Profiles With Maggie LePique – Details, episodes & analysis

Maggie speaks with legendary guitarist, songwriter and founded member of The Doors about The Doors 60th Anniversary this year (2025) and all the exciting events and releases that are happening and will be happening. 

Robby Krieger is the guitarist for the legendary rock band The Doors and the songwriter behind some of the band’s biggest hits, including “Love Me Two Times,” “Touch Me,” “Love Her Madly,” and their #1 smash, “Light My Fire.” The Doors have sold over a hundred million albums worldwide, inspired a major feature film, been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy®, and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Robby, meanwhile, has also become a Grammy®-nominated solo artist, and was listed among the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” by Rolling Stone. He is also an accomplished painter and the co-founder of the annual Medlock-Krieger Rock & Roll Golf Classic & All-Star Concert.

Source: https://robbykrieger.com/#x-content-band-3
Source: https://whiskyagogo.com/calendar/
Source: https://thedoors.com/
Source: https://www.artforacause.net/
Source: https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662883/night-divides-the-day

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Michelle Coltrane and Maggie LePique discuss her Mother, Alice Coltrane and the year-long celebration currently underway that’s being called “The Year of Alice.”
This celebration spans 2024-2025 and features previously unreleased music and reissues, brand new community programming, a multimedia museum exhibit, specially curated concerts, newly choreographed ballet works and much more.
Jazz musician, composer, bandleader and spiritual and devotional leader, Alice Coltrane was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1937 to Solon and Annie McLeod, the fifth of six children. By the age of nine, she played organ during services at Mount Olive Baptist church.
In the early 60’s she began playing jazz as a professional in Detroit with her own trio and as a duo with vibist Terry Pollard.
Alice Coltrane would go on to collaborate and performed with Kenny Clarke, Kenny Burrell, Ornette Coleman, Pharaoh Sanders, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Jack DeJonette, Carlos Santana and more.
Mrs Coltrane’s interest in gospel, classical, and jazz music led to the creation of her own innovative style. Her proficiency on keyboard, organ, and harp was remarkable and her artistry matured into amazing arrangements and compositions.
Her twenty recordings cover a time span from Monastic Trio (1968) to Translinear Light (2004).

Michelle discusses at length one of the events here in Southern California that is part of the Year of Alice.
Here in L.A. the exhibition Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal at the Hammer Museum in Westwood is inspired by the life and legacy of jazz musician, composer and bandleader as well a spiritual and devotional leader, Alice Coltrane.

This exhibition is part of a larger initiative called “The Year of Alice," and in partnership with the John & Alice Coltrane Home, Impulse Records, The New York Historical Society, the Detroit Jazz Festival and more.

The exhibition presents works by contemporary American artists paired with items Coltrane’s personal archive and features a range of mediums including video, performance, and sculpture together with Coltrane’s archival hand-written correspondence, unreleased audio recordings, and rarely seen video footage.

The Year of Alice events include:
Reissues of Alice Coltrane's albums and previously unreleased music
Specially curated concerts in cities including New York, Brooklyn, Detroit, and California
A multimedia museum exhibit
Newly choreographed dance works
Community programming and an Oral History Project
Discussions about Coltrane's life and work
Partners in the celebration are:
Impulse! Records
Detroit Jazz Festival
Hammer Museum
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
The New York Historical Society
Shapeshifter Lab
Lyon & Healey Harps

Source: https://thecoltranehome.org/2024/03/16/let-the-year-of-alice-begin/
Source: https://www.alicecoltrane.com/
Source: https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2025/alice-coltrane-monument-eternal

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Grandma’s Hands is a timeless, universal song originally featured on Bill Withers’ 1971 album, Just As I Am.
With soulful lyrics, the song captures the significant impact that Withers’ grandmother had on his life as a child.
Multiple award-winning artist R. Gregory Christie has brought the iconic song to life through vibrant illustrations, painting a tender portrait of Bill’s grandmother. Through the illustrations, readers are transported back in time to experience the comfort, security, and unconditional love that he found in his grandmother’s hands.
A heartwarming tribute to the enduring bond between grandmothers and their grandchildren.
Marcia Withers is the wife of the late music icon, singer/songwriter Bill Withers. She oversaw Bill’s career management and as head of Withers Entertainment and the Mattie Music Group in Los Angeles, she controls the family’s publishing companies, and its worldwide sub-publisher representatives. She has been instrumental in the placement of Bill’s songs in countless films, television programs and other media, and played a creative role in many of Bill’s recording compilations. She is the co-producer of The Essential Bill Withers and a tribute show at Carnegie Hall in 2015. Maggie & Marcia discuss the the illustrated book "Grandma's Hands" and her work managing Bill's Publishing Companies and so much more.
Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is known for such hit songs as "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," "Just the Two of Us," "Lovely Day," and more. He has received numerous awards in his lifetime and won three GRAMMY Awards. In 2005, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Source: https://grandmashandsbook.com/
Source: https://billwithers.com/
Source: https://mattiemusicgroup.com/
Source: https://say.org/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

