AMERICAN ROUTES
American Routes Live: Creole Songlines of Leyla McCalla and Saxophonist Donald Harrison's Jazz Journey American Routes Live: Creole Songlines of Leyla McCalla and Saxophonist Donald Harrison's Jazz Journey January 13th, 2021 (Hour 1)
American Routes Live: Creole Songlines of Leyla McCalla and Saxophonist Donald Harrison's Jazz Journey

We go live in concert and conversation with two New Orleans artists each of whom bring their family heritage forward into contemporary music. Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla has called New Orleans home for many years, but her family ties are to Haiti. She draws on French Creole roots for inspiration, as well as from the poetry of Langston Hughes. Then jazz saxophonist Big Chief Donald Harrison, whose musical journey includes time in New York with drummer Art Blakey’s band, talks about “Afro-New Orleans” culture and demonstrates how to bring soul, funk, and Black carnival traditions into modern jazz.

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CREOLE EYES AND CLASSICAL EARS: VAN DYKE PARKS & TOM MCDERMOTT

January 7th, 2015

Conversation with and music from Van Dyke Parks, an eclectic, popular classicist known as a composer and keyboardist, arranger and producer, with a great love of calypso and Hawaiian cowboy music. The man behind the curtain for so many artists, the Hollywood-based Parks is well-regarded for writing and studio work with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, Ry Cooder, Lowell George and Randy Newman, among many. He recently became a fan of pianist Tom McDermott, a St. Louis-born, New Orleans-dwelling and Brazilian-influenced vernacular virtuoso. Parks thought enough of McDermott’s recorded repertoire to collect and reissue some of it as Bamboula—so named for the composition by the mutually-admired New Orleans 19th century pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Tom McDermott, also a fan of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair and James Booker, plays in his parlor for us.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • America Van Dyke Parks
    Tokyo Rose, Warner Bros.
  • Sailin' Shoes Little Feat
    Sailin' Shoes, Warner Bros.
  • Sail On Sailor The Beach Boys
    Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys, Capitol
  • Jack Palance Mighty Sparrow
    The Early Years, BLS
  • FDR in Trinidad Ry Cooder
    Into the Purple Valley, Warner Bros.
  • Wah She Go Do Bonnie Raitt
    Takin' My Time, Rhino
  • Instrumental: Simple Calypso Esso Trinidad Steel band
    Esso, Minky
  • SEGMENT: Van Dyke Parks

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Available Space Ry Cooder
    Ry Cooder, Warner Bros.
  • CLIP: Van Dyke Parks on Randy Newman
  • excerpt: Vine Street Van Dyke Parks
    Song Cycle, Warner Bros.
  • Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad Randy Newman
    Creates Something New Under the Sun, Reprise
  • Cheek to Cheek Lowell George
    Thanks, I'll Eat It Here, Warner Bros.
  • De Camino a la Verada Buena Vista Social Club feat. Ibrahim Ferrer
    Buena Vista Social Club, Nonesuch
  • Hawaiian Roughrider Leabert Lindsay
    Na Mele O Paniolo, Warner Bros.
  • Cowboy Van Dyke Parks
    Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove, Warner Bros.
  • Heroes and Villains The Beach Boys
    Smiley Smile, Capitol
  • End Bed: The Stars and Stripes Forever Tom McDermott and Matt Perrine
    New Orleans Duets, Rabadash

HOUR two

  • The Chrysanthemum Tom McDermott
    Danza, STR Digital
  • The Banjo, Opus 15 (Fantasie Grotesque) Louis Moreau Gottschalk
    American Piano Music played by Amiram Rigai, Smithsonian Folkways
  • East St. Louis Blues Professor Longhair
    Professor Longhair's Boogie, Catfish
  • Java Allen Toussaint
    The Complete 'Tousan' Sessions, Bear Family
  • On the Sunny Side of the Street James Booker
    Junco Partner, Hannibal
  • Instrumental: So Swell When Your Well James Booker
    Spiders on the Keys: Live at the Maple Leaf, Rounder
  • SEGMENT: Tom McDermott

    Listen
  • The Peanut Vendor Billie and De De Pierce
    Gulf Coast Blues, Arhoolie
  • Bamboula Tom McDermott
    Bamboula, Minky
  • Instrumental: Boll Weevil Blues Eubie Blake
    Memories of You, Shout! Factory
  • Have You Seen My Baby Ringo Starr
    Ringo, EMI
  • Hey Good Lookin' Meschiya Lake and Tom McDermott
    Live at Chickie Wah Wah, Chickie Wah Wah
  • Lewis Boogie Jerry Lee Lewis
    Complete Sun Singles, Bear Family
  • Eh, Petite Fille Clifton Chenier
    Louisiana Blues and Zydeco, Arhoolie
  • Early in the Morning Irma Thomas and Tom McDermott
    Simply Grand, Rounder
  • End Bed: The Crave Tom McDermott
    The Crave, STR Digital

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • January 13th, 2021

    AMERICAN ROUTES LIVE: CREOLE SONGLINES OF LEYLA MCCALLA AND SAXOPHONIST DONALD HARRISON'S JAZZ JOURNEY

    Listen
  • January 6th, 2021

    LOVE IS STRANGE WITH JUDY COLLINS AND JIM LAUDERDALE

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  • December 30th, 2020

    AR LIVE: LOUISIANA NEW YEAR'S PARTY WITH CAJUN & ZYDECO AND NEW ORLEANS PIANO & SONG

    Listen
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