Wednesday MidDay Medley
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Spinning Records With Marion Merritt + Mikal Shapiro & KC Folk Fest + Krystle Warren

Today, we welcome back to the show, Marion Merritt as our special “Guest Producer.” Marion Merritt is our most frequent contributor to WMM. For over 19 years now Marion has been sharing her sonic discoveries and information from her musically encyclopedic brain. Bringing music that is just not played on other radio stations. Marion grew up in Los Angeles & St. Louis. She went to college in Columbia, Missouri. She studied art and musical engineering. After nearly two decades of managing Kansas City’s largest music department store, Marion left the corporate world and went Independent. With her partner Ann Stewart, Marion is the proprietor of Records With Merritt, a small, independent, minority owned business, at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, Missouri.

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Dimitri From Paris – “Prologue”
   from: Sacrebleu / Yellow Productions – Atlantic / June 11, 1996
   [Debut studio albumm from Dimitri from Paris was born Dimitrios Yerasimos, on October 27, 1963. He is a French music producer and DJ of Greek descent. His musical influences are rooted in 1970s funk and disco sounds that spawned contemporary house music, as well as original soundtracks from 1950s and 1960s movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, La Dolce Vita and The Party, which were sampled in his album Sacrebleu. Dimitri fused these sounds with electro and block party hip hop he discovered in the 1980s. // Contrary to his musical pseudonym, Dimitri was born not in Paris but born in Peckham, South London, to Rûm parents (Greeks of Turkey), Dimitri grew up in France where he discovered DJing at home, using whatever he could find to “cut and paste” samples from disco hits or in to montages heard on the radio, blending them together to make tapes. This early experimentation helped him launch his DJ career. // He started out by DJing at the French station Radio 7, before moving on to Skyrock and finally to Radio NRJ, Europe’s largest FM radio network, in 1986. There, he introduced the first ever house music show to be broadcast in France, while simultaneously producing under the direction of sound designer Michel Gaubert, runway soundtracks for fashion houses such as Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès and Yves Saint-Laurent. He also released two solo EPs from 1993 to 1994 and contributed to the Yellow Productions compilation La Yellow 357. // In 1996, Dimitri gained worldwide recognition with the release of his first full album, Sacrebleu, released on Yellow Productions. A blend of diverse influences including jazz, original film soundtracks, samba, and organic house, Sacrebleu sold 300,000 copies worldwide and was named Album of the Year by UK’s Mixmag magazine. // In 2000, Dimitri followed Sacrebleu up with A Night at the Playboy Mansion (Virgin) and Disco Forever (BBE), followed by My Salsoul in 2001, After the Playboy Mansion in 2002. In 2003, Cruising Attitude was released, to be closely followed by his first outing on UK’s premier dance music label Defected: Dimitri from Paris In the House. // He has followed a somewhat glamorous musical path by recording soundtracks and advertising campaigns for fashion houses Chanel, Jean-Paul Gautier and Yves Saint Laurent and remixing hundreds of artists as diverse as Björk, The Cardigans, James Brown, Michael Jackson, New Order and Quincy Jones. He also did the music for the anime Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase and mixed the soundtrack for the French luxury dessin animé Jet Groove produced by Method Films. // 2005 saw Dimitri go back to his Funk and Disco roots, with Japanese hip hop producer and über collector DJ Muro for Super Disco Friends a double CD mixdown. In 2006 he offered his House of Love outing to Valentine’s Day’s lovers. Later on Dimitri produced Los Amigos Invisibles “Super Pop Venezuela” album which grabbed a nomination for a Grammy Award. // 2007 saw the release of the Cocktail Disco project with longtime partner BBE, a handful of disco classics remixes and other surprises down the line. // 2009 saw the release of the Night Dubbin’, a post-disco R&B compilation remix album.]

3. Thievery Corporation – “Voyage Libre (feat. LouLou Ghelichkhani)”
   from: Treasures from the Temple / Primary Wave Music / April 20, 2018  
   [Thievery Corporation’s Treasures from the Temple, is a companion LP to the band’s chart-topping 2017 album, Temple of I & I. The 12-track compendium includes a trove of original recordings and remixes from the band’s Temple sessions at Geejam Studios in Port Antonio, Jamaica with vocal appearances by LouLou Ghelichkhani, Mr. Lif, Sitali, Racquel Jones, Natalia Clavier and Notch. The album’s first single, “Voyage Libre,” was also made into a music video directed by Tina Rivera. The journey to the Treasures from the Temple begins by wandering through Thievery vocalist LouLou Ghelichkhani’s psyche in a surreal, monochromatic visualization of emotional space. // Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza (born March 28, 1970) and Eric Hilton. Their most well-known track, Lebanese Blonde, has been featured in numerous movie soundtracks, but most notably on the award-winning Garden State (film) soundtrack. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop and Brazilian music, including bossa nova. // LouLou Ooldouz Ghelichkhani was born in San Jose California. She was raised in Paris, France till her teenage years then moved to Bethesda, Maryland. The culture shock was incredible…it took her a few years to discover the District of Columbia and all its wonders. In 1999, LouLou met Eric and Rob of Thievery Corporation through mutual friends SEE-I.. She soon was abducted by the duo on fantastic voyage : Thievery Corporation. Since then she has recorded and performed with the Thieves around the globe.]

