Listen to Undercurrents – 31 January 2024∙
This week on Undercurrents, Judith looks at the racist beginnings of the war on drugs, the introduction of the Marijuana Tax Act in the US in 1937 which rendered the sale, purchase and use of marijuana, illegal, and how Black artists and musicians working in New York at the time were affected.
We hear some of the amazing music being played in clubs from Harlem to Greenwich Village in the 1930s to the late 1950s and jazz greats like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
Playlist for Undercurrents – 31 January 2024
- Take the “A” TrainDuke Ellington and his Orchestra
- Stompin’ at the SavoyElla Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
- A Night in TunisiaBud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
- Billie’s BluesBilly Holiday with the All-Star Jam Band (Roy Eldridge, Barney Bigard, Coleman Hawkins, Jack Teagarden, Art Tatum, Albert Casey, Oscar Pettiford, Sidney Cattlet)
- I Gotta Right to sing the BluesBilly Holiday with Frankie Newton and his Orchestra
- Strange FruitBilly Holiday with Frankie Newton and his Orchestra
- I’ll be seeing youBilly Holiday with Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra
- Body and SoulThelonious Monk with Charlie Rouse, John Ore and Frankie Dunlop
- SummertimeDizzy Gillespie with James Moody, Mike Longo, Eric Gayle, Phil Upchurch and Candy Finch
About this program
A road trip through Chicago Blues... Nullarbor caves... First People’s music... environmental activism, and so much more.
