Discovering Jazz

This week I play a couple different versions of five different jazz standards. The five are: I Want To Be Happy, Embraceable You, Milestones, God Bless the Child, and Impressions. One of those tunes came about after another tune by the same name was reco

It was Eldridge Cleaver who was best known for saying “You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem”. Jazz is music born of the African-American experience, and, in order to be part of the soluti

This program features jazz artists who started playing their primary instrument relatively late in life. ‘Relatively’ might be anything later than early childhood (considering how many were child prodigies). Others started playing early but d

I find that with jazz, like any genre of music, there might be one to five percent of the music that truly resonates with me. With the posts that reach me through facebook or gmail, I end up having to listen to a lot of them in order to find that 1 to 5

I’ll tell you the stories—-and you can figure out which tune I’m talking about. Or, better yet, listen to the podcast and find out :). #1: The primary writer was a member of the National Association for The Advancement of Colored People

Six more compositions jazz players like to play and a few tidbits of information about each one. You’ll hear some of the famous Miles Davis composition, Solar, under the name “Sonny”—written and recorded on an acetate 8 years befo

You’ll hear anywhere from one to three versions of each of these 6 jazz compositions. Two of those recordings are also a tribute to two jazz artists who recently died as a result of COVID19: Lee Konitz and Wallace Roney. The tunes are: East of the

Today is an exploration of my own jazz roots, a continuation of episode 100 where I first introduced you to some tunes that influenced me to discover more about this interesting musical genre. Most of those ‘root’s are old ones. But I’m

Even during the most trying times we deserve to have a bit of fun. This week we’ll make the best of a bad situation and hear some music that relates to what we are going through. I play recordings by the late Bucky Pizzarelli, as well as Karin Plat

A lot of jazz and classical music has been inspired by the singing of birds. Including a few Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker tunes. Today’s episode includes music of the veery thrush, a song thrush, a loon, and a northern mockingbird. And how

Starting with two drums and a fife providing the entertainment at New Orleans picnics and funerals, and finishing with Canadian drummer Claude Ranger. We talk about the development of the drum, and Kelby McNayr takes us through some of the components of

With a party! But maintaining distancing. I’m exploring my own jazz roots which I’m pretty sure are pretty different from how most jazz aficionados discovered jazz. It wasn’t the great works of Charlie Parker or Miles Davis that did it

The great and legendary jazz pianist, known for his recordings with John Coltrane and his original compositions, died March 6th of this year. He had one of the most powerful left hands in jazz–but he actually gained a reputation as a composer even

This week I talk with amazing drummer, composer, and band leader, Kelby McNayr. Kelby has evolved into one of the most important ‘leaders’ in the Victoria jazz scene and is a first call drummer for virtually everybody! This episode features m

Investigating a ‘story’ about a song can take a lot of time and effort. I do that as I track the interconnection among three Duke Ellington compositions. And the jury is still out. You’ll also hear three great Cole Porter songs, interpr

Welcome to a series of “Discovering Jazz” episodes about compositions that jazz musicians play that seem to have an interesting story. So what’s an example of an ‘interesting story’?. How about this one? Today when a new jaz

February as Black History Month has its roots as early as 1915, thanks to being the birthdays of Frederick Douglass–an abolitionist, writer, and statesman who had escaped slavery, and president Abraham Lincoln. In Canada this year the theme is &#82

The last of this series of some of the best recordings of lesser known tunes found in the jazz student’s ‘bible’—The Real Book, 6th Edition. Here is what you’ll hear today: The Intrepid Fox by Freddie Hubbard Central Park We

The Real Book, 6th Edition, is commonly used by jazz musicians and students as a ‘guide’ for learning different well-known and not-so-well known jazz tunes. This current 4 part series focuses on the ‘not-so-well-known’. Another gr

One of the best ways to ‘discover’ jazz is to try playing it—on whatever instrument (including voice) that you feel most comfortable. I’ve been trying that with my keyboard and The Real Book, Sixth Edition. When I come up to the p

The “Real Book”, Sixth Edition, is sort of like a ‘bible’ for beginning jazz students.  It consists of 400 jazz tunes, ranging from compositions written by jazz musicians to some of the great Broadway tunes that have become jazz s

I’ve taken some time to explore the 75 best albums of 2019 according to the British publication, Uncut, as well as their top 30 reissues and some top rated albums from the January 2020 issue. The purpose?  To see how much jazz one can find in some

Today I’m playing a track from each of the seven albums that received a 5 star review in Downbeat Magazine in 2019.  As well, there is one album by a Canadian who The Ottawa Citizen jazz reviewer rated as not just the best Canadian jazz album of th

Today you will learn a lot about absolute or ‘perfect’ pitch, and hear selections by jazz musicians who possess this faculty.  Also a demonstration from a child who has it, and some descriptions by musicians as to how it has been helpful as w

This is the last of the five part series on Time Life’s Giants of Jazz—28 three record sets with huge booklets featuring swing era musicians who helped define jazz. This week you’ll hear and hear about James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Joh