Playlist: David Schulman's Portfolio
some recently relevant pieces ...
Featured
The Voice of the Casals Cello
From David Schulman | 59:00
Time machine? Try this cello: The stories swirling around Pablo Casals's instrument — now almost 300 years old — are full of time-warp coincidence, and breathtaking music. Casals evaded Fascist warplanes with this cello to record Dvorak's Cello Concerto. At the height of Camelot, Casals played the cello at the Kennedy White House. Vivid new interviews from the cellist's widow, Marta Casals Istomin, and the younger cellist playing the instrument today, Amit Peled.
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- The Voice of the Casals Cello
- From
- David Schulman
The stories that swirl around Pablo Casals's cello — now almost 300-years-old — ring with strange coincidence, doubletake cameos, and breathtaking music.
During the Spanish Civil War, Casals and his cello evaded Hitler's warplanes to record the Dvorak cello concerto. Today, the instrument is having a revival in the hands of Amit Peled — a cellist born 100 years after Casals.
Long before Pete Seeger or Bono, Pablo Casals used the power of music and celebrity to advocate for freedom and peace. In 1939, the Fascists won the Spanish Civil War. And for decades, Casals refused to perform with his cello in any country that recognized Generalissimo Francisco Franco's Fascist dictatorship. But in 1961, John F. Kennedy issued a request that made the 84-year-old Casals reconsider his decades-long vow.Casals' widow, 60 years younger than he, recounts tales of the historic White House concert as if it had happened yesterday.
Eighty-six at the time of that concert on Nov. 13, 1961, Casals played remarkably that evening. Yet his most compelling recordings came decades earlier, as he re-introduced the Bach Cello Suites to the world, and made a legendary early recording of the signature Dvorak Cello Concerto.
“The Voice of the Casals Cello” is a music-rich, evergreen special, with musical selections woven around personal storytelling. We hear vivid memories from Marta Casals Istomin (named a "living legend" by the Library of Congress for her work at The Kennedy Center and at the Manhattan School of Music) and from Amit Peled, who has his own remarkable connections to Casals. Interviewed in his studio at the Peabody Conservatory, Peled punctuates his storytelling with demonstrations played on the Casals Cello. And we hear selections from a special concert Peled gave at Peabody, which replicated a program Casals had given there exactly a century earlier.
This special is ideal for any station that airs classical music, or a hybrid of music and talk programming, and will work well as a holiday special. In a season of political change, “The Voice of the Casals Cello” has deeper resonance, reconnecting us to a time of optimism once embodied by the Kennedy White House.
Produced and hosted by David Schulman, the Third Coast and PRX award-winning creator of NPR's long-running "Musicians in their own words" series and of 2015's "TALOA" series, distributed by the WFMT Radio Network.
Chris Foreman at the Green Mill
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:21
Chris Foreman plays Sundays in Church. And every Friday night, he's at Chicago's legendary Green Mill — playing the funky Hammond B3 organ in a nightspot that used to be a favorite of Al Capone.
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- Chris Foreman at the Green Mill
- From
- David Schulman
Chris Foreman plays every Sunday in Church. And every Friday, he's at Chicago's legendary Green Mill — playing the funky Hammond B3 organ in a nightspot that used to be a favorite of Al Capone.
The street vibes of Preyas Roy
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 02:56
Preyas Roy has performed in famous venues like the Jazz Showcase. But he makes his living on a downtown Chicago street corner — despite the unwieldy size of his instrument: the vibraphone.
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- The street vibes of Preyas Roy
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- David Schulman
Preyas Roy has performed in famous venues like the Jazz Showcase. But he makes his living performing on a downtown Chicago street corner — despite the unwieldy size of his instrument: the vibraphone.
Originally heard on NPR's Morning Edition.
More on Preyas Roy:
http://www.preyasroy.com
A musicians' guide to warming up
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:30
What do you do to warm up? With Gillian Welch, Lang Lang, Cecilia Bartoli, Albert Kuvezin, Yo-Yo Ma ...
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- A musicians' guide to warming up
- From
- David Schulman
What do YOU do to warm up? That's a question producer David Schulman likes to ask when he interviews performers for the Musicians in their own words series. He's posed the question to Brazilian jazz singers , concert pianists, and Tuvan throat singers. And the answers can be as distinct as the music they make ...
