LeBron James may have more in common with WRTI listeners than you might expect.
Amidst today's news that James has signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, we're thinking about his past comments about how essential music is to his game-day routine. Alongside hip-hop, James turns to "old-school jazz" and classical music — Beethoven in particular — to settle his mind before taking the court.
That sounds well within WRTI's lane. So to welcome one of basketball's all-time greats, we've assembled a musical introduction to the City of Brotherly Love: 10 performances connecting the city’s extraordinary classical and jazz traditions.
Welcome to Philly, LeBron. Here are a few tracks for your new pregame playlist.
Classical
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Beethoven may not have nicknamed his Fifth Piano Concerto the “Emperor,” but few pieces of music sound more regal. This brilliant 1950 performance — a collaboration between two legendary Philadelphians — is certainly fit for a “King.”
Traditional: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
We’ll leave the G.O.A.T. debate to the talking heads, but Marian Anderson is indisputably one of the greatest voices ever to emerge from Philadelphia. Every note she sings radiates warmth, dignity, and power.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
Rachmaninoff dedicated his final orchestral masterpiece to Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Since its 1941 premiere, the Symphonic Dances has become one of the Orchestra’s most recognizable calling cards — a dazzling showcase of energy, elegance, and the unmistakable “Philadelphia Sound.”
Barber: Violin Concerto
West Chester native and Curtis Institute grad Samuel Barber wrote what is perhaps the most iconic American violin concerto in 1939. Lyrical and deeply expressive at first, its breathless finale takes off with the speed of a full-court chase-down block. This is music for both settling the nerves and gearing up for tipoff.
Hopkinson: My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free
We’d be remiss not to include some music that channels the Spirit of ’76. Francis Hopkinson was not only a signer of the Declaration of Independence — the Philadelphia native and New Jersey delegate also designed the earliest American currency, came up with the idea to use the stars and stripes for the American flag, and composed this song in 1759, thought to be the country’s first surviving secular composition.
Jazz
Lee Morgan, “The Sidewinder”
Trumpeter Lee Morgan, a proud son of North Philly, had a jukebox hit in this soul-jazz classic. Billy Higgins’ boogaloo beat feels perfectly suited to the court.
Bobby Timmons, “Moanin’”
The call and response of the gospel church suffuses this tune by pianist Bobby Timmons, born into a family of ministers. It formed the title track of a landmark album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers; this here is the version Timmons recorded under his own name.
Shirley Scott, “Soul Shoutin’”
The Queen of the Organ was born in Philadelphia, and she carried a torch for the Hammond B-3 tradition until her death here in 2002. This is one of her anthems, from an album by the name, made during a long collaboration with her husband at the time, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.
The Heath Brothers, “Smilin’ Billy Suite: Part II”
Recorded in Norway in 1975, The Heath Brothers’ Marchin’ On is a high point in that included brothers Jimmy, Percy and Albert “Tootie” Heath, along with Stanley Cowell on piano. Hailing from the 1900 block of Federal St. in South Philadelphia, the Heath Brothers individually worked with artists including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins. This track will also be familiar to Hip-hop fans (looking at you, Lebron) as the sample used in “One Love” off Nas’ classic 1994 debut Illmatic.
Jimmy Smith, “Back at the Chicken Shack”
Jimmy Smith, born in Norristown, was a groundbreaking virtuoso of the Hammond organ, and a prime mover in the soul-jazz movement. He wrote a number of grease-and-grit anthems, none more celebrated than “Back at the Chicken Shack,” recorded in 1960 and release on Blue Note a few years later. A good tune to soundtrack LeBron’s first visits to Bar Poulet or Doro Bet.