As a banjoist, Bela Fleck is hard to define, so far-reaching are his influences and his musical excursions. After writing his first orchestral work, entitled “Impostor Concerto,” and getting a record deal for it, the immediate question was what else would he go on to record? He decided to write a piece for banjo quartet,…
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Savannah Music Festival LIVE is a weekly radio series produced for Georgia Public Broadcasting, which is now in its 16th season. The show has been licensed to public radio stations across the country and is available to stream online anytime. GPB Radio's weekly statewide broadcasts are on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. and WUGA on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 9 p.m
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 1648 – Samara Joy 2024
On this episode, we listen to a portion of the 2024 season kickoff concert featuring powerhouse jazz vocalist Samara Joy. In the two year span since her first Savannah Music Festival appearances at house concerts in the surrounding area, Samara Joy has won three Grammy Awards and delighted audiences around the globe, all before reaching 25 years of age. This time, Samara brought an ensemble made up of her musical peers, with a standard trio augmented by trombone, trumpet, and tenor and alto saxophones.
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 805 – Stephen Hough
For a composer who wrote every piece with a prominent piano part, Chopin’s genius is still completely remarkable. He was able, by the sheer quality and originality of his work, to be identified with his instrument in a consuming way. It is a marriage, and the two truly become one. When anyone plays Chopin, it…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 804 – Early Masters
While it’s common knowledge that Mozart was a young genius of music, he certainly wasn’t born that way. Mozart was a brilliant musician and composer, but he became that way because of how much training he received in his youth and because he worked hard at it for years. Like Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn was a…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 803 – Asif Ali Khan
There are few types of music that can lift you to a higher plane, that can get you close to an out-of-body moment, than Qawwali. Qawwali music is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in south Asia, primarily in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, as well as parts of north India and…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 802 – Dirk Powell & Riley Baugus
Two of the foremost exponents of old-time music today are multi-instrumentalists Dirk Powell and Riley Baugus, who formed bonds with their grandparents to discover their musical roots stretching back to Scots-Irish ancestors that came to the mountains in the middle of the 18th century. These two men display a vibrant creative energy that crosses a…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 801 – Hot Club of Cowtown
It takes considerable bravery to name your band after one of the greatest jazz ensembles of the 20th century, but the Hot Club of Cowtown get away with it because they have spirit, originality and skill that would surely have impressed Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt back in the 1930s and 40s. The Texas trio…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 752 – Mike Marshall & Choro Famoso
Throughout the Americas during the 19th century, the rich harmonic and melodic forms from Europe melded with the complex and intoxicating rhythms from Africa. In Brazil, the most important musical style to emerge was called choro, which dates back to the 1870s when European dance forms combined with the local African rhythms of Rio de…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 750 – Marcus Roberts Trio 2015
While most jazz piano trios have the piano front and center, there is one trio in which all members share equally in shaping the direction of the music. The Marcus Roberts Trio, made up of Roberts on piano, Rodney Jordan on bass and Jason Marsalis on drums, does so with lighting quick musical reflexes and…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 749 – Earls of Leicester – Part Two
The great dobro player Jerry Douglas grew up listening to the music of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and he always wanted to play it, except that he was a couple of generations behind. In 2012, Jerry created a band that could not only pay homage to the legacy of the Foggy Mountain Boys, but…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 748 – Earls of Leicester – Part One
When you talk about the history of bluegrass music, the names “Earl” and “Lester” are always prevalent, since they led one of the greatest groups, the Foggy Mountain Boys. The band was founded in 1948 by guitarist Lester Flatt, who had been a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. Flatt brought banjo player Earl Scruggs…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 747 – The World of Edgar Meyer
In demand as both a performer and a composer, Edgar Meyer has formed a role in the music world unlike any other. One of the most remarkable virtuosos in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument, Meyer’s technique and musicianship in combination with his gift for composition have brought him to the fore. In this…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 746 – Noam Pikelny & Friends
It’s always interesting when an outstanding artist decides to recreate an existing work. It opens up our understanding of both the original and the new version. So when banjoist Noam Pikelny reimagined one of the standard-bearers for instrumental bluegrass, the 1976 recording entitled Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, he wanted to be true to its…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 744 – Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
That high lonesome sound known as bluegrass is a music steeped in tradition. Inspired by the music of Appalachia with roots in Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English traditional music, it first emerged in the 1930s when Kentucky native Bill Monroe formed his famous bluegrass boys. One of bluegrass music’s modern day masters is tenor and…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 742 – Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola
Beginning in the Renaissance period, the European guitar generally had four courses, each strung with two gut strings, and the pair of strings within each course tuned in unison. By the early 18th century, six double-strung courses had become common, and the changing number of courses in these early guitars reflected the ongoing desire on…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 741 – Tara Erraught
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and contralto voice types. With a a vocal range extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above, mezzo-sopranos generally have a heavier, darker tone than sopranos, and a voice that resonates in a higher…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 736 – Julian Lage & Jorge Roeder
Long before the advent of concert halls, theaters and outdoor festivals, people gathered in their homes to play music and share the intimacy of musical expression in small rooms. While concert halls inside of homes have always been a part of music making, they hold a place of esteem in jazz history. Jazz house concerts…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 734 – Charles McPherson, Part Two
When one thinks of bebop, the first musician that comes to mind is usually Charlie Parker, the pioneering alto-saxophone player and composer. In this episode, we listen to an early disciple of Parker’s, alto sax player Charles McPherson, who was born in 1939 and raised in Detroit. Mr. McPherson grew up surrounded by a wealth…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 731 – Tomatito
Emerging in the 18th century from the region of Andalusia in southern Spain, flamenco is a form of Spanish folk music and dance that is thought to have grown out of Andalusian and Romani music and dance styles. Born into a musical family in Andalusia, Jose Fernandez Torres acquired the moniker “Tomatito” after becoming a…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 730 – Kind of Blue: Miles, Trane & Cannonball 2014
The many victorious performances made by Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly added timeless examples of small group jazz to a tradition that developed in the wake of the bebop movement of the 1940s. Working together, the three artists achieved a poetic level of expression that was as playful and tender as it was…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 727 – New & Reconstructed String Quintets
The art of musical composition generally consists of the manipulation of harmony, melody, form, rhythm and timbre. In the case of Johannes Brahms, creating such order was often an arduous task, and it was completely common of him to destroy the original version of a work if he thought it was in any way inadequate….