Olivia Block: the room I was in
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:20
The work of composer and sound artist Olivia Block has been described as "distinctive and individual" by The New York Times. She is happy enough writing for violins. But what she really loves ... are microcassettes.
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- Olivia Block: the room I was in
- From
- David Schulman
The work of Chicago composer and sound artist Olivia Block has been described as "distinctive and individual" by The New York Times.
She is happy enough writing for violins. But what she really loves ... are microcassettes.
The little tapes that used to be the heart of every answering machine and dictaphone. She buys them up in batches on eBay. “Blank,” they say.
But often they are not blank at all.
Block keeps a collection of her favorite excerpts on a portable recording device. She carries it with her, everywhere ...
In this short piece — an allternate mix of a piece aired Jan 8, 2016 on NPR's Morning Edition — she takes us on a personal tour of the ghosts of sound, memory, and emotion caught in her library of castoff microcassettes.
Cyro Baptista: in his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 07:06
Cyro Baptista in his percussion garage ...
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- Cyro Baptista: in his own words
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- David Schulman
Beyond-Brazilian musician Cyro Baptista is fluent in the musical languages of samba, cabela, and yoyoma. Also, squirrel. He proves it in this piece, and demonstrates how he narrowly averted disaster during a recording session with the fearsome-to-some-people soprano Kathleen Battle. Cyro's secret weapon? A vacuum cleaner hose.
Originally included in "Keepers of the Groove," a Musicians in their own words special distributed in 2007 by PRI.
The Elusive Digital Stradivarius
From David Schulman | 07:38
The sound of a fine acoustic violin is deviously hard to mimic. But a leading maker now has a digital prototype designed to sound the equal of a Stradivarius.
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- The Elusive Digital Stradivarius
- From
- David Schulman
During the piece, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin — author of the best-selling "This Is Your Brain on Music" and a professor at McGill University, listens to audio samples of the digital violin and an actual instrument by Antonio Stradivari. And he tries to tell from the sound which is which. The results may come as a surprise.
(The musical demos of each instrument — an excerpt from the Tchaikovsky violin concerto — were played by Naxos recording artist Ilya Kaler. Kaler has won the top prize at the Tchaikovsky, the Sibelius, and the Paganini international violin competitions.)
This piece comes in two versions — a 5'00 version and a full7'38 mix. Please consoider the full version if your clock allows, as it provides additional context, and more commentary from both Curtin and Levitin.
More info on the digital violin is at www.weinreichlabs.com
Those who license this piece also get access to bonus audio that allows stations to replicate the demonstration of the concept of "convolution" that is central to the digital violin. These files include a room recording of producer (and violinist) David Schulman playing one of Joeph Curtin's fine acoustic violins, and versions of the same signal processed through a series of convolution reverbs. These reverb filters were created by sound engineer Peter Steinbach using a technique that precisely replicates the acoustic characteristics of Disney Hall, Alcatraz, and a Giza Pyramid. Many thanks to Peter for so graciously sharing his work for the cause of the public radio.
This program is part of the STEM Story Project -- distributed by PRX and made possible with funds from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Musicians in their own words (Series)
Produced by David Schulman
Most recent piece in this series:
Chris Foreman at the Green Mill
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:21
- Playing
- Chris Foreman at the Green Mill
- From
- David Schulman
Chris Foreman plays every Sunday in Church. And every Friday, he's at Chicago's legendary Green Mill — playing the funky Hammond B3 organ in a nightspot that used to be a favorite of Al Capone.
Kathleen Hanna: from Bikini Kill to Le Tigre
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:40
Original riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna remembers the DIY feminist punk scene she catalyzed in 1992 with Bikini Kill. (The band's first EP was re-released Nov 20, 2012, in 20th-anniversay vinyl). And she talks about how her musical energy takes new form in her current, much poppier band, Le Tigre.
DIY!
George Clinton, AKA Dr. Funkenstein, in his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:59
If James Brown was the Godfather of Soul, George Clinton remains the undisputed Crown Prince of Funk.
Parliament-Funkadelic. Flashlight. The Mothership. Atomic Dog. Dr. Funkenstein. Here's George Clinton, in his own words (and yes, the tape does run backwards sometimes)...
