Discovering Jazz

Still in the midst of moving to Edmonton—one or two more ‘archives’, then some more new episodes. But the good news is that the archived programs I’m posting are really good! This one includes six jazz tunes—or tunes often p

Birds and bird calls have been quite the inspiration for a lot of jazz as well as classical compositions. You’ll hear a few of those inspired recordings plus the calls of some of the birds who inspired them. Also a bit of Bird—the nickname fo

As I relocate my residence from Victoria to Edmonton, I need to take a few weeks off. So I have a few more episodes from the ‘archives’ before I start with some very interesting and entertaining new episodes. This is Part 2 of Jazz Drumming,

I’ve lived many places, but never came across a city with as many amazing musicians–especially jazz musicians—as I have here in Victoria, B.C. Much of it is thanks to Hermann’s Jazz Club, which began 40 years ago. It started becau

Hello! In this episode I’m playing a few favourite recordings—lp’s and cd’s mostly. They are mostly ones I purchased at used record stores and thrift stores, as well as online, this past summer. Here’s the ‘lineup&#821

Playing a few selected recordings of artists who were highly rated on the latest Downbeat Critics poll. It starts with three tracks from the latest entry into the Jazz Hall of Fame. It finishes with the ‘best historical album’. Between you&#8

More music from jazz musicians who I enoyed seeing and hearing live this past summer. I play four selections where pianist Sullivan Fortner is featured. The first one’s by Cecile McLorin-Salvant, the second from trumpeter Giveton Gelin, and the thi

I’ve had a great summer for music, mostly thanks to the Victoria Jazz Festival. For this first episode of the new season, I’m playing recordings by some of those artists I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing and who most inspired me. Eight

In this episode, Victoria B.C. jazz drummer, composer, and educator, Kelby McNayr talks about the role of percussion in jazz. His thesis that while drumming has changed, it hasn’t necessarily ‘evolved’ is an interesting one. He demonstr

I love hearing interesting stories about the history of certain songs, including how they became popular. In this episode I explore five different songs that have been performed frequently by jazz artists. The first one, Scotch and Soda, nobody knows who

For this episode one of the highlights is a John Coltrane tune that has been described as a sort of ‘training wheels’ for Giant Steps. I also play recordings by Freddie Hubbard, Ornette Coleman, a Wes Montgomery tune by Christian McBride&#821

This is part 3 of a 4 part series on some lesser played or heard tunes from the Real Book 6th Edition—a ‘bible’ for jazz students. This episode includes some obscure and some maybe not-so-obscure tunes from the point of view of the jazz

I had subscribed, from 1978 to 1983 to a series of 3-disk albums by Time Life Records called The Giants of Jazz”. A new one would be delivered to my door every month. They each contained a very detailed booklet including descriptions each recording

A jazz bassist from Peterborough, Ontario, Craig Paterson talks about the music that ‘formed’ him, turning him into a jazz fan. He selected 10 albums, and in this episode he talks about five of them. And we play parts of them for you. At the

From the Archives, some 78rpm records from my collection. 78’s were popular from the turn of the century up into the late 1950’s. One unique thing about 78’s is that you could eat them.   Technically at least!  As well as some great music, you’ll hear Al

Continuing with my summer re-runs of some of the best from past podcasts. Today, Part 4 of a series on Jazz and Politics. It’s mostly music—featuring a few long tracks, such as the whole Freedom Suite by Sonny Rollins. A lot of this music is

A few years ago I put together a series of four Discovering Jazz Podcasts on jazz musicians who played on pop recordings. For these archives, I’m posting Part 3, Episode 26. (You may want to also listen to Episodes 24, 25 and 27 if you like this on

This week, as part of my ‘summer re-runs’, I feature Beatles tunes that have been adapted to jazz. Most are exquisitely done; some maybe not so much. And not only that I interview John Lennon. Okay—not really! What it is is interesting

A program from January of 2018. A lot of real jazz lovers express a rather loud indifference—bordering on contempt—for the role of ‘vocals’ in jazz. Comments like ‘cheesy lounge singers’, ‘they keep the instrumen

For my final podcast of the season (but don’t worry—I’ll be posting ones from the archives weekly), I play more artists performing at this year’s Victoria Jazz Fest, 2022. Lots of music this episode, and not much talk. You’l

Putting together these three episodes allows me to find the time to listen to a bit of every performer coming to the upcoming Victoria Jazz Fest, Jun 24th to July 3rd (2022). And what a stellar line-up! In terms of straight jazz—this episode includ

Jazz is best enjoyed live! Watching musicians interacting with each other on stage, as well as with their instrument can be quite exciting. Coming up is The Victoria Jazz Festival June 24th to July 3rd. My plan is to listen to recordings of all the perfo

Jazz has continuously evolved as a result of freeing itself from constraints. According to Steve Haines, jazz bassist and director of the Miles Davis Jazz studies program at the university of North Carolina, jazz as taught in music institutions today is

Steve Haines, professor and interim director of the Miles Davis Jazz Studies program at University of North Carolina talks about what he sees as the most essential elements of jazz. And we play music to illustrate some of those elements. What are the ess

If somebody asks you if you like jazz, how can you answer? There are so many sub-genres of jazz around today: hard-bop, be-bop, swing, fusion, Bossa Nova or Latin, funk, free jazz, Cool jazz, Afro-Cuban, world jazz, smooth jazz, astral jazz, etc. etc. et