The sonically innovative harpist, Brandee Younger, is revolutionizing harp for the digital era. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists.  In 2022, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for a Grammy® Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award and later, the winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Jazz Album for her latest album Brand New Life.  Ever-expanding as an artist, she has worked with cultural icons including Common, Lauryn Hill, John Legend, Pharoah Sanders and Christian McBride.   Her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming and in 2019, Brandee was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’ “Soundtrack of America”.  Brandee is often noted for standing on the shoulders of the very women who ushered in the harp as a clear and distinct voice in jazz & popular styles - particularly Detroit natives Dorothy Ashby & Alice Coltrane.  Her new album, Brand New Life, builds on her already rich oeuvre, and cements the harp’s place in pop culture.  As the title of the album suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths–artistic, personal, political, and spiritual.  Younger's music is imbued with a sense of purpose and respect of legacy, creating a larger platform for the harp to reach newer and wider audiences than ever before.  In addition to teaching at Steinhardt, Younger holds leadership positions as a board member of The Coltrane Home and New Music USA.
Maggie speaks with Brandee at the 67 Monterey Jazz Festival about her band and her association with Alice Coltrane and  The Year of Alice.
“No harpist thus far has been more capable of combining all of the modern harp traditions — from Salzedo, through Dorothy Ashby, through Alice Coltrane — with such strength, grace and commitment.” -  The New York Times
Follow: @harpista

Source: https://brandeeyounger.com/
Source:https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/brandee-younger
Source: https://thecoltranehome.org/2024/03/16/let-the-year-of-alice-begin/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Lila Downs is one of the most influential artists in Latin America. She has one of the most unique voices in the world and is known for her charismatic performances. His own compositions combine genres and rhythms as diverse as Mexican rancheras and corridos, boleros, jazz standards, hip-hop, cumbia and popular American music. Frequently her lyrics focus on justice, immigration and women’s problems.

She grew up in both Minnesota and Oaxaca, Mexico, her mother is from the Mixtec indigenous group and her father was Scottish-American. Lila sings in Spanish, English and several native American languages ​​such as Zapotec, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Mayan and Purepecha.

She has recorded duets with artists as diverse as Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, Juanes, Nora Jones, Juan Gabriel, Carla Morison, Natalia LaFourcade, Santana , The boss, Nina Pastori, Soledad, Diego La Cigala, Aida Cuevas, Toto La Momposina, and Bunbury. Chavela Vargas “named” Lila as her “successor.”

She has been invited to sing with symphonies such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the UNAM Symphony in Mexico, as well as with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He has given concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Hollywood Bowl and the National Auditorium in Mexico City. She was invited by Barack Obama to sing in the White House, and acted in the Oscars for her participation in the film Frida. Lila has recorded nine studio albums.

She has been nominated for nine Grammy awards and has won six.
Maggie & Lila discuss her first appearance at the infamous Monterey Jazz Festival and her amazing performance + members of her current band. 

Source: https://www.liladowns.com/language/en/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Four-time Grammy Award winner Stanley Clarke is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated acoustic and electric bass players in the world. What’s more, he is equally gifted as a recording artist, performer, composer, conductor, arranger, producer and film score composer. A true pioneer in jazz and jazz-fusion, Clarke is particularly known for his ferocious bass dexterity and consummate musicality. Unquestionably, he has attained “living legend” status during his over 40-year career as a bass virtuoso. Part One of 67th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Shorts
And inside look into the artist and the legendary Festival.
Stanley's new recording will be dropping soon, stay tuned!


Source: https://stanleyclarke.com/
Source: https://montereyjazzfestival.org

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning author, educator, music journalist, and concert producer. His books include A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album and Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music.
One of 67th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Shorts
And inside look into the legendary Festival and what talks Ashley hosted this year including, Conversation: Songs for My Father — Soundtracks and Jazz with Kyle Eastwood & Ashley Kahn,  Conversation: Crescendo in Blue — Vinyl Past, Vinyl Future with Don Was, Julia Keefe, Brandee Younger, Steven Duncan & Ashley Kahn and Conversation: His Mother Called Him Edward, The World Called Him Duke with Jason Moran & Ashley Kahn

Source: https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/clive-davis-institute/1417614318
Source: https://montereyjazzfestival.org/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Don Was is one of music’s most significant artists and executives, exceling in multiple roles and serving as one of the industry’s beacons for integrity and forward-thinking. During this period of disruption and rapid evolution in the worldwide music business, Was remains committed to music as an art form and its importance to contemporary culture. As the President of Blue Note Records since 2011, Was is both the company’s leader and an ambassador for its music, charged with bringing the label’s 21st Century jazz artists and its expanding pallet of contemporary musicians to larger audiences. Was is also caretaker for Blue Note’s singular and historic catalogue of music, and is burnishing the label’s 80-year legacy by overseeing ongoing and extensive reissue campaigns that serve audiences in both the analogue and digital realms.
His latest musical group is Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble
Made up of stellar jazz musicians from his Detroit hometown, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble will perform a mix of new originals, interpretations of songs written by artists like Yusef Lateef, Olu Dara, and Henry Threadgill, and of course updated cuts from albums that Don recorded with Orquestra Was and Was (Not Was).
His Pan-Detroit Ensemble is made up of many of the city’s great jazz musicians including saxophonist Dave McMurray, keyboardist Luis Resto, and vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, with a sound marked by a funky, urban rawness and bone-deep grooves. Don & Maggie speak about the Monterey Jazz Festival and his new group and what's next in the Blue Note Catalog!



