I’m sorry to report that the archiving process for this weeks show failed: iTunes has this annoying licensing screen which must be accepted every time you upgrade, and I performed a routine upgrade but didn’t launch it before going to the show.  So when Audio Hijack started iTunes on schedule, it was stuck waiting for that screen to be cleared.)

No worries: this show wasn’t as much fun as last week’s.  I did get to share a few new things I’ve acquired: William Parker’s take on Curtis Mayfield’s music, which I’ve wanted to have since they were announced for last year’s Chicago Jazz Festival, and Wheedle’s Groove, a collection of vintage Seattle soul and funk. (I saw a nice documentary connected to this compilation last Sunday at the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival.)  The track I played was by a group called Cold, Bold and Together, which is where Kenny G got his start, as well as Philip Woo who went on to play with Roy Ayers.

I should also point out that Alice Coltrane’s “Los Caballos,” built up on some very fat analog keyboard sounds, was locked in my head for several hours after the show.  (For another celebrity sighting, I learned that the timbales on that tune, credited to “a friend,” were played by Carlos Santana, according to his own website.)

Conference of the Birds will not be on next Tuesday, as I’ll be at SXSWi.  I am still looking to swap with someone later in the week, but that’s not set up yet.

Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)

William Parker: “People Get Ready” – The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield Live in Rome (Rai Trade)
Cold, Bold and Together: “(Stop) Losing Your Chances” – Wheedle’s Groove: Seattle’s Finest in Funk & Soul 1965-1975 (Light in the Attic)
Ornette Coleman: “Job Mob” – Of Human Feelings (Mango)
Dave Sharp’s Secret Seven: “Africano” – Seven (Vortex)
Francis Bebey: “Rwanda” – Nandolo/With Love (Original Music)
Totó La Momposina ys sus Tambores: “Curura” – La Candela Viva (Real World)
Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban: “Échale salsita” – Mambo Sinuendo (World Circuit)
John Zorn: “Mow Mow” – The Dreamers (Tzadik)
Unitrio: “Like a Cat In The Snow” – Page 1 (Altrisuoni)
Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams: “Libeccio” – Motor City Scene (Bethlehem)
Yusef Lateef: “Eastern Market” – Yusef Lateef’s Detroit (Atlantic)
Tobias Delius 4tet: “Salmon and Bear Suite” – Toby’s Mloby (BVHaast)
George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet: “Trees and Grass and Thangs” – Decisions (Timeless)
Kenny Dorham: “Riffin’” – ‘Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, vol. 2 (Blue Note)
John Surman: “Hilltop Dancer” – Brewster’s Rooster (ECM)
Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore: “Stevenesque” – Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed)
Trio 3 + Geri Allen: “Swamini (for Alice Coltrane/Turiyasangitananda)” – At This Time (Intakt)
Alice Coltrane: “Los Caballos” – Eternity (Sepia Tone)
Ben Goldberg: “Wazee” – Go Home (BAG Production)
ROVA Saxophone Quartet: “Juke Box Mambo” – The Juke Box Suite (Not Two)

This week I finally did a show I’ve been eagerly anticipating. John Storm Roberts, a scholar and the founder of the Original Music label, passed away in November of last year.  Music from compilations he produced  was seminal in my musical education–I’m fortunate that they had sent so many copies of their titles to WNUR already by the time I started poking around in the world music collection.  His delighted embrace of the fundamentally hybrid nature of almost all music (articulated in many of the liner notes, but also his books “Black Music of Two Worlds” and “the Latin Tinge“) fed directly into (and no doubt amplified) my own fascination with creoles, melanges, mutts, and mixtures of all kinds.  The packages, especially of the titles which were originally released as LPs, usually exhibited puzzlingly incoherent design, and it’s sometimes hard to match the track listings to the recordings, but that’s all ultimately of little import.

I brought in about two dozen of my own Original Music releases and supplemented with a handful more that WNUR has and I don’t.  I could have gone on for hours and hours, but of course, my program was only two and a half.  Nevertheless, this is one of the most fun shows I’ve ever done, and I’ve done quite a few of them.  I hope you enjoy this even half as much as I did!

