Fresh Air with Terry Gross

12/09/2024

Jon Batiste hears the blues in Beethoven, and demonstrates today behind the piano. He also tells Terry Gross about how he was nearly kicked out of Juilliard, and about filming the Netflix documentary 'American Symphony.'

Batiste re-imagines Beethoven compositions in his new album. It's "not that the original wasn't great and transcendent..." he says. "But there's also a lot of things since then that have happened."

12/06/2024

Review: In this adaptation of Burroughs' autobiographical novel, Craig plays an American who falls hard for a younger man in 1950s Mexico City. It's a singular performance, but also a deeply human one.

In this adaptation of Burroughs' autobiographical novel, Craig plays an American who falls hard for a younger man in 1950s Mexico City. It's a singular performance, but also a deeply human one.

12/06/2024

Werner Herzog's memoir is out in paperback. We're replaying his wild interview today.

Herzog reflects on the curiosity that's fueled his career in the new memoir, Every Man for Himself and God Against All. Just don't expect a deep confessional: "I never liked too deep introspection."

12/06/2024

Sarah McBride was the first transgender person to speak at the political convention of a major party. When this interview with Terry Gross was recorded in 2018, she was the spokesperson for the LGBTQ rights organization the Human Rights Campaign. In 2024, she was the first openly transgender person elected to U.S. Congress.

Sarah McBride was the first transgender person to speak at the political convention of a major party. When this interview was recorded in 2018, she was the s...

12/05/2024

Caroline Crampton developed excessive health anxiety after being treated for cancer as a teen. In 'A Body Made of Glass' she chronicles her experience with hypochondria and the history of the condition. She spoke with Terry Gross.

Caroline Crampton developed excessive health anxiety after being treated for cancer as a teen. In A Body Made of Glass she chronicles her experience with hypochondria and the history of the condition.

12/04/2024

Economist David Wessel talks about Trump's plans on tariffs and tax cuts, and the potential economic impact of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency.
Listen: https://tinyurl.com/5k4naab5

12/04/2024

Review: Set in a small Irish village in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1962, Niall Williams' latest novel avoids cliché by investing specificity and life into characters and places.

Set in a small Irish village in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1962, Niall Williams' latest novel avoids cliché by investing specificity and life into characters and places.

12/03/2024

Mickalene Thomas' work puts Black women front and center. "We've been supportive characters for far too long," she says. "I would describe my art as radically shifting notions of beauty by reclaiming space."

Thomas' work puts Black women front and center. "We've been supportive characters for far too long," she says. "I would describe my art as radically shifting notions of beauty by reclaiming space."

12/02/2024

Jerron Paxton's music is vibrant, exciting and new — even if it sounds like it could have been found on a scratchy record from the 1920s. He has a new album called 'Things Done Changed,' and he brought some of his instruments to the studio.
Listen: https://tinyurl.com/38y3fv7b

11/27/2024

Roy Haynes died on November 12th, at age 99. He was one of the most in-demand drummers in jazz, working with Lester Young, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan and many others before he turned 30.

Our jazz historian Kevin Whitehead shares a remembrance of the powerhouse drummer on today's show. https://tinyurl.com/3tm5wanz

Photo: Jack Vartoogian/Getty

11/25/2024

During her years as a military linguist, Bailey Williams pushed her body to extremes. Her new book is Hollow: A Memoir of My Body in the Marines.

11/22/2024

Author Scott Eyman explains how silent film actor Charlie Chaplin was smeared in the press, scandalized for his affairs with young women, condemned for his alleged communist ties and banned from returning to the U.S. His book is 'Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, S*x and Politics Collided.'
Listen: https://tinyurl.com/5yv3zt26

11/22/2024

Review: Two big-budget films are set to battle at the box office: Wicked offers a gravity-defying origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West, while Gladiator II revisits the violence of ancient Rome.

Two big-budget films are set to battle at the box office: Wicked offers a gravity-defying origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West, while Gladiator II revisits the violence of ancient Rome.

11/21/2024

Michael Schur wrote for the The Office, and created The Good Place, and co-created Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. His new show for Netflix, A Man on the Inside, features Ted Danson as a widowed retiree who goes undercover in a retirement community.

Michael Schur wrote for the The Office and created The Good Place. His new show for Netflix features Ted Danson as a widowed retiree who goes undercover in a retirement community.

11/20/2024

Trump has called the press the "enemy of the people" and threatened retribution, including jailing reporters, investigating NBC for treason, and suggesting CBS's broadcast license be taken away. Terry Gross talks with David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, and Marty Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, about the media landscape as we head into a second Trump administration.

Former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron says he thinks Trump is "salivating for the opportunity to prosecute and imprison journalists." New Yorker editor David Remnick agrees.

11/19/2024

Selena Gomez stars in Emilia Pérez, the new Spanish-language musical about a cartel boss who undergoes gender-affirming surgery. She talks with Tonya Mosley about re-learning Spanish, her Disney years, and working alongside comedy legends Martin Short and Steve Martin in Only Murders in the Building.

Gomez grew up speaking Spanish, but lost her fluency around the same time she began her Hollywood career as a kid. She spent months relearning the language for her latest role as the wife of a Mexican cartel boss.

11/18/2024

In his new Hulu series, 'Interior Chinatown,' Jimmy O. Yang plays a waiter who inadvertently becomes central to a crime story. As an Asian American actor, he says he relates to the character's feeling of invisibility.

In his new Hulu series, Yang plays a waiter who inadvertently becomes central to a crime story. As an Asian American actor, he says he relates to the character's feeling of invisibility.

11/18/2024

Review: This enveloping drama, which centers two women in Mumbai, is about solidarity between women, about making ends meeting, and about how a populous city can feel like the loneliest place in the world.

This enveloping drama, which centers two women in Mumbai, is about solidarity between women, about making ends meeting, and about how a populous city can feel like the loneliest place in the world.