4. Cécile McLorin Salvant – “Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent ?”
   from: Mélusine / Nonesuch Records / March 24, 2023 
   [Cécile McLorin Salvant was born August 28, 1989. She is an American jazz vocalist. // She was the winner of the first prize in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2010, releasing her first album, Cécile, shortly thereafter. Her second album, WomanChild, was released in 2013 on Mack Avenue Records, receiving a 2014 Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Salvant won four categories in the 2014 DownBeat Critics Poll: Jazz Album of the Year, Female Vocalist, Rising Star–Jazz Artist, and Rising Star–Female Vocalist. Her third album, For One to Love, was released on September 5, 2015, to critical acclaim from The New York Times, The Guardian, and Los Angeles Times. It won her the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2016. // Cécile Sophie McLorin Salvant was born in Miami, Florida. Her father, who is Haitian, is a doctor and her mother, who is French, is the founder and president of a French immersion school in Miami. Salvant began studies in classical piano at the age of five, and began singing in the Miami Choral Society when she was eight. She subsequently developed an interest in classical voice and began studying with private instructors, and later with Edward Walker, vocal teacher at the University of Miami.[11] She said in 2015: “I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where we listened to all kinds of music. We listened to Haitian, hip hop, soul, classical jazz, gospel and Cuban music, to name a few. When you have access to that as a child, it just opens up your world.” // In 2007, Salvant moved to Aix-en-Provence, France, to study law as well as classical and baroque voice at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory. It was in Aix-en-Provence, with reedist and teacher Jean-François Bonnel [fr], that she studied improvisation, instrumental and vocal repertoire, and sang with her first band. // In a four-star review of her sold-out engagement at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London in June 2015, John Fordham wrote in The Guardian: “She brings ideas from unexpected angles to the familiar art of standards-singing, and she applies a mischievous intelligence to well-worn lyrics in ways that transform them.” // Salvant began studying voice at the age of eight with an interest in classical music. She began her transition into jazz while studying at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in 2007, and also studied composition and music theory at The New School. Salvant says that her main jazz influence is Sarah Vaughan, recalling childhood memories of listening to her songs repeatedly. While strongly influenced by Sarah Vaughan, she is also heavily influenced by vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, and Betty Carter. She describes her sound as jazz, blues, with elements of folk and musical theatre. She composes music and lyrics which she also sings in French, her native language, as well as in Spanish. She enjoys popularity in Europe and in the United States, performing in clubs, concert halls, and festivals accompanied by renowned musicians. Salvant has performed at jazz venues and festivals including Ronnie Scott’s, the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, and the Village Vanguard. // In 2010, Salvant released her first self-titled album, Cécile & the Jean-François Bonnel Paris Quintet. Soon thereafter, at the age of 21, she went on to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition for vocalists. Her first-prize win included a recording contract with the label Mack Avenue Records, with whom she released her next two albums. Writing in The New York Times in 2012, Ben Ratliff said: “In front of a trio led by the pianist Aaron Diehl she sings clearly, with her full pitch range, from a pronounced low end to full and distinct high notes, used sparingly […] Her voice clamps into each song, performing careful variations on pitch, stretching words but generally not scatting; her face conveys meaning, representing sorrow or serenity like a silent-movie actor.” // In 2013 she released her second album WomanChild, which was nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award in the category of Best Vocal Jazz Album. The songs chosen for WomanChild include original compositions, as well as compositions that date back to the 19th century and progress into the 21st. Salvant chose the songs for this album based on songs she felt had a personal connection to her life. // In September 2015, Salvant released her second album with Mack Avenue Records, titled For One to Love. On this album, she chose songs that focus attention on strong women and independence. The album contains five original works and jazz standards. In 2016, the album won a Grammy for Best Vocal Jazz Album. Two years later, her third album with Mack Avenue, Dreams and Daggers, won a Grammy in the same category. // She has toured with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, whose music director Wynton Marsalis was quoted in a 2017 New Yorker article as saying of Salvant: “You get a singer like this once in a generation or two.” // In January 2023, Nonesuch Records announced the release of Salvant’s seventh album. The album, titled Mélusine recounts the European folk legend of Melusine and largely features songs sung in French and Haitian Creole. The album was released digitally on March 24, 2023. //Salvant has sung in advertisements for Chanel’s “Chance” brand of products.]

5. Waltel Branco – “Sonho no Céu”
   from: Meu Balanço / Mr. Bongo / [originally released in 1975] Reissued 0n vinyl, 2023
   [Waltel Branco was born in Paranaguá, Brazil, on November 22, 1929. He died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 28, 2018 He was a Brazilian conductor, composer and arranger. Waltel came from a family where music was a part, he began this art very early, through the drums, guitar and ukulele and later the cello, and has been studying harp and organ. His childhood and adolescence were marked by the study of music and religion alternating between the cities of Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro. His musical studies were consolidated in the period when he was in the seminary with the Chilean Joquin Zamacois. Among his teachers of the time, names like Benedict Mossurunga, Padre José Penalva, Jorge Koshag, Stanley Wilson and Alceo Bocchino contributed to its formation. // He was known for Vejo a Lua no Céu (1976), A Virgem prometida (1968) and Senhora (1975).] 

6. Waltel Branco – “Meu Balanço”
   from: Meu Balanço / Mr. Bongo / [originally released in 1975] Reissued 0n vinyl, 2023

10:22 – Underwriting

7. Bodikhuu – “Tokyo”
   from: Tokyo / Farsi Records – Mississippi Records / March 24, 2023
   [Mongolian producer BODIKHUU returns with a sonic journey through Japan in the form of 13 instrumental hip-hop vignettes. // “I wanted to portray the 80s Japanese atmosphere through my style,” Bodikhuu writes from his home in Ulaanbaatar, the coldest capital city on earth. “Even though I have never been there, this is my way of saying that I have seen the place.” // Unable to travel to Japan, Bodikhuu instead conjures an imagined city through sound. “Tokyo” evokes the neon, sweat, traffic, exhaust, gloaming towers and “monotonous lonely lives” of the sprawling megalopolis through its music. The album is a rich collage of cast-off sounds and razor sharp interpolations of city pop, obscure Japanese jazz, and 80s J-pop, all expertly chopped up on one of the few MPC-1000s in Ulaanbaatar. Faded voices over thundering drums give tracks like “Office Melancholia” and“Subway” a sense of place and emotional weight uncommon in beat tapes. // “Tokyo” builds on the international success of 2019’s “Rio/Bodianova” (the first Mongolian hip-hop record on vinyl), which found Bodi traveling through Rio on a lush bed of 1970s bossa nova and tropicalia. On this album, we’re jet-propelled into the 80s – all smooth surfaces, shimmering synths, and twinkling lights. // Collaged cut-up artwork by Digital Sting (Feel- Free Hi-Fi), warm analog master from Dave Vettraino (International Anthem) and loud-cut 160gm vinyl from Smashed Plastic in Chicago complement Bodikhuu’s considered beats. // A note from Bodikhuu: “The album’s idea came from my friend Jargalan aka Jack. I wanted to portray the 80s Japanese atmosphere through my style. Basically it represents the tremendously busy lifestyle of Tokyo – subway stations, roads, towers, factories monotonous and lonely lives of people in it. Even though I have never been there, this is my way of saying that I have seen the place. All of the samples come from city pop, j-pop, Japanese jazz & funk music and the production was done on an MPC-1000. ]