• John Storm Roberts: New York Times Obituary
• JSR: Telegraph Obituary
• Roberts’ two-posts-ever blog (last post on my birthday!)
• JSR interview in Perfect Sound Forever (1997)
• Original Music Discography
• John Storm Roberts: An Appreciation (by Richard Henderson)

complete program (135 MB, 2 hrs 28 min)

Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)
Francis Bebey: “Akwaaba” – Akwaaba (Original Music)
Ignace de Souza and Black Santiagos: “Papa Kou Maman” – The Great Unknowns (Original Music)
E.T. Mensah & the Tempos: “Yei Ngebewoh” – African Music: The Glory Years: Tempos • Ramblers • Uhuru – Giants of Danceband Highlife (Original Music)
Edward Nandwa: “Wanajita Sisi Wahuni” – Before Benga Vol 2: The Nairobi Sound (Original Music)
Cuban Marimba Band: “Naumiya” – Dada Kidawa (Original Music)
Charles Sonko & Sisters with Equator Sound: “Sifunanga wa Baruaio” – The Kampala Sound (Original Music)
Orchestre Africa Jazz: “Mokozi ya Mboka” – The Sound of Kinshasa (Original Music)
Franco with Orchestre OK Jazz: “Bomboko Awuti na New York” – The Sound of Kinshasa (Original Music)
Oriental Brothers International: “Uwa Atu Alamujo” – Heavy on the Highlife! (Original Music)
Imo Brothers International: “Nneji Special” – Ije Love (Original Music)
Kuusow “Kurunwaarey”, Amin Xaaji Cusmaan & Cabdulaahi Iman “Zamir”: “Jamiila” – Jamiila: Songs from a Somali City (Original Music)
“Two woman singers, guitar, cello & drum”: “Asoi” – Street Music of Java (Original Music)
Panamanian revelers: “Gritos” – Street Music of Panama (Original Music)
Francis Bebey: “Di Sengi” – Akwaaba (Original Music)
Oyinbo Liaso: “Kike Lomo” – Yoruba Street Percussion (Original Music)
Jimmy Solanke & the Junkers: “Eje Ka Jo” – Money No Be Sand (Original Music)
S.R. Chitalo & the De Ndirande Pitch Crooners: “Elube” – African Acoustic: Sounds Eastern & Southern (Original Music)
George Kazoka: “Ulayinda Kubota” – African Acoustic: Guitar Songs from Tanzania, Zambia and Zaire (Original Music)
Stephen Tsotsi Kasumali & Friends: “Konta Iya Iya Konta” – African Acoustic: From the Copperbelt (Original Music)
Americo Kossa and Orelio Jefe: “Shingombela” – Kerestina: Guitar Songs of Southern Mozambique 1955-1957 (Original Music)
Eva Rodrigues, Tony Dias, Bonaventura Torres, Charlie Figueroa, Jeannie Torres, Albert Rodrigues y Domingo Rodrigues: “Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Instrumental” – Puerto Rico in Polynesia: Jibaro Traditional Music on Hawaiian Plantations (Original Music)
Julio Rodrigues Jr, Julio Rodrigues III, Johnny Lopez y Marcial Ayala, Jr.: “Un Viaje a Nueva York” – Puerto Rico in Polynesia: Jibaro Traditional Music on Hawaiian Plantations (Original Music)
Uncredited musicians: “Tamborito “Tuna”" – Street Music of Panama (Original Music)
Dalmain Ebanks: “We Don’t Need No Radio” – Under the Coconut Tree (Original Music)
Ebenezer Calender & his Maringar Band: “The Stolen Chicken” – African Elegant: Sierra Leone’s Kru/Krio Calypso Connection (Original Music)
Eddie Okonta and his Top Aces: “Eddie’s Accident” – Azagas and Archibogs: The Sixties Sound of Lagos Highlife (Original Music)
Black Beats: “Meda Ho Mawo” – Telephone Lobi: More Giants of Danceband Highlife (Original Music)
Ignace de Souza and Black Santiagos: “Anyenko” – The Great Unknowns (Original Music)
Ramblers International: “Woman Wanko” – African Music: The Glory Years: Tempos • Ramblers • Uhuru – Giants of Danceband Highlife (Original Music)
Kawaliwa & Mary with the AGS Boys: “Fumbira Abaana” – The Kampala Sound (Original Music)
Nashil Pichen, Peter Tsotsi: “Goodbye & Farewell” – Before Benga Vol 2: The Nairobi Sound (Original Music)
Irene Buyiswa Ndumo & the Jury Mpelho Band: “Puma Endlini Yam” – Siya Hamba! South African Country & Small Town Sounds (Original Music)
Sam Chege: “Nyina wa Judy (Judy’s Mother)” – Kickin’ Kikuyu-style: Sam Chege’s Ultra-Benga (Original Music)
Godwin Kabaka Opara’s Oriental Brothers International: “Onye Ikewere Mekeya (Do Better If You Can)” – Do Better If You Can (Original Music)
Ignace de Souza & Melody Aces: “Asaw Fofor” – The Great Unknowns (Original Music)
Prof. Y.S. & his BB Band: “Ewele Aya” – Money No Be Sand (Original Music)