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Artist Profiles

Artist Profiles - Composer and Bassist Marcus Miller

Marcus Miller is a jazz composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a bass guitarist. Throughout his career, Miller worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a successful solo career. Miller is classically trained as a clarinetist and also plays keyboards, saxophone and guitar.

Born William Henry Marcus Miller, Jr. in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1959, he was discovered by...

Artist Profiles - Vocalist Betty Carter

Artist Profiles - Saxophonist and Clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera

'Hope Is Our Only Wing' Tackles Tough Issues With Straightforward Style

By Caitlyn Paxson • 3 hours ago

Rutendo Tavengerwei offers us a glimpse into the lives of two struggling teens in her young adult debut, Hope Is Our Only Wing.

We begin with a new student arriving at a boarding school in Zimbabwe. Shamiso has spent most of her childhood in England with her mother and journalist father, an investigative reporter intent on telling hard truths about his beloved homeland and its many corruptions. When her father dies in what looks like a car accident, they are forced to return home to bury him and try to set up a new life in Zimbabwe.

In Patchett's 'The Dutch House,' Siblings Reckon With Profound Loss

By editor • 5 hours ago

'Downton Abbey' Actresses On Recapturing Their TV Roles In New Film

By editor • 5 hours ago

Brad Pitt On Making 'Ad Astra,' Processing Trauma And Channeling David Bowie

By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro • 5 hours ago

In the near future, resources on Earth are limited, space pirates fight for control of the moon, and travel into deep space is possible.

At least that's the future in Ad Astra, directed by James Gray and starring Brad Pitt. In the new sci-fi movie, Pitt plays astronaut Roy McBride, the son of space hero Clifford McBride, who commanded a mission called the Lima Project.

That mission disappeared somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system many years ago. But when he learns that his father may still be alive, the younger McBride sets out to find him.

A Boy And A Pup Come To One Another's Rescue In 'The Dog Who Lost His Bark'

By Samantha Balaban • 5 hours ago

Author Eoin Colfer knows the world has plenty of "boy-and-his-dog books." So if you want to write a book about a boy and his dog, he says, "you have to have something new."

Colfer's The Dog Who Lost His Bark is a book in two halves: "In the first half the boy heals the dog, and in the second half the dog heals the boy," Colfer explains. Music plays a role in helping both characters cope.

Kick Off Fall With This Trio Of Innovative YA Graphic Novels

By Etelka Lehoczky • 6 hours ago

Get ready to get woozy, get groovy and yell "Yee-ha!" September sees the arrival of a handful of audacious new graphic novels aimed at the young-adult crowd. With settings ranging from a contemporary Chinese-American community to the Old West, this trio of books tackles such unexpected topics as irritable bowel syndrome and transgender history with a combination of wit, heart and visual flair. It's a good month to be a preteen — or to read like one.

Not My Job: Zach Galifianakis Plays A Game Called 'Between Two Derns'

By editor • Sep 21, 2019

Comedian Zach Galifianakis is known for his Internet series Between Two Ferns, in which he conducts celebrity interviews while seated — you guessed it — in between two ferns. Between Two Ferns: The Movie premieres on Netflix in September.

We've invited Galifianakis to play a game called "Between Two Derns" — three questions about actor Laura Dern and her father, Bruce Dern. Click the audio link above to find out how he does.

A Stitch In Time Saves A Life In 'A Single Thread'

By Denny S. Bryce • Sep 21, 2019

From small things, greatness.

This line from Tracy Chevalier's new A Single Thread perfectly sums up a story about how a needle and the right stitch can change the course of a life.

Navigating Culture And Crushes In 'Frankly In Love'

By Scott Simon • Sep 21, 2019

David Yoon's debut novel has set off commotion, excitement, and a movie option.

It's Frankly in Love, in which we meet Frank Li, a high school senior and a self-described nerd, who, with his best friend Q, plays video games, watches obscure movies, gets high SAT scores and doesn't talk about girls — except, of course, when they do. Which is a lot.

'A Cosmology Of Monsters' Blends Freaky Frights And Family Feels

By Jason Heller • Sep 21, 2019

"How long until the world hollows me out?" Eunice Turner asks her younger brother Noah in one of her many letters to him — most of them suicide notes. That question lies at the heart of A Cosmology of Monsters, Shaun Hamill's debut novel. It's a horror tale unafraid to tackle big issues of familial fealty, the architecture of fear, and the metaphysics of love, all while shocking the pants off the reader.