NPR Music has compiled and published a list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women, albums with women at their center as artists, songwriters, musicians, and producers. Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors launched its free summer 2017 season by bringing NPR Music’s Turning the Tables Live to the Damrosch Park Bandshell on July 26. Hosted by NPR radio jocks, the production featured live performances by Rickie Lee Jones, Lizzo, Gabby Moreno, Roberta Flack and Valerie Simpson, Nona Hendryz, TORRES, Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff, and Ronnie Spector.
Rickie Lee Jones began the live music on piano and guitar, accompanied by musicians on horns, guitars, and percussion, to recreate her 1981 album, Pirates, in its entirety. A rotating cast of seven female vocalists then covered classic songs of the album era, identified as 1964 to the present. Pianist, Joe McGinty of the Losers Lounge, led the house band for this latter portion of the show.
The list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women, reportedly compiled by a panel of contributors from NPR Music and the public radio system, forms the basis of monthly radio broadcasts and online features across the NPR system. The list can be found here.
Part 1: Rickie Lee Jones performing the Pirates album
- Living It Up
- A Lucky Guy
- Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)
- We Belong Together
- The Returns
- Skeletons
- Traces of the Western Slopes
- Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking
Part 2
- Lizzo, “Respect” (Aretha Franklin cover)
- Gaby Moreno, “Angelitos Negros” (Roberta Flack cover)
- Roberta Flack, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” (The Shirelles cover, with Valerie Simpson on piano)
- Nona Hendryx, “Nightbird” (LaBelle cover)
- TORRES, “Sometimes” (The Carpenters cover)
- Lizzo, “Ex Factor” (Lauryn Hill cover)
- Alynda Segarra, “Como la Flor” (Sabrina cover)
- Gabby Moreno, “I Never Loved a Man” (Aretha Franklin cover)
- Nona Hendryx, “Respect Yourself” (The Staple Singers cover)
- TORRES, “Cloudbusting” (Kate Bush cover)
- Gabby Moreno, “A Case of You” (Joni Mitchell cover)
- Lizzo, “The Rain”
- Alynda Segarra, “Drunken Angel” (Lucinda Williams cover)
- Ronnie Spector, “Back to Black” (Amy Winehouse cover)
- Ronnie Spector, “Be My Baby” (The Ronettes cover)
