An interview with the namesake of The Ed Palermo Big Band will air May 10 as part of a series of special features this month to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Greasy Tracks.
We’ll track through Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages, the just-released album by The Ed Palermo Big Band which focuses on the challenging subject of material by Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, King Crimson, Frank Zappa and others.
The band plays a record-release show at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York on May 19.
Palermo, the saxophonist and arranger, leads the New York City-based 18-piece ensemble renowned for its inventive jazz interpretations of jazz and rock classics, often leaning heavily on Zappa’s catalog, but never afraid to tackle an array of artists ranging from British Invasion bands to Todd Rundgren.
Greasy Tracks debuted on May 6, 1995, and has traditionally focused on a mix of soul — think Memphis — blues, rock, jazz and funk music.
Program content is intentionally devoid of hits and “sing-along-feel-good-music” as the host strives to challenge himself and the listeners when it comes to selections and focus. Long-form features are the norm and an average of 30-50 musicians, authors and recording industry veterans are interviewed each year..
On the May 9 edition of Friday Class, Prof. Lay will take listeners on a musical journey to Guinea-Bissau.
The program airs 6-9 a.m. Click here to listen live.
Have your notebook ready to take notes on this fascinating West African country. Learn about its language, history, culture, food and folk tales while listening to the rhythms of its people.
The April 27 edition of Strictly Roots celebrated the music of roots reggae vocalist Max Romeo who passed away on April 11 at the age of 80. Here’s the archive.
Romeo’s career began in the late 1960s as part of a vocal group called The Emotions. Despite being banned from being played on the air due to its sexual lyrics, his first major solo single “Wet Dream” in 1968 was wildly popular and made the Top 10 on the UK charts.
His career flourished in the 1970s, highlighted by work with Lee “Scratch” Perry on such songs as “War Ina Babylon,” “Three Blind Mice” and “Chase the Devil.”
Also included on the program will be music not played during recent tributes for Cocoa Tea and Ken Parker.
Much of the sounds of the April 19 edition of Greasy Tracks came from Memphis with a deep dive into Family (Alligator), the brand-new release from Southern Avenue.
There’s an interview with vocalist Tierinii Jackson who discusses how the new album was put together and recorded at the legendary Royal Studios.
The band was formed in 2015 by guitarist Ori Naftaly who had begun working with Jackson and her sister, drummer Tikyra Jackson, after calling time on his previous group, The Ori Naftaly Band.
Merging the blues-influenced playing of Naftaly, the gospel background of the sisters and, by default of being based in Memphis, the inescapable soul and roots rock meets hill country music, there’s no surprise the band boasts an infectious sound.
They released two albums on Stax, their self-titled debut in 2017 and Keep On two years later. In 2021, they moved to BMG subsidiary Renew Records where they put out the Steve Berlin-produced Be The Love You Want. Featuring a bigger, horn-driven sound as Memphis veterans Art Edmaiston (sax), Marc Franklin (trumpet) and Kirk Smothers (sax) were part of the sessions. A third Jackson sister, Ava, also appeared on a track.
Fast forward through being off the road during Covid and the task of writing their new album, the band signed to Alligator. Working with producer John Burk and engineer Boo Mitchell, they cut the album at Royal Studios with Ava now a member of the band, adding vocals, violin and percussion.
The Soul Express usually airs the first Saturday of the month with Dean Farrell.
The 1971 double album was the first live release from Miles and marked a particularly busy period for the drummer/bandleader who had done time with the Electric Flag and Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys.
It followed the critically acclaimed Them Changes a year earlier which reached No. 8 on the Billboard jazz chart, No. 14 R&B and No. 35 on the Billboard 200.
Miles’ We Got To Live Together, which also came out in 1970, and Message To The People (1971), didn’t garner as much attention, but were solid efforts and a number of tracks from each was included on the live album.
The live offering was the sixth and final release on Mercury as he moved to Columbia the following year, putting out Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!
