How to Improvise: Bela Fleck & Jason Marsalis

This week we meet with two practitioners of the art of improvisation. Bela Fleck joins us for a conversation about banjo traditions and experimentation in bluegrass, jazz and classical music. Then we’ll head to the studio for a jazz breakdown by New Orleans master percussionist Jason Marsalis.

HOUR ONE

Prickly Pear Bela Fleck
Rocket Science, E One

Eh, La Bas Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Don Vappie
Shake that Thing, Preservation Hall

Just Because Jorma Kaukonen with Bela Fleck
Blue Country Heart, Columbia

Whitewater Bela Fleck
Drive, Rounder

John Henry Joe and Odell Thompson
Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian Folkways

Blue Tail Fly Abner Jay
Blues Routes: Heroes & Tricksters, Smithsonian Folkways

Polly Wolly Doodle Leon Redbone
On the Track, Warner Bros.

Instrumental: Funky Banjo Don Vappie
Banjo a la Creole, Vappielle

Glendale Train New Riders of the Purple Sage
New Riders of the Purple Sage, Columbia

CLIP: Jerry Garcia

Foggy Mountain Breakdown Flatt & Scruggs
Complete Mercury Sessions, Mercury

CLIP: Earl Scruggs

SEGMENT: Bela Fleck

Instrumental: Sugar Baby Bill Frisell
The Willies, Nonesuch

Cluck Old Hen Noam Pikelny & Steve Martin
Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail, Compass

No One Knows My Name Gillian Welch
Soul Journey, Acony

21st Century Chicken Shack Back Blues Andy Statman
Old Brooklyn, Shefa

Soul of a Man Carter Brothers
Road to Roosky, Compass

End Bed: Waterbound Dirk Powell
Time Again, Rounder Select

HOUR TWO

Open Bed: Guess Who's Back? Jason Marsalis
Music Update, Elm

Rhythm is Our Business Jimmie Lunceford
Swingsation, Universals

Bourbon Street Parade The Young Tuxedo Brass Band
The Atlantic New Orleans Jazz Sessions, Mosaic

I Got Rhythm Felix Mendelssohn & the Hawaiian Serenaders
Blue Hawaii, Living Era

Till Tom Special Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman Sextet
The Genius of the Electric Guitar, Columbia

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) The Modern Jazz Quartet
Les Incontournables, Warner Jazz/ Rhino

Blues for the 29%ers (down to 19) Jason Marsalis
Music Update, Elm

Instrumental: Mamblues Cal Tjader
Cal Tjader's Greatest Hits, Fantasy

SEGMENT: Jason Marsalis

Instrumental: Rhythm-A-Ning Thelonious Monk
This is Jazz 5: Thelonious Monk, Columbia

Laughing in Rhythm Slim Gaillard
Laughing in Rhythm: The Best of the Verve Years, Verve

My Feet Can't Fail Me Now The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Our New Orleans: Benefit Album 2005, Nonesuch

Doin' the New Low Down Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson
Stars of the Apollo, Columbia

Get Rhythm Johnny Cash
The Essential Johnny Cash, Columbia

Gotta Lot of Rhythm in My Soul Patsy Cline
The Essential Johnny Cash, Columbia

You Are My Sunshine Smiley Lewis
Shame, Shame, Shame, Bear Family

End Bed: Will the Circle Be Unbroken Dr. Michael White with Jason Marsalis
Blue Crescent, Basin Street

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