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Saxophonist Hank Crawford died Jan. 29 at the age of 74. The Memphis-born musician backed B.B. King and Ray Charles before going solo. He later became the musical director for Charles' band. Fresh Air remembers Crawford with a 1998 interview.

Robinson's first novel, Housekeeping, won a PEN/Hemingway Award. Now, 23 years later, her second novel, Gilead, has won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book is written as a letter from a 76-year-old Congregationalist preacher to his 7-year-old son. This interview originally aired Feb. 8, 2005.

Fresh Air's film critic reviews Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah, which stars Tommy Lee Jones as a former military MP — and the father of a young soldier who's gone AWOL after returning from active duty in Iraq.

Fresh Air's film critic reviews the sci-fi action-adventure Jumper. The film stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels); it's directed by Doug Liman, whose other films include The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

A professor of English literature at the New School for Social Research, Sundiata is one of New York's notable spoken-word artists. His one-man show, about the year his kidney failed, runs at the Apollo Theater in New York City through April 10, 2005. This interview originally aired Nov. 20, 2002.

Fresh Air's TV critic reviews two new cable shows featuring strong female leads: TNT's Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter as a troubled detective, and the FX channel's Damages, starring Glenn Close as a powerful and ruthless attorney.

Ben Karlin, former executive producer of both The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, is also an alumnus of the satirical newsweekly The Onion. He left the Comedy Central shows in December 2006 to focus on his family. This interview originally aired on April 4, 2006.

He was the Weekend Update anchor on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2000, and was known for his satirical coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. He's now starring in Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. It airs on Comedy Central (Monday through Thursday, 11:30 p.m. EST).

He also sings, writes songs, plays guitar and banjo. The band got started as an alternative country band, but has recently left that sound behind. Their new recording is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch). Before forming Wilco in 1994, Tweedy headed the band Uncle Tupelo. This interview first aired May 2, 2002.

In the late 1960s he founded the MC5, a Detroit band considered to be the prototype for punk rock. By 1972 the band had burned out. In between then and now, Kramer did time in jail for drugs, teamed up with Don and David Was to found the group Was (Not Was), and began a solo career. His new solo album is Adult World. This interview first aired August 20, 2002.