8. Bodikhuu – “J-Funk”
   from: Tokyo / Farsi Records – Mississippi Records / March 24, 2023

9. Tosca & Anna Clementi – “Oscar”
   from: Dehli9 / K7 Records / February 24, 2003 / Remastered for Vinyl 2023
   [Dehli9 is the third studio album released by Austrian duo Tosca in 2003. Disc 1 contains relatively straightforward downtempo, while Disc 2 contains sparse, mostly piano music. The liner notes state “CD2 based on ’12 easy to play piano pieces’ by Rupert Huber.” // When Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber began making music together, Indian music was one of their influences, and they called themselves Dehli9. Dehli is a common alternative Hindustani pronunciation for Delhi. // Tosca are an Austrian music group consisting of Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber. This is Dorfmeister’s second such project, the first being Kruder & Dorfmeister. Tosca’s first album, Opera, was released in 1997 by G-Stone Recordings. // Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber first met in school, and began experimenting with tape machines, Indian music, and poetry lyrics, under the name of Dehli9. After school, Dorfmeister and Huber went their separate ways: Dorfmeister began producing and DJing with Peter Kruder, and Huber worked in the experimental music scene. His compositions were featured by Wiener Festwochen (Private Exile, 2004), Centre Pompidou (Sonic Process, 2002) and Ars Electronica (Radiotopia, 2002) as well as in TV series (C.S.I.: Miami, Sex and the City) and radio (signations for the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company). // In 1994, Dorfmeister and Huber released their first 12″, entitled “Chocolate Elvis”, on Kruder and Dorfmeister’s G-Stone label. A string of critically acclaimed albums and remix collections followed – Opera (1996), Suzuki (1999), Dehli9 (2003) J.A.C. (2005) and No Hassle (2009) are considered milestones of the downtempo genre. The musical trademark of Tosca is a cheerful laid-back feel that emanates a warm, sexy, and occasionally melancholic atmosphere. // Their singles and its remixes were released as remix albums – i.e. Souvenirs – The J.A.C. Remixes, Suzuki in Dub, Chocolate Elvis Dubs or the Fuck Dub remix collection – and featured on countless compilations. Tosca has performed in live shows in the US, South America and Europe, including such prominent festivals as Coachella (Palm Springs, USA) and the Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, Austria). In 2001, Tosca was honored with Austria’s Amadeus Music Award as best Pop/Rock group. In 2009 the release of No Hassle saw Tosca move into more ambient soundscapes and the world of live instrumentation. In 2013 their sixth studio album Odeon featuring vocalists Sarah Callier, Rodney Hunter and JJ Jones was released on their longtime home of !K7 Records.]

10. Abraham Alexander – “Déjà Vu (feat. Mavis Staples)”
    from: SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023
    [Abraham Alexander’s debut album SEA/SONS. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in his birthplace. Shortly after moving to the states, his birth mother was killed in a car accident with a drunk driver, leading Alexander to be adopted later in his teens. He found solace in sports as a soccer prodigy and later, following a torn ACL that ended his playing career, in music once a friend handed Alexander a guitar and he unexpectedly found songs pouring out of him. // The 11 tracks on SEA/SONS touch on themes of loss, redemption, longing, anguish and joy. And while his lyrics speak to pain, trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.]

11. Abraham Alexander – “Stay (feat. Gary Clark Jr.)”
    from: SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023

12. Kendrick Scott – “What Day Is It? (feat. Reuben Rogers & Walter Smith III)”
    from: Corridors / Blue Note Records / March 3, 2023
    [Kendrick Scott was born July 8, 1980 in Houston, Texas, United States. He is an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. He is the founder of the record label World Culture Music. // Kendrick A.D. Scott was born and raised in Houston. The first encounters Kendrick had with the drums were in church, where his parents, Kenneth and Stepheny, and older brother were involved in the music ministry. Scott was later accepted to Houston’s famed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) where his high school career culminated in many awards – the most notable being The Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship, given by the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) and The National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. Upon graduation from high school in 1998, Kendrick was awarded a scholarship to attend the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, majoring in Music Education. Since graduating from Berklee in 2002, Scott has performed with a variety of name artists including the Jazz Crusaders, guitarist Pat Metheny, saxophonists Joe Lovano and Kenny Garrett, vocalists Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright, Gretchen Parlato and trumpeter Terence Blanchard, to name a few. He also was a member of the Berklee-Monterey Quartet, performing at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival in 1999-2000, 2002 and 2007. // Scott’s debut recording with his group Oracle recorded The Source in 2006, including pianists Aaron Parks and Robert Glasper, guitarist Lionel Loueke, vocalist Gretchen Parlato, and others. Scott also performed with the Terence Blanchard Quintet on the album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (2007), which was nominated for two Grammy Awards for 2008. Kendrick was a member of the band that accompanied Terence Blanchard to the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 50th anniversary in 2007, and Scott embarked on the 22-state tour, starting in January, 2008 with the 50th Anniversary MJF All-Star Band. It featured the leaders of the past, present and future with Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Moody on saxophone, Benny Green on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass, and jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. // Scott also currently plays with the Charles Lloyd Quartet, featuring alongside Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gerald Clayton on piano.]

