Tom Cole
Tom Cole is a senior editor on NPR's Arts Desk. He develops, edits, produces, and reports on stories about art, culture, music, film, and theater for NPR's news magazines Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. Cole has held these responsibilities since February 1990.
Prior to his work with the Arts Desk, Cole worked for three and a half years as an associate producer for NPR's daily classical music program Performance Today, and also for Morning Edition, where he coordinated, edited, and produced arts and culture stories.
From April 1979 to July 1986, Cole worked for NPR Member station WAMU-FM in Washington, DC. He was the production manager for the daily operation of studios, and also served as a reporter, writing and producing music features that were broadcast locally and nationally. In addition, from October 1985 to November 1986, Cole worked for Voice of America as a producer for VOA Europe.
Since 1977, Cole has been the host and producer of a weekly three-hour program of music and interviews broadcast on public radio station WPFW-FM in Washington.
Over the course of his career, Cole has produced or collaborated on a number of public radio projects. He co-edited the Peabody Award-winning NPR documentary, "I Must Keep Fightin': The Art of Paul Robeson." He was also an advisor, contributor, and co-editor of the Peabody Award-winning series, "The NPR 100," the top 100 songs of the 20th century.
A native of Washington, DC, Cole has studied classical guitar at The American University and privately. He also studied comparative literature at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.
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The Colombian film "Embrace of the Serpent" tells the story of Amazon exploration not through European, but indigenous eyes. It's a contender for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
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Paul Kantner co-founded the band Jefferson Airplane with Marty Balin in 1965. When that band broke up, he founded Jefferson Starship and led the band for more than 40 years. Kantner died in his native San Francisco Thursday after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. He was 74 years old.
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The jazz guitarist has a new record out with an old quartet, playing music that deals, in part, with the death of Scofield's son. -
The National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, two federal grant-making agencies aimed at investing in American culture, turn 50 on Tuesday.
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The great bluesman was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and toured relentlessly his whole life, wringing peerless emotion out of every note he played. -
The longtime piano accompanist and musical director accidentally broke the hit "I Left My Heart In San Francisco." But he was also the driving force behind the style Bennett is best known for.
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Renbourn co-founded the popular folk/jazz group Pentangle and was one of the most respected and influential acoustic guitarists in the world. He died this week at his home in Scotland; he was 70. -
Music was an afterthought for Paramount Records, a short-lived label founded by a furniture company. But in its final years, it gave vital exposure to the artists who would come to define Delta blues. -
This year saw a much-ballyhooed reissue of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Virtually ignored was a reissue of the 1969 album Then Play On, Peter Green's last LP with the band. The recording signaled a spiritual quest already in progress. -
The guitarist said he didn't "really have all that much technique anyway," but it was clearly enough to influence half a century of jazz musicians. Peers and proteges like Sonny Rollins, Julian Lage and John Scofield reflect on one of the finest ever on his instrument.