In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond

Hopscotch

This podcast features new music by artists you may not have heard of like Andrei Matorin and Kris Allen, as well as a creative new composition, Rayeula (Hopscotch) by Miguel Zenon and Laurent Coq. This exciting new music illustrates how dynamic and cutting edge modern jazz music is.

Featured Album

Rayuela on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Smile ~ Andrei Matorin ~ Opus
Song for Abdullah ~ Joel Frahm ~ We Used to Dance
Thoughts Not My Own ~ Curtis Brothers Quartet ~ Blood-Spirit-Land-Water-Freedom
Talita ~ Miguel Zenon and Laurent Coq ~ Rayuela
La Maga ~ Miguel Zenon and Laurent Coq ~ Rayuela
Passing ~ Kris Allen ~ Circle House

Litchfield Jazz

This week's playlist was made in anticipation of the Litchfield Jazz Festival which took place last weekend. It was my first time there and we had a great time. The show starts off with a couple of artists we heard in NYC recently, Kenny Garrett and the LeBoeuf Brothers. Then we get into the Litchfield set. I especially like the Miguel Zenon tracks posted here. Also Donny McCaslin shows off some killer tenor sax chops. We go back to the 1970's with flutist Hubert Laws. Dave Stryker gives us some fine guitar licks and the podcast finishes with vocalist Kevin Mahogany, who closed out this years Litchfield Jazz Festival. We will definitely return to the Litchfield festival next year.

Featured Album

Alma Adentro - The Puerto Rican Songbook - Miguel Zenón on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Boogety Boogety ~ Kenny Garrett ~ Seeds from the Underground
D2D ~ Le Boeuf Brothers ~ In Praise of Shadows
Claire ~ Donny McCaslin ~ Perpetual Motion
Moments Notice ~ Hubert Law ~ In the Beginning
Penta ~ Awake ~ Miguel Zenon
Tiemblas ~ Miguel Zenon ~ Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook
It was a Very Good Year ~ Dave Stryker ~ Big City
Nature Boy ~ Kevin Mohagany ~ Another Time Another Place

The Day Lee Morgan Died

This podcast is a tribute to great trumpet player and jazz composer Lee Morgan. It features Billy Hart telling the tragic story of the day Lee Morgan died. While Billy was not a witness to this event, and his story is pieced together from second and third hand information, it is a fascinating insight into the dark side of the jazz scene in the early 1960's. The podcast begins with Ben Williams telling the story of the life and death of Lee Morgan through music and spoken word. Following is Lee Morgan's music and Billy Hart's words.

Featured Album

Infinity - Lee Morgan on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
The Lee Morgan Story ~ Ben Williams ~ State of Art
Fire ~ Lee Morgan ~ Expoobident
Interview Pt 1 ~ Billy Hart ~ The Day Lee Morgan Died
Zip Code ~ Lee Morgan ~ Infinity
Interview Pt 2 ~ Billy Hart ~ The Day Lee Morgan Died
Sidewinder ~ Lee Morgan ~ The Sidewinder

Newport Jazz Festival Preview 2012

This is our Newport Jazz Festival Preview show for 2012. The festival takes place at Newport RI, Fort Adam State Park next weekend, August 4-5. On this show I outline the lineup for both days, and play some music from the artists we are likely to hear. We are covering the Festival for WHUS FM. We will be taking photos, conducting interviews and live tweeting from the events. Follow Digginjazz on Twitter for more information. If you are at the festival, look for me in my WHUS t-shirt and come over to say hello! Hope to see you there.

Newport Jazz Festival

www.newportjazzfest.net

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Okra & Tomatoes ~ John Ellis & Double Wide ~ Puppet Mischief
Julia ~ Bill Frisell ~ All We Are Saying
Stick and Move ~ Christian McBride ~ Inside Straight
Salsa for Luisito ~ Jack Dejohnette ~ Sound Travels
The Sheik of Things to Come ~ Dave Douglas ~ Meaning and Mystery
My Friend Metatron ~ Bad Plus ~ Never Stop
Who's Minding the Store ~ Dianna Reeves ~ Good Night, and Good Luck
Roofdogs ~ Pat Metheny ~ Unity Band
Dancing On A Great Big Rainbow ~ Ryan Truesdell ~ Centennial Gill Evans
After the Love Has Gone ~ Kurt Elling ~ The Gate
Ahhh ~ Rudresh Mahanthappa ~ Samdhi
As Catch Can ~ Anat Cohen ~ Place and Time
Holding Back the Years ~ Gretchen Parlato ~ The Lost and Found
The Pretty Road ~ Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra ~ Sky Blue
Jaya ~ Ambrose Akinmusire ~ When the Heart Emerges Glistening
Footprints ~ Derek Trucks Band ~ The Derek Trucks Band

