A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

Special Guests
Saturday, February 10, 2007

Dave Bargeron

Dave Bargeron's first lead trombone job was playing with Clark Terry's Big Band. Then he signed on as bass trombonist and tuba player with Doc Severinsen's Band, before joining the pioneering jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat and Tears, with whom he recorded 11 albums. A break in BS&T's schedule allowed Dave to join the Gil Evans Orchestra in 1972, and he remains a member of that organization. He is both a sought-after session musician and a well-known jazz artist in his own right. A charter member of Howard Johnson's six-tuba group, Gravity, and he has also recorded with Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, James Taylor and Eric Clapton, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Sanborn and others. Sesame Street fans know Dave as the "voice" of Telly's tuba. From 1989 to 1995, he appeared on A Prairie Home Companion as a member of the Coffee Club Orchestra, the APHC house band during those years. Dave's latest solo CD is TubaTuba II.

Kathy Jensen

On alto, tenor, and bari sax, Kathy Jensen has been a favorite on the Twin Cities music scene for decades. With her husband, trumpeter Dave Jensen, she is a member of the Hornheads, an all-brass ensemble. She has performed with Moore By Four, the Minnesota Orchestra and with artists such as Prince, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Natalie Cole. When touring musicals are booked in the Minneapolis or St. Paul, chances are you'll find Kathy Jensen in the orchestra pit, and she frequently does session work for commercials. Kathy is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in music education.

Jon-Erik Kellso

Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso says, "I want to find ways of bringing a younger audience to mainstream jazz." Of course he does. Kellso has lived and breathed music since his childhood in Detroit. At age 11, he was already doing big band work. Two years later, he joined the International Youth Symphony. And by the time he was 17, he was in a concert alongside famed cornetist Wild Bill Davison. He has played with a wide variety of groups, including the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers, J.C. Heard's Orchestra, James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. He's recorded with Marty Grosz, Milt Hinton, Dick Hyman, Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, Banu Gibson, Leon Redbone and many others. His latest CD is Kellso's BC Buddies (Gen-Erik), the 2005 follow-up to his 1997 recording, Chapter 2: The Plot Thickens (Arbors Records).

Jearlyn Steele

A native of Indiana, Jearlyn Steele first sang with her siblings (as The Steele Children) in churches, concert halls and on radio and television. After Jearlyn left home and moved to Minnesota, one by one the rest of the Steele kids followed, and they started singing together again as The Steeles. Now music is the family business. Fans still remember their participation in The Gospel at Colonus at the Guthrie Theater and on Broadway. Jearlyn has voiced many local and national commercials, and she has recorded with top acts including George Clinton and Prince. Her most recent CD is titled Steele Praising Hymn. She is the entertainment reporter for Twin Cities Public Television's public-affairs program, Almanac, and she hosts Steele Talkin', a Sunday-night radio show that originates on WCCO in Minneapolis and is heard in some 30 states nationwide.

Andy Stein

Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings, He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he's performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan.

Robin & Linda Williams

Singing the music they love — be it bluegrass, folk, old-time, or acoustic country — Robin and Linda Williams have carved out a three-decade career that has taken them from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, the Grand Ole Opry to Austin City Limits, Music City Tonight to Mountain Stage. They've have written dozens of terrific songs, ones that have been covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, Tim & Mollie O'Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black, Kathy Mattea, and The Seldom Scene. Robin and Linda's first album came out on a small Minnesota-based record label in 1975, the same year they debuted on A Prairie Home Companion. Recent recordings include Deeper Waters and The First Christmas Gift, both on Red House Records.