On Demand
WNYC Presents 69th Annual American Music Festival: American Blend
Festival kicks off with a live in-studio performance by Grizzly Bear, with host David Garland.
May 21-May 27, 7pm-11pm (8pm-11pm on Saturday and Sunday) on 93.9 FM
The weeklong Festival begins Thursday, May 21 at 7pm with a live performance by the band Grizzly Bear hosted by David Garland, and culminates on Wednesday, May 27 with a live performance hosted by Terrance McKnight in the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space by New Americans Dafnis Prieto, Paola Prestini, Ezequiel Vinao and Yungchen Lhamo.
It may be that music is where the American melting pot has brewed its most delicious blends. As varied cultural backgrounds and influences meet and mingle in music, they combine and transform into rich and individualistic new musical flavors.
The Festival will feature special Evening Music "co-pilots" at 8pm, including jazz musicians and composers Carla Bley and John Scofield; large scale compositions of uniquely American blend heard every night at 9pm, including Duke Ellington's "The River" (1970 American Ballet Theater commission, Carla Bley's "Escalator Over the Hill," and Charles Mingus's "Epitaph," and an artisanal blend of rich and individualistic new musical flavors from Ornette Coleman, Osvaldo Golijov, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Aaron Copland, Phil Kline, Peggy Seeger, Carl Stalling, Frederic Rzewski, Jerry Goldsmith, Marc Mellits, Nico Muhly, Lukas Foss, Bill Evans, Gil Melle, Don Byron, Sufjan Stevens, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, Joanna Newsom, Gunther Schuller and many more...The entire festival will be heard on 93.9 FM and streaming live on WNYC.org.
Grizzly Bear Open the 69th Annual American Music Festival
Evening Music
May 21, 2009
Hosts Terrance McKnight and David Garland kick off the 69th Annual American Music Festival with special guests Grizzly Bear. The indie rock darlings join our hosts in the studio for a live web chat and performance to begin this special music event. Join us each night through May 27th as we celebrate the creative melting pot that is American music with special guests, rare recordings and live performances.
Also Featured Tonight:
Sufjan Stevens / Year of the Dog / Year of the Monkey
Judd Greenstein / Escape
Nick Drake / Hanging on a Star
Nico Muhly / Keep in Touch
itsnotyouitsme / we are malleable, even though they seem to own us
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
Escalator Over the Hill
Evening Music
May 22, 2009
As part of the 69th Annual American Music Festival, jazz innovator and special guest host Carla Bley joins David Garland in the studio. We’ll hear selections from the long and exciting career of this musician, composer and band leader, including Bley’s complete magnum opus, the jazz opera “Escalator Over the Hill.” Also, music from Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile.
Also Featured Tonight:
George Gershwin / "Rhapsody in Blue"
Colin Jacobsen / Beloved, do not let me be discouraged
Mark O'Connor / "Vistas"
Carla Bley / Walking Batteriewoman
Henry Cowell / "Persian Set"
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
The first hour of Evening Music will be available for streaming soon after 8pm
A Melting Pot of Groove and Beauty
Evening Music
May 23, 2009
In honor of the 69th Annual American Music Festival, David Garland invites noted writer Greg Tate into the studio to bring you sounds from the melting pot that is American music. Tune in to hear Tate spin selections from Jimi Hendrix, Alice Coltrane and Chaka Khan. Also: the stunning song cycle “Ayre” from featured artist Osvaldo Golijov.
Also Featured Tonight:
Nico Muhly / Keep in Touch
Frank Zappa / Put A Motor In Yourself
Frank Zappa / The Beltway Bandits
John King / Sweet Hardwood: Spiritual
Philip Glass / Music in 12 Parts: Part 7
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
Composing the American Dream
Evening Music
May 24, 2009
Duke Ellington most certainly makes any short list of great American composers. So it was only natural that in 1970, the American Ballet Theatre commissioned the legendary composer and band leader to write the music for a new work choreographed by another American great, the formidable Alvin Ailey. Tonight we hear Ellington’s complete suite from the ballet “The River” as part of the 69th Annual American Music Festival.
Also Featured Tonight:
Aaron Copland / Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, with Harp and Piano
Sufjan Stevens / The BQE: Part 3
John Zorn / Last Supper selections
Joanna Newsom / "Emily"
Christopher Tignor / Last Thought at Night
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
The Little Trombone That Could
Evening Music
May 25, 2009
In the early days of bebop, many thought the trombone was ill-suited to the new jazz style because of bebop’s quick tempo and need for technical mastery. But composer and trombonist J.J. Johnson would not be discouraged; after receiving words of encouragement from bebop master Dizzy Gillespie, Johnson shattered musician’s assumptions of the instrument and is now considered to be the greatest trombonist of all time. Tonight we spotlight a collaboration between the trombonist and Gillespie with a special broadcast of the entire Johnson/Gillespie album Perceptions as part of the 69th Annual American Music Festival.
Also Featured Tonight:
James P. Johnson / Harlem Symphony: Subway Journey
Samuel Barber / "Excursions for Piano," Op. 20
Steve Martland / American Invention
Gunther Schuller / Journey into Jazz
James Hubert ("Eubie") Blake / "Jassamine Lane"
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
The first hour of Evening Music will be available for streaming soon after 8pm
John Scofield in the Studio
Evening Music
May 26, 2009
As part of the 69th Annual American Music Festival, jazz guitar master and special guest co-host John Scofield joins Terrance McKnight in the studio. The evening will feature a special playlist of music selected by the contemporary jazz heavyweight. We also hear a segment of Charles Mingus’s groundbreaking jazz work “Epitaph.”
Also Featured Tonight:
William Albright / "Grand Sonata in Rag": 'Ragtime Turtledove'
Duke Pearson / Chant
Haim Alexander / Improvisation on a Persian Song
Guy Klucevsek / Stolen Memories
Keith Jarrett / Americana
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
The first hour of Evening Music will be available for streaming soon after 8pm
Evening Music Live: American Music Festival
Evening Music
May 27, 2009
This live broadcast from the Greene Space celebrates the culmination of WNYC's 69th Annual American Music Festival and the New Americans project. The performance features world premieres of commissioned works by four foreign-born American composers who are helping to define the new American sound. Composers include Ezequiel Vinao, Paola Prestini, Yungchen Lhamo, and Dafnis Prieto. Watch a live webcast of the evening on the Greene Space website.
WNYC is grateful to the Greenwall Foundation for their support of the Dafnis Prieto commission.
Also Featured Tonight:
Yungchen Lhamo / Tara
Iva Bittova / Zapiskej (Whistle)
Anat Fort / Not A Dream?
Simon Shaheen / Fantasie for Oud and String Quartet
Osvaldo Golijov / Radio
Paola Prestini / Body Maps
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast). For playlist inquiries, please contact Listener Services via email or at 646-829-4000.
Listen to the entire live broadcast below.
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