The remainder of The Soul Express included tracks from William Bell, James Brown, Don Covay, Aretha Franklin, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Latimore, the Moments, the Olympics, Freda Payne, Ann Peebles, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, the Spinners, the Staple Singers, the Supremes, the Temptations, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Ike & Tina Turner, Jackie Wilson and Stevie Wonder — among others.
Pousette-Dart and noted guitarist/producer Jim Chapdalaine play the Sounding Board in West Hartford on April 26. They also play April 19 at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Mass.; and July 18 at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.
Best known as the leader and a founding member of the Pousette-Dart Band, a folk-rock group that emerged in the 1970s and released a handful of well-received major-label albums, Pousette-Dart was in the thick of it as the rock music industry grew exponentially that decade.
As a live outfit, the band shared bills with the likes of Yes, Peter Frampton and Gary Wright when they were at the height of their popularity, but myriad industry changes led to the group officially calling time in 1981.
Over the years, there would be sporadic reunions, but for the most part, Pousette-Dart focused on his solo career. He’s released a number of albums and continues to put out singles.
Despite first meeting in Cambridge, Mass., in the 1970s — Chapdalaine worked at Pousette-Dart’s favorite record shop — Pousette-Dart and Chapdalaine wouldn’t start working together for many decades. For the past 25 years they’ve primarily played as an acoustic duo or occasionally in an electric lineup.
The April 11 edition of Friday Class will feature in-studio guest Dr. David Sterling Brown who will discuss American Globe Center’s fascinating proposed project to make a theatre campus in Connecticut featuring the world’s only timber-frame recreation of the famed 1614 Globe Theatre in London a reality.
Back In The Bard’s Time: A rendition of the “1614” Globe Theatre.
Dr. Brown, an associate professor of English at Trinity College, is part of the Stratford, Conn.-based AGC’s working group as a development associate and scholar-in-residence.
The original Globe was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of actors for which William Shakespeare wrote some of his most famous plays. The theatre was destroyed by fire in 1613, but rebuilt in 1614 on the same site. The biggest difference between the two venues was that the original had a thatched roof with one gable while the latter was tiled with two gables. It closed in 1642 and was demolished three years later.
The obvious location for the proposed new build, replicating the 1614 Globe, was in Stratford on the site that was home to the famed 1,500-seat American Shakespeare Festival Theatre which closed in 1989 and was burned to the ground in 2019 by a trio of teen arsonists. Town officials deemed AGC’s visionary project too large as they were opting for a smaller performance arts center that would seat only 350.
Historic Design In The Present: One rendering for the possible recreation of the Globe Theatre (left) and the AGC Playhouse (right) on the Norwich, Conn., waterfront.
At this point, the non-profit group is considering several Connecticut municipalities for their 1,000-seat AGC Playhouse, combined with a 900-seat, plus standing groundlings, timber-frame 1614 Globe Theatre, including Hartford.
They have targeted April 23, 2028, as the opening date — the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Discussions with multiple cities are on-going.
The facility will incorporate a modern performing arts and education center with a state-of-the-art mainstage and blackbox, along with gathering areas, gardens and green space.
In Better Times: The American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Conn.
AGC believes this will be a premier tourism hub, “a one-of-a-kind destination” blending entertainment, culture and history — making Connecticut “Shakespeare Central.”
They say it will also provide lasting impact when it comes to culture as well as state and local economies.
Citing school programming, workshops and touring performances which will bridge funding gaps in arts education, AGC includes the value of a projected $131 million annual economic boost via tourism, hospitality and associated wages that will fuel the state’s economy. A $1 per ticket surcharge would annually generate $300,000-$500,000 to the municipality that lands them.
The March 22 edition of Greasy Tracks featured the music of Freddie King and an interview with guitarist Popa Chubby who is poised to release a tribute album to the legendary bluesman.
Nicknamed “The Texas Cannonball,” King was a pioneering guitarist and singer, known for his fiery playing style and soulful voice. Blending Texas and Chicago blues to create a powerful, electrifying sound that influenced countless musicians — especially a number of British players in the 1960s who would one day be household names.
