The Harlem Renaissance

The northern Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighbourhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In the early 1900s, in what became known as the Great Migration, African Americans from the south moved north to New York in droves, searching for work after the war, and hoping to escape the racial violence tearing through America. Harlem became a centre for Black culture in the city, drawing in poets like Langston Hughes, thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois and musicians. These musicians pioneered new forms of jazz and blues, subverted the expectations of Black performers and broke through into the mainstream. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, as he traces the rise and fall of the Harlem Renaissance, transporting us from rent parties to nightclubs to Broadway, as we hear a joyful, soulful explosion of sound.

In Monday's episode, Donald explores the music of Willie ‘The Lion' Smith, who learned to play on a rotting organ in his mother's basement, but would later help develop a new, more sophisticated way to play piano, called ‘stride', which defined the music of the Harlem Renaissance. He got his start performing at a gangster's club, then made a name for himself at the highly competitive ‘rent parties', raucous affairs which took place in people's tiny New York flats. A flamboyant performer, ‘The Lion' was never seen without his bowler, with a cigar between his lips, and was known for dancing as he played.

Take The ‘A' Train

Billy Strayhorn, Composer

Duke Ellington, Piano

Ella Fitzgerald, Vocals

Stuff Smith, Violin

Ben Webster, Saxophone

Alvin Stoller, Drums

Barney Kessel, Guitar

Joe Mondragon, Double Bass

Harlem Joys

Willie ‘The Lion' Smith, , Composer and Piano

Jo ‘The Tiger' Jones, Drums

Carolina Shout

James P. Johnson, Composer

Willie ‘The Lion' Smith, Piano

Rippling Waters

Willie ‘The Lion' Smith, Composer and Piano

Echoes of Spring

Lion's Boogie Woogie

Willie's Blues

The Harlem Strut

James P. Johnson, Composer and Piano

Contrary Motion

Finger Buster

Puss Johnson, Drums

Pork and Beans

Lucky Roberts, Composer

Here Comes the Band

Produced in Cardiff by Alice McKee

Donald Macleod celebrates the explosion of jazz and blues in New York after World War I.

The northern Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighbourhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In the early 1900s, in what became known as the Great Migration, African Americans from the south moved north to New York in droves, searching for work after the war, and hoping to escape the racial violence tearing through America. Harlem became a centre for Black culture, drawing in poets like Langston Hughes, thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois and musicians. These musicians pioneered new forms of jazz and blues, subverted the expectations of Black performers, and broke through into the mainstream. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, as he traces the rise and fall of the Harlem Renaissance, transporting us from rent parties to nightclubs to Broadway, as we hear a joyful, soulful explosion of sound.

In 1917, Josephine Baker was just 11 years old, not yet an icon of the Jazz Age, when she stood in terror, watching race rioters burn her hometown of East St Louis. She decided then she'd do anything to get out, and her opportunity came in the form of a new Broadway musical, composed by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. The pair had devised a musical to be performed entirely by African-American actors, musicians and dancers - the first of its kind to feature on Broadway. It was Baker's big break as a dancer, and some say it was the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance.

Dear Old Southland

Turner Layton, Composer

Sidney Bechet, Soprano saxophone and clarinet

Noble Sissle, Vocal

Chester Burrill, Trombone

Demas Dean, Wendell Culley and Clarence Brereton, Trumpet

Gil White and Jerome Don Pasquall, Tenor saxophone

Chauncey Haughton, Clarinet and alto saxophone

Jimmy Jones, Bass

Oscar Madera, Violin

Erskine Butterfield, Piano

Wilbert Kirk, Drums

Jimmy Miller, Guitar

Dream Rag

Eubie Blake, Composer and Piano

St Louis Blues

W. C. Handy, Composer

Selwyn Gibson, Vocals

The Americas Brass Band

Memphis Blues

Indianola

S. R. Henry, Composer

Shuffle Along Medley

Ivan Harold Browning, Vocals

Raggin the Rag

Memories of You

Love Will Find a Way

Noble Sissle, Composer

Everything Reminds Me of You

Ehud Asherie, Piano

Troublesome Ivories

Charleston Rag

Produced in Cardiff by Alice McKee

Two composers set out to create the first all-Black Broadway musical.

The northern Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighbourhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In the early 1900s, in what became known as the Great Migration, African Americans from the south moved north to New York in droves, searching for work after the war, and hoping to escape the racial violence tearing through America. Harlem became a centre for Black culture, drawing in poets like Langston Hughes, thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois and musicians. These musicians pioneered new forms of jazz and blues, subverted the expectations of Black performers and broke through into the mainstream. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, as he traces the rise and fall of the Harlem Renaissance, transporting us from rent parties to nightclubs to Broadway, as we hear a joyful, soulful explosion of sound.

