, mashes music and found sound — from old movies, laugh tracks, the news — to make what he calls the audio dreamscape of the media age.

This hour, On Point: Music, dreams, and the mashup.

You can join the conversation. Are you a mashup fan? Do you mix your own? What does it say about our era that we’re so into the recycling, layering, mixing of sound? Tell us what you think — and what you’re listening to.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Jon Nelson joins us from Duluth, Minnesota. A pioneering sound collage/mashup music artist, he’s hosted the radio show “Some Assembly Required” for the past ten years. Most everyone in the underground world of collage and mashups has come through his show, from Evolution Control Committee to the current mashup phenom Girl Talk. His new album, under the name Escape Mechanism, is called “Emphasis Added.” You can listen here.

And joining us in our studio is Tim Riley, music critic and editor of the Riley Rock Index, a new music site. His latest book is “Fever: How Rock Transformed Gender.”

More links:

U.K. sound artist Vicki Bennet records and remixes tunes, often with a surreal twist, under the name “People Like Us.” California-based sound collage artist Jon Liedecker, a.k.a. “Wobbly,” has a long record of creative tracks. And Turnstylz, an emerging act from New York City, is mixing up a wide variety of genres, with a hip-hop focus.

Screenshot from brianraftery.com.

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Twenty-five years ago, karaoke landed on American soil. Depending on your perspective, that day was either very dark — or very sunny.

Now, more than a quarter century later, araoke is experiencing something of a revival. If you’re picturing a drunken posse laughing its way through a bad version of “Freebird,” think again. Karaoke is big business.

But is this karaoke spike a passing fad? How much does it have to do with “American Idol”? Video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band? And is karaoke a great equalizer, or great embarrassment?

This hour, On Point: The highlights — and lowlights — of karaoke.

You can join the conversation. Are you a karaoke lover, or do you think that singing should be left to the professionals? Have you stepped up to the stage and sung your heart out? Share your thoughts.

-Guy Raz, guest host

Guest:

Joining us from New York is Brian Raftery. He’s written for Wired, Spin, GQ, and Entertainment Weekly. His new book is “Don’t Stop Believin’: How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed my Life.” Read the first chapter (pdf).

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The rapper Biggie Smalls grew up Christopher Wallace in Brooklyn with a hard-working, middle-class mom and sterling elementary school report cards.

At 17, he dropped out of school. Dealt crack. Did jail time. Made a hip-hop music demo. Signed with Bad Boy Records. Became “Notorious B.I.G.,” famous hip-hop star, and died in a hail of bullets at 24.

A new film looks at the life and death of Biggie Smalls. This hour, On Point: We’ll talk with its director, George Tillman Jr., and with hip-hop scholar Tricia Rose, about looking at Biggie and hip hop in the age of Obama.

You can join the conversation. Were you big on Biggie? Are you still? Have you seen the film? And where does hip hop go when there’s an African American in the White House?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

From Los Angeles, we’re joined by George Tillman Jr., director of the new film “Notorious,” about the life and death of Biggie Smalls. Tillman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and studied film at Columbia College in Chicago. His 1992 short film “Paula,” about a 17-year-old African-American single mother, won the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Student Academy Award and the Black Filmmakers’ Hall of Fame Award. He went on to direct the feature films “Scenes for the Soul” in 1995, “Soul Food” in 1997, and “Men of Honor” in 2000.

And from Providence, Rhode Island, is Tricia Rose, professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and author of the books “The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop — and Why It Matters” (2008) and “Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America” (1994).

More links:

See the official “Notorious” site. Also worth visiting is MTV’s main B.I.G. page.

 You can watch the film’s trailer here:

Cover art from Alice Smith's 'For Lovers, Dreamers & Me.'

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Washington’s been full of song this week. Garth Brooks and Bono at the Lincoln Memorial. Beyonce at the ball. Aretha Franklin, “The Queen of Soul,” at the Inaugural swearing-in itself — in her big hat, above the millions on the Mall.

Singer-songwriter Alice Smith was in Washington for the Inauguration. It’s where she grew up — blocks from the Capitol building. And on a little farm in Georgia.

The edge of song, of soul and more, keeps moving. If Alice Smith is a soul singer, it’s her own soul. Her own style. And this hour we’ll hear it.

This hour, On Point: in the studio with Alice Smith.

You can join the conversation. Have you caught up with Alice Smith? Do you know the singer HipHop.com calls “the most refreshing musical landscape to emerge in years”? What do you think?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

Alice Smith joins us in our studio. A Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter, her debut album is “For Lovers, Dreamers & Me.”

You can listen to samples from the album her website, alicesmith.com.

Count Basie

Originally broadcast: June 6, 2008

William “Count” Basie didn’t really read music. He and his band — rolling out of Kansas City, on their way to the American stage — just made it up.

Felt it in their bones. Blew it on their horns. Played it on keyboards, and behind Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, in the late 1930s, in a sound known as swing.

It was a time of Depression and FDR, Joe Louis and Amelia Earhart. It had a soundtrack. And Count Basie was a huge part of it.

Do we have a soundtrack today? Gnarls Barkley? Beck?

This hour, in an archive edition of On Point: Count Basie, and the sound of America, then and now.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Roxane Orgill, music critic and author of the new book “Dream Lucky,” which chronicles Count Basie’s rise in the 1930s.

Tim Riley, NPR music critic and frequent contributor to “Here & Now.” His latest book is “Fever: How Rock Transformed Gender.”

For a ballad of ruin and loss, there is none in the American songbook with more dark power than “House of the Rising Sun.” Everybody’s sung it. Everybody knows it.

The Animals made it a big hit in the 1960s, but its roots go way back. Alan Lomax first heard it from the lips of a dirt-poor 16-year-old girl in Middlesboro, Kentucky in 1937. And she wasn’t the first to sing it.

This hour, in an archive edition of On Point: chasing the remarkable history of a remarkable song of ruin — House of the Rising Sun.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Ted Anthony, author of the new book “Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song.” He has worked for the Associated Press since 1992, where he was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1969, a young guitarist named Leo Kottke came out with his head-turning debut album, “Twelve String Blues,” recorded live at the Minneapolis Scholar Coffee House. It was the beginning of a legendary guitar career.

In 1999, as a new millennium came in, the touring sensation Phish, the group Rolling Stone called “the most important band of the 1990s,” held the biggest New Year’s Eve concert in the country, with guitarist Mike Gordon driving the bass line.

Last year, Phish played its last concert. Now Kottke and Gordon are out with a new album of their own — an island-inspired mix of the two musical greats, including original songs and covers of everything from Pete Seeger’s “Living in the Country” to Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion.”

This hour, in an archive edition of On Point:  Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon.  The finger picking virtuoso and the Phish bassist and their two guitars.

-Tom Ashbrook

* * *

Guests:

Leo Kottke, widely recognized as one of the greatest fingerstyle guitarists of all time. He has over 34 albums to his credit, plus four singles.

Mike Gordon, former bassist for Phish. In 2002, he first collaborated with Leo Kottke on the album “Clone.” Their new CD is “Sixty Six Steps.”