Rare Birds is a collection of conversations with world-class jazz musicians and classical composers, featuring luminaries Philip Glass, Charles Lloyd, Abdullah Ibrahim, Steve Reich, Eugene Friesen, and Sathima Bea Benjamin. These in-depth, candid interviews focus not only on the music but also on the artists. The six interviews, conducted by poet and author Thomas Rain Crowe and musician Nan Watkins, delve into the creative process, individual as well as global perspectives on the arts, the human condition, and various personal issues that are addressed in the music itself. These cutting-edge artists have singular ideas about what it means to be a composer and musician.

An important addition to the documentation of modern jazz musicians and composers, Rare Birds will appeal to anyone who is interested in jazz music or the contemporary classical canon.