13. London Brew – “Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church [feat. Benji B, Raven Bush, Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Tom Herbert, Shabaka Hutchings, Nikolaj Torp Larsen, Dave Okumu, Nick Ramm, Dan See, Tom Skinner & Martin Terefe]”
    from: Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church – Single / Concord Records / Jan. 19, 2023
    [London Brew is the debut album by London Brew, a band consisting of a dozen British jazz musicians including Nubya Garcia, BBC Radio 1 presenter Benji B, and multiple members of Sons of Kemet and the Invisible. // The album was announced January 19, 2023 along with the release of lead single “Miles Chases New Voodoo in the Church”, an interpretation of Davis’ Jimi Hendrix-inspired “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down”, and was released by Concord Jazz on March 31, 2023. The second single, “Raven Flies Low”, was released March 9m 2023. It is said to match “rugged funk aspects in the beat to glorious melodies wrought from the effects-laden violin of Raven Bush.” Terefe said that in mixing the track, he “fell into focusing on the continuous flow [of] Raven’s violin melodies and electronic pedal orchestrations. His mini compositions moved so brilliantly under the radar and this one blew my mind. I chose the title inspired by the track ‘John McLaughlin’ on Bitches Brew. Simply a hats off to a maestro at work.” // The album was released on March 31, 2023.// The band was assembled by producer and guitarist Martin Terefe and executive producer Bruce Lampcov for a series of concerts in major cities across Europe, starting with one at the Barbican Centre celebrating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. // In place of the concert, the group assembled at the Church Studios in North London in December 2020, starting five days after the end of the UK’s second COVID-19 lockdown, to record the album, an improvised set inspired by Bitches Brew. The recording took place over three days. The process started with pre-production work by Terefe and the Invisible’s Dave Okumu, which Okumu described as Terefe sharing “a vision rooted in inspiration and celebration rather than faithful recreation”. Benji B was brought in to feed Terefe’s and Okumu’s initial sketches to the ensemble. Okumu said the recording process was full of “so many special moments” such as “Shabaka and Nubya speaking to each other through their horns or Theon Cross dropping the heaviest bass line this side of lockdown.” // Terefe, left with over 12 hours of material from the sessions, said he mixed them “like a non-jazz record” with “no editing at all, except deciding where to start and end a song”, a decision he considered “the least conventional thing to do”. Terefe called the results a “new piece of music that taps into Miles’s mindset at the time and our emotion of having been through the pandemic”, and said “calling the album ‘Inspired by Bitches Brew’ comes the closest” to explaining it. // Martin Terefe – producer, mixing engineer, guitarist; Bruce Lampcov – executive producer; Dilip Harris – recording engineer; Nubya Garcia – saxophone, flute; Shabaka Hutchings – saxophone, woodwinds; Tom Skinner – drums, percussion; Benji B – decks, sonic recycling; Theon Cross – tuba; Raven Bush – violin, electronics; Tom Herbert – electric bass, double bass; Nikolaj Torp Larsen – synthesisers, melodica; Nick Ramm – piano, synthesizers; Dan See – drums, percussion; Dave Okumu – guitar; Glen Scott Lucinda Chao]]

10:59 – Station ID

14. Natalie Merchant – “Big Girls (feat. Abena Koomson-Davis)”
    from: Keep Your Courage / Big Sister – Nonesuch Records / April 14, 2023
    [Keep Your Courage is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, released on April 14, 2023, by Nonesuch Records. It is her first full-length studio album since 2014’s Natalie Merchant and Merchant also promoted the release with a tour, accompanied on some dates by a symphony orchestra. The album has received positive reviews, but faced criticism for its tone and length. // After several years of focusing on being a single mother, Merchant returned to songwriting as an emotional outlet, composing songs for Keep Your Courage beginning in late 2020 or early 2021. These represented the first songs that Merchant had written in six years. The album is a song cycle built around the concept of having a courageous heart, and is a concept album composed entirely of love songs, which Merchant was inspired to write after having surgery as well as an anaplasmosis infection that led to sepsis and experiencing healing from love and care by others. Lyrics discuss feelings of isolation that she had during the COVID-19 pandemic and the album also explores political themes and feminism. Many of the songs are written about or to fictional or mythological characters, which is a songwriting tool that Merchant uses to approach contemporary issues. // In-studio recordings only featured up to five persons at a time due to COVID restrictions, so the resulting music was made with layering recordings. The cover is a photograph of a statue of Joan of Arc that Merchant found many years prior and kept. // Two singles preceded the album’s release: “Come On, Aphrodite” on February 15, 2023, and “Tower of Babel” on March 30, 2023. Merchant participated in a promotion with Uncut to answer fans’ questions. She also hosted a set on WDST, Radio Woodstock on April 15. On April 18, 2023, Merchant released a third single off of the album, “Big Girls”. // Beginning in May 2022, Merchant took the music from this album and prepared it for an orchestral arrangement. The promotional tour is her first long-term tour in almost a decade and it finds Merchant accompanied by a string quartet on all dates. // Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American alternative rock singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first seven albums and left it to begin her solo career in 1993. She has since released nine studio albums as a solo artist. // Natalie Merchant was born October 26, 1963, in Jamestown, New York, the third of four children of Anthony and Anne Merchant. Her paternal grandfather, who played the accordion, mandolin and guitar, immigrated to the United States from Sicily; his surname was “Mercante” before it was Anglicized. // When Merchant was a child, her mother listened to music (primarily Petula Clark but also the Beatles, Al Green, Aretha Franklin) and encouraged her children to study music, but would not allow television after Natalie was 12. “I was taken to the symphony a lot because my mother loved classical music. But I was dragged to see Styx when I was 12. We had to drive 100 miles to Buffalo, New York. Someone threw up next to me and people were smoking pot. It was terrifying. I remember Styx had a white piano which rose out of the stage. It was awe-inspiring and inspirational.” “She [her mother] had show tunes, she had the soundtrack from West Side Story and South Pacific. And then eventually… she’d always liked classical music and then she married a jazz musician, so that’s the kind of music I was into. I never really had friends who sat around and listened to the stereo and said ‘hey, listen to this one’, so I’d never even heard of who Bob Dylan was until I was 18.” Merchant says she did not have a television set between 1988 and 1989: “I grew up in a house where no one watched the news on television and no one read the paper. I’ve been discovering these things as I get older, and the news has affected me more than it ever has before.” // Merchant started working in a health food store at 16. She considered a career in special education after taking part in a summer program for disabled children, but in 1981 she started singing for a band, Still Life, which became 10,000 Maniacs. // Merchant became known for her swirling style of dancing and her simple dress while performing with 10,000 Maniacs. Merchant was lead singer and primary lyricist for 10,000 Maniacs, joining in its infancy in 1981 while she was a student at Jamestown Community College. The group recorded their first album Human Conflict Number Five, and recorded a corresponding music video at the Hotel Franklin and at Group W Westinghouse studios in Jamestown, New York, in 1982. Merchant sang lead vocals, and later played the piano as well on seven studio albums with 10,000 Maniacs. In 1993 she announced that she was leaving the group, citing a lack of creative control over the music she wrote with the band. Her last recording with the band, a cover of Springsteen’s and Patti Smith’s “Because the Night” at the 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged performance, reached #11 on the Hot 100 chart on February 18, 1994; becoming the band’s highest-charting song in the U.S. // After her split with 10,000 Maniacs, Merchant was so eager to begin writing her own material that she went home that very day and composed the song “I May Know the Word”, which was originally meant to appear on the soundtrack to the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. The song was eventually cut from the soundtrack, but it would go on to appear on Merchant’s debut solo album, Tigerlily, which was released on the Elektra label in 1995. The third song on the album, “Beloved Wife”, was featured as the first song in the trailer for the film Message in a Bottle. // Tigerlily was a critical and commercial success, spawning her first top-ten hit in the single “Carnival”, and achieving top-40 success with subsequent singles “Wonder” and “Jealousy”. The album would go on to sell over five million copies, and continues to be Merchant’s most successful album to date. She did extensive touring for it and made numerous television appearances, including performances on Saturday Night Live, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The media’s immediate and critical effect on culture and cultural icons was of particular interest to Merchant. In “River”, a song from Tigerlily, Merchant defends River Phoenix as she castigates the media for systematically dissecting the child actor after his death.]

