Fred Kasten

C.J. Chenier is the son of Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier.

"I didn't know to what magnitude my dad's popularity was, but I knew he played music and because he played music I wanted to play music," Chenier said.

C.J. took a few piano lessons, messed around with guitar a little bit, and by the fourth grade was ready to try a horn.

Dianne Reeves is one of the finest jazz singers on the planet. Born in Detroit, she grew up in Denver in a family full of musicians.

"There's a lot of musicians in my family," Reeves said. "My uncle is a bassist and he was with the symphony for many years, as well as a jazz bassist. A couple of great aunts were performers, and then I have another cousin who actually produced a lot of my records, George Duke. So music was very much part of the family."

Wendell Brunious is one of New Orleans' most accomplished and versatile musicians.

A top-notch trumpeter and flugelhornist, and engaging singer and front man, Brunious is well versed in a wide range of music: from early jazz, to many eras of pop, to R&B and bebop.

Brunious is featured regularly at the French Quarter Festival, Jazz Fest, and at clubs around the Crescent City. He recently sat down with WWNO's Fred Kasten for a "Talkin' Jazz" interview at the Old U.S. Mint, presented here.

Today on The Sound of Books with Fred Kasten — the acclaimed debut novel from prize-winning historian Robert J. Norrell: Eden Rise.

Today on The Sound of Books with Fred Kasten, the widely-praised and highly recommended new novel by Mohsin Hamid, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.

Today on The Sound of Books with Fred Kasten, the new novel from award-winning author Susan Straight — Between Heaven and Here.

Local food blogger Addie Martin has been a WWNO listener for nearly a decade, and listens more now than she ever has before.

"I really love the new shows during the day," Martin says. "Some are the call-in shows, some are the interviews, just one-on-one — a good variety of topics, they're always very timely and interesting guests."

Martin says in the last few years she's really found herself increasing the amount of time she listens to WWNO every day. And if she misses a show, she'll catch it on podcast. It's why she and her husband are dollar-a-day members.

WWNO's business manager is a member, too! Jameeta Youngblood explains why she became a sustaining member, rather than a dollar-a-day member like she's been in the past.

"It was easier for me to become a sustaining member," Jameeta said. "I felt like I wouldn't have to constantly be reminded to renew my membership, it would automatically happen. I just felt it was something easy for me to do and a lot less work for the membership staff."

Today on The Sound of Books with Fred Kasten, the new book by New York Times-bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Wills, Why Priests?: A Failed Tradition.

Today on The Sound of Books with Fred Kasten, the latest book from award-winning journalist and author Hanna Rosin, The End of Men: and the Rise of Women.