Playlist – Blues Before Sunrise

Blues Before Sunrise

The opening hour of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise begins with a lively sweep through early swing, vocal jazz, and blues-adjacent variety. Willie Bryant’s “Sneaky Pete” sets the first selection in motion before the King Cole Trio takes a central role with a substantial run of recordings. That extended spotlight establishes the hour’s character: a program that values both individual performers and the connections created by careful sequencing.

“When I Take My Sugar to Tea” introduces the King Cole Trio portion, followed by “Let’s Be Sweethearts Again” and “Those Things Money Can’t Buy.” The three selections place the Trio at the heart of the first hour without making the programming feel static. Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” appears next, offering a change in artist while staying within the hour’s broader jazz setting. The Ellington selection also acts as a useful pivot before the King Cole Trio returns.

“For Once in Your Life,” “You’re the Cream in My Coffee,” and “I Know That You Know” complete the Trio’s six-title presence in the hour. By separating the two King Cole Trio clusters with “Mood Indigo,” the show gives the set a more conversational shape. The Trio remains the main recurring presence, but Ellington’s placement keeps the first section open and varied. It is a small programming decision with a large effect on the hour’s flow.

Ivie Anderson follows with “I’m Checking Out Goom-Bye,” “Rose of Rio Grande,” “There’s a Lull in My Life,” and “Swingtime in Honolulu.” Her four consecutive selections form the hour’s next major focus. The sequence offers a different vocal center after the King Cole Trio material, while its placement makes the handoff feel natural rather than abrupt. Anderson’s titles create their own internal range, and the length of her set gives listeners time to hear her as more than a brief appearance.

Al Hibbler enters with “Dedicated to You,” followed by Lizzie Miles’s “If I Knew You Were There.” Hibbler returns with “Danny Boy” and “After the Lights Go Down Low,” giving the latter part of the hour another recurring voice. The arrangement of those titles continues the hour’s wider pattern: an artist is introduced, another performer changes the immediate texture, and the earlier artist returns. It is an approach that keeps the playlist active while allowing particular names to remain present.

The Four Vagabonds’ “Lazy Country Side” follows, then Ammons & Johnson’s “Boogie Woogie Man” and Williams & Walker’s “Pretty Desdamone.” These selections broaden the hour beyond its earlier concentration on vocal jazz figures. Eddie Lockjaw Davis closes the hour with “Little White Lies,” bringing the opening chapter of the broadcast to a final change in personnel and sound.

What stands out most is the hour’s balance. The King Cole Trio receives the longest early spotlight, Ivie Anderson gets an extended sequence of her own, and Al Hibbler returns after Lizzie Miles’s intervening selection. Around those clusters, Duke Ellington, the Four Vagabonds, Ammons & Johnson, Williams & Walker, and Eddie Lockjaw Davis ensure that the hour never becomes overly narrow. The program presents an opening built not around one fixed mood but around a series of well-placed contrasts.

That variety prepares listeners for the five-hour journey ahead. The first hour establishes the show’s willingness to move across vocal groups, trios, solo vocalists, and instrumental voices while retaining an overall early-swing and jazz character. It is an inviting start, filled with artists whose records make the hour feel both connected and continually in motion.