Tom Vitale

Jazz drummer, bandleader and mentor Art Blakey was born 100 years ago. The Jazz Messengers came to be called Blakey's University and graduated stars Donald Byrd, Wayne Shorter and Wynton Marsalis.

American poet Walt Whitman was born 200 years ago on May 31, 1819. His Leaves Of Grass has been called the most important book of American poetry ever. Yet in 1855, he could barely give it away.

T.C. Boyle's Outside Looking In fictionalizes Timothy Leary's hallucinogenic drug experiments in the 1960s. A graduate student who participated says Boyle did a "great job describing the zeitgeist."

The Beat Generation icon and owner of City Lights bookstore and press in San Francisco is still writing. He celebrates his centennial March 24, and his new autobiographical novel is out now.

The jazz legend and barrier breaker was born on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Ala.

The 1976 movie Network struck a nerve with its darkly comic predictions about celebrity news anchors and the rise of infotainment. Now, a stage adaptaion is one of the hottest tickets on Broadway.

Robert Bly is probably best known for his controversial nonfiction book Iron John. But as a poet, he's conjured deeply resonant imagery of nature and war for 60 years, as his Collected Poems reveal.

Crosby set the mold for the multimedia star: on radio, on the big screen and on record. The 1940s was the period when his star shone brightest and Swinging on a Star by Gary Giddins tells that story.

The avant-garde saxophonist and member of the World Saxophone Quartet died Thursday at age 78.

Donald Hall, a former poet laureate of the United States whose writing explored everything from nature to mortality to the toss of a baseball, has died. Hall began writing when he was 12 years old.

The author of The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff used to give himself a quota of 10 triple-spaced pages per day. He also experimented with literary techniques in his nonfiction.

Taylor stretched the beats in a measure and played notes outside the chords of a song. A pioneer of free jazz, the pianist and composer remained true to his vision even through financial struggle.

Before his death in 2015, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet collaborated with saxophonist Benjamin Boone in the recording studio. The results have finally been released as The Poetry Of Jazz.

Denis Johnson died of liver cancer last year. Now a final collection of short stories by the National Book Award-winning author has been published posthumously. Johnson's first collection of stories, Jesus' Son attracted a devoted following that includes Philip Roth and Zadie Smith.

Eighty years ago, barriers were broken when Benny Goodman took a mixed race band to play jazz to Carnegie Hall.

One of the most distinctive singers and songwriters in jazz, Salvant brings a modern perspective to old songs on her latest record, Dreams and Daggers.

Misunderstood early in his career, the jazz pianist and composer — born Oct. 10, 1917 — came to have a massive effect on American music.

John Ashbery began winning awards with his first collection of poems. He went on to earn a Pulitzer, the National Book Award and many, many others. Despite his often challenging style, he was one of the most influential poets of the 20th century.

Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden and Civil Disobedience, was born 200 years ago in 1817. Biographer Kevin Dann says the philosopher's ideas about individual sovereignty remain relevant today.

On her 100th birthday, Tony Bennett, Cécile McLorin Salvant and others pay tribute to the woman whose voice and vivacity redefined the Great American Songbook.