Jeremy Smith, Special Collections Librarian and Curator of the James and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection radio interview on Dave Brubeck

Listen to Jeremy Smith, Special Collections Librarian and Curator of the James and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection talk about jazz legend Dave Brubeck, who died on December 5, 2012.  Listen here.

Holiday Greetings from the Oberlin Conservatory Library!

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2013 Inductees Include Public Enemy, Rush, Heart, Randy Newman & Donna Summer

The following article is provided by Rolling Stone, which covered the announcement of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2013 inductees: Rush, Public Enemy, Heart, Randy Newman, Donna Summer and Albert King.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year's inductees: Rush, Public Enemy, Heart, Randy Newman, Donna Summer and Albert King will all join the class of 2013, with Summer, who passed away this May, and King, who died in 1992, earning the honor posthumously. Lou Adler and Quincy Jones will both receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.  More

Ravi Shankar death: Tributes pour in for 'godfather of music'

Musicians from India and around the world have paid tributes to legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar, who has died aged 92.

His friends in the musical world all appear to agree that the contribution of the three-time Grammy winner to music will keep him alive in the minds of people all over the world for many years to come.

Many say that he will be remembered principally for being the first Indian musician to take the subcontinent's versatile and spontaneous styles to the West.

His sitar contribution to songs by the Beatles - George Harrison was taught by Shankar - on their Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band albums have guaranteed his immortality, critics say.  More

Simón Bolívar Orchestra Lifts Youth in a Troubled Nation

When conductor Gustavo Dudamel brings the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (SBSOV) to Carnegie Hall as the culmination of a 14-day, five-city US tour, many of its 200 musicians will have traveled a long way from lives of desperate poverty, crime and violence.

The orchestra is based in Caracas, Venezuela, one of the most violent cities in the Western hemisphere. It registered 3,218 homicides during the first 10 months of this year, putting it easily on track to beat last year’s toll of 3,488 homicides, according to CICPC, the national police agency. Last year, there were 19,336 homicides in Venezuela, ranking it higher than neighboring Colombia or Mexico, which is plagued by a drug war.  More

Charles Rosen, Scholar-Musician Who Untangled Classical Works, Dies at 85

Charles Rosen, the pianist, polymath and author whose National Book Award-winning volume “The Classical Style” illuminated the enduring language of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, died on Sunday in Manhattan. He was 85.

The death, at Mount Sinai Hospital, was of cancer, said Henri Zerner, a friend of many years.

Published in 1971, “The Classical Style” examines the nature of Classical music through the lens of its three most exemplary practitioners. Given that these titans were working with the same raw materials — the 12 notes of the Western musical scale — as the Baroque composers who had preceded them, just what was it, Mr. Rosen’s book asked, that gave their music its unmistakable character?  More

Legendary Jazz Musician Dave Brubeck Dies

Dave Brubeck, the legendary jazz pianist and composer, known for defying jazz conventions and for recordings like "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," has died.
Brubeck died of heart failure in Norwalk, Conn. He was one day short of his 92nd birthday.

Dave Brubeck On NPR Music

His All Music biography says Brubeck distinguished himself from the popular jazz musicians of the West Coast by playing unusual time signatures, "adventurous tonalities," and proving that complex music could find a larger audience.  Read More