It was another jazzy week for Conference of the Birds. I hadn’t been feeling much inspiration about music in my own collection, so I decided to do the show entirely from WNUR’s considerable library. See what you think!
Enjoy!
Through the Wire
"Hey, I'm just happy to be here…"
November 22nd, 2011
WNUR Conference of the Birds, 2011-11-22
Conference of the Birds made a thorough return to jazz this week, in part since my friend Mark decided to come hang out in the studio for most of the show. It’s a return to jazz, but still pretty far-ranging, including getting into a little tiny bit of fusion (the two Isotopes) but also, bop, South African jazz, a few kinds of solo piano, the analog and earthy sounds of Hamid Drake and Joshua Abrams, a little blues and gospel, and Aretha Franklin plumb burstin’ through the boundaries of the classic songbook
Enjoy!
November 15th, 2011
WNUR Conference of the Birds, 2011-11-15
Lots of odds and ends this week, but also a healthy dose of music from the finally-delivered-unto-me “Boddie Recording Company: Cleveland, Ohio”, a beautiful 3-disc set from Numero chronicling the output of… well, the title says it all. Here are some write-ups about the project:
Pioneering Boddie Recording Co. drew Cleveland’s music makers, from star acts to church choirs
BODDIE RECORDING CO. – The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
The Tiny Record Empire in Cleveland
I also left on a bonus Orchestre Poly-Rythmo track from the beginning of Stephen’s show (not listed below) just because… why not? It’s Poly-Rythmo!
Enjoy!
November 8th, 2011
WNUR Conference of the Birds, 2011-11-08
This week’s show turned out to be completely dedicated to the idea of the ‘cover’ song, the standard, the interpretation, the interesting ways in which you can triangulate between two different performances of the “same” song and how they meet in your ears and the space between. Of course, there are also some songs that aren’t covers, including one by Edith Frost which for a long time I thought was, because it just had such a timeless air about it, and a tune that is indubitably Peter Tosh, but performed by him in a way quite different from it’s original recording, and even the Jungle Brothers’ so-called cover of “I Get a Kick Out of You” which seems to have only its inclusion on the “Red Hot + Cool” sampler as a sign that it has a connection to the Cole Porter composition with the same title.
Enjoy!
November 1st, 2011
WNUR Conference of the Birds, 2011-11-01
Enjoy the post-Halloween sugar rush with this week’s show, in which the first hour is dedicated to the sweet stuff, including one case where the trick was on me! Then a few canciones para el día de los muertos, and then some stuff that I just felt like playing.