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Brandon David DemonbreunTroy Roberts Quartet. Embracing his love for a vast variety of stylistic genres, three-time GRAMMY nominee, Troy Roberts is one of today’s most widely recorded touring artists.His name adorns several essential recordings ranging from the legendary Joey DeFrancesco, the iconic Van Morrison, and the critically acclaimed Kurt Elling. He’s also a prolific front man, with sixteen releases to his name, including 2024’s Green Lights, selections of which are featured here. Backed by the Northeast Ohio based Theron Brown Trio and from a February 16th, 2025 performance Daniel Peck is your host for the Troy Roberts Quartet…Live at the Bop Stop. -
Don Bowman and Dewey Terry never scored a national hit record, but together as the 1950s duo Don & Dewey, they remain one of R&B and early Rock n' Roll's best kept secrets. They grew up as friends in Pasadena, CA, joining fellow students at John Muir High School to form The Squires. In 1955, the group scored a local Los Angeles hit with "Sindy," which has since become a vocal group classic, but when no follow-up hits materialized, Don & Dewey were persuaded to go off on their own by local manager John Criner. After a few sides for local labels Spot and Shade tanked, Criner sold their contract off to Art Rupe, owner of the much larger Specialty Records in LA. Rupe and his A&R man, Bumps Blackwell worked with Don (who was now known as Don Harris) & Dewey, trying to turn their frantic brand of up-tempo jump blues into something, but it never really caught on. Don & Dewey remarkably wrote most of their own material, which was not a standard practice back in the '50s and though they couldn't score hits with their own recordings, other artists were able to. Dale and Grace took Don & Dewey's "I'm Leaving It All Up To You" to the top of the pop chart (#6 R&B) in '63 and the Righteous Brothers cracked the pop chart with their version of "Justine" in '65. The Olympics made a hit out of "Big Boy Pete" in '60, while The Premiers entered the top 20 with "Farmer John" in '64. This week reveals the story of one of early Rock's craziest duos as the ol' Rockola Juke is loaded with their jumpin', jivin' sides.
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Bill Ransom Generations. internationally acclaimed drummer and percussionist Bill Ransom, Aretha Franklin, Marion Meadows, Cecil Bridgewater, Diane Reeves, Mary Wilson, and James Newton. This performance features selections from his album Generations, along with some jazz standards. From January 25th, 2025 and featuring Ken LeeGrand on Winds, Kip Reed on Bass, Bill Ransom on Drums and the final Bop Stop appearance from the late, great Phillip K Jones II on Piano, Daniel Peck is your host for Bill Ransom – Generations Revisited…Live at the Bop Stop. -
1946: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Part 1. Kick off the New Year, Our old Rockola Jukebox is once again in the forefront as we spotlight the biggest Rhythm & Blues jukebox hits of 1946. In part 1, we'll focus on the first half of the year, featuring Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris' first hit as a solo artist and bandleader with Illinois Jacquet's group backing him up. Louis Jordan scores 2 #1s during the first half of the year, while Lionel Hampton holds to top spot for 16 non-consecutive weeks. The Ink Spots score the biggest record of the year with "The Gypsy," which actually sold more copies to Pop audiences and remained #1 on the Pop Chart for an impressive 13 weeks. Roy Milton, Billy Eckstine, The King Cole Trio and The Blues Woman all make appearance on this week's show. Next week, we'll dig in on the second half of the hugely musically significant year of 1946. -
Lost (And Found) In Yonkers: The Billy Lester Story. For 50 years, pianist Billy Lester dedicated himself to purism and mastery away from the spotlight. But in 2019, he headlined two sold-out sets at Jazz Standard for the Newvelle Records showcase. We hear highlights from those performances with bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Matt Wilson, and Billy shares the story of how he got there. -
Jaco Pastorius: World's Greatest Bass Player, Part 3. Featuring the 20th Century musical giant in his recordings with Joni Mitchell, and with his own large ensembles, from his Word Of Mouth Big Band. With commentary by Joni, and by Joe Zawinul. -
Actress Jane Lynch is a hilarious presence in the Christopher Guest films, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Although she was initially reluctant to dive into Guest’s improvisational approach to character development in these films, she loved the process and feels it pushed her forward as an actress. Now, with her Emmy winning roles on Glee, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and numerous other programs expanding her audience even further, she is, among other projects, doing what she loves most: group singing, with her tours A Swinging’ Little Christmas with Tim Davis and Kate Flannery, and Two Lost Souls, her duo show with Kate. -
David Bixler’s Beatitude. Saxophonist, composer, and educator David Bixler cut his teeth touring the world with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Toshiko Akioshi. He later joined the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Big Band, with whom he played a decade-long residency at Birdland and won a LATIN GRAMMY for Final Night at Birdland.Beatitude is his quartet project that you’ll hear selections from no this show including the best of their 2019 release In the Face of Chaos. Featuring Jon Cowherd on Piano, Ike Sturm on Bass, Rogerio Boccato on Percussion and David Bixler on Alto Sax, and from an April 3rd, 2025 performance, Daniel Peck is your host for David Bixler’s Beatitude…Live at the Bop Stop. -
1946: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Part 2. Our old Rockola Jukebox is once again in the forefront as we spotlight the biggest Rhythm & Blues jukebox hits of 1946. This week, in part 2, we'll focus on the second half of the year, featuring three #1s from Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five. During 1946, Jordan held the top spot on the Race Record Chart for an incredible 35 weeks. The King Cole Trio scores one of their most memorable hits, "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," which tops the Pop Chart, but only makes it to #3 R&B. The Ink Spots continue to dominate, but like Nat "King" Cole, they're scoring bigger Pop Hits. Jay McShann tells us about his "Voodoo Woman Blues," while Roosevelt Sykes takes us down that "Sunny Road." T-Bone Walker, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Julia Lee make appearances as well as Bull Moose Jackson, who makes his first chart appearance in the middle of 1946 for Queen Records. Matt The Cat wraps up 1946 with movie and sports highlights and as always, the "story behind the story," on some of the greatest blues and rhythm records of all-time. -
The Jazz Centennials of 1926. In 1926, a generation of artists was born that would reshape jazz for decades to come. This special episode celebrates eight of those centennials: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Melba Liston, Randy Weston, Ray Brown, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath, and Tony Bennett. -
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Guitarist, bandleader, swing dancer, and occasional lawyer, Jonathan Stout loves swing music and diving into the specifics of what makes that music so appealing. Plenty of doctors, lawyers and those in other fields play music on the side, but Jonathan is the first virtuosic musician I’ve met who does a bit of lawyering on the side. We talk discuss all this, Jonathan’s latest CD, the enduring appeal of this engaging musical style.
