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 The
Blue Note
Join Ellen Rocco for the best in blues, every Tuesday from 3 to 4:45 pm.
The best in blues each week. Here's your place to listen to the latest edition of The Blue Note, hosted by Ellen Rocco, anytime you want. The 03/16/10 edition is the lead segment of this stream. (This archive will only be available until next week's show is posted.)
Two thirds of the Upper Jay-based alternative trio Monsterbuck were Ellen Rocco's live guests in the NCPR production studio. Chris Kowanko and Byron Renderer play a sampling of their original compositions, which earned them Esquire magazine accolades as "one of the top five unsigned bands on MySpace.
In a special live remote edition of The Blue Note, host Ellen Rocco welcomes Russ Bailey and Crow Party to The Recovery Lounge in Upper Jay, NY. They deliver some some raw, no-nonsense blues.
I
grew up in Manhattan (and, for a while, in Queens). Went to City College, in Harlem.
Highlights of my college years: poetry seminar with Paul Blackburn, the City College
cafeteria--a political gulag with tables invisibly marked for the Young Conservatives,
SDS, the Maoists, Communist Party, Socialist Party, Young Republicans, druggies,
etc--and Wednesdays at The Apollo Theater for amateur hour or the Moulin Rouge
Cafe for the world's best juke box, where I was introduced to the blues, thanks
to Big George, my guide through the alleys and backdoors of uptown New York. Here
I am, years later in northern New York, still totally hooked on blues, jazz, R&B
and, more recently, world beat.
Finding
Music
You
can find or special order any of the music heard on this program from local music
stores, including:
Northern
Music & Video, Potsdam: 315-265-8100
Strawberry Fields, Potsdam: 315-265-7700
Ampersound,
Saranac Lake:
518-891-3114
Peacock
Music, Plattsburgh:
518-561-0555
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If you're listening for
someone or something in particular on The Blue Note--and don't hear it--let
me know. I prefer blues and blues-related music that's direct and gutsy. You won't
hear the overproduced stuff--those tracks with excessive horns and guitars, or
the songs where the individual voice is muddied. Muddy Waters you will hear. Along
with all the greats from the '30s to the '60s--Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson,
Bessie Smith, Howlin' Wolf, BB King, Albert King, Jimmy King, Koko Taylor--plus
the best of the voices and groups of the past two or three decades, like Johnny
Winter, Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb Mo', Dave Hole, Coco Montoya, Corey
Harris, Rory Block, Maria Muldaur...and so on.
Stay in touch. Tell me what
I'm missing or hitting right...or just let me know you're tuning in. Thanks for
listening.
E-mail
Ellen
 The
Blue Note’s
Very Casual List of Recommendations
for Gift-Giving
For the Blue Note Listeners’ BEST OF THE CENTURY LIST,
click here! And, if you're looking
for the more perfect musical gifts, click here for
some Ellen's gift list from 2000.
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Program Playlists
Recent | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001
Blues
February 25, 2010 | NPR· The deep growl and ringing falsetto of vocalist Mike Mattison meets the utilitarian guitar work of Paul Olsen in the blues band Scrapomatic. The duo plays songs from its newest release, Sidewalk Caesars, accompanied by a full band. February 20, 2010 | NPR· A few years ago, blues guitarist Eric Bibb was approached by a fan carrying a guitar case. The case held a '30s-vintage Resophonic National guitar once belonging to blues legend Booker White. Bibb persuaded the fan to lend him the instrument, then produced a record inspired by prewar Delta blues. January 31, 2010 | NPR· The chamber ensemble earned two Grammy nominations for its 2009 album, which rearranged classic tunes by the jazz composer Dave Brubeck. On the eve of the Grammy Awards, the string quartet visited NPR to play songs like "Blue Rondo a la Turk."
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