Two PBS programs focus on Blues and the Jazz Age

September 29, 2011. Posted by Brandy Wood.

Add new comment | Filed under: blues, bruce fretts, great performances, hugh laurie, jazz, jazz age, Jazz Alive, jazz88, ken burns, lynn novick, new orleans, pbs, prohibition, wbgo, WBGO Journal

PBS has two programs in the coming week that focus on New Orleans Blues and the Jazz Age. This Friday, September 30 at 9pm (Eastern), British actor Hugh Laurie showcases his musical side in a Great Performances episode filmed in New Orleans. October 2-4, 8-10pm nightly, brings Ken Burns' and Lynn Novick's Prohibition, about the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution and its effect on (or creation of) the Jazz Age.

Laurie says he finds his greatest satisfaction and inspiration from the mixture of blues and jazz that grew out of New Orleans at the beginning of the last century. This Great Performances, "Let Them Talk," includes documentary and interview segments during Laurie's travels around the city. The program features his performances with blues legends Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas, as well as a fellow countryman Sir Tom Jones. With concert sequences filmed at the historic Latrobe’s building in the French Quarter, the musical selections include New Orleans blues standards along with some forgotten and neglected gems.

Versatile British actor Hugh Laurie, an American favorite for his role in the hit TV series “House,” showcases his musical side in an atmospheric special filmed in New Orleans. Photo courtesy Michael Wilson

On Friday at 6:30pm, tune into WBGO for the WBGO Journal as TV Guide's Bruce Fretts stops by to preview Prohibition. Ken Burns will also be a guest on Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio on WBGO Jazz88.3FM on Monday, October 3 at 6:30pm.

Female dancers performing the Charleston, 1926. Credit: ©Scherl / Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / The Image Works

© 2011 WBGO

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Toast of the Nation: An Interview With Evan Christopher

December 27, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: blog, central time, clarinet player, dispatches, eve, greetings, heart of america, Interviews, Live Music, musical heart, new orleans, new year, npr, quartet, smorgasbord, toast of the nation, wbgo

Photograph by John Rogers

© 2008 WBGO

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An Interview With Brian Blade

June 17, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: blind willie johnson, brian blade, composer brian, drummer, french quarter, Interviews, introspective person, Listening Post, music, new orleans, passion, tomorrow night, village vanguard, wbgo

Drummer and composer Brian Blade brings the Fellowship Band to the Village
Vanguard this week. We are presenting them live on WBGO and NPR Music,
tomorrow night at 9pm. Don't miss this.

It's never an easy interview when your guest is a quiet, introspective person.
But Brian and I share a passion for music made intently and intensely. I
suppose that's why I love listening to The Fellowship Band. Especially when
they play at the Village Vanguard.

Anyway, listen to Brian Blade talk about music. My favorite story? One night,
just before midnight, Brian biked through the French Quarter in New Orleans.
He absolutely had to buy a Blind Willie Johnson record before the store closed.
So Brian gets home, plays the music, and cannot go to bed. The bare sound
of Johnson and his guitar was haunting. One of many stories you'll find when
you listen to the interview here.

© 2008 WBGO

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