Jazz Musicians
'La La Land,' an Homage to Hollywood, Is Coming to Broadway
A stage adaptation of the hit 2016 movie musical is officially in the works
How Marian Anderson Took the World by Storm
Her mighty contralto propelled her across color lines
This Rap Documentarian's Latest Subject? Louis Armstrong
Sacha Jenkins tells the jazz musician's story through rarely-seen archival footage and letters
The Music and Freedom We Experienced on the Streets of Kyiv
The story of a joint Smithsonian-Soviet-Ukrainian program in 1990 lends poignant resonance to Russia’s brutal invasion today
The Evolution of Betty Boop
Film censorship sparked the beloved cartoon character's mid-1930s makeover
The Little-Known Recording of Louis Armstrong Reciting 'The Night Before Christmas'
Shortly before he died, the jazz legend offered his own rendition of the classic holiday poem
Hurricane Ida Destroys New Orleans Jazz Landmark Dubbed Louis Armstrong's 'Second Home'
The historic Karnofsky Tailor Shop and Residence collapsed on Sunday after water pooled on its roof
How Norman Granz Revolutionized Jazz for Social Justice
Often remembered for his artful management of legendary jazz musicians, but Granz also saw the potential for themusic to combat racial inequality
A New Museum in Nashville Chronicles 400 Years of Black Music
The culmination of two decades of planning, the National Museum of African American Music opened its doors last month
Why the Newly Released 1980s Album 'Sons of Ethiopia,' by the Ethiopian D.C. Band Admas, Is Going Viral
Admas draws from and rearranges “golden era” Ethiopian music with then-fairly-new synthesizer and drum-machine rhythms.
Musician Sunny Jain Reflects on Jainism, Jazz and the Punjabi Dhol Drum
While the originations of the dhol are not known with complete certainty, what is known is that it is a sound that has migrated
Kid Ory Finally Gets the Encore He Deserves
The childhood home of the musician who put New Orleans jazz on the map will soon open to the public
'The Great Gatsby,' Songs by Ma Rainey and Other Classic Works Are Now in the Public Domain
Canonical books, songs and films became free to use in 2021
The Soviet Spy Who Invented the First Major Electronic Instrument
Created by a Russian engineer, the theremin has delighted and confounded audiences since 1920
Listen to a Lost Ella Fitzgerald Recording
In 1962, the singer returned to Berlin to reprise a famous 1960 concert. The tapes were forgotten—until now
COVID-19 Claims the Lives of Three Jazz Greats
Pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis Jr., trumpeter Wallace Roney, and guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli succumbed to complications caused by the novel coronavirus
The Long Journey of Charlie Parker’s Saxophone
The newly acquired instrument, played by the father of bebop, is on view at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music
The Tragic Story of America’s First Black Music Star
Thomas Wiggins, an African-American musician marketed as ‘Blind Tom’, had a lucrative career—but saw none of the profits himself
Nina Simone’s Childhood Home Is Under Threat. This Campaign Aims to Save It
The National Trust is hoping to preserve the North Carolina house where Simone first learned to play piano
Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music
Doris Day's Biggest Hit Is a Song She Could Have Done Without
"Que Sera, Sera" is synonomous with the actress and singer who died on Monday at age 97, though she was never a fan of the tune she called 'a kiddie song'
