In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond

Claire, my lovely wife and co-producer of this radio show and podcast, put this playlist together after I had DJ block this week. We start with a brief set dedicated to Trane, with covers and tributes by Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Joel Holmes and the man himself, John Coltrane. We keep the vibe going with great sax players featuring Mike DiRubbo who appeared this week in Hartford, followed by Joshua Redman, Charles Lloyd, Noah Preminger, and Jerry Bergonzi to finish out this week's podcast.

Featured Album

Chronos - Mike DiRubbo on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Afro Blue ~ Gary Burton ~ For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal
Moments Notice ~ Joel Holmes ~ African Skies
Part 2 (Dedicated to John Coltrane) ~ Chick Corea ~ Three Quartets
Mr. P.C. ~ John Coltrane ~ Giant Steps
Chronos ~ Mike DiRubbo ~ Chronos
More Physical ~ Mike DiRubbo ~ Chronos
Chronos ~ Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman, Eric Harland ~ James Farm
I Fall In Love Too Easily ~ Charles Lloyd ~ Mirror
Until The Real Thing Comes Along ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before the Rain
A Different Look ~ Jerry Bergonzi ~ Wiggy

This show will highlight some great jazz cats in the Rochester, NY area. A recent trip to my wife's home town gave us the opportunity to re-connect with the Rochester jazz scene on two successive evenings. In this podcast, we bring you drummer Mike Melito and guitarist Bob Sneider who captivated an audience at a local mexican restaurant. The next track is from The Westview Project, a jazz trio with the addition of Doug Stone on tenor sax. Westview covered some great jazz standards including Dexter Gordon's Cheese Cake which inspired me to open tonight's show with this track. We also featured Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Kenny Garrett on tonight's show. Hope you enjoy.

Featured Album

Mike Melito - In the Tradition on CDBaby

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Cheese Cake ~ Dexter Gordon ~ Go!
Hankerin' ~ Mike Melito ~ In the Tradition
Skylark ~ Mike Melito ~ In the Tradition
Laura ~ Bob Sneider & Joe Locke ~ Nocturn for Ava
Forbidden Fruit ~ The Westview Project ~ Aspire
Theme from the Eulipions ~ Rahsaan Roland Kirk ~ Return of the 5000lb man
Lonnies Lament ~ Kenny Garrett ~ Pursuance: The music of John Coltrane
Equinox ~ Kenny Garrett ~ Pursuance: The music of John Coltrane

This second part of the All Electric show is comprised of nearly all classic jazz-rock fusion from the 70's. Zawinul compositions start off the podcast. 125th is one of the funkiest and swinging Weather Report tunes, followed by a beautiful version of In A Silent Way featuring the WDR big band. You can't do a fusion tribute without including a track from Bitches Brew, and Miles Runs the Voodoo down is my favorite. Finally we play a modern day fusion track from Rudresh's latest album.

Featured Album

Sweetnighter - Weather Report

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
125th Congress ~ Weather Report ~ Sweetnighter
In A Silent Way ~ Joe Zawinul ~ Brown Street with WDR Big Band
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down ~ Miles Davis ~ Bitches Brew
Ahhh ~ Rudresh Mahanthappa ~ Samdhi

This all electric jazz-fusion show is in response to the lack of electricity here in Connecticut following a rare winter snow storm. Hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residence are still without power. Hopefully this show will provide some musical power to warm your inner being. Electric Rendezvous from Al Di Meola sets the pace for the frenetic musicality to come. Chick Corea's Return to Forever follows with more of Di Meola's scorching guitar and Chick's eclectic but swinging keyboard solos. My all-time favorite prog-rock composition, Close to the Edge from Yes shows the influence of rock music on Jazz in the early 70's. Mahavishnu Orchestra's epic composition with a full orchestral backing follows. Mwandishi Herbie Hancock ends part one of this podcast with some early fusion explorations that was heavily influenced by what Miles had been creating at that time.

Featured Album

Apocalypse - Mahavishnu Orchestra on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Electric Rendezvous ~ Al DiMeola ~ Electric Rendezvous
Song to the Pharoah Kings ~ Return to Forever ~ Where Have I Known You Before
Close to the Edge ~ Yes ~ Close to the Edge
Hymn to Him ~ Mahavishnu Orchestra ~ Apocalypse
Ostinato ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Mwandishi

This podcast features some monster players, particularly on alto sax. We start with Greg Abate as we did last week, and expand to some other great alto players in Jackie McLean, Cannonball Adderley and Art Pepper. We move to the tenor next with a couple of tracks from John Coltrane. Trane teams up with Monk and Ellington on these two tracks. We keep to the masters with pianist Bud Powell. It doesn't end there as we continue with a duo from Frank Morgan and John Hicks. We end the podcast with a more modern sound from tenor sax player Donnie McCaslin from his latest CD.

