In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond

I have dug out this podcast from 2009 that celebrates the birthdate of John Coltrane (September 23) as well as the Autumnal Equinox. What better way to pay tribute to both than by playing Coltrane's classic Equinox. We'll follow this by Steve Kuhn's rendition of Autumn Leaves. Much more jazz music follows from Ahmad Jamal, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Art Blakey and others.

Featured Album

Love Walked In - Steve Kuhn

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Equinox ~ John Coltrane ~ Coltrane's Sound
Autumn Leaves ~ Steve Kuhn ~ Love Walked In
I Love Music - Ahmad Jamal Trio - Awakening
IIT ~ Rudresh Mahanthappa ~ Apti
ESP ~ Al Foster Quartet ~ Love, Peace and Jazz
Woody and You ~ Ignacio Berroa ~ Codes
Black Belt Bebop ~ Sean Lyons ~ Roar of the Lyons
TIme Off ~ Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers ~ Ugetsu
Cantaloup Island ~ Herbie Hanckock ~ Empyrian Islands

A live in studio performance by The Human Race makes up this weeks podcast. Drummer Dane Scozzari leads this group of fine musicians hailing from the University of Hartford, Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz Studies. Please excuse the sound quality, but there was no sound engineer or mixing board. Hopefully you will feel the vibe as it happened live in the studio. The Human Race is Kyle Aaron - electric piano, Jared Charette - Baritone Sax, Matt Dwonszyk - Bass, Joe Natale - Tenor Sax, Dane Scozzari - Drums.

I get into Herbie Hancock's music in a big way this week. We play his music spanning many decades and styles. Herbie is one of the great creative geniuses of jazz, as you will hear in this setlist. From straight ahead jazz to funk, fusion and pop he injects his own personal style into the music. We also play tracks from Dan Arcamone a unique sounding guitarist and composer. Jen Allen plays a jazz standard on piano, and Dana Lauren serenades us to close out the podcast.

Featured Album

Thrust - Herbie Hancock

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Oliloqui Valley ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Empyrean Isles
Riot ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Speak Like A Child
A Song For You ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Possibilities
Edith and the Kingpin ~ Herbie Hancock ~ River: The Joni Letters
Tell Me A Bedtime Story ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Fat Abert Rotunda
Hang Up Your Hang Ups ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Man-Child
Butterfly ~ Herbie Hancock ~ Thrust
Tides ~ Dan Arcamone ~ In Motion
The Very Thought of You ~ Jen Allen ~ Pieces of Myself
Mean to Me ~ Dana Lauren ~ Stairway to the Stars

We begin this show by honoring the birthdays of a couple of jazz giants. Last week was the birthdays of Sonny Rollins and Elvin Jones. We feature tracks from Rollins' Bridge album and a cookin' Elvin Jones track. From there we get into a few numbers from bassist Ben Williams debut CD. That is followed by another great bass player, Dave Holland. We conclude the podcast with a couple of drummers. Rob Garcia from his just released CD The Drop and the Ocean, and Roy Haynes is the eternally young, jazz master, on this track also features the great Roland Kirk.

Featured Album

State of Art - Ben Williams

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
John S. ~ Sonny Rollins ~ The Bridge
The Shell Game ~ The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine ~ Going Home
Moontrane ~ Ben Williams ~ State of the Art
Part Time Lover ~ Ben Williams ~ State of the Art
Mr. Dynamite ~ Ben Williams ~ State of the Art
Ebb and Flow ~ Dave Holland Octet ~ Pathways
Dewey Square ~ Joe Lovano Us Five ~ Bird Song
Crash ~ Rob Garcia 4 ~ The Drop and the Ocean
If I should Lose You ~ Roy Haynes Quartet ~ Out of the Afternoon

This show recaps our visit to the Jazz Standard in New York to see the Ron Carter Great Big Band. Although this group is not recorded, we play passages from many of the artists that appeared for the Standard gig, including Ron Carter, Steve Davis, Wayne Escoffery, Mulgrew Miller and Russell Malone. Also featured on this broadcast was a brand new album by Ken Fowser and Behn Gillece and Noah Preminger who will both be appearing in the Hartford area soon.

