A walking encyclopaedia of US music, Ry Cooder has been a bastion for Americana, folk, blues and gospel throughout his entire career. In 1978 he released Jazz, a collection of songs that paid tribute to some of the genre’s earliest pioneers, including trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke (In A Mist, Flashes), while placing jazz in the wider context of popular music in the early 1900s (a take on actor and singer Bert Williams’ Nobody; Milton Ager and Jack Yellen’s Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)). Recorded for broadcast on the long-running Chicago-based TV show Soundstage. ‘The Legendary Soundstage Broadcast 1978’ captures the guitarist backed with an 11-piece band (mandolin, horn section, vibraphone, piano bass and drums) and a gospel quartet, presenting his audience with a show that’s as much a history lesson as it was a chance to marvel at Cooder’s virtuosity.