If James Brown was the Godfather of Soul, George Clinton is the Crown Prince
of Funk.
He's still going strong as the bandleader and ringleader of Parliament and Funkadelic. Their shows in the '70s featured giagantic puppets, a guy in a diaper, and the awesome Mothership. Certain insiders even credit the man with the invention of cloning.
As Dr. Funken — er, Clinton likes to say, "Funk is the DNA for rap." Party tunes like "Atomic Dog" and "Flashlight" have been sampled over and over, and over, and over.
This is how George Clinton tells his story in his own
words. We'll let the man start with his job description ...
700 Fathoms under the Sea
From David Schulman | 11:11
Something unusual happens about a half mile under the sea. Ocean physics create a special zone where sound travels for hundreds, even thousands of miles. Whales use it, and cold warriors plumbed its secrets. But the noise of human activity can make it hard to hear down there ...
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- 700 Fathoms under the Sea
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- David Schulman
Something unusual happens about 700 fathoms under the sea. Ocean physics — pressure, temperature, and saltiness — create a zone called the “sound channel.” It focuses sound the way a prism focusses light. Sound ricochets within it — and travels for hundreds, even thousands of miles.
Listening to audio from an underwater microphone positioned off Cape Cod, Christopher Clark, who heads Cornell’s bioacoustics research program, can hear Blue Whales singing off the coast of Brazil. Whales hear it, too; the sound channel enables their own form of global communication.
The sound channel was discovered at the end of World War II by two scientists working under a Navy contract, Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel.
No one had heard the sound channel until they set off from Woods Hole, MA, in the USS Saluda in 1944. In spring 1944, a destroyer called The Buckley set off charges in the sound channel at a distance of 800 miles from the Saluda, and the report was clear:
“These sound-channel sounds,” Ewing and Worzel wrote, “have been heard at far greater distances than any other man-made sounds ... Transmission was so sharp that it was impossible for the most unskilled observer to miss it.”
Dick Pettinger, a retired admiral who for much of the Cold War was Oceanogrpher of the Navy , describes how the US military for decades exploited the properties of the sound channel to track Soviet nuclear submarines.
In part because of its importance for national security, it was only after the Cold War that the Navy made its sound channel listening arrays available to civilian researchers — and among the first was Chris Clark. He recalls the transformative moment of first using the Navy’s powerful system to listen in on whales singing in the sound channel.
Today, however, the sound channel reverberates with more human noise than ever: Tanker ships. Wind farms. Pile drivers. Explosions for seismic oil and gas exploration. Clark says these sounds, too, reach his microphones from thousands of miles away.
Given the primacy of sound for much ocean life, can whales and fishes adapt to human noise? Researchers are just starting to come to grips with that question. Arthur Popper, an emeritus professor of biology at the University of Maryland, says chronic noise pollution may disturb the mating and feeding patterns of marine life — though he cautions against assuming human sound is necessarily harmful. But Clark and Popper both point to existing technologies that can be used to quiet the seas.
This program is part of the PRX STEM Story Project, made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Hilary Hahn in her own words ... on improvisation
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 11:07
One of the world's elite concert violinists talks about improvising with Hauschka, who plays a piano doctored with duct tape and ping-pong balls. Their record, "Silfra," was recorded in Iceland as a volcano erupted.
Hilary Hahn usually appears playing classical repertoire in the world's grandest concert halls. But lately she's been turning up at venues more often frequented by indy acts, improvising in a percussive, minimalist style with Hauschka. This piece begins before soundcheck at the Birchmere, a club outside Washington DC; Hahn explores the conections she's found between classical music and this kind of improvisation. For their 2012 record, "Silfra," Hahn and Hauschka teamed up in Iceland with a producer who previeously worked with Bjork. She also describes here how one of the pieces heard in the piece — "Ashes" — was created and recorded as a volcano erupted, blanketing the island with ash, and an eerie silence.
Ernie Ranglin: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 05:00
A portrait of the guitar-playing legend who helped create ska and reggae — turning 80 June 19, 2012!
