Posted by Li Robbins on
Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 3:00 AM
From gospel to baroque, from country to folk, CBC Radio 2 has a sleigh's worth of Christmas music, starting Christmas Eve, and taking you right up until Boxing Day. On the big day itself, Sunday December 25th, regular programming will be entirely preempted - please have a look at the entire schedule, below.
From Radio 2 to you, the best of the season!
Continue reading "CBC Radio 2 Christmas: from Kent Nagano conducting Handel's Messiah to gospel with The Sojourners" »
Posted by Carole Warren on
Sunday December 11, 2011 at 12:15 PM
Louis Armstrong is best remembered as an innovator who pioneered scat singing, along with an exciting new way of the playing the trumpet. Some people miss that part, especially if the only way they know him is by watching reruns on the Turner Classic Movie channel where he often played himself - or a close approximation - in movies like High Society - a colourful second fiddle to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Those roles made him controversial among some African Americans who saw him as an always smiling Uncle Tom character.
Continue reading " Louis Armstrong: Real to Reel, the uncensored Armstrong home tapes" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday December 4, 2011 at 12:00 PM
It makes sense to name a documentary about the life of the King of Soul after a 1962 track that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls one of the most influential songs of the genre.
Sam Cooke, who was killed at the age of 33 in Los Angeles, 47 years ago, paved the way for artists like Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Bobby Womack.
Continue reading "Bring It On Home to Me: The Life and Music of Sam Cooke" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday November 27, 2011 at 3:00 AM
Some people, like jazz piano veteran Joe Sealy, make everything look easy. He is one cool cat who can make anything sparkle.
The piano has been his bread and butter for nearly 60 years, but there's far more to his story than that.
The Montreal native tried his hands at the organ, in a long-gone R&B trio called The Unusuals in the late 1960s.
Sealy is also a fine bandleader, arranger, composer, record producer, music label entrepreneur, director, actor and tour coordinator - usually wearing several of those hats at the same time.
He works live, knows how to make beautiful music in the studio, and steps back to accompany soloists whenever given a chance.
Besides a clutch of Junos, last year Sealy was rewarded for his pleasurable pains with an Order of Canada.
He has played alongside many of the biggest names in the business and, speaking to our radio-focused purposes here, Sealy has a regular Tuesday-night gig at Toronto's Jazz 91.1 FM.
This guy knows what a compelling playlist is all about.
For today's outing, Sealy takes us on a stroll through some sunny musical days of the mid-'60s, where jazz, pop and bossa nova rolled around in the creative grasses with freewheeling glee.
On his playlist, this veteran has thrown in a truly oddball song, just to keep us off-kilter: "They Laughed When I Started to Play," a music hall ditty featuring George Formby and his diminutive ukulele banjo. This little bit of vintage bubblegum comes from Much Too Shy, a 1942 British comedy.
Don't forget that an iTunes download of any of these songs is only a button-click away.
But before you go there, have a listen to My Playlist, with Joe Sealy:
Continue reading "My Playlist: pianist Joe Sealy" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday November 20, 2011 at 11:15 AM
My idea of a great mashup is likely to be a lot different from yours. But we can probably agree that listening to something unexpectedly familiar as well as strangely new can be a lot of fun.
The internationally respected bass clarinet soloist (and CBC Radio 2 Choral Concert producer) Jeff Reilly shows us how different cultural mashups are changing our musical landscape in all sorts of ways.
Continue reading "Playing Through Changes: Jeff Reilly explores musical -- and cultural - mashups" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday November 13, 2011 at 3:00 AM
Singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin has been around the musical block a few times, picking up critical accolades, a clutch of awards and thousands of fans for his engaging roots style along the way.
Rankin's musical life, which started pretty much around the time he learned to walk, is all about playing well with others - first with his siblings in The Rankin Family and, for more than a decade now, as a solo act.
His eclectic personal playlist is a blend of faces from his Nova Scotia roots and notable names from his current hometown of Nashville.
