Tag: Billie Holiday

A Celebration of African-American Artists

cladriteLeave a comment

On Cladrite Radio, we proudly feature the marvelous talents of many great African-American artists, performers whose musical gifts have brightened our days, lightened our loads and touched our hearts for decades. It’s painful to think that these giants experienced bigotry, racism and in some cases even physical violence during their lives, and it’s heartbreaking to be reminded that our country’s racist heritage is not yet a thing of the past, that in too many dark corners, it still festers and that precious lives continue to be lost to this hatred.

We want our African-American friends, listeners and followers—and all of our listeners and followers who stand for justice and equality in the US and around the world—to know that we love them, we respect them and we want what they want: a just society that values Black lives every bit as much as all other lives.

In celebration of the great Black artists who have so enriched our lives and in honor of—and solidarity with—those African Americans, past and present, whose lives have been impacted (and too often, ended prematurely) by bigotry and racist hatred, we are, beginning at midnight ET tonight (Friday, June 5), devoting 48 hours solely to music created by Black bandleaders, musicians and singers. We hope you’ll tune in throughout the weekend. #BLM

Happy birthday, Lady Day!

cladriteLeave a comment

The great Billie Holiday, a Cladrite favorite, would have been 98 today.

Her music is, of course, still widely available and oft-heard, so to pay tribute, we thought we’d share some scenes from New Orleans (1947), the only feature film she acted in. It almost goes without saying that Ms. Holiday was a much better singer than actor, but she manages to hold her own in a far-too-typical maid role.

We’re also sharing a couple of our favorite Holiday sides. We much prefer her work of the 1930s and ’40s to the latter-day material, recorded after things had started to go so wrong for her. Yes, there’s an undeniable poignancy to those later recordings, but we prefer the verve and exuberance of her earlier work.

Billie Holiday—These Foolish Things

Billie Holiday—Easy to Love

Billie Holiday—A Fine Romance

The British Bands That Mattered

cladriteLeave a comment

There are many familiar names among the artists we feature on Cladrite Radio—everyone from Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday, Paul Whiteman, and Nat “King” Cole.

But our greatest pleasure is giving exposure to lesser known artists—bands, singers, and instrumentalists with whom only the true buff is familiar.

Among those less known here in the United States, except among the cognoscenti, are such British band leaders as Ray Noble, Jack Payne, Henry Hall, and Carroll Gibbons, who was American but gained his fame in England. Each of these artists can be heard here on Cladrite Radio, and those interested in learning more about them now can turn to the BBC’s Radio 2.

Air personality Brian Matthew hosts a program called “The Bands The Mattered,” which each week explores the life and career of a pair of orchestra leaders. Payne and Hall were featured in Week 1, but, unfortunately, the BBC only streams each show for a week. But you’ve still got a few days to access the archive of this week’s show, which focuses on Noble and Gibbons.

We only just learned about this program, and we’re not at all happy to have missed the first episode of this season (not to mention all of the episodes of a previous season, too), but we’ll be listening going forward, and we thought you might want to, as well.