Simon Rentner

Next week the great pianist presents a new lineup in concert. As he sees it, he's borrowing from the techniques of young cutting-edge musicians — who were themselves preceded by Miles Davis.

New York City's Winter Jazzfest kicks off its 12th edition tonight, launching five days of nearly nonstop music. This year's installment is the biggest yet, featuring more than 120 groups and 600-plus musicians in and around Greenwich Village. What started as a one-night festival to give greater exposure to the ...

Montreal is a city of two cultures: French and English, usually commingling, sometimes colliding. In their fight for cultural relevance, they are often at odds. In literature, they call this "two solitudes": part English, part French, but not quite either.

Yet as Montreal modernizes and these divisions become less noticeable, ...

Brilliant art often hides in plain sight. Such is the case in South Africa, where, for centuries, the country turned its back on black and "coloured" musicians.

In the mid-'60s, the apartheid government made it impossible for its best musicians to operate or make a living. Being a true jazz ...

Listen Right after 9/11, Davey D, a longtime hip-hop journalist and radio host, remembers rappers throwing benefit concerts for firefighters and cops. “I remember Cannabis joining ...

One of the most innovative jazz musicians of the '60s and '70s, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was most famous for playing three or four wind instruments simultaneously. He got this idea -- and many others -- from a vivid dream. Simon Rentner found out ...

Mingus was known to his enemies and his friends as the "Angry Man of Jazz," and some of his best works are fueled by rage. Simon Rentner explores the vengeful impulses of one of the great composers of modern jazz.

One of the most innovative jazz musicians of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was most famous for playing three or four wind instruments simultaneously. He got this idea — and many others — from a vivid dream. Simon Rentner found out how Kirk’s dream world inspired a ...

Producer Simon Rentner explores how the grid has served artists throughout history.

Producer Simon Rentner explores how the grid has served artists throughout history.

Vijay Iyer is a jazz pianist and composer as well as an accomplished cognitive scientist. His studies of the brain and the body actively shape how he perceives and makes music. Produced by Simon Rentner.

Mingus was known to his enemies and his friends as the "Angry Man of Jazz." The bassist and composer wrote music fueled by rage. We look at the vengeful impulses of the late jazz legend.

(Originally aired: May 2, 2002)

Vijay Iyer is a jazz pianist and composer as well as an accomplished cognitive scientist. His studies of the brain and the body actively shape how he perceives and makes music.

Charles Mingus was known to his enemies and his friends as the "Angry Man of Jazz." The bassist and composer wrote music fueled by rage. We look at the vengeful impulses of the late jazz legend.