Wordplay this week: Rare Birds

If you're a fan of jazz and contemporary classical music, you're most likely to really enjoy this show. Thomas Rain Crowe and Nan Watkins dropped in to talk about their new book Rare Birds, published late last year by the University Press of Mississippi. It's a collection of interviews with some of the great composers and players of the last three decades.

And if you’re going to talk about music, you really should play some, right? So the show features full tracks by the artists from whom Thomas and Nan elicited the insight and information gathered in their book's pages. You'll hear:

Eugene Friesen on cello with Paul Halley on piano performing Friesen's composition "Cove", from the album The Song of Rivers;

Charles Lloyd on "The Blessing", from his album The Call;

Philip Glass performing music from his soundtrack for Kundun;

Sathima Bea Benjamin singing "A Nightingale in Berkeley Square" from her album A Morning in Paris;

and the Abdullah Ibrahim Trio performaing "Barakaat" for their album Yaroma.

Enjoy.

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2/6/2009: Updated to include titles of musical numbers, and to update the link to the show.