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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A FRENCH QUARTER FOURTH 2019

July 3rd, 2019

This Independence Day weekend, we celebrate the cultural minglings in New Orleans, the city whose unparalleled diversity gave birth to some of the most revolutionary sounds in American music. We visit New Orleans’ French Quarter Festival: a free, homegrown, four-day annual event featuring a vast array of local music presented on stages throughout the city’s oldest neighborhood. We’ll hear from Soul Queen Irma Thomas, piano patriarch Ellis Marsalis, and the Preservation Hall Brass Band. We’ll also catch the French-Creole jazz of Don Vappie and Evan Christopher, Cajun dance music from Bruce Daigrepont, vaudeville and gospel from Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony, Klezmer-funk fusion from the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars and traditional jazz from Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band. Join the festivities with this holiday display of musical fireworks.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Hot Sausage Rag Preservation Hall Brass Band
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • I'm Walking Preservation Hall Brass Band
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Mardi Gras in New Orleans Preservation Hall Brass Band
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Instrumental Ellis Marsalis Sextet
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • On Broadway Ellis Marsalis Sextet
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Creole Blues Evan Christopher's Clarinet Road w/Don Vappie
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Salée Dame Evan Christopher's Clarinet Road w/Don Vappie
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Instrumental: Slow Daddy Joe Krown Organ Combo
    Livin' Large, Joe Krown
  • (You Can Have My Husband But Please) Don't Mess With My Man Irma Thomas
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Ruler of My Heart Irma Thomas
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • I Done Got Over Irma Thomas
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Closing Bed: Palm Court Strut Leroy Jones
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Second Line to Saints Medley Dejan's Olympia Brass Band
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Lord, Lord, Lord Dejan's Olympia Brass Band
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Instrumental: The Bar Mitzvah of Raymond Scott New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • In the Bath, All are Equal New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Funky Yiddish Music Singalong New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Ma Negress Bruce Daigrepont
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Bienvenue Sud de la Louisiane Bruce Daigrepont
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Mamou Two-Step Bruce Daigrepont
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Instrumental: Jeepers Creepers Leroy Jones
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Darktown Strutters Ball Topsy Chapman
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Straighten Up and Fly Right Topsy Chapman
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • I'll Fly Away Topsy Chapman
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,
  • Closing Bed: Just a Closer Walk with Thee Dejan's Olympia Brass Band
    American Routes original recording from French Quarter Festival 2019,

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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