From hardship to hero worshipped: the early life of louis armstrong

No one notices Bruce Springsteen. He makes no effort to hide—black T-shirt, blue jeans, Wayfarer sunglasses, honky-tonk cowboy boots—but for a few minutes, the most famous son of the Jersey Shore achi

‘What Americans call safe music bores me,’ declared Michel Legrand in a 2005 interview, in which he reflected on the high profile he had achieved as one of the world’s leading film composers. ‘If you’

Paul Weller’s career is a rare phenomenon in British music. Six decades in, he’s still making records that matter, still selling out tours, still chasing the next thing. What makes Weller endure? Afte

Is there a special sorcery in Seoul? Cunning creativity in Canada? Preternatural pizzazz in Paris? Oh, why do so many great pianists come from this or that country? We even have some in Britain; is th

Danny Bird Your book opens with the story of a woman named Solitude on Guadaloupe. Why did you choose to start with her and what can she tell us about the wider history of resistance among enslaved pe

John & Yoko/ Plastic Ono Band Power ...