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- Ernie Ranglin: In his own words
- From
- David Schulman
Guitarist Ernie Ranglin made his career quietly, as a sideman and arranger. He certaintly doesn't have the name recognition of many lesser reggae or dancehall stars, but you could argue that Ranglin was as responsible as anyone for the emergence of the distinctive sounds of Jamaican music. His jazz-flavored guitar playing can be heard on many of Bob Marley's first hits with the Wailers. He was musical director for Jimmy Cliff's band in the '70s. And Ranglin is often credited with inventing the upbeat style known as ska. In recent years Ranglin has stepped out of his sideman role, and made a diverse series of records that blend jazz, Jamaican and African styles. As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming. Two mixes are provided for programming flexibility. A short mix is provided that will fit the new ATC cutaway. Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will. This piece debuts on PRX.
Edmar Castaneda in his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:53
The harpist talks about how he takes an instrument beloved of Colombian cowboys, and forged a place for it in American jazz.
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- Edmar Castaneda in his own words
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- David Schulman
Stephane Wrembel and "The Tao of Django"
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 10:33
Stephane Wrembel isn't a conventional guitar hero. But his star is rising fast nonetheless. He wrote music for the last two Woody Allen films, including the Oscar-winning "Midnight in Paris" — and his theme for that movie was also featured in the 2012 Academy Awards broadcast.
In this sound-rich first-person piece, Wrembel talks about his love of Japanese culture, a tune called "Tsunami"written in response to last year's disaster in Japan — and how he builds upon the music of his hero, Django Reinhardt.
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- Stephane Wrembel and "The Tao of Django"
- From
- David Schulman
Ron Carter: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 07:27
Ron Carter is an icon of jazz. He has played his bass on more than 2000 albums. His name, however, is most vividly linked with Miles Davis. Carter's searching bass lines laid the foundation for the super-group Miles led in the late sixties. The forward-looking music they made transformed jazz, and helped put the old sounds of big band swing ever more deeply into the rear view mirror.
So why has Carter, late in his career, had put together an album of music for big band? He describes his musical journey, in his own words ...
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- Ron Carter: In his own words
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- David Schulman
Jerry Douglas: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:45
He's a dobro player, folks. Who said anything about Jimi Hendrix?
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- Jerry Douglas: In his own words
- From
- David Schulman
Jerry Douglas has appeared on more recordings than just about anybody in Nashville -- or anywhere else, for that matter. Douglas is the undisputed master of the dobro, a kind of acoustic slide guitar, and he's added tasty "hook lines" to recordings by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Randy Travis. But Douglas has ambitions that have taken him far behind his former role as essential Nashville sideman. You can hear his stretch out in his own tricky-to-categorize solo recordings, and in his performances with Alison Krauss and Union Station. (The interview for this feature was recorded in the back of the AKUS tour bus.) As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming. For flexibility, three mixes are provided. The short mix will fit the new ATC cutaway. Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will. This piece works well pegged to local performances. This piece debuts on PRX.
Benny Golson: a Jazz legend in his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 05:46
The man who wrote some of the best known standards in jazz reflects on a career that included writing "Killer Joe," talking his way into the great Art Blakey band, quitting the saxophone, writing for Hollywood, and eventually being widely recognized as a giant of American music.
The man who wrote some of the best known standards in jazz reflects on a career that included writing "Killer Joe," talking his way into the great Art Blakey band, quitting the saxophone, writing for Hollywood, and eventually being widely recognized as a giant of American music.
Howard Levy: Reinventing the Harmonica
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 07:22
Is that a moving violation?
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- Howard Levy: Reinventing the Harmonica
- From
- David Schulman
Howard Levy's house in Evanston, Illinois is filled with musical instruments. Ocarinas. Percussion. And, especially, HARMONICAS. When he was a teenager, Levy took a dimestore harmonica and figured out how to play a full chromatic scale. His harmonica virtuosity has since landed him gigs with everyone from Tito Puente to Garrison Keillor to Bela Fleck. Independent producer David Schulman went to Evanston to talk with Levy for his series "Musicians in their own words." Levy offered to drive David to his house. But the interview didn't go as planned. Once they got into Levy's car, he turned the key ... and picked up a harmonica ...
Poncho Sanchez: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 03:16
Even without a conga drum handy, a master of Latin Jazz finds a way to demonstrate the essence of the mambo.