15. Rickie Lee Jones – “Just in Time” 
    from: Pieces of Treasure / Rickie Lee Jones – BMG / April 28, 2023
    [Pieces of Treasure (The Duchess of Coolsville) is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones. It was released on April 28, 2023, by BMG/Modern Recordings. The album consists of ten covers of songs from the Great American Songbook. The album was produced by Russ Titelman, who co-produced Jones’ 1979 self-titled debut album and its follow-up Pirates (1981). // Work conceived on the album when Jones and producer Russ Titelman, who produced Jones’ first two albums, Rickie Lee Jones (1979) and Pirates (1981), began having phone conversations and lunch meetups with Titelman repeatedly presenting to Jones of the idea of making a jazz album. The album was recorded over five days at the Sear Sound studios in Midtown Manhattan. // The album’s lead single, “Just in Time”, was released on January 20, 2023. The second single, “September Song”, was released on February 24, 2023. The third single, “Nature Boy”, was released on March 24, 2023. // Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. Over the course of a career that spans five decades, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz. A two-time Grammy Award winner (from seven nominations), Jones was listed at No. 30 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll in 1999. // She released her self-titled debut album in 1979, to critical and commercial success. It peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and spawned the hit single “Chuck E.’s in Love”, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went Platinum later that year, and earned Jones four Grammy Award nominations in 1980, including Best New Artist, which she won. Her second album, Pirates, followed in 1981 to further critical and commercial success; it peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, went Gold, and ranked No. 49 on NPR’s list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women in 2017. // Her third album, The Magazine, appeared in 1984 before Jones took a brief hiatus from recording. Her fourth album, Flying Cowboys, was released in 1989 and later went Gold. Jones won her second Grammy Award in 1990 for “Makin’ Whoopee”, a duet with Dr. John, this time in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. Jones’ seventh Grammy Award nomination followed in 2001 in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her album It’s Like This (2000). In 2021, Jones released her memoir Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour. // Jones was born the third of four children to Richard and Bettye Jones, on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, on November 8, 1954. She was named after her father, who was a singer, songwriter, painter, and trumpet player. Her mother, Bettye, was raised in orphanages around Mansfield, Ohio. She has a brother Daniel, and two sisters, Janet Adele and Pamela Jo. Her paternal grandfather, Frank “Peg Leg” Jones, and her grandmother, Myrtle Lee, were vaudevillians based in Chicago.[ A singer, dancer and comedian, Peg Leg Jones’ routine consisted of singing and accompanying himself on ukulele, soft shoe dance, acrobatics, and comedy. // Jones lived in Phoenix, Arizona from age 4 to 14. // At age 21, Jones began singing traditional jazz and original compositions in bars and coffee houses in Venice, California. There she met Alfred Johnson, a piano player and songwriter, with whom she wrote “Weasel and the White Boys Cool”, and “Company”, which would later appear on Jones’s debut album. In 1977, Jones met Tom Waits at The Troubadour. They dated for about two years, before splitting in 1979. // Rickie Lee Jones was released in March 1979 and became a critical and commercial hit, buoyed by the success of the jazz-flavored single “Chuck E.’s in Love”, which hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and featured an accompanying music video. The song was occasioned by her friend, Chuck E. Weiss, telephoning her and Tom Waits, all three of them close friends at the time, in the Fall of 1977 to tell them that he had fallen in love. The album, which included guest appearances by Dr. John, Randy Newman, and Michael McDonald, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, went Platinum, and produced another Top 40 hit with “Young Blood” (No. 40) in late 1979. // Her appearance – as an unknown (one month after her debut record had been released) – on Saturday Night Live on April 7, 1979, sparked an overnight sensation. She performed “Chuck E.’s in Love” and “Coolsville”. Jones was covered by Time magazine on her very first professional show, in Boston, and they dubbed her “The Duchess of Coolsville”. Touring after the album’s release, she played Carnegie Hall on July 22, 1979. Members of her group included native New York guitarist Buzz Feiten, who was featured on the album and would appear in her recorded works for over a decade. Following her first-ever performances in the spring/summer of 1979, Jones appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the cover image showed Jones posing in a crouched stance, wearing a black bra and a white beret. // Jones secured four nominations at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards: Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for “Chuck E.’s in Love”; Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for “The Last Chance Texaco”; and Best New Artist, which she won. The album also earned a nomination for Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical, credited to Tom Knox. // In 1980, Francis Ford Coppola asked Jones to collaborate with Waits on his upcoming film One from the Heart, but she balked, citing their recent breakup in late 1979.[ Coppola argued that the duet would be perfect for the film, since the two main characters in the film are separated, and he asked her to reconsider. Waits ultimately sang with country pop star Crystal Gayle. // In 1981, Jones released her second album, Pirates, which received high marks from critics and was a commercial success. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and soon achieved Gold certification. Rolling Stone remained a fervent supporter of Jones, with a second cover feature in 1981; the magazine also included a glowing five-star review of Pirates. The single “A Lucky Guy” became the only Billboard Hot 100 hit from the album, peaking at No. 64, but “Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)” and “Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking” became minor Top 40 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. // Jones left New York for San Francisco where she befriended Robin Williams. In Los Angeles, she recorded the EP Girl at Her Volcano, producing the record herself and drawing the cover art. It was released as a 10″ record in 1983, featuring a mix of live and studio cover versions of jazz and pop standards, as well as one Jones original, “Hey, Bub”, which was originally written for Pirates. Jones then relocated to Paris. // In 1983, Jones lived in Paris for four months, writing new material for her third full-length solo album, The Magazine, released in September 1984. The Magazine was produced by Jones and James Newton Howard and included a three-song suite, subtitled “Rorschachs”, which featured multi-tracked vocals and minimalist synth patterns.[citation needed] The lead single, “The Real End”, reached No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. // Jones took a four-year break from her recording schedule, largely attributed to the deaths of her mentor Bob Regher as well as her father, Richard Loris Jones, that same year]