Source:https://donwas.com/
Source: https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/w/wa-wn/don-was/
Source: https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/24-25/don-was-pan-detroit-ensemble/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

The John & Alice Coltrane Home and the Coltrane Family, in partnership with Impulse! Records, Detroit Jazz Festival, Hammer Museum, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, The New York Historical Society, and many more, have declared 2024-2025 to be THE YEAR OF ALICE, celebrating the extensive life work of spiritual leader, composer, and musician Alice Coltrane.

In addition to being an iconic and remarkably prolific musician, Mrs. Coltrane was a beloved and wise spiritual leader, a pragmatic person with a keen eye for business, and a deeply giving human, who emphasized the importance of charitable giving, education, and spiritual guidance.

My guest today, Michelle Coltrane, is a jazz vocalist and composer. She was born in Paris, France and was raised primarily in Long Island, New York by her mother, musician Alice Coltrane, and her step-father, saxophonist John Coltrane.

Michelle has performed and collaborated with artists such as Scott Hiltzik, Shea Welsh, Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, Ronnie Laws, Billy Childs, Jack DeJohnette, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Reggie Workman, The Gap Band, McCoy Tyner and her brother Ravi Coltrane.

Michelle has performed internationally with the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers presenting the music of Alice Coltrane.

Her second album, Awakening, was released in 2017 and featured sung versions of her father, John Coltrane's, songs.

Michelle of course co-hosted the “Straight No Chaser” radio program with me here on KPFK in Los Angeles and she is chief creative officer of the John Coltrane Home, a non-profit organization.
September Events

"A Force For Good Day" - A John & Alice Coltrane Home Service Event at the Half Hollow Hills Community Library in Dix Hills, NY. Mark your calendar for this free event, featuring a young persons concert of Long Island student musicians. Saturday, September 14 | 1pm - 4pm.

LINES Ballet premiere  - as part of "The Year of Alice," the LINES Ballet will premiere a new work set to Alice Coltrane's transformative music. Thursday, September 26 | 7:30pm.
Tickets
Also in September, please check back for more Year Of Alice events at Shapeshifter Plus in Brooklyn. 

Source: https://www.alicecoltrane.com/
Source: https://thecoltranehome.org/
Source: https://store.ververecords.com/pages/artist/alice-coltrane


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique

Don Was & The Pan Detroit Ensemble
Maggie LePique speaks with Don Was about his new musical group Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. Don & the Ensemble are embarking on a West Coast run of concert dates in September 2024. Made up of stellar jazz musicians from his Detroit hometown, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble will perform a mix of new originals, interpretations of songs written by artists like Yusef Lateef, Olu Dara, and Henry Threadgill, and of course updated cuts from albums that Don recorded with Orquestra Was and Was (Not Was). Don’s Detroit roots still run deep and, we explore those roots and highlight his most recent musical love letter to that great city, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble, and so much more.
More on Don Was:
Don Was is one of music’s most significant artists and executives, exceling in multiple roles and serving as one of the industry’s beacons for integrity and forward-thinking. During this period of disruption and rapid evolution in the worldwide music business, Was remains committed to music as an art form and its importance to contemporary culture. As the President of Blue Note Records since 2011, Was is both the company’s leader and an ambassador for its music, charged with bringing the label’s 21st Century jazz artists and its expanding pallet of contemporary musicians to larger audiences. Was is also caretaker for Blue Note’s singular and historic catalogue of music, and is burnishing the label’s 80-year legacy by overseeing ongoing and extensive reissue campaigns that serve audiences in both the analogue and digital realms.
One of Was’s most noteworthy musical associations of the past two decades is with The Rolling Stones, for whom he’s produced their last four studio albums and a host of other studio and live recordings. Beginning with Voodoo Lounge in 1994 and continuing through Bridges To Babylon in 1997, A Bigger Bang in 2005 and Blue And Lonesome in 2016, Was’s work with the Stones has resulted in Platinum and Gold certifications in dozens of countries. He also oversees the band’s historic reissues, including Exile on Main Street in 2010, Some Girls in 2011 and Sticky Fingers in 2015, searching the band’s vaults and master tapes for lost jewels and bringing the projects to completion. He produced the band’s 2020 surprise single, “Living In A Ghost Town,” which was released amidst the global pandemic in April of that year.

Source: https://donwas.com/
Source: https://www.bluenote.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

Send us a text

Support the show

@profileswithmaggielepique
@maggielepique