AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté June 7th, 2023 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté

It’s Blueswomen, Jazzmen, African roots and branches. Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland‘s father, the late blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, brought her into his music as a child. As an adult, she found new ways to use blues to express her perspective. We’ll hear from some of Shemekia’s heroes including Etta James, Ruth Brown, Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thornton. Then a conversation and performance by Boston-based Mandinka balafon player Balla Kouyaté and music inspired by and from the continent of Africa from Randy Weston, Miriam Makeba and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Shemekia Copeland photo by Mike White

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AMERICAN ROUTES ON INSTAGRAM

DAVID AMRAM & MARCUS ROBERTS

July 11th, 2007

We profile two men that begin in classical and jazz and move in differing directions. Buttressed by a conservatory background, French horn player and composer David Amram moves freely and eclectically across genres of Latin, jazz, folk and classical music. Blind pianist Marcus Roberts speaks about his time spent as protégé of Wynton Marsalis, and looks back over the history of jazz to his touchstones, James P. Johnson, Monk, Jelly Roll Morton and others.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: New Orleans Blues Marcus Roberts
    New Orleans Meets Harlem,
  • Doctor Jazz Jelly Roll Morton
    Birth of the Hot, Bluebird
  • Slim's Jam Slim Gaillard
    The Savoy Story: Volume One - Jazz, Savoy Jazz
  • Ain't She Sweet Willie the Lion Smith
    Music On My Mind, Universal
  • They Can't Take That Away From Me Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
    The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Verve
  • Sweet Lorraine Nat 'King' Cole
    The Definitive Nat 'King' Cole, Blue Note
  • Instrumental: The Crave Jelly Roll Morton
    Last Sessions, GRP
  • INTERVIEW: Marcus Roberts

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Jungle Blues Marcus Roberts
    Alone With Three Giants, BMG
  • Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out Billie and DeDe Pierce
    New Orleans: The Living Legends, Riverside
  • Trouble in Mind Sister Rosetta Tharpe
    Essential Women in Blues, HOB
  • Mood Indigo Charlie Rich
    Pictures and Paintings, Sire/Warner Bros.
  • Groove Waltz McCoy Tyner
    Nights Of Blues & Ballads, Impulse!
  • Driftin' Blues Sam Cooke
    The Rhythm and the Blues, RCA
  • End Bed: Tipitina Allen Toussaint
    American Routes original recording,

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Travelling Blues David Amram & Friends
    At Home / Around the World, Flying Fish
  • One O'Clock Jump Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
    Sing A Song of Basie, Verve
  • Don't Get Around Much Anymore Mose Allison
    Greatest Hits, Prestige
  • Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer) Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
    For the Last Time, Liberty
  • Dipper Mouth Blues Arturo Sandoval
    Trumpet Evolution, Crescent Moon/Columbia
  • Instrumental: West End Blues King Oliver and His Orchestra
    1929-1930, JSP
  • Oop-Pop-A-Da Dizzy Gillespie
    The Complete RCA Victor Recordings, Bluebird
  • Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Part 1) Jessie Hill
    Crescent City Soul: The Sound of New Orleans 1947 - 1974, EMI
  • If Dogs Run Free Bob Dylan
    New Morning, Columbia
  • Pull My Daisy David Amram Quintet w/Lynn Sheffield
    The Beat Generation, Rhino/Word Beat
  • INTERVIEW: David Amram

    Listen
  • Instrumental: I'll Fly Away John Medeski, The North Mississippi Allstars, and Robert Randolph
    The Word, Ropadope
  • Lord, Give Me Just a Little More Time Marty Stuart
    Souls' Chapel, Superlatone
  • (Jesus Hits Like the) Atom Bomb The Blind Boys of Alabama
    Atom Bomb, Real World
  • Christo Redemptor Charlie Musselwhite
    Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite's South Side Band, Vanguard
  • House of the Rising Sun The Animals
    The Complete Animals, EMI
  • Amen Jolie Holland
    Escondida, Anti
  • End Bed: Basin Street Blues Henry Butler
    American Routes original recording,

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 7th, 2023

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND AND BALLA KOUTATé

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  • May 31st, 2023

    PIANO PEOPLE AND MORE: JASON MORAN & HEATH ALLEN

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  • May 24th, 2023

    MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE 2022 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS

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