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 729 – Mark Shane
The great tradition of jazz piano in the early 20th century was probably best summarized by the father of stride piano, James P. Johnson, when he was asked which pianists he had learned things from in New York City. He responded by saying, “I loved Eubie Blake, Luckey Roberts, Willie the Lion Smith, and even…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 728 – Ladies Sing the Blues
The blues as such are synonymous with low spirits, blues music is not. With all its so-called blue notes and overtones of sadness, blues music is nothing if not a form of diversion. On this episode, we listen to a 2014 performance at the Charles H. Morris Center entitled “Ladies Sing the Blues,” featuring Catherine…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 726 – Pokey Lafarge
Ardently exploring the origins of American music in jazz, blues, country and western swing, singer and guitarist Pokey Lafarge seems like a throwback, yet the music he plays never sounds old-fashioned. In this episode, we listen to Pokey Lafarge’s final performance of four given at the 2014 Savannah Music Festival.
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 725 – Christian McBride Trio
When your personal goal as a musician is to pull the audience in so that they feel like they’re a part of the ride, then you’re making what Christian McBride calls “people music.” That’s the mantra that McBride has lived by throughout his career, which combined with his abundant virtuosity, has made him the most…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 723 – Late Night Jazz Jam 2014
Legend has it that when Coleman Hawkins squared off against Lester Young in a late night jam in the late 1930s at a Kansas City nightclub, a new saxophone king was crowned who would forever be known as “Prez.” Each year, SMF presents a late night jam to wrap up a week of Swing Central…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 722 – Estrella Morente
The history of flamenco dates back to 1774 when it first began to appear in literature. With roots from Andalusia and the Romani people from Spain, its format usually involves singers, guitarists, dancers and the iconic sound of hand clapping. Most of the artists performing flamenco come from family traditions, including 33-year old cantora Estrella…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 720 – Philip Dukes Salutes Michael Tree
Tuned a perfect fifth above the violin and an octave below the cello, the viola makes a unique and beautiful sound. In the spring of 2014, the esteemed British violist Philip Dukes created the idea for a concert celebrating the 80th birthday of the renowned Michael Tree. The performance featured a selection of works spanning…
Savannah Music Festival 718 – Dvorak Bass Quintet
The string instrument that turns a quartet into a quintet varies with each composer or work. Mozart added a viola, Schubert, a cello, but Antonin Dvorak chose the double bass for his G Major String Quintet, matching the full palette of the symphony orchestra. In this episode of Savannah Music Festival LIVE, we listen to…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 715 – Stringband Spectacular 2014
Every spring, sixteen talented young string players, all under the age of 22, travel to Savannah for a groundbreaking mentorship program called the Acoustic Music Seminar. Led by acclaimed mandolinist Mike Marshall, the participants receive six days of hands-on instruction in playing, songwriting and ensemble work. Past instructors have included Julian Lage, Casey Driessen, Avi…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 714 – Grieg & Vaughan Williams
The use and development of folk music by classical composers in the 19th century often echoed the traditional music of their homelands. The rise of nationalistic elements into works by such notable figures as Chopin, Sibelius and Rimsky Korsakov occasionally relied on folk music from their native lands as inspiration, as did Edvard Grieg with…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 713 – Mozart & Schubert
Every spring for the past eleven years, violinist Daniel Hope has assembled an array of his friends from Europe and the United States to perform in a series of chamber music concerts at the Savannah Music Festival. Playing some of the great masterpieces of the idiom, these musicians rehearse each program across several days in…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 711 – Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott
In the year 2000, roots music mavens Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott joined forces to create a recording of old-time country covers and originals, which turned quite a few heads. But it took another twelve years for them to record together again, a span when their respective careers grew and blossomed into a myriad of…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 710 – Piano Showdown 2014 – Part Two
One of the annual highlights of the Savannah Music Festival is a concert we produce called “Piano Showdown”. It brings together four jazz pianists and allows them to display their original interpretation of songs in both solo and duo settings, with the only requirement being that every pianist has to play at least two songs…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 709 – Chris Thile & Mike Marshall
For lovers of the mandolin, an instrument that first came about nearly 400 years ago, it’s hard not to appreciate the many virtuosos that have emerged in the past half century and blended extensive musical styles. Two of the most unique and extraordinary mandolinists in our time are Mike Marshall and Chris Thile, who have…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 708 – Piano Showdown 2014 – Part One
Nearly every year since 2004, the Savannah Music Festival has lined up four different jazz pianists in a concert that showcases not only their individual talent, but also their ability to perform duets with each of the other pianists on the bill. This episode features highlights from Piano Showdown 2014 with Christian Sands, Aaron Diehl,…