In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond

2011-02-26

While this podcast does not have a central theme, there is a lot of great music here. The set starts off with some great women jazz artists. Regina Carter's rhythmic African beats and soaring violin begins the program. That is followed by Esperanza Spalding's unique arrangement fusing jazz and classical music in a unique and beautiful way. Christine Jensen finishes the set with a swinging hard bop quartet and a smokin' sax solo. The gem of the program is up next with an early Chick Corea album Inner Space. Dig solos by Joe Farrell, Woody Shaw and Chick in this fine ensemble. I also feature some great sax players currently active in the New York City scene, Mike DiRubbo, JD Allen, Albert Rivera and Stacy Dillard. Other horn players like Brad and Elliot Mason (Trumpet, Trombone) have a new CD that deserve your attention.

Featured Album

Inner Space on amazon.com

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Mandingo Street ~ Regina Carter ~ Rhythms of the Heart
Knowledge of Good and Evil ~ Esperanza Spalding ~ Chamber Music Society
For Tom Harrell ~ Christine Jensen ~ Look Left
Straight Up and Down ~ Chick Corea ~ Inner Space
Lucky 13 ~ Mike Dirubbo ~ Chronos
Se'Lah ~ JD Allen ~ Shine!
24-7 ~ Mason Brothers ~ Two Sides, One Story
Inner Peace ~ Albert Rivera ~ Inner Peace

Running the gamut

This show definitely runs the gamut through many styles of jazz. Whether its rocking out with Return to Forever and Frank Zappa, vocalizing with Esperanza and Elling, or straight ahead swinging with Joe Lovano Steve Davis and Mike Dirubbo... its all jazz and its all good. By the way, congratulations to Esperanza Spalding for her Grammy award in the best new artist award. See my review of her latest album Chamber Music Society. Its great to see the Academy give jazz some respect.

Featured Album

Chamber Music Society at amazon.com

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Sorceress ~ Return to Forever ~ Anthology
Inca Roads ~ Frank Zappa ~ One Size Fits All
Blessed Relief ~ Frank Zappa ~ Grand Wazoo
74 Miles ~ Cannonball Adderley ~ Phenix
Steppin' Out ~ Kurt Elling ~ The Gate
Barbados ~ Joe Lovano Us Five ~ Bird Songs
Wild is theWind ~ Esperanza Spalding ~ Chamber Music Society
Bird Lives ~ Steve Davis ~ Update
Minor Progress ~ Mike DiRubbo ~ Chronos
Long Way From Home ~ Albert Rivera ~ Re-Introduction

Valentines 2011

A Valentine of jazz is the theme for this podcast. These songs were inspired by the most glorious and intense emotion of love. Love has been the subject and inspiration of so much music and art of all kinds, and jazz is no exception. We hear in this show some of the most revered works of this genre's giants like Miles and Coltrane, and some lesser known artists as Cyrus Chestnut, Kent Hewitt, and Steve Kuhn. I hope this podcast can be a soundtrack for your Valentines day.

Featured Album

Cookin' With The Miles Davis on amazon.com

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Follow Your Heart ~ Joe Farrell ~ The Joe Farrell Quartet
My Funny Valentine ~ Miles Davis ~ Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quartet
My Funny Valentine ~ The Skye Steele Quintet ~ Late Bloomer
My Foolish Heart ~ Bill Evans ~ At the Village Vanguard
My One and Only Love ~ John Coltrane ~ The Gentle Side of Coltrane
So In Love ~ Chick Corea ~ Live in Montreaux
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ~ Cyrus Chestnut ~ Genuine Chestnut
Sunny ~ Steve Kuhn ~ Love Walked In
For Turiya ~ Ravi Coltrane ~ Blending Times
My Romance ~ Kent Hewitt ~ Time On My Hands
Love in Exile ~ Salim Washington & RBA ~ Love in Exile

Sax Stuff

This weeks show featured some hot sax playing by jazz artists, new and old. Our featured artist is Mike DiRubbo, an alto player with roots in the Connecticut area, but now an accomplished player in the NYC scene. Chronos, his seventh album, is an organ trio sound that rocks, grooves and swings as you will hear in this show. I highly recommend this CD. That one is followed by the great Art Pepper in his Village Vanguard performance a few years before passing featuring a quartet that included Elvin Jones. Stacy Dillard is a young tenor sax player with his first CD recorded live at Smalls Jazz Club. We finish with a Joe Lovano find of one of his first CD's as a leader with a great quintet. We hear Joe in a gorgeous piano duet followed by the full quintet. Hope you dig.

Featured Album

Chronos on amazon.com or

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Rituals ~ Mike DiRubbo ~ Chronos
Eight For Elvin ~ Mike DiRubbo ~ Chronos
The Trip ~ Art Pepper ~ Saturday Night at the Village Vanguard
Stizzozo ~ Stacy Dillard ~ One
Ageless ~ Stacy Dillard ~ One
Duke Ellington's Sound of Love ~ Joe Lovano Quintet ~ Village Rhythm
Sleepy Giant ~ Joe Lovano Quintet ~ Village Rhythm

Seasons

First and foremost on everyones mind is this harsh Winter. We pay respect to the seasons with tonights playlist. Starting with the Marsalis rendition of Winter Wonderland. Wynton's version of this classic tune conveys the wonder and beauty of the snowy landscape around us. Gil Scott Heron's portrays a darker political side of Winter in America. Zappa makes light of the yellow snow in his inimitable way. The next set makes us look forward to Spring. The title of Eric Alexander's piece says it all with You Must Believe in Spring. That is followed by two great trumpeters, Freddie Hubbard and Clifford Brown's tribute to Springtime. Joshua Redman does an uptempo swinging version of Summertime and we go the full cycle of seasons with Joe Lovano's beautiful ballad Autumn in New York. We bring it all together with Brian Blade and the Fellowship doing Blade's epic Season of Changes. The show concludes with UCONN's own jazz director Earl MacDonald from his great album of modern arrangements for large ensembles, Mr. Sunshine.

