How to Improvise: Bela Fleck and 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, Vapielle
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
The Road to Roosky, Compass
End Bed: Waterbound Dirk Powell
Time Again, Rounder Select
HOUR TWO
Open Bed: Guess Who's Back? Rhythm Is Our Business Jimmie Lunceford
Swingsation, Universal
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
Listen
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: A 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 Patsy Cline, RCA
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