Soundcheck

Banjo master Tony Trischka and sacred harp tunester and multi-instrumentalist Tim Eriksen, with fiddler Hannah Read, mandolinist Dominick Leslie, bassist Larry Cook, and drummer Sean Trischka play seasonal tunes turned loose on Bluegrass and Americana. Trischka and Eriksen and crew revel in little-known songs and carols, working in the haunting sound of shape note music that might date back to the Revolutionary era. Tony Trischka and friends play a few of these tunes, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

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From J.S. Bach to Biggie Smalls, Shostakovich to Nas, and the odd Tchaikovsky or Imagine Dragons, the classical-meets-hip-hop duo Black Violin continually challenges stereotypes with their music. Composed of classically trained violist and violinist Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus, Black Violin combines musical ingredients of jazz, hip-hop, funk, and classical to create a distinctive sound that is described in their press as “classical boom.”

Black Violin's Wil and Kev also connect with more than 100,000 students throughout the year as TurnAround Artists, part of a national education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They are championing accessible music education through student engagement and public performances, with the aim of inspiring kids to pursue careers in the arts. 

Black Violin plays music from their latest, Take The Stairs, in-studio.

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Black Belt Eagle Scout is the work of Oregon-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul, whose songs often draw on her Native American (specifically Swinomish) heritage. KP identifies as a radical indigenous queer feminist, and some of her lyrics touch on her being a water protector, connected to the land, and a womxn. Her latest record, At the Party With My Brown Friends, explores love, desire and friendship. Black Belt Eagle Scout and her band play some of these songs, in-studio.

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During his four decades making music, Thurston Moore has been many things – guitarist, composer, improviser, collaborator, co-founder of the trailblazing rock band Sonic Youth. His new project might be his most ambitious yet.  It’s a 3-record set of expansive, guitar-driven sonic meditations called Spirit Counsel. Radical guitarist Thurston Moore and his co-conspirators present these altered states based in guitars, in-studio, and in tribute to some of the musicians and art that have influenced him (i.e. Alice Coltrane, and Glenn Branca.)

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Son Little is a singer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, born Aaron Earl Livingston to a preacher and a teacher in Los Angeles. He cites Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix as heroes, and has collaborated with both The Roots and RJD2. Little's music blends a bit old Philly soul with R&B and classic rock. But Son Little isn’t rehashing earlier styles – he’s made something new and personal out of those familiar old elements. His third album, called Aloha, comes out at the end of January, but today Son Little is here, solo, to play some songs in-studio.

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New Jersey-born and Grammy Award-winning superstar singer Gloria Gaynor might be best-known for her disco-era hits, but she has deep gospel roots and with her 2019 release, Testimony, she gives powerful voice to these roots. She cites as influences Blind Boys of Alabama, the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi and Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, and watching her brothers perform as a gospel quartet (Cross Rhythms Radio.)

While she had recorded a Christian music record to go with her 2013 book, We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song, it is just now in 2019 with Testimony, which was just nominated for a Grammy, that she partnered with producer Chris Stevens (TobyMac, Mandisa) to create a roots-gospel collection of songs. Blues-drenched and spiritual, there are soulful and brass-augmented originals that rely on Gaynor's songwriting interspersed with re-imagined versions of the classic "Amazing Grace" and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," along with a funk-infused cover of Bob Dylan's "Man Of Peace." Gloria Gaynor sings some of these uplifting songs in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

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Canadian musician, film composer, and songwriter Robbie Robertson is probably best known as the lead guitarist in The Band. He’s written written a wide variety of music over the years, not just for The Band. On the release of both the score for The Irishman and his first solo record in years, Sinematic, Robertson talks us through several main events.

Brooklyn rockers Real Estate (their home state is New Jersey) are a self-admitted “indie band that should become a jam band.” Their bright and jangly songs are laid-back, with tidy clean guitars and “unfussy” drums (The Quietus) that might evoke the sounds of R.E.M., Big Star or Teenage Fanclub, for some. There’s a new record coming in 2020, along with a tour, but this past June of 2019, Real Estate played a mighty set for New York Public Radio at Brooklyn Bowl. Here are some of their latest tunes, along with a few old favorites. – Caryn Havlik

Set list: 

Grammy Award-winning drummer, producer, collaborator, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington is a drummer’s drummer whose laudable technique, creative choices, and tasteful flow speak to wide listening, and intense focus. Carrington is also the director of Berklee’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, working towards a vision of “jazz without patriarchy.” (NY Times)

She’s played with countless jazz luminaries over her career, and has gathered many more for her new band, Social Science; pianist Aaron Parks and guitarist Matthew Stevens, Morgan Guerin (bass & sax), Debo Ray (vocals) and Kassa Overall (MC/DJ.) Together, they confront a wide spectrum of social justice issues in original tunes on their double album, Waiting Game. Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science play some of these new tunes in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

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Composer, saxophonist, and mixed media artist Matana Roberts presents her latest in the multi-chapter work Coin Coin project which documents the African-American cultural and historical experience. “Memphis,” which is chapter four, mixes jazz, blues, traditional songs, free improv, and Afro-futurism into a heavy sonic quilt of “21st century liberation music.” (Matana Roberts calls her approach “panoramic sound quilting.”) She "speaks memory," and "sings an American survival" in this chapter of the coin coin bloodline (Tiny Mixtapes), set in Memphis - home of Roberts’s grandmother- and around a story of a "wo(e)man chile named Liddie." Matana Roberts and her new band featuring Hannah Marcus on guitars, fiddle, and accordion; Ryan Sawyer on percussion; and Matt Lavelle on trumpet and bass clarinet, perform in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

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