Featured Album

DuoTone - Ken Fowser & Behn Gillece

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Footprints ~ Miles Davis Quintet ~ Miles Smiles
All Blues ~ Ron Carter ~ All Blues
Cousin Mary ~ Steve Davis ~ Crossfire
Cross Bronx ~ Wayne Escoffery ~ Uptown
Comes Love ~ Mulgrew Miller ~ Live At Yoshi's Volume Two
Blues For Mulgrew ~ Russell Mallone ~ Playground
Offset ~ Ken Fowser-Behn Gillece ~ Duotone
Attachment ~ Ken Fowser-Behn Gillece ~ Duotone
Abreaction ~ Noah Preminger ~ Before the Rain

Trumpet reigns supreme in this podcast. We hear from some great trumpet players across many generations. We begin by featuring Josh Evans from his first recording as a leader, and as a sideman on others. Then we hear some classic jazz horn playing from the likes of Donald Byrd, Woody Shaw (w/Larry Young) and the great Miles Davis. The trumpet set concludes with Ambrose Akinmusire, Avishai Cohen and Sean Jones. The podcast concludes with a tribute album to the late Melvin Sparks from Sparkplug led by ex-Sparks sidemen Beau Sasser B3 and Bill Carbone drums and featuring guitarist Ryan Hommell.

Featured Album

Portrait from CD Baby

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
Ray Mac Left Town ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait
Divine Surveillance ~ Winard Harper ~ Make It Happen
The Moontrane ~ Ralph Peterson's Unity Project ~ Outer Reaches
Spring is Here ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait
Off to the Races ~ Donald Byrd ~ Off to the Races
Softly As a Morning Sunrise ~ Larry Young ~ Unity
Seven Steps to Heaven ~ Miles Davis ~ Seven Steps to Heaven
Tear Stained Suicide Manifesto ~ Ambrose Akinmusire ~ When the Heart Emerges Glistening
Dear Lord ~ Avishai Cohen ~ The Trumpet Player
Touch and Go ~ Sean Jones ~ No Need For Words
Whip Whop ~ Sparkplug ~ Sparkplug: The Music of Melvin Sparks

This podcast features some fine debut recordings by young jazz artists with roots in CT and MA. We start with Jen Allen's CD Pieces of Myself. Jen is a fine pianist well known to CT jazz fans. Her CD features her own compositions and arrangements with a mostly straight-ahead jazz romp with some of the areas best musicians. Josh Evan's CD shows his great chops on trumpet as well as his writing skills with a fiery sextet including two tenors. Geoff Vidal from Western Massachusetts delivers a uniquely creative sound with original compositions and some haunting arrangements with his quintet of Brooklyn based musicians. The show also features tunes from recent releases by Brooklyn bassist Michael Feinberg, post-modern jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, and vocalist Tammy Scheffer.

Featured Album

Jen Allen, Pieces of Myself on CDBaby

Track ~ Artist ~ Album
The Repercussions ~ Jen Allen ~ Pieces of Myself
Pining ~ Jen Allen ~ Pieces of Myself
Beatnik ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait
Tehran ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait
Different Planes ~ Geoff Vidal ~ She Likes That
FreeDiver ~ Geoff Vidal ~ She Likes That
The Hard Stuff ~ Michael Feinberg ~ With Many Hands
Duality ~ Vijay Iyer-Prasanna-Nitin Mitta ~ Tirtha
Kum, Shan ~ Tammy Scheffer ~ Wake up Fall Asleep

This is our wrap-up of the Newport Jazz Festival coverage. For this podcast we present some of the lesser known artists that appeared, which also accounted for some of the most compelling performances of the two day event. Of particular note are Ambrose Akinmusire, John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, and Avishai Cohen. For me, the highlight of the festival belonged to Charles Lloyd's Sangam, a trio also featuring tabla master Zakir Hussein and Eric Harland on drums. More coverage of Newport 2011:

• See my photo gallery here.
• My Newport Jazz Festival Review on WHUS web site.
• NPR's excellent coverage with audio and video.

Featured Album

When the Heart Emerges Glistening - Ambrose Akinmusire

Track * Artist * Album
Jaya ~ Ambrose Akinmusire ~ When the Heart Emerges Glistening
Regret (No More) ~ Ambrose Akinmusire ~ When the Heart Emerges Glistening
Guarana ~ John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble ~ Eternal Interlude
Edge ~ Hiromi ~ Spiral
The Fast ~ Avishai Cohen ~ The Trumpet Player
64 Paths Binding ~ Steve Coleman & Five Elements ~ On the Rising of the 64 Paths
On Green Dolphin Street ~ Joey DeFrancesco ~ The Authorized Bootleg
Sangam ~ Charles Lloyd ~ Sangam
Home is Where My Laptop Is ~ Tammy Scheffer ~ Wake Up, Fall Asleep