Check out the archive, while the playlist is here.
There was also interviews with Oliver Wood who discussed The Wood Brothers’ latest, Heart Is The Hero (Honey Jar/Thirty Tiger) and Boris Garcia’s Bob Stirner, who talked about It’s Time For Tea (Porchwerk Music) which includes Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks on board for the project.
…And Trinity celebrates WRTC as one of its 200 Years, 200 Stories. Originally published in the Trinity Reporter last year, The Enduring Voice of Trinity College was written in honor of WRTC’s 75th anniversary.
Are you a WRTC/Trinity alumnus? Would you like to talk on the air about your WRTC memories? We’d love to have you. Please contact General Manager Chris Cowles for more information.
Just like peanut butter and chocolate, some music just goes really well together, but the May 13 edition of Greasy Tracks presented a pairing not often heard: prog and krautrock.
Check out the archive, while the playlist is here.
Each style has roots in psychedelic rock and emerged in the late 60s — prog in the UK and kosmische music (cosmic music), best known as krautrock, in West Germany.
The golden age for each lasted less than a decade.
You can “Dance to the Music” in the “Land of 1000 Dances”, cause it “Ain’t Nothin’ But a House Party”!
You can do the Jerk, Twine, Boogaloo, Philly Dog, Skate, Boomerang, Breakdown, Funky Chicken, Hitch-Hike, Monkey, Swim, Funky Broadway, Duck, Bird, Popcorn, Dog, Temptation Walk and more.
You’ll be “Dancing in the Street” and “Twistin’ the Night Away” as you “Shout and Shimmy”!
This of course probably begs the question posed by host Dean Farrell: “Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)”?
The April 29 edition of Greasy Tracks featured a three-hour Ian Hunter feature, including an interview and tracking through his just-released gem, Defiance Part I (Sun Records).
Hunter’s latest is the first of a two-part project, most all of which was recorded during the Covid pandemic when musicians were off the road.
It’s a star-laden affair and guests include a veritable who’s who from many eras of rock, including Jeff Beck, Mike Campbell, Dane Clarke, Joe Elliott, Billy F. Gibbons, Taylor Hawkins, Duff McKagan, Todd Rundgren, Slash, Ringo Starr, Robert Trujillo, Jeff Tweedy, Waddy Wachtel and Brad Whitford, amongst others.
Sadly, Beck and Hawkins passed away before the album was finished. Beck’s contributions were his last recordings.
Collaborations are nothing new for Hunter, nor is his consistency for delivering the goods.
A founding member of Mott The Hoople, Hunter embarked on a solo career when the band called time in 1974. In addition to the great musical partnership he forged with guitarist Mick Ronson, there was no shortage of noted additional personnel when it came time to make records. Over the years, members of Queen, The Clash and The E Street Band were on sessions along with Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn, Earl Slick and Andy York to name but a few.
Hunter’s songwriting is often introspective and reflective and the latest work continues the tradition with a collection of 11 tracks, primarily upbeat, straight-ahead rockers, but with a handful of ballads to strike a perfect balance.
In addition to the new album, there will be music featured that will go deep into Hunter’s catalog.
The rankings were gleaned from Joel Whitburn‘s book, Billboard’s Top R&B Singles.
Featured artists include Aretha Franklin, James Brown, The Ohio Players, Tyrone Davis, The Spinners, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Al Green, Joe Simon, The Stylistics, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Barry White and more.
The March 20 edition of Daybreak Jazz paid tribute to Bobby Caldwell — a veteran contemporary jazz, funk, soul and R&B artist — who passed away on March 14 after a long illness. He was 71.
Hosted by Kevin McCabe, the program featured the music of Caldwell, including a recording of his performance at the 2002 Hartford Jazz Festival where he fronted a 12-piece band before a crowd of 25,000 at Bushnell Park.
Caldwell rose to prominence with “What You Won’t Do For Love” from his self-titled 1978 debut. The single went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and would go on to be a radio staple for decades. The track has been reportedly sampled or covered more than 400 times.
If you’ve ever been buffaloed in Buffalo, entertained in Houston and know when it comes to New York, New York, you have to choose one, then the Little Feat spotlight on the March 18 edition of Greasy Tracks will make complete sense.
In addition to music from across the legendary band’s catalog, interviews with keyboardist Bill Payne and guitarist Scott Sharrard are included.
Little Feat brings its “Boogie Your Spring Away Tour” to College Street Music Hall in New Haven on April 21. The band returns to the area for an appearance at the Green River Music Festival in Northampton, Mass., on June 25.
The March 4 edition of Greasy Tracks featured the debut release from Dose Hermanos, music from San Francisco Bay Area bands and tributes to Wayne Shorter and David Lindley.
Persistence of Memory is the recent offering by the long-running duo of improvisational piano maestros Tom Constanten and Bob Bralove who are connected via their association with the Grateful Dead.
Constanten played keys in the band during the height of their psychedelic explorations, 1968-70. Bralove was an engineer with the group during their later era, 1987-95 — much like a chef adding “flavors” to the band’s sound, especially during the drums and space portions of their live shows.
Interviews with Bralove and Constanten were featured throughout the program.
WAYNE SHORTER
The program also included music from across the career of the jazz innovator Shorter who passed away at the age of 89 on March 2.
The recipient of 12 Grammy Awards, Shorter released 25 albums as a solo artist, but is best known for his work with some of the most famous lineups in jazz history: Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet and Weather Report which he co-founded with Joe Zawinul.
An interview with Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne was included as Payne talked about Little Feat and Emmylou Harris co-hosting a 1977 episode of “The Midnight Special” which included performances by Weather Report. Payne shares some memories of Shorter and reflects on his immense contribution as a musician.
DAVID LINDLEY
When not working on his own projects, multi-instrumentalist Lindley, who passed away on March 3, was an in-demand session player who brought his distinct sound to scores of artists ranging from Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon and Ry Cooder to Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton and David Crosby and Graham Nash.