16. Etran de L’AÏr – “Toubouk Ine Chihoussay”
    from: Agadez / Sahel Sounds / February 18, 2022
    [The name Etran de L’Aïr translates to “the Stars of the Aïr,” the mountainous region of Northern Niger. They are based in the town of Agadez, an urban center of the desert, and a city reknowned for the production of music – in particular the electric guitar and the so-called “desert blues,” popularized as late by bands such as Mdou Moctar and Bombino. Agadez is a guitar town, and boasts dozens of bands. All of these groups are working musicians. In the Sahara, this style of electric guitar is intertwined with a social function. Bands are ceremonial, and are hired out to play in weddings, baptisms, and political events. It is possible to make a living from this “wedding circuit,” and Agadez is a center of this lucrative commerce. In the circuit of wedding bands of Agadez, Etran de L’Aïr is the best known and longest playing groups. Yet they are also a band that has remained on the fringes of success. // Etran is not just a musical group, but a family collective. Formed in 1995, an eternity ago in the Sahara, Etran was founded by member Aghaly Migi. Over the years, he taught his younger brothers to play, and integrated them into the group. Agadez was much smaller than, there was little electricy, and the electric guitar was rare. When the band began, they only had one acoustic guitar, and the rhythm section was a calabash floating in water “hit with a sandal, to make a drum.” When amplification eventually found its way to Agadez, the acoustic guitar was modified, using a transducer microphone. In the past 10 years, the band was able to acquire more material – a drum set, a few electric guitars. As the family grew, so did the band. Today, all the members are related, brothers and cousins. The size fluctuates per performance, between 5 and 9.]

17. Congotronics International – “Where’s the One? (feat. Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Kasai Allstars, Konono No 1, Wildbirds & Peacedrums & Skeletons)”
    from: Where’s the One? (feat. Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Kasai Allstars, Konono No 1, Wildbirds & Peacedrums & Skeletons) / Crammed Discs / April 29, 2022
    [Congotronics International is a supergroup comprised of Konono Nº1, Kasai Allstars, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and Skeletons’ Matthew Mehlan. // Eleven years lovingly in the making, Where’s The One? gathers 19 musicians from across four continents, working together to create a new musical language that combines the traditional electrified music of the Congolese artists with the various experimental rock styles of their admirers based in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. // The album’s 21 electrifying songs consist of concert recordings processed and mixed by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, and studio tracks produced in the years before, during, and after the Congotronics vs. Rockers tour, which brought these acts together for the first time in 2011 tour —all in all, ten lead vocalists, five guitarists, three likembe players, five percussionists, two bass players, and three drummers—for performances at 16 major festivals and venues in ten countries. / Where’s The One?’s dynamic first two singles preview all sides of the recording: the triumphant and wild “Banza Banza,” which showcases Kasai Allstars’ powerhouse lead vocalist Kabongo Tshisense, and the dreamy, folk-inflected instrumental “Beyond The 7th Bend,” written and performed by Kasai Allstars’ Tshisense & Mopero Mupemba, Matt Mehlan and Juana Molina, which intermingles Western & African guitars and a Congolese thumb piano. The album features cover art drawn by Juana Molina that portrays all the participants on stage. // It all started when the music of Konono No.1 and Kasai Allstars was first released in the US and Europe, in the later part of the ‘00s. With its blend of ritual music, traditional percussion, thumb pianos, electric guitars, and makeshift instruments made from junkyard scrap, their out-of-this-world sound – now also known as Congotronics, a word coined to title the series in which their albums appeared on Crammed Discs – deeply struck the imagination of musicians and fans worldwide. Leading rock media enthused about this newly rediscovered brand of “primal rock”, while an impressive string of avant-rock, electronic & hip hop artists (from Dirty Projectors, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective and Deerhoof to Beck, Björk, Wilco, Radiohead, Saul Williams, Questlove and many more) repeatedly quoted the Congotronics bands as major sources of inspiration. // After curating an epic tribute album by 26 rock and electronic artists (Tradi-Mods vs Rockers: Alternative Takes on Congotronics), Crammed Discs pushed the idea further, and initiated a real-life encounter, resulting in a supergroup consisting of ten members of Konono No.1 and Kasai Allstars, Juana Molina, all four members of Deerhoof, both members of Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Matt Mehlan from Skeleton$, and Vincent Kenis (in his capacity of co-founder of Kasai Allstars and curator & producer of the Congotronics record series). // For several months, a fascinating remote writing process took place: demos started flying back & forth over the net. Someone would start a song and send it on to the others, the same track sometimes travelling three times around the globe (Vincent Kenis was in Kinshasa with the Congolese participants, while Juana Molina, Deerhoof, Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Matt/Skeletons worked from their respective studios in Buenos Aires, New Mexico/New York, Stockholm and Brooklyn). // Everyone eventually flew in to Brussels to complete the writing, and rehearse for the tour which had been set up. During these intense sessions, the specificities of the supergroup emerged: there was to be no leader, everything was conceived collectively; many languages were spoken in the band (Lingala, Tshiluba, English, French, Swedish), but few people spoke more than one or two; The musical languages were another story: simultaneously more and less mutually intelligible… More, because verbal communication isn’t always necessary in those matters, and less, because massive gaps sometimes needed to be bridged. This is well described in the notes written for the album booklet by the participants, who also reveal the origin of the album’s title (Where’s the One? refers to the initial difficulties in agreeing on how to understand each other’s rhythms: “where does the first beat actually fall?”). // The concerts were fiery and wild. After the tour (16 dates which took the band to some of the best festivals and venues across Europe and Japan, in the summer of 2011), the recording process continued in remote mode, on and off. The resulting album blends concert recordings, processed and mixed by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, who considered them as raw material to which he applied studio treatments, and tracks derived from studio sessions conducted before & during the tour as well as in the following years. The record was completed in 2021 by Deerhoof’s John Dieterich & Greg Saunier and Crammed Discs’ Marc Hollander. The album’s mixing by Saunier serves to elevate its live recordings into a seamless whole alongside the studio tracks. // Congotronics International is ultimately an ephemeral supergroup, however the strong bonds and mutual respect that were born between all musicians have led to some of its members to collaborate with each other in the time since (in 2017, Molina was featured on Deerhoof’s Mountain Moves LP, while Dieterich worked on her Halo LP; more recently, Deerhoof remixed a track on Kasai Allstars’ 2021 release The Black Ants Remixes). Other collab projects are in the works. // A feature-length documentary of Where’s The One?, which offers an inside look at the initial encounters and concerts filmed and directed by Pierre Laffargue, is also set for release later this year. // Where’s The One comes out in double vinyl LP, CD and digital formats. Both physical versions include a thick booklet with pictures and extensive notes by the participants.]

