1. JAN
  2. FEB
  3. MAR
  4. APR
  5. MAY
  6. JUN
  7. JUL
  8. AUG
  9. SEP
  10. OCT
  11. NOV
  12. DEC

ALL SAINTS

Tune into music dealing with death and rebirth, loss and resolution, for All Saints and All Souls Days, November 1 and 2. Music transcends the world of the living, as we listen to a jazz funeral for sax player Harold Dejan in the streets of New Orleans. Plus preacher, mortician, and amazing soul singer Solomon Burke tells his tale, and a visit to a local cemetery to see how the dead are honored this time of year. Includes music in the spirit from Pops Staples, King Oliver, Bob Dylan and Ralph Stanley.

HOW CAN I MISS YOU WHEN YOU WON'T GO AWAY? DAN HICKS AND COMMANDER CODY

Join American Routes for two hours of wry humor, outlandish puns and gonzo attitude when we sit down with two high-flying musicians: Dan Hicks and Commander Cody. Mr. Hicks spins tales of sartorial genius and fine times in the ’60s as a ragtime-country-cowboy-jazz musician in San Francisco. And direct from Adirondacks, we’ll spend time with the artist and bandleader Commander Cody to hear about his musical travels and travails with the Lost Planet Airmen, across the country and through space with stops in Texas, of course.

SONNY ROLLINS & BOB FRENCH

Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins has been igniting the jazz scene ever since he was a kid in the 1940s, hanging out with his mentor Thelonious Monk. We’ll talk with the jazz master about his work with Miles and Monk among others, and his current improvisatory explorations. Then, we’ll visit with New Orleans’ own jazz legend, Bob French, leader of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, to learn the finer points of keeping time in the Crescent City.

IN THE STUDIO

American Routes takes a peek at the producers, sidemen and record company moguls who can make or break a record. New Orleans saxophonist Harold Battiste talks about playing with Ornette Coleman, acting as music director for Sonny & Cher, and founding his own jazz and blues label. Plus the inside story on Muddy Waters’ much maligned, but imaginative, 1968 album Electric Mud, by producer Marshall Chess and musicians Pete Cosey and Louis Satterfield.