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- Poncho Sanchez: In his own words
- From
- David Schulman
When Poncho Sanchez was very small he used to stay up late listening to his sisters dance the cha-cha-cha, their feet scraping out rhythms on the floor. When he was a bit older, he hung out in his mother's garage, playing conga grooves for hours on end. Now a Grammy-winning bandleader with 26 albums to his credit, Sanchez is often described as the "keeper of the flame" of Latin Jazz.
In this feature, Sanchez demonstrates how different percussive patterns combine to create a mambo groove. The piece ends with the master conguero showing how he and his band combine elements of Latin music and jazz in a tune by one of Sanchez's heroes, the late saxophonist Eddie Harris.
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will.
This feature works especially well when pegged to local performances. Poncho Sanchez's tour schedule includes these dates:
9/29 Radford, VA Radford University ?
9/30 Washington, DC Duke Ellington Jazz Festival ?
10/09 Los Angeles, CA Proyecto Pastoral ?
10/17 Santa Barbara, CA SoHo ?
10/23 Long Beach, CA Museum Of Latin American Art ?
10/24 Concord, CA Chronicle Pavilion ?
10/29 Saint Louis, MO Sheldon Concert Hall ?
11/12 &13? San Diego, CA
11/14? Escondido, CA
11/20 Visalia, CA Fox Theatre ?
11/23 West Palm Beach, FL Kravis Center ?
12/10 Tucson, AZ Desert Diamond Casino ?
1/12-16 Oakland, CA Yoshi's ?
1/17 Santa Cruz, CA Kuumbwa Jazz Center ?
1/23 Palm Springs, CA Annenberg Theatre ?
1/29 Austin, TX University Of Texas
This piece debuts on PRX.
Yo-Yo Ma: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 03:24
Have cello, will travel: Yo-Yo Ma describes how he works his way inside the "DNA" of musical styles from all over the world, and finds joy in "the spirit of jamming."
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- Yo-Yo Ma: In his own words
- From
- David Schulman
Yo-Yo Ma's cello is fluent in the languages of Vivaldi and Dvorak. But lately, it's also been speaking the musical idioms of Brazil, and Appalachia, and of traditional styles all along the Silk Road.
In this first-person feature, Ma describes how his musical world travels have deepened his experience of music from Bach to Pixinguinha -- and back again.
This piece debuted on PRX as a special sneak preview of the first Musicians in their own words satellite feed to stations.This piece will fit ATC or ME cutaways.
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will.
This piece also works well pegged to local performances.
An encore feature on Yo-Yo Ma's approach to Bright Sheng's "Drunken Fisherman" is available here.
Yo-Yo Ma ENCORE: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 01:45
Yo-Yo Ma describes how a 21st-century hotel key helps him create the right sound for a rustic piece called "Drunken Fisherman."
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- Yo-Yo Ma ENCORE: In his own words
- From
- David Schulman
Yo-Yo Ma has become a kind of musical Marco Polo, traveling the world with his cello. In this first-person feature, Ma describes his approach to a piece by another musician known for crossing musical borders, contemporary composer Bright Sheng. Sheng, who wrote the soundtrack for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," draws on both Chinese folk music and the academic training he got in New York City. True to Ma's nature as a world traveler, he reveals that the secret to the rustic plucking sound he gets in this piece is ... a plastic hotel room key.
This piece is crafted especially for classical stations to use during music programming. An additional feature on Yo-Yo Ma's approach to a wide variety of musical styles is available here.
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will.
This piece also works well pegged to local performances.
This piece debuts on PRX.
Hilary Hahn: the 2009 Grammy winner in her own words ... on Mendelssohn
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 01:45
Not as easy as it sounds ...
Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor is among the best known music written for the violin. But it's not one of those showpieces that try to make you aware how hard the soloist is working. Instead, it's full of melodies that seem to flow by naturally. Mendelssohn wrote the concerto while he was spending a few weeks at a spa, and when played well, it can sound that way. But as 2009 Grammy winner Hilary Hahn says, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is not nearly as easy as it sounds.
Hahn won the for Best Classical Album Grammy in 2009 for her CD of the Sibelius and Schoenberg violin concertos.
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming. This short feature is particularly suited for use during music programming, where it can introduce Hahn's performance of the complete concerto. This piece does not duplicate any material used in Hilary Hahn: In her own words ... on J.S. Bach, so stations may use both if desired. Scripts for intro and outro are attached. This piece also works well pegged to local performances. This piece debuts on PRX.