First up on our song panorama is Serena Ryder's "Little Bit of Red," Rankin's way of saying thanks very much for her contribution to "Walk That Way" for his fourth and most recent album, Forget About the World.
Rankin's deep connection with his birthplace includes indie rockers Slowcoaster and singer-songwriter Gordie Sampson.
His playlist features several other notable Canadian submissions. Last -- but far from the least -- is a thumpin' sendoff by Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
Never parochial, Rankin stirs in nuggets from Ireland's Sinead Lohan, some American legends, and even a bit of classical: American composer Samuel Barber's introspective meditation, Adagio for Strings.
Have a listen to the show, and if you want to hold on to the music a little harder, click the buttons below for iTunes downloads.
Continue reading "My Playlist: Jimmy Rankin" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday November 6, 2011 at 11:31 AM
There's a Puff the Magic Dragon lore that hangs around The Perth County Conspiracy (does not exist), like a mystical fog.
Fans and former members fondly recall this hybrid collective of folk singers, multi-instrumentalist experimenters and poets in many, many different ways. So much so that the line between fact and fiction has been redrawn more times than anyone can count.
Continue reading "Dream Times: The Perth County Conspiracy (does not exist)" »
Posted by Li Robbins on
Saturday October 29, 2011 at 3:00 AM
Happy 75th to us, and to you, with the musical gift of Canada In Concert. It's an eight-hour broadcast celebrating CBC's 75th anniversary. You can hear it in all its magnificence on Sunday October 30th, (preempting usual programming), from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique.
Bill Richardson hosts this musical marathon of concerts recorded across the country from coast to coast, and what you'll hear is really something of an embarrassment of riches, featuring so many of Canada's leading ensembles and soloists.
The overview: There are singers galore, for instance Karina Gauvin with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra with a number of vocalists including Isabel Bayrakdarian and Ben Heppner.
Then there's Suzie LeBlanc with the Tempest Baroque Ensemble, and some of the country's best choral ensembles in a concert from Vancouver featuring the work of Canadian composers.
You'll also hear music from the opening of the new Maison Symphonique de Montréal with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Kent Nagano leading the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
From Banff, Alberta, there's the Cecilia Quartet and friends and from Ottawa, an intimate recital with two Canadian classical superstars - violinist James Ehnes and the brilliant young pianist Jan Lisiecki. Also, from Winnipeg, performances from the 2011 Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival.
So those are just some of the highlights; please keep reading for complete details of the hourly broadcasts:
Continue reading "Canada In Concert: Celebrate CBC @ 75 with the OSM, Isabel Bayrakdarian, James Ehnes and other greats" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday October 23, 2011 at 3:00 AM
Dig the bell bottoms and platform shoes out from that box in the garage, because it's time for a heady blast of 1970s rock and roots.
Sass Jordan has never been shy about trying something new as a performer, but her personal listening comes from the core of the canon - the place from which she drew inspiration as a young singer hooking up with the likes of Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, Carlos Santana and Joe Cocker.
There was a reason Billboard magazine declared Jordan the Female Rock Artist of 1992. So settle in and find out what inspired her along the way:
Continue reading "My Playlist: Sass Jordan" »
Posted by John Terauds on
Sunday October 16, 2011 at 10:54 AM
In memory of Daisy DeBolt, who passed away recently, and to honour her early days on the folk circuit, Inside the Music rebroadcasts Rachel Sanders' documentary, An Overnight Sensation: The Story of Fraser and DeBolt.
Allan Fraser and Daisy DeBolt didn't spot each other across a crowded room. It was more like a crowded patch of grass as 23-year-old wannabe singer-songwriter Debolt met fellow musician Fraser at a Mariposa Folk Festival workshop in the make-love-not-war summer of 1968.
Continue reading "Remembering Daisy DeBolt: An Overnight Sensation, the story of Fraser and DeBolt" »
