WNYC; New Sounds Live; Mecca Bodega ; Don Byron and Existential Dred
- Collection
- WNYC
- Series
- New Sounds Live
- Contributing Organization
- WNYC (New York, New York)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/80-92g7b56h
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- Description
- Description
- [From the program notes:] Thursday, February 11,1999 at 8:00 P.M. Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center in association with WNYC FM Classic NY presents NEW SOUNDS LIVE AT MERKIN HALL JOHN SCHAEFER host MECCA BODEGA DON BYRON AND EXISTENTIAL DRED PART I MECCA BODEGA Paul Mueller, hammered dulcimer, percussion Marc Mueller, percussion Marlon Cherry, guitar, vocals, recorder, percussion Kevin Huppert, bass, vocals David Corter, didjiredoo, percussion Intermission PART II DON BYRON and EXISTENTIAL DRED Don Byron, clarinet, baritone saxophone, V8C~ Sadiq Bey, vocal (poetry) Dean Bowman, vocal Uri Caine, keyboards David Gilmore, guitar Reggie Washington, bass Ben Wittman, drums James Delano Zollar, trumpet Curtis Fowlkes, trombone - About the Artists Mecca Bodega is a percussive driven band trom New York City featuring imaginative rhythmists Marc and Paul Mueller. Their eclectic tribal groove locks in with Kevin Huppert's bass and Marlon Cherry's inventive guitar work and vocals. Along with didjeridoo player David Corter, they create a unique, hypnotic sound that is fresh and challenging to the ear and spirit! The instruments featured on their compact discs and movie scores range from African drums and Brazilian percussion to hammered dulcimer, found objects, guitars, didjeridoo, and voice. Mecca Bodega is a part of Music Under New York, an arts-promoting program that selects and schedules performers throughout New York's large underground transit network. When not touring, Mecca Bodega can be heard pertorming all over the city, from Grand Central Station to Lincoln Center. Mecca Bodega was formed in 1991 after Marc returned from a sojourn down South (where he had been the drummer for the rock band Fetchin Bones and met multi-instrumentalist Marlon Cherry) and reunited with his brother, Paul. Since then, Mecca Bodega has been featured on National Public Radio broadcasts of "New Sounds" on WNYC and Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" with Simon 7 of Didjworks. They have recorded scores for a film about Sir Laurens Van Der Post and the film Bushmen of the Kalahari. Most recently, they collaborated with director Jonathan Demme for HBO's Subway Stories in which they also made an appearance. Respected for their artistry and collaboration, Mecca Bodega has worked with M. Doughty (Soul Coughing), Mary Lorson (Madder Rose), Chris Rael (Church of Betty), Kevin Salem, and with Public Enemy and . Stephen Stills on the soundtrack for the Spike Lee movie, He Got Game. This avant-worldbeat ensemble has also worked with the New Dance Alliance of New York and Philadelphia, and with choreographers Maxine Moerman and Wendy Perron. Having an insatiable appetite for touring, Mecca Bodega has touched audiences nationally and internationally, including performances at Lollapollooza '92, Woodstock '94, Bethlehem PA's Musiklest, Celebrate Brooklyn Summer Festival, and a recent tour of Australia. * * * Deeply involved in the most adventurous circles of the New York music scene tor the past decade, clarinetist/composer Don Byron has garnered international recognition as the foremost innovator on jazz clarinet. Named Down Beats Jazz Artist of the Year in 1990, he topped the Down Beat Critics' Poll as top clarinetist tor five consecutive years, and the DownBeat's Readers Poll since 1995, all the while striving relentlessly for what he calls "a sound above genre." This year, he was named Artistic Director of Jazz at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, continuing to develop jazz at the Next Wave Festival; programming weekends of jazz in the Leperque Space Cafe; and performing for BAM's new educational programs. Byron's profound eclectic musical conception startled the jazz world in 1992 with the release of Tuskegee Experiments (Nonesuch 79280-2), his widely acclaimed debut album of unique musical ideas, energetic playing, and social conscience. Since then, his strikingly distinctive recordings have revealed not only his capacity to conceive wildly original material in different musical contexts, but also his versatility and virtuosity as a clarinetist. His 1993 release, Don Byron Plays the music of Micky Katz, focused attention on the radical and humorous works of the long overlooked 1950s klezmer bandleader and parodist. Music for Six Musicians explored yet another aspect of his multifaceted creativity - the Afro-Caribbean heritage of both his family and the Bronx neighborhood where he grew up. His best selling Bug Music presents meticulous and faithful transcriptions of the nascent swing era music of Raymond Scott, John Kirby, and a young Duke Ellington. In 