Ashley Kahn
Ashley Kahn is an American music historian, journalist, and producer, as well as a regular commentator on Morning Edition.
Kahn has had different jobs related to music in his career: from deejay to video producer and freelance writer, from road manager to concert producer and TV music editor for VH1. As a road manager, he has toured with jazz musicians including Henry Threadgill, Cassandra Wilson, and Greg Osby; with African artists including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Hugh Masekela, and Lucky Dube; with rock artists including Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel; and with pop stars including Britney Spears.
His most critically acclaimed books have been on two major jazz albums, Kind of Blue from Miles Davis and A Love Supreme from John Coltrane. Apart from his books, his contributions as a journalist have appeared in the New York Times, Downbeat, Jazz Times and Rolling Stone in the USA; Mojo and New Statesman in the UK; GQ in Japan, and many others.
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On Friday morning, New Orleans kicks off its first jazz festival since Hurricane Katrina. This year, the Jazz & Heritage Festival has adopted the motto "Witness the Healing Power of Music." Nowhere will this be more evident than in the festival's Gospel Tent.
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Commentator and music journalist Ashley Kahn talks to members of The Flaming Lips about their music and their latest album, At War with the Mystics. For more than 20 years the band has been a cult favorite. Kahn explains how their new effort maintains a spirit of experimentation, while earning them a shot at mainstream popularity.
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Singer/songwriter Neko Case possesses one of the most distinctive voices in modern music. Some writers are already predicting that her latest, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, will end up one of the year's best. In a recent interview, Neko Case sang, played her guitar and spoke about her music with music journalist Ashley Kahn.
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Music journalist Ashley Kahn talks with guitarist and songwriter Al Anderson about his new album, After Hours. Anderson has been in the music business for four decades. He has written a string of country hits for Nashville's biggest stars. Despite his success as a songwriter, Anderson says the urge to perform again has proved too strong to resist.
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Miles Davis is among the new inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For most of his career, the great jazz trumpeter played music that had very little to do with rock 'n' roll. But his influence on popular music is still being felt today.
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Last week, legendary jazz keyboardist Chick Corea released a new album titled The Ultimate Adventure. It features a blend of Corea's signature style from the 1970s with some modern twists. The album was inspired in part by the writings of Scientologist L. Ron Hubbard. -
John Fogerty — once lead singer of Credence Clearwater Revival and now a solo artist — has buried the hatchet with his record label. The result is a new greatest hits CD called The Long Road Home.
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Susan Tedeschi is considered one of the best up-and-coming blues singers and guitarists. Her newest CD is called Hope and Desire. Music journalist Ashley Kahn spoke with Tedeschi about her career and her music.
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Music journalist Ashley Kahn talks to filmmaker Cameron Crowe and others about the changing nature of movie soundtracks. Original music is out, while compilations of popular hits are in.
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Raul Midon is a singer, composer and guitarist who straddles pop, R&B, folk, Latin and jazz. He tells Ashley Kahn about his career and his new CD State of Mind.
