One mission isn't enough for the Roots, who have released two albums almost simultaneously. ''Undun'' (Def Jam), the Roots' own 13th studio album, arrived on Tuesday, and a collaboration with the soul singer Betty Wright, ''Betty Wright: The Movie'' (Ms. B/S-Curve) came out on Nov. 15. The Roots, led by Ahmir (Questlove) Thompson on drums and the...
Very early on Thursday morning at the Blue Note, Rakim told a story about going to the house of the producer Marley Marl in the mid-1980s to record a song. Once there, he took the microphone and promptly sat on the couch. Marley Marl, he remembered, became agitated and suggested that he stand up to give the track more energy. Rakim demurred. That...
The skeletal mysteries of Neil Young's songs humbled many and emboldened a few at ''Music of Neil Young'' on Thursday night at Carnegie Hall. It was the seventh annual songwriter tribute in a concert series produced by Michael Dorf of City Winery to benefit music programs for children. The format was crisp: 20 singers and groups performed one song...