AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Kouyaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Kouyaté June 7th, 2023 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Kouyaté

It’s Blueswomen, Jazzmen, African roots and branches. Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland‘s father, the late blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, brought her into his music as a child. As an adult, she found new ways to use blues to express her perspective. We’ll hear from some of Shemekia’s heroes including Etta James, Ruth Brown, Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thornton. Then a conversation and performance by Boston-based Mandinka balafon player Balla Kouyaté and music inspired by and from the continent of Africa from Randy Weston, Miriam Makeba and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Shemekia Copeland photo by Mike White

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AMERICAN ROUTES ON INSTAGRAM

PHILADELPHIA SOUNDS

June 8th, 2011

Follow American Routes this week to the City of Brotherly Love, as we hang out on the musical street corners with some of Philadelphia’s finest, including bobby-soxer idol Bobby Rydell, hip hop drummer and city champion ?uestlove of the Roots, and the city’s mayor, Michael Nutter, who can also claim fame as a disco DJ. We’ll visit famous operatic cafes and sit in with a neighborhood jazz organ trio. Plus catch a choir rehearsal at one of the city’s historic churches and a conversation with a mother-daughter klezmer duo. And musical postcards from artists who call Philly their hometown.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: The Sermon Jimmy Smith
    Talkin' Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz, Verve
  • Up Above My Head I Hear Music in the Air Sister Rosetta Tharpe
    The Original Soul Sister, Proper
  • Love Train The O' Jays
    Total Soul Classics: Back Stabbers, Legacy
  • Expressway to Your Heart The Soul Survivors
    Flick Hits Take 2: Classic R&B Hits, The Right Stuff
  • SEGMENT: Mayor Michael Nutter

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  • SEGMENT: ?uestlove of the Roots

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Out of This World John Coltrane
    Coltrane, Impulse
  • CLIP: McCoy Tyner
  • Bessie's Blues John Coltrane Quartet
    Crescent, Impulse
  • Please Hurry Home Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles
    The Early Years, Ace UK
  • SEGMENT: Budesa Brothers and Lucky Thompson

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  • SEGMENT: Elaine Hoffman and Susan Watts

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  • Pink Elephants Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang
    Wild Cats, ASV
  • Can't Get to Heaven on the Frankford El The American Dream
    The American Dream, Ampex
  • SEGMENT: Mummers Parade

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Raggin' the Scale Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang
    Wild Cats, ASV
  • SEGMENT: Victor Cafe

    Listen
  • Deep River Marian Anderson
    Spirituals, BMG
  • Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair Nina Simone
    Anthology: The Colpix Years, Rhino
  • End Bed: Dear Lord John Coltrane
    A John Coltrane Retrospective - The Impulse Years, Rhino

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Detective in the Rain Heath Allen
    Life of Leisure, Self-Released
  • Fall in Philadelphia Daryl Hall and John Oates
    Whole Oats, Atlantic
  • Storm Warning The Volcanos
    Storm Warning: Philly Original Soul Classics, Vol.1, Jamie/Guyden
  • SEGMENT: Marshall Allen

    Listen
  • Ship of the Future Edison Electric Band
    Bless You, Dr. Woodward, Water Music
  • Do You Want to Touch Me (Oh Yeah) Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
    Greatest Hits, Blackheart
  • Instrumental: TNT Jimmy Smith
    Talkin' Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz, Verve
  • SEGMENT: R&M Deli

    Listen
  • SEGMENT: Bobby Rydell

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  • Dancin' the Strand Maureen Gray
    Philly Doo-Wop Classics , Jamie/Guyden
  • Slow Twistin' Chubby Checker with Dee Dee Sharp
    The Best of Chubby Checker: Cameo-Parkway, 1959-1963, Abkco
  • Ain't Nothing But a Houseparty The Showstoppers
    The Northern Soul Generation: Keep the Faith, Castle Music
  • SEGMENT: Jerry Blavat

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Bandstand Boogie Les Elgart and His Orchestra
    Television Themes: 16 Most Requested Songs, Columbia/ Legacy
  • Be Thankful For What You've Got William DeVaughn
    The Best of the Philly Sound, GNP
  • I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free John Legend and the Roots
    Wake Up, G.O.O.D./ Columbia
  • SEGMENT: Solomon Burke

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  • SEGMENT: Monumental Baptist Church

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THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 7th, 2023

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND AND BALLA KOUYATé

    Listen
  • May 31st, 2023

    PIANO PEOPLE AND MORE: JASON MORAN & HEATH ALLEN

    Listen
  • May 24th, 2023

    MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE 2022 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS

    Listen
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