Portraits of the artist

The collages that once adorned Louis Armstrong's walls capture the essence of the man, writes Stuart Nicholson

Can the man live up to the legend?

Review: Lowside of the Road by Barney HoskynsBarney Hoskyns valiantly searches for the real Tom Waits, despite the singer's relentless self-mythologising, says Tim Adams

Bourbon guerrilla

Who is the real Tom Waits? Graeme Thomson admires the finest attempt yet to unpick family man from boho myth

The flash street kids

A good nightclub needs its freaks. And this history of clubland eccentrics suggests they're back in droves, says Paul Mardles

John Lennon

Terrific on Lennon's early years but its scope is limited

Adès on Adès

A life in music, Thomas Adès: 'There was a bit of attraction and a bit of repulsion in these sour notes ... but I really wanted to find out why they hurt me so much'

What am I doing here?

Deft, unfathomable, intensely likable - Vampire Weekend, who tour the UK next month, have been hailed as the next big thing. Elif Batuman succumbs to the charm of a certain kind of pop music

‘I am not shy’

A life in music: Composer and conductor Pierre Boulez has endured poisonous rows on the new music scene and vilification in the press, yet he insists that disagreement is helpful

The storyteller

From Scottish folk tales to Icelandic sagas, Judith Weir takes literary inspiration from around the world. A festival of the composer's work celebrates her range and inventiveness