1998, Byron signed an exclusive agreement with Blue Note Records. His first CD on this label, titled Nu Blaxploitation, with his new band Existential Dred was releqsed in July 1998. X-Dred represents another major departure by Byron, presetning mostly original work incorporating the timely and dicey poetry ofSadiq Bey, the funk music of the 1970s band Mandrill along with a taste of Jimi Hendrix and a special guest appearance by the remarkable rapper Biz Markee. Thanks to a father who played bass in calypso bands and a mother who played piano, Byron was exposed to the symphony and ballet as well as to the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Machito. He studied classical clarinet and played in salsa bands in high school. He also wrote arrangements for these bands. Don Byron formalized his jazz interests at the New England Conservatory of Music, while also jamming with Latin ensembles and playing in the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Sadlq was born and raised in Detroit, where he attended Wayne State University. Music and writing appealed to him, as did painting, at an early age, and at twelve years old he received his first set of bongos, cIa ves, and maracas. His first professional engagement required a chaperon. At thirteen years old, he won a poetry contest sponsored by a local newspaper and has pursued the magic of writing ever since. His work has heen published in Alternative Press, Press Tents Press, Solid Ground, Long News, Cityarts Quarterly (where he was editor), Michigan Chronicle, Triage, and others. Most recently he recorded as a poet with Don Byron for Music for Six Musicians. His work as a percussionist has been equally varied including stints with the Fifth Dimension, Eartha Kitt, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Geri Allen, and Rod Williams. Sadiq is now investigating the possibilities of sampling with his Artificial Compositions in which a fraction of a second of recorded music is expanded to full composition. Dean Bowman has been hailed as "the most important jazz vocalist since Bobby McFerrin." A leader of various ensembles, Dean is best-known for his association with Screaming Headless Torsos. In 1997, he formed Soul Triology, a textural, free-folk trio with guitarist Kelvyn Bell and percussionist Jeff Haynes. He has recorded with Lester Bowie, Dcn Byron, Uri Caine, and Jack Walrath. Dean studied voice with John Paxton and Dr. James Mumford, and vocal improvisation with David Baker and Barry Harris. His vast repertoire includes the music of Paul Robeson, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Undine Smith Moore, Pete Seeger, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Eric Dolphy, George Gershwin, James Blood Ulmer, and James Welden Johnson. Uri Caine, born on Philadelphia, began studying piano there with Bernard Pfeiffer and played with groups led by Philly Joe Jones, Hank Mobley,Jymmie Merritt and Mickey Roker. He attended the University of Pennsylvania where he studied composition with George Rochberg and George Crumb. Since moving to New York, he has recorded four CDs as a leader - Sphere Music, Toys, Urlicht/Primal Light (arrangements of the music of Gustav Mahler which won the International Mahler Prize for Best Mahler CD of 1997) and Wagner & Venezia (arrangements of Wagner Overture for a sextet played live at the Caf Quadri in St. Mark's Square in Venice). He has also recorded a CD for piano trio to be released later this year. Uri Caine has received grants from the N.E.A. and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and was a finalist in the Great American jazz Piano Com
- Description
- Rosetta peers Cicada The Isle of Kadepous Death of the cool Hummus around the horn Trust Rats on the tracks. Dodi Alien Fencewalk If 6 were 9 I'm stuck I cannot commit Mango meat, by Don Byron and Sadiq.
- Genres
- Performance
- Media type
- Sound
- Credits
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Host: Schaefer, John
Performer: Byron, Don
Performer: Sadiq
Performer: Mecca Bodega
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 65913.1 (WNYC Media Archive MDB)
Format: DAT
Generation: Original
Duration: 00:00:00
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 65913.2 (WNYC Media Archive MDB)
Format: audio/vnd.wave
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:00:00
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- Citations
- Chicago: “WNYC; New Sounds Live; Mecca Bodega ; Don Byron and Existential Dred,” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 2, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-92g7b56h.
- MLA: “WNYC; New Sounds Live; Mecca Bodega ; Don Byron and Existential Dred.” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 2, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-92g7b56h>.
- APA: WNYC; New Sounds Live; Mecca Bodega ; Don Byron and Existential Dred. Boston, MA: WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-92g7b56h