Discovering Jazz

Part 2 of essential jazz albums for those of us still in the beginner ‘discovery’ process. Which, I suspect, most of us are—considering the wealth of amazing jazz recordings out there! This week, I start off with a track from Dave Brube

What you’ll be hearing is tracks from great jazz albums. I’m continually being introduced to jazz, even though I’ve been doing this podcast for over five years. So, here I am again being a ‘newbie’ and listening to (or re-li

Although most of my episodes of this podcast seem to have themes, sometimes I like the flexibility of not having any theme whatsoever. This week I’m playing a few recordings that have come into my consciousness recently. Most are new discoveries an

It’s often really difficult for a podcaster, interviewer, or mc to know how to pronounce a particular jazz artist’s name. Sometimes the artist themselves might even ‘change’ the pronunciation to accommodate the more ‘common&

This week’s and next week’s episode focuses on right and wrong ways to pronounce the names of certain jazz artists. I demonstrate lots of mis-pronunciations, then try to correct them. And it gives me an excuse to play some great music, by the

This is the last of my three part series on great new historical releases. I start off with a previously unreleased Miles Davis performance from the Montreal Jazz Festival, 1983. Then follow it with some Miles Davis alumni—Bill Evans and John Coltr

The recording quality of some of the live performances that have been recently unearthed, restored, and enhanced is incredible! Two of the best are from The Charles Mingus Lost Album from Ronnie Scott’s, and Dave Brubeck Trio (sans Paul Desmond) Li

New Discoveries and re-releases are represented in this three part series. Some have been recently ‘unearthed’…and new technology used to make the tapes sound so good! Others have been reissued and remastered. For Part 1, you’ll h

We lost a true jazz great March 2nd: composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. In this episode I play music from his earliest to his latest years, with a few clips from fans, other musicians, and one from Mr. Shorter himself.

For this episode I play some music from some modern big bands: You’ll hear The Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with John Pizzarelli, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, and Kansas Smitty’s. One somewhat older big band too–Maynard Ferguson Orche

What if Bebop never happened? And ‘swing’ evolved into something very different from the swing of the 30’s, 40’s, and even 50’s? That’s the question I asked of jazz musicians and aficionados who frequent the JazzWorld

Bebop, Part 2, tells you more about what it is, why it happened, and why it ‘took over’ jazz—despite it never really catching on with the public. I play older bebop recordings by Charlie Parker, Bob Dorough, Ornette Coleman, John Coltra

Bebop was the ‘modern jazz’ of the early to mid 1940’s. And it’s still considered ‘modern jazz’. It is a genre that has lasted! And developed….with most new recordings being described as ‘post bop’ or

I’ve discovered a lot of great music over the past two months—thanks to those top 10 lists compiled by 97 reviewers and critics. A handful of those albums would probably go on my own Top 10 list, were I to make one. In this episode I play tra

I’ve tabulated the results of 97 reviewers and their top 10 albums lists for 2022. Here are the albums followed by the number of votes each one received. Mary Halvorson: Amaryllis (also Belladonna…not quite so often) 31 Cecille McLorin Salvan

There have been a total of 480 albums that 97 reviewers placed on their top 10 lists. That’s a lot! Wish I could listen to them all. But here’s a few I did listen to—at least in part—and want to play for you. This way you and I ar

Part two of a five part series focusing on albums from 2022 that jazz reviewers and critics have put on their ‘top 10’ lists. This week you’ll hear two Canadian ensembles–one from Vancouver called the Cookers Quintet led by Bernie

Beginning a five part series talking about and playing some of last year’s recordings about which jazz aficionados are *raving*. I’m jotting down every record placed in any of the ‘top 10’ (or so) jazz albums of 2022 lists. Then p

No particular theme for this last podcast of 2022. But here are a few new and a couple older recordings that I’ve discovered recently—and am enjoying. In terms of newer recordings, You’ll hear Emmet Cohen, Billy Drummond and Freedom of

A lot of focus on how *playing* jazz (as well as listening to it) helps us. It starts with a short clip from Victoria musician Brian Tate about improvising as ‘saying yes’….sort of like a going with the flow. Lots of ‘flow’

The therapy might be in the lyrics, the music, or the inspiration from the player’s journey. I play recordings by Ben Webster, Nina Simone, Tony Kofi, Ruth Brown, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker. From France, you’ll hear trumpeter and sing

Here I play recordings I like that have been made very recently Lots of great Christmas and Winter tunes (both known and unknown). Played and sung by some of the best modern recording artists. My favourite? Ever hear Julie Christie’s “Hang Th

This episode features jazz tunes where there is some contention about who actually wrote it. For example, I put the writer of Nature Boy, Eden Ahbez on trial. Did he plagiarize the melody of Nature Boy from Herman Yablonskoff? He did end up paying Yablon

Since I just moved from Victoria B.C. to Edmonton Alberta—-in the midst of the wind and snow—I thought it would be a good idea to explore the Alberta jazz scene. I guarantee you’ll hear some great music in this episode! Some of them are

My own jazz roots are very different from that of most jazz fans. I explored them in Episode 100, This episode is a further exploration. Warning! The music isn’t all jazz. But they all have some connection with jazz…at least for me. Many of t