Featured Album

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane - on iTunes

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Frankenstein ~ Greg Abate ~ Monsters In The Night
Jackie's Ghost ~ Jackie McLean ~ Makin' the Changes
Star Eyes ~ Cannonball Adderley ~ Plus
How High The Moon ~ Art Pepper ~ The Hollywood All Stars
Monks Mood ~ Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane ~ At Carnegie Hall
Stevie ~ Duke Ellington and John Coltrane ~ Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
Round Midnight ~ Bud Powell ~ Blue Note Cafe, Paris 1961
Night In Tunesia ~ Bud Powell ~ Blue Note Cafe, Paris 1961
Night In Tunesia ~ John Hicks & Frank Morgan ~ Twogether
Perpetual Motion ~ Donny McCaslin ~ Perpetual Motion

Our featured album, Monsters in the Night from Greg Abate, sets the pace for some monster playing throughout this podcast. We get primed for Abate's upcoming performance at a Halloween concert at Chan's in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on October 28. Next up is Rob Garcia 4 from a new CD that was featured at last night's show in New Haven. We play one from his album and then tracks from CD's from the rest of the band, Noah Preminger, Dan Tepfer and Joe Martin. We also feature new albums by Rudresh Mahanthappa and a compilation CD of Miles inspired music called Miles Español.

Featured Album

Monsters In the Night - Greg Abate Quintet

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Transylvania ~ Greg Abate ~ Monsters in the Night
Monsters in the Night ~ Greg Abate ~ Monsters in the Night
Crash ~ Rob Garcia 4 ~ The Drop and the Ocean
Peal, Repeal ~ Dan Tepfer ~ Five Pedals Deep
Abreaction ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before the Rain
In the Meantime ~ Joe Martin ~ Not By Chance
For All The Ladies ~ Rudresh Mahanthappa ~ Samdhi
El Swing ~ Various ~ Miles Español, New Sketches of Spain

Just some random tunes on a brisk autumn eve. Starting out with some new music, strings and all from Ben Williams, we transition to another new release from Brooklyn based Rob Garcia 4 and his album of original compostions. Rob and his quartet will be appearing next Friday Oct 21 at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT. Rudresh Mahanthappa is on fire on the next track from his new album Samdhi. We chill out after that with tracks from Ambrose Akinmusire, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Lloyd and the Hammond B3 based group Cinque.

Featured Album

The Drop and the Ocean - Rob Garcia 4

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Little Susie ~ Ben Williams ~ State of Art
Will ~ Rob Garcia 4 ~ The Drop and the Ocean
River ~ Rob Garcia 4 ~ The Drop and the Ocean
Killer ~ Rudresh Mahanthappa ~ Samdhi
Regret (No More) ~ Ambrose Akinmuire ~ When the Heart Emerges Glistening
Little Sunflower ~ Freddie Hubbard ~ Backlash
Boston Baked Beans ~ Avery Sharpe Trio ~ Autumn Moonlight
Dancing on One Foot ~ Charles Lloyd ~ Sangam
Bolivia ~ Cinque ~ Catch a Corner

This podcast celebrates the great time had at the Northampton Jazz Festival in western Massachusetts. We feature a great CD by young tenor sax player Geoff Vidal who appeared at the fest with Linda Oh, also featured here. Also at the festival was Marcus Strickland's Quintet and Jonathan Kreisberg, a fine guitarist. We conclude the podcast with a couple of relatively new cats on the jazz scene that we have been taking notice of lately, Joel Holmes and Josh Evans.

Featured Album

Geoff Vidal-She Likes That from CDBaby

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Darjeeling ~ Geoff Vidal ~ She Likes That
Lanusa ~ Geoff Vidal ~ She Likes That
Patterns ~ Linda Oh ~ Entry
Numero Uno ~ Linda Oh ~ Entry
Altered Ego ~ Jonathan Kreisberg ~ The South of Everywhere
The Notage Cottage ~ Marcus Strickland ~ Twi-Life
Impressions ~ Joel Holmes ~ African Skies
The Moment of Truth ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait