Soundcheck

Dark and light constantly fuse, diverge, and unite in Brooklyn violin-piano duo, Gracie and Rachel. Their 2015 debut album Go, begins with a single haunting note. Pizzicato violin from Rachel Ruggles and Gracie Coates' piano ebb and flow together in a rocking orchestral rhythm, while Gracie's milky vocals add a delicate layer of gothic pop on top. Gracie usually wears white, Rachel wears black. Together they make a kind of orchestral indie pop music that plays with light and dark, and they’ve been doing it since they were in high school, a seasoned partnership that is apparent in their music. The duo plays in-studio in this 2015 session from the archives.  Setlist: "Sing Song" "Go" "Upside Down" "Don't Know"

Irish singer and songwriter Adrian Crowley is known for his often detailed but surreal storytelling, and for his rich baritone voice. Crowley says that his latest batch of songs “straddle the conscious and subconscious world and some are even psychedelic in my mind, but to me they are all at once true stories and born of another place.” Produced by John Parish (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey) and featuring members of Portishead and Crash Ensemble, these tunes were initially composed on a “charity shop ¾ size  nylon string guitar” or Mellotron (Bandcamp). Crowley plays songs from his latest album, The Watchful Eye Of The Stars remotely from Dublin and dances around Sprechstimme (speak-singing), water and ships, and isolation – whether chosen or imposed upon a person. Set list: “The Singalong” “Shut-in’s Lament” “Take Me Driving” "The Singalong": "A Shut-in's Lament": “Take Me Driving”:

The rock band Café Tacvba, (who sing exclusively in Spanish) is constantly opening new creative doors. They first formed in Mexico City in the 1990’s and consistently, over eight albums, they’ve shown themselves to be masters of reinvention and experimentation. They’ve played it all: techno-folk garage rock, pop, ambient electronica, instrumental music, even collaborated with Kronos Quartet, which brings us to their latest - Jei Beibi, which was recorded in Los Angeles in 2016 with their longtime collaborator, the Argentine producer, Gustavo Santaolalla. This latest record ranges from spacey psychedelic rock, tropical rhythms, folk-funk, arena rock, and even a lullaby. Café Tacvba plays in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.) Watch the session via Facebook Live:

Ten years ago, Alejandro Rose-Garcia released his debut album as Shakey Graves, featuring songs rooted in the haunted blues of the American South. The Texas Americana and roots-rock musician holds forth on learning fingerpicking from a song by Kansas, the legendary Dr. John, sports metaphors, and the making of music not of this time. Rose-Garcia has reissued a deluxe edition of that album, Roll The Bones X, and Shakey Graves plays some of those songs remotely.  Set list: “Built to Roam,” “Georgia Moon,” “Proper Fence” "Built to Roam":  “Georgia Moon”:  “Proper Fence”:

Emile Mosseri wrote the moving soundtrack to the family drama film Minari, (about a Korean-American family struggling to achieve the American dream in the 1980’s) and has been nominated for an Academy Award for it. (It's also up for best director, Lee Isaac Chung, and best film.) The pianist and songwriter also wrote the scores to The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Kajillionaire. He plays some of his Oscar-nominated music for Minari for us at the piano and drops a hint about his forthcoming collaboration with electronic musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith as well.  Set List: "Minari Suite," "Garden of Eden," "Grandma Picked a Good Spot" "Minari Suite": "Garden of Eden": "Grandma Picked a Good Spot":

New Orleans trumpeter, composer, producer, and instrument designer Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah makes Stretch Music. Jazz-trained, he stretches and marries the seemingly disparate sounds of Trap Music (Southern hiphop, mixed with techno, dub, and dutch house), traditional West African percussion and New Orleanian Afro-Native American styles. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah is also intent on using music as political protest to confront social issues. His 2017 record Ruler Rebel, the first in his Centennial Trilogy of releases, marks the very first jazz recordings and he joins us to play his Stretch Music, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.) 

Angélique Kidjo is a force of nature. The globetrotting Beninese singer has won numerous Grammys, collaborated with Alicia Keys, David Byrne, Philip Glass, and Branford Marsalis, and curated a recent Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall. But the finale in that series was cancelled in March 2020 – it was supposed to celebrate both Kidjo’s 60th birthday and the anniversary of the independence movement in West Africa. From the online "Live with Carnegie Hall" series recorded in April 2020, Angélique performs several songs, including "Afirika," her tribute to the African independence movement. Set list: “Afirika” | Written by Angélique Kidjo and Jean Hebrail | Spirit Two Music, Inc. obo Ayeile Music Inc. (ASCAP)  “Malaika” | Written by Fadhili William | Figs D Music (BMI) / Sanga Music Inc (BMI) | By arrangement with Concord  “Bemba Colora” | Written by José Claro Fumero | Peer International Corporation (BMI)  Watch the whole episode of "Live With Carnegie Hall: Angélique Kidjo" 

“Noise gives me comfort,” says BBC Jazz Award-winning pianist Neil Cowley, whose long and varied career ranges from early classical training to stints in triphop and funk bands, and his acoustic groove jazz piano trio (dissolved in 2018). Oh - and there was that turn as Adele’s pianist on some of her biggest hits. Neil’s new album Hall of Mirrors is a solo effort, for piano and lots of electronics – treatments, field recordings and other surprising textures enabled by contact microphones, televisions, and pickups. Surrounded by lots of gear, Neil Cowley plays some of these mesmerizing new solo pieces remotely from his home in London. 

Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites are an essential rite of passage for all cellists, being "some of the most frequently performed and recognizable solo compositions ever written for cello" (Wikipedia.) Alisa Weilerstein discusses what she finds to be the therapeutic and hopeful nature of Bach and her approach to the cello suites while making music at home. Weilerstein offers two movements of the suites as part of her “36 days of Bach,” where she shared one movement from each of the six suites, recorded with an iPad, for 36 days in a row. This was recorded in May, 2020, as part of a special “Live With Carnegie Hall” Series. Set list: J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 6, Prelude; J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 6, Sarabande Watch the entire session at Carnegie Hall's site

Nigerian musician Femi Kuti famously hasn’t listened to another artist’s music in over a decade. It’s tempting to think that’s because he’s the son of one of Nigeria’s greatest musical minds, the late superstar Fela Kuti—the weight of history, expectations, etc. But Femi says he keeps his ears quiet as a way to get in touch with his own deepest creative impulses. Femi Kuti's latest release is a 2021 double-album, with his son, Made Kuti, called Legacy+, and Femi’s half, Legacy+, Stop the Hate, "honors Fela in a traditionally fun, sharply political, and affirming way." (Bandcamp) (This session was recorded in 2016.) Set list: "Day by Day", "One People, One World", "Nothing to Show For It"

Fiery guitarist/songwriter Benjamin Booker's ecstatic, gritty, and soulful sounds channel punk rock & vintage soul, gospel and blues. He plays in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)

Guitarist Gary Lucas has played with Captain Beefheart, written hit songs with Jeff Buckley and Joan Osborne, and covered everything from 1930s Chinese pop to classical music. He even played with the Yale Symphony Orchestra for the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in 1973. Lucas has just released The Essential Gary Lucas (Knitting Factory), a 40-year retrospective of his career of writing, arranging, performing and exploring music: blues and classical, psychedelic and world music, jazz, folk, pop, and rock, klezmer and avant-garde. Lucas joins us remotely to play some key highlights - from trippy pedal-assisted electric guitar freakouts to 1930’s songs from Shanghai film industry using Delta blues tunings on acoustic guitar.   Watch "Rise Up To Be": Watch "Will o' the Wisp": Watch Janacek's "On An Overgrown Path": Watch "Shanghai Medley":

Singer/songwriter Anais Mitchell might be best known for her take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Hadestown. In 2012, she came out with a record called Young Man In America -- an album full of mythical characters and stories from our own place and time. Mitchell plays songs from 'Young Man in America,' in-studio. (From the Archives, 2012) Set List: "Ships" "Tailor" "Annmarie"

Both old and new, Austin-based band Black Pumas is centered around guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Grammy Award-winning Quesada has played in Grupo Fantasma and Brownout, and accompanied artists from Prince to Daniel Johnston. Burton grew up in church and then got heavily involved in musical theater. He arrived in Austin in 2015 after busking his way across the country from Los Angeles, and connected with Quesada on the phone. From idea to session to self-titled debut album, they've been making music that is neither retro nor derivative, with influences ranging from Sam Cooke to Neil Young and Ghostface Killah. Now a touring machine, Black Pumas brings their skillful combination of folky strum, sticky funk, dusty psych, and old soul to an in-studio session. (From the Archives, 2019) - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:    

Lake Street Dive brings the retro 70’s pop with R&B groove, combining light with dark in a crafty way. Formed in school at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, all five members can sing, and admit to being “a geeky bunch”, and “a bunch of nerds.” The band did a lot of co-writing on these songs - a new love for them, and for each tune, they carefully considered their arrangements, including deployment of vocoder. With topics that tackle climate change, and the inequalities between men and women – things that are obvious, but need to be restated, the full five-member band plays songs remotely from their new album, Obviously. Set List: “Same Old News,” “Being a Woman,” “Hypotheticals” Watch: "Same Old News" Watch: "Being a Woman"