Music

Janet Feder came to NPR with an infant guitar, the curiosity of a child and a wild imagination. The guitar was just a couple of months old — hand made for her by Los Angeles-based guitarist and teacher Miroslav Tadic. It's a nylon-string baritone electric! Its player is diminutive — barely taking up any space behind Bob Boilen's desk. Yet, if you look closely, you'll see the products of her immense curiosity and imagination. A small split ring (like the kind you put your keys on) holds a metal bead in place on the top E string near the sound hole.

In 1964, John Coltrane moved from Queens, N.Y., to a brick ranch house on a 31/2 acre wooded lot in the quiet suburb of Dix Hills. This bucolic setting — 40 miles east of the city — is perhaps the last place you'd expect to find a musician creating the virtuosic jazz that Coltrane is famous for.

Sorry for the radio silence. More activity soon. Until then:

• The 2013 NEA Jazz Masters were announced: Eddie Palmieri (pictured), Lou Donaldson, Mose Allison and Lorraine Gordon. All receive $25,000 and will be honored in a January 2013 ceremony. Four is the fewest number of awardees since 2004, but the program was slated to be cut in the first place last year, so ...

Well, here we go. The journey of a thousand blog entries begins, I suppose, with a single cliched expression.

Welcome to Kind of Blog: An Occasional KWGS Jazz Journal. Of course, if this journal should actually survive for anything remotely near 1,000 entries, I'll be pleased as punch. Whoa, another cliche. Bear with me.