Playlist and Notes 28 November 2023

 

On today’s show we hear new music from Norah Jones and friends, listen to two versions of a song composed by silent screen star Charlie Chaplin, explore some of the people and music influenced by John Coltrane, hear a couple of reggae songs, as well as a modern version of a classic blues song. All to warm us up on a cold November afternoon.

 

Playlist

Norah Jones & Questlove (featuring Christian McBride) – Why Am I Treated So Bad (5:24)

Tony Bennett – Smile (3:34)

Ezra Collective – Smile (5:03)

John Coltrane – Untitled Original 11383 (Take 1) (5:40)

Mama Terra – A Mind Supreme (4:49)

Tete Mbambisa – Trane Ride (11:22)

Rico Rodriguez – Man from Wareika (3:13)

UB40 – Here I Am (Come and Take Me) (4:03)

Keb’ Mo’ – Love in Vain (3:04)

Hiroshima – One World (5:15)

 

Notes

The Video for “Why Am I Treated So Bad.”

“Smile” was composed by Charlie Chaplin as part of the soundtrack for his 1936 film, Modern Times.

John Coltrane – b. 23 September 1926 (Hamlet, NC); d. 17 July 1967. Interestingly, the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in Sa Francisco, incorporates Coltrane’s music into its liturgy.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Playlist and Notes: 30 August 2022

With the beginning of the fall semester, summer is quickly coming to an end. The first set includes three songs that reminds us of the joy and thrills of summer, and the melancholy that creeps in as the weather gets a little cooler and the leaves begin to fall.   Since this is my first show since the pandemic temporarily closed the university in March 2020, the second set on today’s show remembers three people who have died since that time: Chick Corea, Charlie Watts, and, just last week, the shocking news that Joey DeFrancesco, who recorded scores of albums of his own behind the organ, and as sideman with many performers, including Miles Davis, had passed. I will play more songs to remember DeFrancesco in the coming weeks. I also celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Charlie Parker and offer a heartfelt congratulations to Joni Mitchell in her triumphant return to the Newport Folk Festival in July. Finally, after the seeing the film Elvis at the Cumberland Drive-In a...
Read more

Playlist and Notes: 7 February 2023

On today’s show we have several themes and start some month-long retrospectives. In the honor of Black History Month we will profile some of the great blues singers during February, featuring two artists each week. In another segment, we will listen to jazz music from, and inspired by, Africa. But to start the show today, we begin with an acknowledgement that it is winter in Central Pennsylvania with a couple of songs about the season. Joey Alexander – Winter Blues Kieth Jarrett – Blackberry Winter Michael Brecker – Midnight Mood Blind Willie McTell – Statesboro Blues Mississippi John Hurt – Coffee Blues Ramsey Lewis Trio – You Been Talkin’ ‘Bout Me, Baby Moe Koffman – A Night in Tunisia Mulatu Astatke – Girl From Addis Ababa Black Flower – O Fogo Blues Tribute  We begin our survey of important blues artists with a person who is not that well known but highly influential: Blind Willie McTell: Born blind in 1901 to an unwed 14-year-old mother, who would die in 19...
Read more

Playlist and Notes: 6 September 2022

Image
  On September 10, 1956, the Miles Davis Quintet, along with John Coltrane, recorded the Thelonious Monk tune, “’Round Midnight.” It would be the first of Miles’s great quintets, Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (double bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). The song would be the first track on an outstanding album, Round About Midnight , which released in 1957. On today’s show we have a listen to music where the other members of the quintet are leader. Later this semester we will have a retrospective of Philadelphia’s own, Philly Joe Jones. We also honor a couple of legends’ birthdays during our second segment: Horace Silver (2 September 1928, Norwalk CT), Sonny Rollins (7 September 1929, New York City), and Elvin Jones (9 September 1927), playing drums on Coltrane’s “A Few of My Favorite Things.” On last week’s show we heard a couple of important black female singers from the 1950s who influenced Elvis Presley. Today, a curren...
Read more