Jazz Bastard Podcast

The boys sit down for a nice chat with trombonist, composer, and very busy guy in general Steve Davis, who reminisces about his experiences with Art Blakey and other luminaries, specifically pianist and eldest member of one of the great jazz families, Hank Jones. We learn about how Steve's trio project with Mr. Jones came together, why it was recorded in 2008 but released in two volumes much...

Hewing to our promise made in oaths of blood and tears, the bastards talk about four more releases from this banner year of 2026. The bag, my friends, as you may well have guessed, is mixed. Mike and Pat have the same favorite from the episode (hint - the artist has been eligible for social security for decades) but after that, the feelings are as mixed as the bags. Stefon Harris – LEGACY DANCES;...

The boys are sticking to recent releases for the foreseeable future and this episode, inasmuch as it has a discernible theme, is about how different jazz musicians are trying to reach audiences in 2026. Feel free to listen, though, if you are against cerning in any form. Tigran Hamasyan – MANIFESTE; Ben Wolfe – ANY TIME AFTER NOW; New Jazz Underground – HOODIES; Lakecia Benjamin – WE DREAM.

A nice, straight-forward jazz album caught Mike's ear, so he decided to do a podcast devoted to new releases that don't over egg the pudding, or as google suggested, "go all around Robin Hood's barn"? (Google's been drinking again). Anyway, while he came up with two fine straight-ahead examples, Pat's offerings ended up a little thornier, if still on the right si...

Mike is swamped in Spain (with homework, not water), so Pat does an intermediary episode that is .5 by name, .5 by nature. He takes a look at five box sets in three completely made up categories and when he's done you'll still have time to go out for a nice dinner. John Coltrane - THE COMPLETE 1961 VILLAGE VANGUARD RECORDINGS; Charles Mingus - THE COMPLETE 1970s STUDIO RECORDINGS; Miles...

Those of a certain age remember the early eighties, and those with adventurous ears remember it wasn’t all about young lions and retro-cool on the jazz front. A personal hero of Pat’s from this era recently passed, and so here’s another episode devoted to a fallen giant of the music – James Blood Ulmer. Or, as Mike calls him, James High-Blood Pressure Ulmer. Dig him or not, no one brought his kind...

 In this installment, the boys look at some albums by the great Sonny Rollins after the second and best-known of his several sabbaticals, when he spent hours honing his craft on the Williamsburg Bridge. (We talk about the iconic album named after that period on Episode 34.) Mike asks us to tackle these in reverse chronological order - tune in to see why. (How do you "tune" a podcast? You...

The great Sonny Rollins left this dimension on May 25, 2026, and the boys find it only fitting to devote two episodes to the jazz colossus. This first installment looks at four albums from the magical 1950s, when every album Sonny released was an event and even John Coltrane was just an up and coming challenger. Sonny Rollins: TENOR MADNESS!, VOLUME 2, NEWK'S TIME, SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS. 

Back on Episode 247.5 Pat gave an overview of Creed Taylor's famous (infamous?) CTI label that bestrode the first half of the nineteen seventies like a jazz colossus. Now we've got both members of the 'cast weighing in on four of the label's better productions. So comb your sideburns (and your shag rugs) and settle in for a discussion of the best jazz-oriented baby-making label...

We've done vocalists before, but never devoted an episode to the Chairman of the Board. Now we have, so that's off the bucket list. Listen as the boys discusses five of fantastic Mr. Frank's platters, and opine where newbies should get to know this cultural shibboleth. Frank Sinatra - SWING AND DANCE WITH FRANK SINATRA, IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS, CLOSE TO YOU, I REMEMBER TOMMY, FRANCIS...

A common canard about jazz is that the acoustic variety was unsaleable during the 1970s, and while there's a germ of truth in it, lots of exceptions prove that particular rule. This podcast looks at three releases from the early seventies and a little-known English gem from the late sixties. Two of the releases are tasty treats from Manfred Eicher's ECM label, though Mike has a more grap...

As this Spring’s Record Store Day flood of releases floats past our wondering eyes on the stream of time, Pat and Mike discusses four selections you might want to pluck out of the metaphoric water to add to your own collections. Let’s hope we don’t damp your enthusiasm too much. Among other insights, we learn the piano tuner at the Jazz Showcase didn’t have perfect pitch, because he didn’t exist....