Featured Album

Season Of Changes on amazon.com

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Winter Wonderland ~ Wynton Marsalis ~ A Jazzy Wonderland
Winter in America ~ Gil Scott Heron ~ The First Minute of a New Day
Don't Eat the Yellow Snow ~ Frank Zappa ~ Apostrophe
You Must Believe in Spring ~ Eric Alexander ~ Revival of the Fittest
Up Jumped Spring ~ Freddie Hubbard ~ Born to be Blue
Joy Spring ~ Clifford Brown & Max Roach ~ Joy Spring
Summertime ~ Joshua Redman ~ Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)
Autumn in New York ~ Joe Lovano ~ Joyous Encounter
Season of Changes ~ Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band ~ Season of Changes
Mr. Sunshine ~ Earl MacDonald ~ Re:Visions

New England Winter

The temperatures in New England are hovering in the single digits, snow is piled high and there doesn't seem to be relief in sight. So I can't think of anything much better than hanging out at home and listening to a great jazz podcast. This one starts with some brilliant playing from John Scofield and his quintet including Brad Mehldau and Kenny Garrett. Next is a little known gem from Herbie Hancock. That is followed by a pair from Noah Preminger's new album Before the Rain. This is an album of haunting melodies and exploration from one of the most promising young tenor players on the free jazz scene. See my complete review of this album here. Noah is followed by a couple of great tracks from Keith Jarrett and Ravi Coltrane. The program ends with a classic from Alice Coltrane.

Featured Album - CD Review here

Before The Rain on amazon.com

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Do I Crazy ~ John Scofield ~ Works for Me
Tell Me a Bedtime Story ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Fat Albert Rotunda
What Goes Up Must Come Down ~ Myron Waldon ~ Momentum
K ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before the Rain
November ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before the Rain
Everything the Lives, Laments ~ Keith Jarrett ~ Mysteries
Someday My Prince Will Come ~ Keith Jarrett ~ Up For It
Shine ~ Ravi Coltrane ~ Blending Times
For Turiya ~ Ravi Coltrane ~ Blending Times
Journey In Satchidananda ~ Alice Coltrane ~ Journey In Satchidananda

The Kitchen Sink

There is no theme, not one artist or album featured. There is new music, old music, and some classic jazz in this podcast. You will get a taste of some avant-garde jazz, straight ahead hard bop and even some sweet vocals. This is the kitchen sink of jazz in this podcast. For the last few weeks I have been playing some tunes from a fine new CD from Jane Ira Bloom, so I'll place the image and a link to that CD here.

Featured Album

Wingwalker on amazon.com

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
No Turning Back ~ Sharel Cassity ~ Relentless
Live Sports ~ Jane Ira Bloom ~ Wingwalker
How High the Moon ~ Dana Lauren ~ Stairway to the Stars
Abreaction ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before the Rain
Dew Point ~ George Schuller's Circle Wide ~ Like Before, Somewhat After
Bird Calls ~ Charles Mingus ~ Mingus Ah Um
Boogie Stop Shuffle ~ Chris Potter ~ Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard
Ras Abu-Galum ~ Omer Avital ~ The Ancient Art of Giving
From All Angles ~ Albert Rivera ~ Inner Peace

A Slow and Mellow Set

This is a fill-in for another jazz show on WHUS. Since my regular show was mostly pre-empted for sports broadcasting, its a good thing I recorded this one. It turned out to be a very mellow show, but one that features some of the best artists and their most recent releases. Charles Lloyd's latest, Mirror, plays it surprisingly straight though breaks out occasionally within this format. Kieth Jarrett lays down some gorgeous piano lines with full and able support from bass titan Charlie Haden. We hear a couple from young tenor lion Noah Preminger from his soon to be released CD which will be featured on next weeks show. This podcast ends with tracks from trumpeter Wallace Roney and Robert Glasper giving some Herbie love with their interpretation of Hancock compositions.

Featured Album

Mirror

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Freud's Convertable ~ Jane Ira Bloom ~ Wingwalker
Mirror ~ Charles Lloyd Quartet ~ Mirror
The Water is Wide ~ Charles Lloyd Quartet ~ Mirror
One Day I'll Fly Away ~ Keith Jarrett - Charlie Haden ~ Jasmine
I'm Going to Laugh You Right Out of My Life ~ Keith Jarrett - Charlie Haden ~ Jasmine
Quickening ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before The Rain
Toy Dance ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before The Rain
I Have a Dream ~ Wallace Roney ~ If Only For One Night
Butterfly ~ Robert Glasper Experiment ~ Double Booked
All Matter ~ Robert Glasper Experiment ~ Double Booked