Thursday 4 November - Programme Four on Radio 2 at 10pm George Melly places emphasis on two personal heroes, the immortal blues singer Bessie Smith and the man who claimed to have invented jazz, Jelly Roll Morton.
The show 'One Mo Time' written by New Orleanian Vernel Bagneris celebrating the black 20s vaudeville period. George will be giving an insight to those artists and the pleasure of meeting 92 year old guitarist Lawrence Lucie, the only surviving musician to have recorded with the great Jelly Roll Morton himself.
TUNES:- Gimme A Pig Foot (and a bottle of beer); High Society; Honky Tonk Train Blues;
Kitchen Man (I can't do without my..); Mabel's Dream; Pretty Baby; Winin' Boy Blues and more.
TOBA (Theater Owners' Booking Association).
Thursday 28 October - Programme Three on Radio 2 at 10pm George Melly visits Louis Armstrong's home in Corona, where he lived with his fourth wife Lucille. He also visits the the recently founded Armstrong Archive at the 60 year old Queens University where he meets its director, Michael Goggeswell and listens to some unissued recordings from Satchmo's personal collection. Tunes you will hear - Hotter Than That - I've Got Those Coal Cart Blues - I've Got A Heartful Of Rhythm and more. Louis almost single-handed transformed New York jazz in the early 20s with his New Orleans approach to rhythm and phrasing, and thus, the jazz world is still today reaping the benefit from this undisputed great jazz genius.
Thursday 21 October - Programme Two - (Times Newspaper featured the programme in its Radio slot on the day) on Radio 2 at 10pm George Melly meets Al Casey, guitarist who in his teens worked with Fats Waller and in the 30s and early 1940s they produced together 230 recordings.
George will also be meeting one of the few remaining musicians from the legendary Duke Ellington Orchestra, tenor saxophonist Harold Ashby. He stayed with the Ellington band until February 1975 working with Mercer after the death of his father Duke Ellington on the 24th of May 1974 when he took over the running of the band.
For many the Duke's imperishable music is the essence of Harlem and his encounter with Harold is particularly appropriate in this the Ellington centennial year. In Washington on the 29th of April 1899 that was the day the Duke was born.
Just across the street from the Apollo Theatre, George encounters Franco, the self-styled 'Picasso of Harlem' a street artist known for his murals who has no trouble selling our one and only George Melly a colourful parasol.
There are likely to be slight changes made as incorporated from the advertised version.
Thursday 14 October is the start of a BBC Radio 2 five programmes series presented by
George Melly, researched and compiled by Michael Pointon and produced by Neil Rosser.
As a sequel to his last trip to America for programme Up A Lazy River where he traced the roots of jazz and blues up the Mississippi from New Orleans to Chicago, George, for this programme, visited New York, New York, USA.
During this century Harlem has grown into an area inhabited in the main by black Americans and has become a melting-pot for the arts, with an air of optimism now pervading the once rundown neighbourhood.
Legendary entertainment venues such as the Cotton Club and Small's Paradise became famous all over the world and nowadays the Apollo Theatre remains to encourage new talent as it has always done through its wellknown amateur nights, which saw the rise of many great jazz artists.
In programme one, George visits the Shiloh Baptist Church for a festival of gospel music and takes in a tour of the streets and cultural highlights of the city.
He will be talking with Dan Morganstern, the Director of the Jazz Institute at Rutgers University, Newark, and renews his acquantance with Al Casey, veteran guitarist on many recordings with the great jazz entertainer Fats Waller.