The boys take a peek at four releases from 2025 sprawling all over the map. If you ever wondered what would happen if Dave Brubeck met an African percussion ensemble, you're about to find out. You'll also find out why evocations of the "young lions" period gives Pat PTSD, how a vocalist / trumpeter's new release deals with actual trauma, and why putting more sugar on your...

Every now and then the boys bring vocal albums into the mix, but vocal group albums - now those are rarities. This time they take on two, at as opposite ends of the soul spectrum as it's possible to get. There's still room for releases led by instrumentalists, this time by a somewhat "out" bassist and a vibraphonist playing with how "in" he can get. Mario Pavone – TOU...

We try to cover a wide gamut of improvised music in the podcast, buttoday's episode must surely have the widest spread of any recent offering. We've got spiritual jazz from the late sixties, a quartet featuring clarinet from a few weeks ago, an album by a British mover and shaker that could easily be filed under New Age, and an encounter between a saxophonist and guitar player that will...

Have no fear - the boys are not discussing just any four quartets. No, there's a couple of matching sets. An influential album from a certain "European Quartet" confronts its doppelganger from fifty years later; a recent leader date from a guitarist known for his electric work faces off with a work of his youth dating back forty-five years. And if that's not exciting enough, Pa...

It's too early for March Madness, but just in time for the bastards to wrap up their survey of the New York Times' Top Ten list of 2025 jazz albums. Some of the choices give the boys mixed emotions and some barely any emotions at all, but at the end of this journey we can all say one thing for certain- that sure was definitely ten albums of jazz. Pop matters stretches to include a discus...

It's episode two of three covering the New York Times list of Top Ten 2025 jazz albums, and since we generally cover 4 albums a show, and the Times only picked 10 for their top 10 list, we add a couple of our own picks to this "middle" episode to make the math work. We've got a drummer led live date that sounds studio bound, a duet veering towards new age, a bizarre and challen...

It's sort of nearly a yearly ritual - Pat and Mike pick an outlet's top 10 list for the previous year, work their way through it, and pass FINAL JUDGMENT. Because of course these lists are anything but subjective. Mike picked the list this year: the good old New York Times, whose choices have been discussed before in these parts. He's not as grumpy as sometimes about the paper'...

Welcome to 2026! As what will certainly prove to be an interesting year kicks off, the boys dive deeply into little-discussed keyboard master Kirk Lightsey's discography, checking out a couple of leader dates, an unusual duet exploration of a single composer, and a sideman appearance in a saxophonist's band who at least one Allaboutjazz reader finds worthy of a box set. Kirk Lightsey – I...

For our last podcast of 2025 we delve into two very different big band projects, check out a recording by a brass band formed to cheer a guy up on his half-centenary, and dig through crates to pull out a harmolodic gem from the early eighties, when bass knew how to be big. Pop matters is light this week, focusing mostly on an English trio who took on a nickname for residents of Indiana for no appa...

It's that time of year again, when Mike insists on a holiday music themed episode and Pat is too worried about upsetting Santa to say "no." This year's bag o' tunes has very little coal in it, unless you are allergic to smooth jazz. Mike, anyway, thinks his choice is one of the least offensive as the genre goes. You be the judge. Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra – BIG BAND HO...

Join us for a very special interview with Chicago jazz trio Twin Talk, who have made it over a decade without swapping any of the three - count 'em - musicians comprising this fascinating group. Two of those musicians - saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and drummer Andrew Green - join the boys for a wide-ranging discussion about their formative years, goals as a group, musical heroes, and much, muc...

There's a historical selection this podcast, with an alto player whose mid-eighties comeback comprised one of the great jazz narratives. But the rest of the episode is devoted to new releases, with a familiar twangin' guitarist, and two newcomers. Mike brings forth his latest vocal find with trepidation - how much bastardy will Pat bestow upon it? Download and/or stream to find out. Tyre...

It's been a hot minute since the boys did a "pop" episode, but given this very special installment is devoted to jazz-rock gods of the seventies Steely Dan, maybe this doesn't count. The Dan's somewhat controversial 1980's sign-off gets a good look in and then various tributes are dissected, with Pat arguing that jazz musicians need to take the kid gloves off when con...