Gwen Thompkins
Gwen Thompkins is a New Orleans native, NPR veteran and host of WWNO's Music Inside Out, where she brings to bear the knowledge and experience she amassed as senior editor of Weekend Edition, an East Africa correspondent, the holder of Nieman and Watson Fellowships, and as a longtime student of music from around the world.
-
The rhythm-and-blues legend who became one of the progenitors of rock 'n' roll — and reportedly sold more than 65 million records along the way — died Tuesday. -
C. Morgan Babst's portrait of a troubled New Orleans family that fractures further during and after Hurricane Katrina is poetic and suspenseful — but the drama sometimes drowns in too much detail.
-
With technical mastery and endless style, Washington never sang the same song the same way twice. No singer since has had Washington's particular combination of talent, sass and pluck. -
Drummer Stanton Moore — a founding member of the funk band Galactic — has a new release with "Here Come the Girls" on a tribute album to the late songwriting producer Allen Toussaint. -
Elaine M. Hayes' new book traces the ups and downs of the singer known as the Queen of Bebop, from her great Town Hall debut in 1947 to the cheesy but profitable novelty songs that marred her legacy.
-
In music, "accidentals" are notes that color just outside the lines. They shocked listeners during the Renaissance, but these days you can find them all over the place. -
NPR contributor Gwen Thompkins met the musician at a time when he'd thrown himself into performing around the world. Before his death this week in Madrid, he gave her a song he never got to release. -
New Orleans lost much since Hurricane Katrina, and the failed levees that flooded the city. But Gwen Thompkins says the passions that survived the flood kept her city alive too. -
An upcoming documentary highlights the life of the man many called New Orleans' best pianist in a hundred years.
