Coming up on The Blues & Beyond on WXPN:

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Blues & Beyond #308: In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, we'll feature music from a fabulous concert album called Get Together with pianist Hiromi Uehara, and pianist and singer Akiko Yano, recorded last September in Tokyo. Although all of Hiromi's albums up until now have been issued in the United States, where she has a lot of fans, this one is only out in Japan. Working with another pianist who is also a singer puts a new spin on Hiromi's music. Hiromi's unparalleled skill on the piano is matched by her deep soulfulness, and a great sense of humor that comes through on a number of these songs. We'll also hear one of Hiromi's compositions that she recorded with Stanley Clarke. We have new music from Don Byron and his New Gospel Quintet. Their album Love Peace & Soul celebrates the music of gospel's founding father, Thomas A. Dorsey and also Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Also: music with gospel fervor from Ruthie Foster, with The Blind Boys Of Alabama on her new album Let It Burn, as she takes on a late 60's rock anthem, and a guest appearance by Ms. Foster on an album made by one of her band members Hadden Sayers.

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Blues & Beyond #307: In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, we'll hear from two great artists who passed away this month, bluesman Michael Burks and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. Michael Burks, known as The Iron Man, was a soulful singer and dazzling guitarist who suffered a heart attack in the airport in Atlanta after returning from a tour in Europe. Bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn was a mainstay of the Memphis soul scene, a member The Mar-Keys, and of Booker T & The MGs, and bassist on classic recordings by Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Albert King, Muddy Waters, and many others. He died in Japan after a show there. We'll also hear new blues from Quintus McCormick, and open a new album from John Pizzarelli on which he combines songs in medleys that were written decades - - and styles - - apart.

Blues & Beyond #306: In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, we explore the film We Juke Up In Here. The film is a sequel to the 2008 film M For Mississippi: A Road Trip Through The Birthplace of The Blues, and once again presents Roger Stolle and Jeff Konkel driving through rural Mississippi, recording blues musicians in performance and talking with them, though the tone is quite different from M For Mississippi, a sense that an era is ending. Stolle and Konkel focus on the one juke joint still thriving in the Clarksdale area, Red's Lounge, and its proud proprietor Red Paden, while looking at how other venues have closed or dropped live bands. We'll hear stories and thoughts from blues musicians and club owners in Mississippi in this affecting look at a tradition in transition, plus music from Robert Glasper and jazz singer Rhiannon.

Blues & Beyond #305: In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, the music of Joni Mitchell, covered and reconstructed, as well as from the artist herself, including one of her most unusual pieces. We'll hear Jeff Bradshaw, singer and trombonist and band leader from Philadelphia, with a new version of a Janet Jackson song built around two lines from Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi." Jazz pianist Lisa Hilton does one of Mitchell's songs on her new album American Impressions, and from Mitchell herself; in addition to the aforementioned song, we'll play that one about the big music festival back in the summer of 1969.... also harmonica player and blues singer Billy Boy Arnold celebrates the music of the great bluesman Big Bill Broonzy. We'll hear from both Arnold and Broonzy, and we have some commentary from Bob Riesman, who wrote the authoritative book on blues great Broonzy, I Feel So Good: The Life And Times Of Big Bill Broonzy. Plus: trumpeter Arturo Sandoval honors the source of his inspiration, Dizzy Gillespie on a new album - - we'll hear from both trumpeters - - in this hour of The Blues & Beyond.

About The Blues & Beyond and Jonny Meister:

The Blues & Beyond is a weekly hour of blues music and some of its musical relatives. The family tree includes jazz, old and new, and folk music from around the world, and contemporary musical explorations - music with energy, texture, spirit, soul, and meaning.

Host Jonny Meister has been playing the blues on WXPN since March 1977. Meister grew up with old blues records in the house. His father played boogie woogie on the piano, which Jonny learned at about the age of 12. Later he played in rock bands and did a few solo gigs as a singer-songwriter. His interest in blues grew and he became especially interested in the history of the music, a history not always revealed by the rock musicians who drew heavily on the blues and their promoters.

Jonny spent a week with the family of the late, great blues musician J. B. Lenoir in 1979, and he was one of the consultants for the Wim Wenders film The Soul Of A Man which featured Lenoir, in the recent PBS film series The Blues. He won the "Keeping The Blues Alive" award for work in Public Radio for The Blues Show in 2000 and a "Best of Philly" award from Philadelphia Magazine in 1996 for "Best Local Radio Show".