Gary Nunez ENCORE: In his own words ... on Eddie Palmieri
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 01:30
A salsa hero teams up with a leader of Puerto Rico's plena revival.
Gary Nunez and his band, Plena Libre, have made their mark on Puerto Rican music by reviving the once neglected plena beat. It's a loping rhythm from the countryside.
One of Nunez's heroes is legendary salsa pianist Eddie Palmieri. In this short feature, Nunez vividly recalls the first time they met, and how they came to record one of Palmieri's tunes called "Plena, Plena, Plena"
This piece is designed especially for use within music programming, where it can be used to introduce a selection by either Palmieri or Plena Libre — or to serve as a bridge, connecting selections by each. As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will.
This piece also works well pegged to local performances by the featured performers. It does not duplicate any material heard in Gary Nunez: In his own words, so stations can air both if desired.
This piece debuts on PRX.
Allan Harris: In his own words ... on Billy Strayhorn
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 04:51
Vocalist Allan Harris describes his approach to the compositions of Duke Ellington's closest collaborator, Billy Strayhorn.
Billy Strayhorn was one of the great American songwriters of the 20th century -- even if few people knew it during his lifetime. It was Strayhorn, not his mentor Duke Ellington, who wrote the standards "Take the 'A' Train," "Satin Doll," and "Lush Life." But Strayhorn was black and openly gay, and he lived his life mostly in Ellington's shadow.
More than 30 years after Strayhorn's death, jazz vocalist Allan Harris paid a call on members of Strayhorn's family. Harris convinced the Strayhorn family to give him access to previously unrecorded music as he made his all-Strayhorn CD, Love Came.
In this feature, Harris describes his approach to singing Strayhorn's neglected music, as well as his radical reinterpretation of Strayhorn's signature tune, "Lush Life."
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words
series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will.
This piece first aired on WAMU, Washington.
Luther 'Captain Luke' Meyer: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 06:18
A rich-voiced bluesman rediscovered by the Music Maker Relief Foundation remembers what it was like performing during the '50s and '60s in the informal 'drink houses' of Winston-Salem, NC.
Luther "Captain Luke" Meyer used to sing bass in a gospel quartet, but he really found his voice in the 1950s, performing in the unlicensed drink houses of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In this feature, Meyer remembers those Jim Crow-era clubs, and demonstrates how his act used to mix blues, jazzy ballads -- and even impersonations of Jimmy Durante.
'"Captain Luke" Meyer is one of several forgotten artists rediscovered by the Music Maker Relief Foundation. His story and his music are featured in the book/CD set, "Music Makers: Portraits and Songs from the Roots of America," edited by Tim Duffy and introduced by B.B. King. Meyer and guitarist "Cool John" Ferguson also have released a CD, "Outsider Lounge Music."
For flexibility, two mixes are provided, The short mix (tape time 4:09) omits Meyer's demonstration of two very different ways of singing "Careless Love."
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words
series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will.
First aired on WUNC.
Chuck Campbell: In his own words
From David Schulman | Part of the Musicians in their own words series | 03:30
A master testifies on the sacred steel guitar
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- Chuck Campbell: In his own words
- From
- David Schulman
Chuck Campbell didn't hone his steel guitar sound by playing honkytonks or dances. He developed his style over years of playing Sunday services at the House of God Church his father pastors in Rochester, New York. The church has a tradition of steel guitar music that dates back to the Depression, when Hawaiian guitars became popular, and a legendary performer named Willlie Eason electrified congregations by making his instrument "talk."
In recent years, the Campbell Brothers band has started performing outside of their church, and Chuck Campbell has become a leading evangelist of the sacred steel. The NEA named him one of nine National Heritage Fellowship winners for 2004.
As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming.
This piece will fit the new ATC cutaway, and works well pegged to local performances. Campbell Brothers' tour schedule includes:
Nov 3 Northampton, MA Iron Horse
Nov 4 Dartmouth, MA Univ of Massachusetts
Nov 13 New York, NY Spirit Performance Center
Nov 19 Homer, AK Alice's Champagne Palace
Nov 20 Anchorage, AK Discovery Theatre
Nov 27 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
This piece debuts on PRX.