This week's '50s R&B Show will pick up where last week's left off -- with recordings made at a New Orleans session in July of '56. From there, we'll journey through the last recordings Little Richard made for Specialty in the '50s before a religious awakening coaxed him away from rock 'n' roll at the height of his stardom. The late '50s and early '60s found Richard recording dozens of gospel sides for an array of record labels. We'll be hearing a sampling of those, including some tracks from a Quincy Jones-produced album for Mercury Records in 1961.
Also included on the program this week will be more excerpts from my interviews with original Upsetters members Grady Gaines and Charles Connor, along with some clips from an archival interview from 1997 with Specialty Records founder Art Rupe.
Part 2 of the tribute to Little Richard kicks off at 7p (central time) on WWOZ 90.7 FM and wwoz.org.
