This week, Andre 3000 released an instrumental album featuring the flute instead of an expected rap album. Scott Simon asks LA Times' August Brown about the flute's decades-long role in pop music.

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Last week, the news that André 3000 would be releasing an album of instrumental flute jams was greeted with enough head-scratching to draw blood. But don’t tell that to Jake Fridkis, who plays ...

Andre 3000 released new music for the first time in 17 years this week. But "New Blue Sun" is not what most fans may have expected. The record has no rap music. What it does have is the flute.