18. The Comet is Coming – “CODE”
    from: Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam / Impulse! Records / September 23, 2022
    [The Comet Is Coming is a London-based band who incorporate elements of jazz, electronica, funk and psychedelic rock. // The band originally recorded for The Leaf Label, on which their debut EP Prophecy was released, on limited edition 12″ vinyl, on 13 November 2015, with the full-length album Channel the Spirits following on April 1, 2016. The album was nominated for the 2016 Mercury Prize, and in 2018 the band signed with Impulse!. // The members of the band use the pseudonyms “King Shabaka”, “Danalogue”, and “Betamax” to respectively refer to saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, keyboardist Dan Leavers, and drummer Max Hallett. // In a 2013 interview, Hutchings explained the name of the band thus: “The name of the group comes from a BBC Radiophonic Workshop piece of the same name. Once we heard this piece, with its allusions to sci-fi, cosmic remembrances and general space, it instantly struck a chord. We’re exploring new sound worlds and aiming to destroy all musical ideals which are unfit for our purposes so the name stuck.” // In an interview with M magazine, Betamax spoke of the band’s genesis: Me and Danalogue the Conqueror play as a psychedelic electro synths and live drums duo called Soccer96. We began to notice a tall shadowy figure present at some of our gigs. At some point he appeared at the side of the stage with his sax in hand. When he got up on stage to play with us it created an explosive shockwave of energy that stunned us all. A couple of weeks later King Shabaka rang me up and said ‘hey let’s make a record’ so we booked three days in Total Refreshment Centre studios. It all came together at an incredible speed. We played and recorded to 1/4 tape with no pre-written material. By the end of three days we had recorded hours of music. // The imagery associated with the band is based around outer space, science fiction and B-movies, as can be seen in the music videos for their singles “Neon Baby” and “Do the Milky Way”, as well as in song titles and artwork. “Do the Milky Way” premiered on The Quietus. In a feature in The Guardian in April 2016, the group were described as the “true heirs” of cosmic jazz pioneer Sun Ra, and praised for their “fusion of jazz, Afrobeat and electronica in an improvisational, intergalactic mash-up”. The Quietus wrote that although the band is “intrinsically linked to funk…and spiritually linked to all manner of cosmic music via their imagery (and love of space-creating echo and reverb effects), The Comet Is Coming has the feel of an utterly fresh sort of project”. // King Shabaka elaborates on the cosmic side of the band and the connection to Sun Ra in the same article, when describing the crystal that dominates the cover of their Prophecy EP. He says, “The other thing about the crystal, metaphorically speaking, is the whole Sun Ra thing of creating your own myths. The thing I like that Sun Ra says a lot is the fact that societies that can create their own mythological structures are the ones that have their own agency. To the point at which you can dictate the terms of what’s real and what’s not real. The crystal in the hand forces you to create your own myth”. // In August 2016, the band was nominated for the Mercury Prize for their debut album, Channel the Spirits. // In January 2017 the band was one of the recipients of the Momentum Music Fund through PRS for Music and in April 2017 the band released the Death to the Planet EP through The Leaf Label as part of Record Store Day. // Their second full-length album, Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery, was released in March 2019 and received critical acclaim, with The Quietus noting the importance of Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane on their sound while acknowledging that “rather than being weighed down by those legacies, The Comet Is Coming have turned them into fuel, accelerating their sound, and with it, the sound of jazz today.” Pitchfork gave the album a score of 7.8 out of 10 and wrote, “Mostly low- to mid-tempo, the band skillfully integrates bleak and radiant tones, leading to an impressive nine-track suite of ambient, spoken-word and grime-infused compositions.” The album currently holds a score of 83 on review aggregator Metacritic, indicating “Universal acclaim.” // The band was part of the lineup for the 22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2023.]