... and Beyond

This show exemplifies the "Jazz and Beyond" moniker as many of the tracks have influences well beyond traditional jazz forms. From jazz-rock fusion of Metheny to the classical influences of Dana Leong, Eastern musical forms of Mozumder's mandolin and the merging of jazz to the bluegrass by Bela Fleck and Marcus Roberts. Norway's Marius Neset has a modern jazz style with European influences as well as great jazz chops on tenor sax. This podcast covers a lot of musical and cultural ground.

Featured Album

Golden Xplosion - Marius Neset on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Breakdealer ~ Pat Metheny ~ Unity Band
Mother Nature Suite -Pt 2 Storm Warning ~ Dana Leong Quintet ~ Leaving New York
Angel of the North ~ Marius Neset ~ Golden Xplosion
Epilogue ~ Marius Neset ~ Golden Xplosion
Human Nature ~ Vijay Iyer Trio ~ Accelerando
Indimenco Blues ~ Snehasish Mozumder & SOM ~ Jazz and North Indian Stlles
Across the Imaginary Divide ~ Bela Fleck and Marcus Roberts ~ Across the Imaginary Divide
There's a Small Hotel ~ Dana Lauren ~ It's You or No One
In Nelba's Eyes ~ Jimmy Greene ~ Mission Statement

North Sea Jazz Fest Recap

This podcast recaps our trip to the North Sea Jazz Festival, after returning from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to attend this event. Where possible, I play some of the artists whose performances we attended and some of the compositions that were performed. I recorded many of the artists on stage, and in this podcast I have featured two of those live recordings (Joshua Redman's Axis Sax Quartet, and the Wayne Shorter Quartet). Other notable tracks are from a Norwegian saxophonist named Marius Neset, Pat Metheny, Terri Lynn Carrington and Archie Shepp.

North Sea Jazz Festival 2012 - Wallace Roney

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Song For My Lady ~ McCoy Tyner ~ Song For My Lady
Everyman ~ Dave Douglas ~ Magic Triangle
Echo ~ Terri Lynn Carrington ~ The Mosaic Project
Wild is the Wind ~ Ahmad Jamal ~ It's Magic
Signals (Orchestrion Sketch) ~ Pat Metheny ~ Unity Band
Thanks for the Giving ~ Rez Abbasi's Invocation ~ Suno Suno
Axis Sax Quartet Live Recording ~ Joshua Redman's Axis Sax Quartet
Golden Explosion (+Intro) ~ Marius Neset ~ Golden Xplosion
Wayne Shorter live recording ~ Wayne Shorter
Capricorn II ~ Wayne Shorter ~ Alegria
Syeeda's Song Flute ~ Archie Shepp ~ Four for Trane

NSJF preview part 2

Although the North Sea Jazz Festival 2012 is now history, this podcast is Part 2 of the preview show (see last week's show). I'll have full details of our trip to the Netherlands and a run down of the Festival on next weeks show.

Featured Album

Blending Times - Ravi Coltrane on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Epistrophy ~ Ravi Coltrane ~ Ravi Coltrane
Village Rythym ~ Joe Lovano ~ Villange Rythm
Us Five ~ Joe Lovano ~ Folk Art
Philosophers Stone ~ Van Morrison ~ Still on Top
Beatnik ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait

North Sea Jazz Fest Preview

The NSJ Festival takes place the July 6,7,8 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. We will be attending this amazing event, and this show will preview some of the great artists appearing there. In this show, we feature Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny Unity Band, Joshua Redman, The Bad Plus, Christian Scott, Brian Blade and the Robert Glasper Experiment. This is just a small sampling of the artists that appear on 12 stages simultaneously over three days. For more information check out the website at northseajazz.com .

Featured Album

Unity Band - Pat Metheny on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Footprints ~ Adam's Apple ~ Wayne Shorter
Witch Hunt ~ Speak No Evil ~ Wayne Shorter
Come and See ~ Unity Band ~ Pat Metheny
St Thomas ~ Joshua Redman Quartet ~ Spirit of the Moment
1981 ~ Joshua Redman ~ James Farm
Smells Like Teen Spirit ~ The Bad Plus ~ These are the Vistas
Jenacide ~ Christian Scott ~ Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
Crooked Creek ~ Brian Blade ~ Perceptual
Afro Blue ~ Robert Glasper Experiment ~ Black Radio