PRX - Pieces for Tone: Upbeat

Can't find it? Try Advanced Search
View by:

88 results


Piece image
This time, we profile harmonica wizard Little Walter, who cut "the national anthem of blues harmonica," this week in 1952.

  • Added: Mar 14, 2018
  • Length: 03:29
Piece image
This time, we take a look at one historic day of recording — May 5th, 1937 — that changed the course of blues history.

  • Added: Mar 09, 2018
  • Length: 03:29
Piece image
This time we profile Lightnin' Hopkins, who, in 1954, laid down some hard rocking sides for Herald Records.

  • Added: Mar 07, 2018
  • Length: 03:29
Piece image
This time, we profile Etta James, who landed at the top of the Billboard R&B charts this week in 1955, with "The Wallflower."

  • Added: Mar 05, 2018
  • Length: 03:29
Piece image
This time, we profile Elmore James, who was in a recording studio in Chicago, this week in 1953.

  • Added: Mar 05, 2018
  • Length: 03:29
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The Juke In The Back jumps into summer by spotlighting THE summertime holiday, the 4th of July. We're diggin' the 4th in song, ranging from songs a...

Bought by KMXT, WRGY, WVTF, 90.5 WSNC, WOMR and more


  • Added: Jun 25, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 11
Piece image
In this hour, we’ll explore the music of two more giants of the New Orleans diaspora, pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, who left Louisiana in...

Bought by KMUN, GCR (Global Community Radio), WCNY, KMUN, WMOT and more


  • Added: Mar 10, 2017
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 24
Piece image
On this episode of Overheard, two PBS legends. First a sit-down with Henry Louis Gates Jr. followed by filmmaker Ken Burns.

Bought by KUT


  • Added: Feb 21, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
This one hour musical program commemorates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The play-list consists of some of the world's greatest Jazz mus...

Bought by Radio Catskill, WNMU-FM, WORT, KTEP, KRCU Public Radio and more


  • Added: Dec 28, 2016
  • Length: 01:05:59
  • Purchases: 18
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" pays its respects to a true musical icon, B.B. King. When he passed away at the age of 89 on May 14, 2015, we lost one of ou...

Bought by 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, WRNC-LP, WOUB, WLPR and more


  • Added: Jun 07, 2015
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Piece image
Joe Bev presents 78 RPM Jazz with a Sense of Humor: "Tiger Rag: Dixieland Originals.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: May 24, 2015
  • Length: 59:29
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
Host Doug Storm is joined by Jacinda Townsend, author of the novel <em>Saint Monkey</em> which has won the 2015 James Fenimore Cooper Prize awarded...

  • Added: Apr 07, 2015
  • Length: 57:55
Piece image
Bassist Dave Holland started his performing career in London. One night, he received word that a visiting musician from the states wanted to hire ...

  • Added: Dec 18, 2013
  • Length: 09:46
Piece image
Phyllis McEwen and Bob Devin-Jones bring to life African-American folktales and songs that Zora Neale Hurston collected in Florida in the 1930s.

Bought by RadioStPete Florida


  • Added: Nov 25, 2013
  • Length: 39:38
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Duke Ellington
In the 1920s, Ellington performed in nightclubs as the bandleader of a sextet, a group that in time grew to a 10-piece ensemble. The nucleus of thi...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 12, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Afrika Bambaataa's vinyl archive was on display for one month in New York City.

Bought by KALW and PRX Remix


  • Added: Aug 22, 2013
  • Length: 12:04
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: sheet music cover
As New Orleans musicians began to migrate north following the closure of Storyville (the red light district near the navy base), it was only natura...

Bought by Radio New Zealand and KCBX


  • Added: Jun 04, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: HAPPY, NEW or YEAR 78s on Jazz-O-Rama, Credit: Lorie B. Kellogg
"Happy Days Are Here Again", "I Found a New Baby" and "This Year's Kisses" are among the 78 RPM records heard on the 25th edition of Joe Bev's Jazz...

Bought by WCBE, WVAS, and Radio New Zealand


  • Added: Apr 09, 2013
  • Length: 57:45
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Joe Bev hosts an hour of Kansas City swing 78s., Credit: Lorie B. Kellogg
"Cherokee", "One O'clock Jump" and "Kansas City Farewell" are among the 78 RPM records heard on the 20th edition of Joe Bev's Jazz-O-Rama Hour.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio, Spokane Public Radio, and Radio New Zealand


  • Added: Mar 25, 2013
  • Length: 57:31
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Towns in the southern colonies had many residents who were slaves or free blacks., Credit: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Steven Spielberg’s recent film Lincoln stirred up a lot of talk about what history sounded like. Spielberg even recorded one of President Lincoln’s...

Bought by KENW and Radio Newark


  • Added: Mar 22, 2013
  • Length: 02:30
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Young Eubie Blake
The music of american legend James Hubert "Eubie" Blake. Pianist, composer, vocalist, and a man who could reinvent himself as times demanded.

Bought by KMUW, WVIA, KCBX, and KCBX


  • Added: Feb 13, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Cladys "Jabbo" Smith
Cladys "Jabbo" Smith is one of the finest exponents of early jazz trumpet, yet he is overshadowed by Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and many oth...

Bought by WNCU and KCBX


  • Added: Jan 18, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Banjo Ikey Robinson
Isaac L. “Banjo Ikey” Robinson was a multi instrumentalist jazz musician who specialized on banjo. Even when most musicians had stuffed their banjo...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 15, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: William Pope.L, Blink New Orleans, 2012, Credit: Cathy Byrd
William Pope.L, an American performance artist and interventionist, talks about Blink, his magic lantern show for Prospect.2 New Orleans, 2011.

Bought by KUT


  • Added: Jan 07, 2013
  • Length: 06:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: 1995 32 cents Commemorative stamp, Credit: U.S. Postal Stamps
CHARLIE PARKER was one of the most influential improvising soloists in JAZZ, and a central figure in the development of BOP in the 1940s. A legenda...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Oct 06, 2012
  • Length: 50:43
  • Purchases: 1