19. The Comet is Coming – “Birth of Creation”
    from: Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery / Impulse! Records / March 15, 2019

11:28 Goodbyes for Marion

Marion Merritt is founder of Records With Merritt, a small, independent, minority owned business, at 1614 Westport Rd., in KCMO. More info at: http://www.recordswithmerritt.com

Marion Merritt thank you for being out Guest Producer on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

11:29 – Underwriting

10:30 – Interview with Mikal Shapiro

Mikal Shapiro is founder of State City Films creating documentary and experimental filmmaking practices. Mikal studied Film History, Film, & Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She received her MFA in Film/Video/New Media/
Animation from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. Artist, filmmaker, puppeteer, ring-leader, Mikal Shapiro is a KC songwriter whose musical influences span popular songs, psych rock, lounge, classic country and old time spirituals. She has toured extensively across the United States and has recorded 5 critically acclaimed albums Mikal also performs with Shapiro Brothers, and Monta At Odds. Mikal is also the creator and co-host and producer of Siren Song, Saturdays at 11:00 AM on 90.1 FM KKFI KC Community Radio.

Mikal Shapiro joins us to share details about Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 20, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO. The KC Folk Fest includes: Krystle Warren & Solomon Dorsey, Nokosee Fields, Mac Sauce, Hudspeth & Taylor, Flutienastiness, Sam Wells, Traditional Music Society presents Soundz of Samba, & Gamelan Genta Kasturi. Plus! No Divide KC Artist Showcase with: Waleska Barroeta, Les Izmore, & Luke “Skippy” Harbur. AND! Featured Poets: The Recipe, Natasha Ria El-Scari, Jose Faus, & Mary Silwance. AND Dance by Shashwat Chaurasia. More info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org

Mikal Shapiro Thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 20, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO.

The Fest features live music from: Krystle Warren & Solomon Dorsey, Nokosee Fields, Mac Sauce, Hudspeth & Taylor, Flutienastiness, Sam Wells, Traditional Music Society presents Soundz of Samba, & Gamelan Genta Kasturi. Plus! No Divide KC Artist Showcase with: Waleska Barroeta, Les Izmore, & Luke “Skippy” Harbur. AND! Featured Poets: The Recipe, Natasha Ria El-Scari, Jose Faus, & Mary Silwance. AND Dance by Shashwat Chaurasia.

Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 20, 12:00pm to 8:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO, a free festival celebrating the music & arts, of our neighborhoods & beyond with song, poetry, dance, storytelling, art, demos, workshops, food trucks, and craft markets.

KC Folk Fest values diversity, equity, inclusion, & sustainability as a legacy for future generations.

KC Folk Fest is now an independent, community-led nonprofit organization that is admission and barrier-free thanks to the support of Folk Alliance International, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Tourism & Development Fund, sponsors, partners, & donors. Grassroots & dedicated to being family & earth-friendly.

Audiences are encouraged to bring a lawn chair.

The event is free. Donations appreciated. More info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org

One of the performers is Mac Sauce released the 9-track album PRINCESS DIARIES on February 25, 2022. Mac Sauce is a 10 year old Kansas City rap artist known as “the voice of the playground,” Mac Sauce is one of Kansas City’s youngest rappers who writes all her own lyrics.

Mikal Shapiro Thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 20, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO. The KC Folk Fest includes: Krystle Warren & Solomon Dorsey, Nokosee Fields, Mac Sauce, Hudspeth & Taylor, Flutienastiness, Sam Wells, Traditional Music Society presents Soundz of Samba, & Gamelan Genta Kasturi. More info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org

11:39 – Intro to Interview with Krystle Warren

Krystle Warren and with Solomon Dorsey will headline the KC Folk Fest 2023 on Saturday, May 20, in Washington Square Park, Kansas City, MO Info: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org

We close with “Macca” is the newest release from Krystle Warren & The Faculty, that was recorded on the heels of sessions for the band’s upcoming full length album EXTENDED PLAY.

Krystle Warren with Solomon Dorsey will headline the KC Folk Fest 2023 on Sat., May 20, in Washington Square Park, KCMO. http://www.krystlewarren.com or http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org

20. Krystle Warren & The Faculty– “Macca”
    from: “Macca”- Single / Parlour Door Music / TBA
    [Following their double album LOVE SONGS (2012) and their single “Rising” written especially for Ava DuVernay’s critically acclaimed television mini series WHEN THEY SEE US, “Macca” is the newest release from Krystle Warren & The Faculty. Recorded on the heels of sessions for the band’s upcoming full length album EXTENDED PLAY.”Macca” arrived unexpectedly. // Krystle writes: “A Pal contacted me to help work on the music for an advertisement he was piecing together. My job was to find a melody and put words to it, so I set up my mic and started trying out ideas. And then POW! ‘Hang them upon the moon…’ – it sounded so distinctly Paul. Immediately I worried that the client would accept my buddy’s submission; thankfully, they didn’t.” // The “Paul” Krystle is referring is of course, Paul McCartney, whose famous nickname entitles the song. // “He is such a huge inspiration for me. As a songwriter – my love of melody, the little quirks that come out lyrically – that’s all thanks to him. Nd singing that chorus — it evoked for me those gorgeous ballads he composed in the 80s – ‘Wanderlust,” ‘Tug Of War’…There’s a bit of Wings there as well, I think, with a nod to ‘I’m Carrying.’ // “What’s wild to me is that, though I decided. ‘This is for Paul,’ it became equal parts: a love letter to him, and a note of encouragement to me. Which is a wonderful thing when you think about it: Paul’s music so often encourages us to keep going, keep trying, and in using hs language (so to speak), unwittingly, he was giving me strength.”]

[Krystle Warren & Solomon Dorsey will headline the KC Folk Fest 2023 on Saturday, May 20, in Washington Square Park, Kansas City, MO with Solomon Dorsey. Info: http://www.krystlewarren.com or http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org]

23. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Next week, on Wednesday, May 24 we talk with Mike Dillon, Malek & The Vibez, and Krystle Warren

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

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Show #994