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Annie Laurie. We celebrate one of the heroines of Rhythm & Blues and early Rock n' Roll as Annie Laurie takes the spotlight on this week's "Juke In The Back." Not much is known about her early years except that she was born in Atlanta in 1924. Her first recording was "St. Louis Blues" with bassist and bandleader Dallas Barley and from there she toured with Snookum Russell before Paul Gayten asked her to join his band in New Orleans. She made the "Crescent City" her new home and recorded the first hit version of Buddy & Ella Johnson's "Since I Fell For You," helping to make it a standard. Many classic recordings with Paul Gayten followed with a few more making the charts before she began recording on her own on Columbia's newly reactivated Blues subsidiary, Okeh Records. The Okeh sides were harder-edged and more contemporary R&B sounding, but none of them charted. A short stint with Savoy proved unfruitful, but she did get to record with Hal Singer's band, which included guitar legend, Mickey Baker. She was back in the R&B Top 5 in 1957 with "It Hurts To Be In Love" for DeLuxe, but by the early '60s, she gave up music for devotion to God. -
Shirley Horn: The Queen of Silence and Anticipation. We celebrate Women's History Month with a spotlight on Miss Shirley Horn. We bring you a 1991 concert featuring special guests Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Toots Thielemans, and more.
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The Moonglows, Part 1 - 1953-55. Much has been written about the great R&B vocal groups of the 1950s. Many of the classic groups were either great musicians and vocalists and never had the recognition or record sales to back it up or these groups were thrown together, they couldn't sing very well and scored one, solid hit that still spins in the eternal jukebox of public consciousness. The Moonglows were one of the few groups to come out of the post-World War II, pre-Elvis era, who were extremely talented and had the sales figures and notoriety to back it up. Originally called The Crazy Sounds, Harvey Fuqua and Bobby Lester led The Moonglows to a #1 R&B smash in 1954 with "Sincerely" on Chess, but that was after a somewhat bumpy start on Alan Freed's Champagne Records and Chicago's Chance Records. This week, Matt The Cat presents part 1 of a 2-part feature on the fantastic Moonglows, covering their career from 1953 to 1955. Vocal harmony doesn't get much sweeter than this, so don't miss one note this week. -
Flea in Conversation with Christian McBride. We sit down with iconic bassist Flea for a special conversation with host Christian McBride. After nearly five decades as one of his generation's defining rock bassists, Flea opens up about his first musical love — jazz — and his debut solo album, Honora, that brought him back to it. -
