Music

Singer and actor Eric Benét charges his old-school soul songwriting with healthy doses of modern funk and hip-hop. His winning formula has been recognized with multiple Grammy and NAACP Image Award nominations. He also has a busy acting career in film and television, and starred in the 2011 feature film Trinity Goodheart.

David Bowie released a new single this week. The song may be new, but it sounds old. It sounds familiar. Like a David Bowie song. It sounds new and familiar at the same time. This is what makes it so good, I think. (It also has the wonderful lyric: "The moment we know we know we know.")

This got me thinking about the fact that music has a history. This is puzzling. Why should music have a history?

In addition to leading Phish, one of rock's most beloved jam bands, Trey Anastasio has built a successful solo career in the past 10 years with his Trey Anastasio Band.

In a concert and ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized its 2013 class of Jazz Masters on Monday, Jan. 14, 2013.

The honor is the highest federally supported award for jazz artistry; those recognized receive a $25,000 grant and a tribute performance. The event was broadcast live at XM Satellite Radio, WBGO-FM and online — with a live video stream — at this page on NPR Music.

Grant Green, The Holy Barbarian, St. Louis, 1959 could be the name of a fine stage play, perhaps based on the actual circumstances of the recording. One musician on the way up, another past his moment in the limelight and one more who had his chance but never quite made it all convene on Christmas night, part of their week-long stand at the Holy Barbarian, a beatnik hangout replete with chess players and a local artist painting portraits.

Singer, songwriter and fiddler Amanda Shires makes her first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live in Charleston, W.V. Shires got her start in Texas, where as a teenager she performed with the Texas Playboys, the backing band for the legendary Bob Wills.

Host Michel Martin and editor Ammad Omar crack open the listener inbox for 'Backtalk.' This week, listeners push back on a conversation about reality TV, secrets of the Tell Me More theme song are revealed, and a former guest ties the knot.

Got an idea for a classical cartoon, or a reaction to this one? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Pablo Helguera is a New York-based artist working with sculpture, drawing, photography and performance. His new book is Helguera's Artunes. You can see more of his work at Artworld Salon and on his own site.

• Simon Rattle announced yesterday to the Berlin Philharmonic that he will be leaving his position there as artistic director and chief conductor in the summer of 2018. Said Rattle, "In 2018 I will have been with the orchestra for 16 years. Before this I was chief conductor in Birmingham for 18 years. In 2018 I will be nearly 64 years old. As a Liverpool boy, it is impossible not to think of the Beatles' question, 'Will you still need me ...