“Hide Away” (1960) and “The Stumble” (1962), co-written by King and long-time collaborator Sonny Thompson, proved to be vital. During their respective time with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor tackled King-Thompson tracks with aplomb.
Getting Ready: Freddie King on the cover of his 1971 release. (Ed Caraeff photo)
The aforementioned songs also caught the attention of New York-based Chubby when he was beginning his career as a teen. His I Love Freddie King (Gulf Coast Records) comes out March 28.
“To say I was dreaming about doing this record for 30 years would be an understatement,” Chubby wrote in the album’s liner notes. “I remember being 18, playing guitar for a year or two, and an older cat in the neighborhood telling me I had to check out Freddie King. I immediately listened to ‘Hideaway,’ and ‘Have You Ever Loved a Woman’ and my mind was changed forever.
“Years later, I signed with Sony Records and covered ‘Palace Of The King’ and ‘Same Old Blues’ from the Getting Ready… album.”
Getting Ready… (1971) was King’s debut on Shelter Records which was co-owned by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell. Co-produced by Russell and Don Nix, the sessions paired King with some of the top Tulsa musicians who had played with Russell for years. The album also featured the Nix-penned track, “Going Down” which King stylistically made his own, further influencing even more players. Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan were clearly paying attention, even if Vaughan was more heavily influenced by Albert King.
Popa Chubby (Nelson G. Onofre photo)
There are plenty of guest appearances on Chubby’s tribute effort with Joe Bonamassa, Mike Zito, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Eric Gales and Albert Castiglia sitting in. Tracks covered include the expected King-Thompson jewels as well as numerous tracks King himself covered and were long associated with him.
Regarded as one of the “Three Kings” in the blues world along with Albert King and B.B. King, Freddie King recorded numerous albums, but was really known for his live performances and hard-living life on the road — often doing 300 or more one-nighters a year. He died at the age of 42 in 1976.
Chubby has a number of dates looming in the tri-state area: March 29 at The Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y.; April 2 at Darryl’s House Club in Pawling, NY; April 18 at The Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.; and following a European run, June 29 at Small Batch Cellars in North Haven.
The March 16 edition of Strictly Roots paid tribute to Cocoa Tea — the beloved Jamaican singer who helped shape and define dancehall and lovers rock — who passed away March 11 at the age of 65.
During the 80s, armed with a silky-smooth voice and thought-provoking lyrics, Cocoa Tea, born Calvin George Scott, catapulted to superstar status in Jamaica and around the world among reggae enthusiasts.
By the following decade, his politically incorrect lyrics opposing the first Gulf War led to radio bans in the United Kingdom and Jamaica due to his pro-peace tracks: “No Blood for Oil” and “Oil Ting.”
Throughout his lifetime, he played at almost every Reggae Sunsplash festival and released countless albums on labels that included: Volcano, Jammy’s, Ras, Shanachie, Greensleeves and VP Records as well as his own, Roaring Lion Records.
The March 15 edition of Greasy Tracks took a ride on the mystery train back to a time before a gospel-rooted singer from Tupelo, Miss., became a household name.
Similar in style to his Memphis-centric tomes Beale Street Dynasty, Bluff City and Timekeeper — the definitive bio of drummer Howard Grimes — along with the incredible The Chitlin’ Circuit: The Road to Rock’n’Roll and two great collaborations: Brother Robert, with Annye Anderson and Spirit of the Century with The Blind Boys of Alabama — Lauterbach’s latest should be required reading for all.
Lauterbach’s compelling historical account sheds light on the Black artists whose groundbreaking work laid the foundation for rock ‘n’ roll, years before Elvis Presley became known as the “King.”
He delves into the vibrant musical culture of the American South, particularly the “Chitlin’ Circuit” — an informal network of Black music venues that nurtured talent in the face of segregation.
The book highlights influential, yet often overlooked, African American performers like Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Herman “Junior” Parker, Rev. W. Herbert Brewster, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Newborn family, whose sounds and styles were later adopted and popularized by white artists.
The program included numerous versions of Parker’s “Mystery Train” — the track Presley recorded and released as a B side in 1955. It would go on to help catapult him to national and then international fame.
