Right after 9/11, Davey D, a longtime hip-hop journalist and radio host, remembers rappers throwing benefit concerts for firefighters and cops. “I remember Cannabis joining the army, and Eminem penned some words about Bin Laden, wanting to get him.” But hip-hop ...

Video: Immortal Technique's "Bin Laden"

One of the most innovative jazz musicians of the '60s and '70s, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was most famous for playing three or four wind instruments simultaneously. He got this idea -- and many others -- from a vivid dream. Simon Rentner found out ...

Mingus was known to his enemies and his friends as the "Angry Man of Jazz," and some of his best works are fueled by rage. Simon Rentner explores the vengeful impulses of one of the great composers of modern jazz.

One of the most innovative jazz musicians of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Rahsaan Roland Kirk was most famous for playing three or four wind instruments simultaneously. He got this idea — and many others — from a vivid dream. Simon Rentner found out how Kirk’s dream world inspired a ...

Producer Simon Rentner explores how the grid has served artists throughout history.

Producer Simon Rentner explores how the grid has served artists throughout history.

Vijay Iyer is a jazz pianist and composer as well as an accomplished cognitive scientist. His studies of the brain and the body actively shape how he perceives and makes music. Produced by Simon Rentner.

Mingus was known to his enemies and his friends as the "Angry Man of Jazz." The bassist and composer wrote music fueled by rage. We look at the vengeful impulses of the late jazz legend.

(Originally aired: May 2, 2002)

Vijay Iyer is a jazz pianist and composer as well as an accomplished cognitive scientist. His studies of the brain and the body actively shape how he perceives and makes music.

Charles Mingus was known to his enemies and his friends as the "Angry Man of Jazz." The bassist and composer wrote music fueled by rage. We look at the vengeful impulses of the late jazz legend.