Bessie Smith

-------------------- The Jazz Standards A Guide to the Repertoire Ted Gioia Oxford University Press: 528 pp., $39.95 -------------------- I like jazz but I don't know much about it. Or perhaps I should say that I know what I like. Duke Ellington,...

Throughout the week and holiday season, Pop & Hiss will be presenting various top 10 lists from its contributors. What follows are the favorite albums of the year from staffer August Brown....

With a timbre suggestive of Billie Holiday and an intimate style of phrasing that needs only the subtlest twist of a syllable to hook a listener, Madeleine Peyroux has cleared a distinctive path in today's jazz world. That path does not include a lot...

Bessie Smith to Lady Gaga is a wide swath in modern music, and "Women Who Rock" includes them and many in between Friday, Nov. 18, on PBS (check local listings). "Rock and roll is a very wide river," says filmmaker Carol Stein. She and Susan Wittenberg...

LIBERTY — Virginia Ruth Starnes, 79, died Tuesday in Warsaw, Ky.  Born May 6, 1932, in Casey County, she was a daughter of the late Luther Pittman and Nettie Durham Pittman Hatter. She also was preceded in death by her husband, Ed Starnes Sr., and...

Friday's Highlights: 'Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys' on Sundance...

Miche Braden has that rich voice that tickles your soul and wakes up your sins....

“Grand Canyon Serenade” 8 p.m. Thursday KVCR: A visual tour of the Grand Canyon is set to classical music by Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvorak. “Globe Trekker” 8 p.m. Thursday and 7 p.m. Saturday KLCS; 9 p.m. Monday KCET: Amsterdam...

HARRODSBURG — Anita Lavon Bottom, 54, widow of Darren Bottom, died Thursday. Born March 15, 1956, in Mercer County, she was the daughter of the late William J. and Bessie Smith Bast. She was self-employed. Survivors include three daughters, Angela...

EVENTS Slide Show, “Out of the Station Fire Ashes” — Wednesday, March 2, 6:30 p.m. La Cañada resident and mountain cyclist Mike Caley rides regularly in the Station fire burn area, with special permission. A member of the California...

Banjos! Speakeasies! Ken Burns! Steve Martin! An epic exploration of space and time! They're all coming to PBS' fall season, the network announced Monday. And they'll probably make you smarter than watching your 10th "Two and a Half Men" rerun.......

Laguna Beach High School junior Macarena Rivera began playing "homemade music" with her stepdad, Jason Farthing, in the family's living room about two years ago, in order to promote his cigar box art and guitar business and to help the performing arts...