As a young man, Langston Hughes dreamed of being a poet in Harlem, a place he had come to think of as `the greatest Black city in the world` - but his father had other ideas. He wanted Langston to pursue engineering, not believing an African American man could succeed as a writer. Despite his father's wishes, Langston did make it to Harlem, where he would become one of the defining voices of the renaissance and his writing would inspire a generation of musicians.

Good Morning/Harlem

Langston Hughes, Composer and Vocals

Charles Mingus and the Horace Parlan Quintet

Mamie's Blues

Jelly Roll Morton, Composer and Piano

Dippermouth Blues

King Oliver, Composer

Fletcher Henderson, Arranger

Louis Armstrong, Cornet

Lil Hardin Armstrong, Piano

Bill Johnson, Banjo

Baby Dodds, Drums

Johnny Dodds, Clarinet

Honore Dutrey, Trombone

Good Morning Blues

Count Basie, Composer and Piano

Jimmy Rushing, Vocals

Buck Clayton, Trumpet

Motto/Dead in There

Same in Blues/Comment on Curb

The Weary Blues

Leonard Feather's All-Star Sextet

Boogie: 1.AM

Could Be/Bad Luck Card/Bad Man

Consider Me

Minstrel Man/Dream Variation/I, Too

Margaret Bonds, Composer

Malcolm J. Merriweather, Vocals

Ashley Jackson, Harp

The Dessoff Orchestra

Produced in Cardiff by Alice McKee

Langston Hughes arrives in Harlem.

The northern Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighbourhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In the early 1900s, in what became known as the Great Migration, African Americans from the south moved north to New York in droves, searching for work after the war, and hoping to escape the racial violence tearing through America. Harlem became a centre for Black culture, drawing in poets like Langston Hughes, thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois and musicians. These musicians pioneered new forms of jazz and blues, subverted the expectations of Black performers and broke through into the mainstream. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, as he traces the rise and fall of the Harlem Renaissance, transporting us from rent parties to nightclubs to Broadway, as we hear a joyful, soulful explosion of sound.

In the 1920s, African American musicians made their names in the segregated nightclubs of Harlem. Duke Ellington arrived in Harlem a total unknown, but his residency at the infamous Cotton Club gave him national recognition as an originator of big band jazz. But he didn't want to play to white-only audiences forever. His composition Symphony in Black featured in one of the first films with an entirely Black cast to be widely distributed, launching the career of Billie Holiday and becoming a new landmark in the Harlem Renaissance.

Swing Session (Soda Fountain Rag)

Duke Ellington, Composer and Piano

Black Beauty

The Mooche

Lonnie Johnson, Guitar

Fred Guy, Banjo

Sonny Greer, Drums

Wellman Braud, Bass

Bubber Miley and Arthur Whetsol, Trumpet

Joe 'Tricky Sam' Nanton, Trombone

East St. Louis Toodle-Oo

Bubber Miley and Louis Metcalf, Trumpet

Rudy Jackson, Alto saxophone and clarinet

Otto Hardwick, Clarinet and tenor saxophone

Harry Carney, Clarinet)

Bass Edwards, Tuba

Black and Tan Fantasy

It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

Louis Armstrong, Trumpet

Mort Herbert, Bass

Trummy Young, Trombone and Sackbut

Ray Hall, Recorder

Barney Bigard, Clarinet

Danny Barcelona, Drums

Creole Rhapsody

Arthur Whetsol, Cootie Williams and Freddie Jenkins, Trumpet

Lawrence Brown, Juan Tizol and Joe Nanton, Trombone

Harry Carnet, Clarinet and baritone saxophone

Fred Guy and Sonny Greer, Banjo

Johnny Hodges, Alto saxophone

Barney Bigard, Tenor saxophone

Reminiscing in Tempo

Billie Holiday, Vocals

Otto Hardwick, Alto saxophone

Harry Carney, Baritone Saxophone

Fred Guy, Guitar

Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol and Lawrence Brown, Trombone

Freddie Jenkins, Arthur Whetsol and Cootie Williams, Trumpet

Produced in Cardiff by Alice McKee

Donald Macleod explores the work of Duke Ellington.

The northern Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighbourhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In the early 1900s, in what became known as the Great Migration, African Americans from the south moved north to New York in droves, searching for work after the war, and hoping to escape the racial violence tearing through America. Harlem became a centre for Black culture, drawing in poets like Langston Hughes, thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois and musicians. These musicians pioneered new forms of jazz and blues, subverted the expectations of Black performers and broke through into the mainstream. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, as he traces the rise and fall of the Harlem Renaissance, transporting us from rent parties to nightclubs to Broadway, as we hear a joyful, soulful explosion of sound.

In 1924, a twenty-three-year-old Louis Armstrong arrived in New York with no classical training, hoping to make a career as a trumpeter. His playful style and charismatic ad libs made him stand out in the orchestra; soon he had a residency at Connie's Club and Fats Waller was recruiting him to liven up his musical. But as Armstrong was getting his big break, Harlem was crumbling under the Great Depression. Louis had to make a decision: stay in Harlem where he made his name, or move back to the Sout