Jess Goddèsse's blog

KDRT Benefit Barn Dance, Fri April 22nd

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Bonanza King photo
KDRT is throwing a Barn Dance, and you're invited! Join us Friday evening, April 22nd, at Odd Fellows in downtown Davis for an evening of swinging local music from Bonanza King and Bottom Dwellers. This all-ages event is a benefit for KDRT--admission is $10-20, sliding scale. Doors open at 7 p.m. RSVP on Facebook, and be there with boots on!

3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, Fri 4/22 3p PT

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Miles Davis cover art
The new biopic about Miles Davis is opening, and Gary has several minutes of Miles and Gil Evans doing music that came from the mid-50s and was labeled "Third Stream." In addition, the amazing coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle sings a riveting song called “Take My Mother Home”--music by Andre Previn and words by Toni Morrison. Also in the mix, Arturo Sandoval blows his trumpet with Patrick Williams's big beautiful band in a piece composed and arranged by Mr. Williams in salute of his daughter. Finally, Gil Shaham fiddles his way through the first movement of Barber’s Violin Concerto as if he were playing “Happy Birthday.”  You can’t hear this kind of music in such an interesting mix anywhere else except KDRT in Davis. What more need be said? 

3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, Fri 4/15 3p PT

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Henry Mancini photo

Smack dab in the middle of the last century, it became a busy stretch for private detectives on TV. The list of "private eyes" was lengthy. At the top of that roster was a gumshoe by the name of Peter Gunn. Watching Mr. Gunn was made even more of a household routine through the music composed for the popular series by another name still familiar: Henry Mancini--his compositions and arrangements of those tunes helped immensely. Now as Hank's birthday anniversary draws nigh, Gary Chew has chosen some cool Mancini sounds for part of this week's 3rd Streaming. Other pieces by Gershwin and David Amram round out this hour, only on KDRT.

3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, Fri 4/8 3p PT

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Bill Evans photo

This week on 3rd Streaming, Gary focuses on Latin and South America at the outset of the show: The Brazilian Guitar Quartet does a segment from a sonata by Antonio Carlos Gomes, and Puerto Rican jazz pianist Michel Camilo—in a trio setting—plays his own piece titled “In Love.” Next, the late, great American jazz pianist Bill Evans and the legendary French impressionist Claude Debussy provide music that relates to the stars above, including the sun itself. Closing out, Gary turns to late-Romantic music written by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler: It's Mahler's Adagio, the opening movement from his monumental 10th Symphony in F#. Catch 3rd Streaming live on Friday afternoons at 3 p.m. Pacific time. The show replays Saturday nights at 10 p.m. and Wednesday afternoons at 1 p.m. Listen anytime via the 3rd Streaming archive.

Catch 3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, April Fool's Day Edition

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Gary Chew photo
Catch an all new 3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, locked and loaded for Friday afternoon at 3p PT on KDRT. Given that it's April Fools' Day, Gary expects to turn the show upside down with music that bends your ear in a different direction. Let's just say that Gary will kick the program off with a first movement of Mozart's 40th symphony like you’ve never heard before. Gary will then regale you with choice picks of great “April-ish” songs and tunes, totally sucking you into the fact that spring really has sprung, with none of this “Fall Has Fell” stuff. Expect surprises throughout Gary's hour of a music mix that's heard nowhere but KDRT. Stream live on Friday at kdrt.orgor take a “your-choice” approach of when to listen via the 3rd Streaming archive.

Album of the Week - Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet - "The Juliet Letters" - TH 3/31

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The Juliet Letters cover art
This week's featured album is The Juliet Letters, by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky String Quartet, released by Warner in 1993. Costello first encountered the Brodskys in 1989 at a performance of Shostakovic string quartets. They met in 1991 to begin their collaboration on this album, the concept of which is letters written to Juliet Capulet. Both Costello and the quartet members--Ian Belton and Michael Thomas, violins; Paul Cassidy, viola; and Jaqueline Thomas, cello--collaborated on the compositions.
 
The Juliet Letters seems a timely selection because E.C. is top of mind--he performed at the Masonic in San Francisco this week. It's also a wonderful example of genre-mingling, drawing fans of classical or modern string quartets into the rock/pop world and vice versa. If you were lucky enough to catch a full live performance at, say, Davies Symphony Hall, this may bring back some nice musical memories.

Zakir Hussain on The Golden Road, F 3/25

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Zakir Hussain photo

Rod Moseanko interviews tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on The Golden Road, Friday evening, March 25th. Playing in the footsteps of his illustrious father, Ustad Allarakha--who with Ravi Shankar introduced the glorious music of India to America--Zakir Hussain has acted as a musical bridge between his birth land and the rest of the world. To that end, every other year since 1996, he has served as curator, producer, and host in bringing the very cream of Indian music to tour America and Europe with his series Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion. The 2016 version will be no exception, presenting American audiences with extraordinary and exciting--and often spontaneous--combinations of percussive as well as melodic performers. The Golden Road airs Fridays on KDRT, 7-9pm PT. 

Live DiRT: Lance Canales Live on KDRT, Fri 3/25

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Lance Canales & The Flood photo

Dug Deep hosts Lance Canales & the Flood live in the KDRT studio on Friday, March 25th, starting at 2:30 pm PT. Lance Canales & The Flood are a roots-blues Americana trio from Fresno, California, where Canales lived the life that so many roots songs represent: hard labor, one-room shacks, and taunting ghosts who whisper of a better life. The Flood comprises stand-up bassist Jake (Cobra) Finney and drummer Daniel (DB) Burt, who support Canales’s guttural vocals and hard-edged storytelling with stripped-down, foot-stomping, acoustic instrumentation. 



Album of the Week - Roxy Music "For Your Pleasure" - Feb 18 at 5P

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Roxy Music cover art

AotW this week is Roxy Music's second release, For Your Pleasure, produced by Chris Thomas and released on the Island label away back in 1973. Roxy Music took an experimental, arty approach to glam, and--like contemporary David Bowie--influencing much of the U.K. punk and new wave to come. As with the band's first (self-titled) release, the roster on For Your Pleasure is Bryan Ferry on vocals and keyboards; Brian Eno on synthesizer and backing vocals; Phil Manzanera on guitar; Andy Mackay on oboe, sax, and a wonderful Farfisa; John Porter on bass; and Paul Thompson on drums. For Your Pleasure was the last Roxy Music recording for Eno, who left to gain a tremendous amount of fame as a solo-artist, producing innovative electro-pop. Ferry also achieved hits as a solo artist, including his cover recordings of popular standards.

KDRT Live at Armadillo ArtAbout with the West Nile Ramblers - Feb 12

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Alex Roth photo

The KDRT crew broadcasts live from Armadillo Music for 2nd Friday ArtAbout on February 12th with Alex Roth and his wild and woolly West Nile Ramblers. This event is free, open to all. Stop on by at 6:00 pm, listen to the interview, enjoy the performance, meet the band! RSVP on Facebook. :)