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The Nat King Cole Show debuted in 1956, making singer and jazz pianist Nat "King" Cole the first black man to host a nationally televised variety program. Cole reluctantly challenged segregation on television and in American society, but a year later the show ended.

The popularity of Duranguense music has made the link between Chicago and Durango, Mexico, more visible. But the connection is deeper than most creators and fans of the music know.

President Bush names Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to replace Porter Goss as director of the CIA, touching off what may be a tough confirmation battle. Several members of Congress have criticized a controversial eavesdropping program that Hayden ran as director of the National Security Agency.

Nearly 35 years after her self-titled debut album, Bonnie Raitt is still moaning the blues. Her latest album, Souls Alike, features her trademark slide guitar, which she says can produce "the saddest sound you've ever heard."

Coco Chanel's legacy has been carried on by designer and devotee Karl Lagerfeld. An exhibit opening Thursday at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrates how Lagerfeld has extended Chanel's vision.

Ben Sollee just wants us to get along. On his debut, full-length release, Learning to Bend, the Kentucky-born singer offers an inspired collection of acoustic, folk and jazz-flavored songs, filled with hope and the earnest belief that the world is good.

Musicians Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron first met Malawi-born Esau Mwamwaya running a junk shop outside their studio. The two were eager to befriend Mwamwaya, in part because they thought he was an African drummer. Turns out, he was much more. The three have formed a group called The Very Best and released Warm Heart of Africa in October.

The conductor says that his goal is for more people to appreciate and recognize classical music for its complexity, organization and beauty. In an interview, Ponti discusses his work, his son and the best way for a classical-music novice to discover pure symphonic joy.

The pianist for the BMI/New York Jazz Composers Orchestra is also a singer and a former musical director at an Episcopal church. Her latest studio album elaborates on familiar jazz forms while embracing sacred texts, including a piece for Easter vespers.

After being barred from performing at Constitution Hall in 1939 because she was black, opera singer Marian Anderson gave a performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Author Raymond Arsenault's new book, The Sound of Freedom, reflects on the cultural significance of Anderson's performance that Easter.