CiTR -- The Jazz Show

Leonard Bernstein was a musician, composer, conductor and a world ambassador for quality music and understood Jazz music. He understood it's inner workings and respected Jazz players as much as his fellow classical players. In this recording that was done in 1956, Bernstein explains what Jazz is and what it isn't. He plays examples himself and uses many great players such as Duke Ellington, Louis...

This capsule history of Jazz with recorded examples is narrated by the erudite and lucid alto saxophone master Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. It was recorded in 1960 but is still entertaining and relevant as a historical document. It is Part 1 of our "back to school" idea that we do on The Jazz Show every September. Mr Adderley was well qualified to do a recording like this as he was not only a goo...

Master tenor saxophonist Stan Getz in one of his great artistic and innovative triumphs. Seven compositions for strings were written by the great Eddie Sauter and Mr. Getz improvises over them. Seems simple doesn't it? However when you combine the genius of Getz with the fine craftsmanship of Mr. Sauter then you have an unbeatable combination. This album has entered the realm of "Jazz classics" an...

This is a rather rare Prestige album recorded in January of 1966. Bobby Timmons was a very distinctive pianist who had many sides, one being that he could generate a lot of heat and exciteement with some very bluesy gospel flavoured playing but he also could be just as distinctive playing in a more straight ahead Bud Powell oriented style and yet preserving his identity. It's the latter style and...

This was the first album under his name of composer/arranger/tenor saxophonist Bill Holman. He first got recognition as a saxophonist and arranger/composer for Stan Kenton then went on to occasionally form his own big band for a few dates and a possible recording session. By dint of his residence in Los Angeles, Holman was able to recruit many of the finest studio/Jazz players in L.A.This he did o...

This album was the first domestically released album by Miles Davis' "Second Great Quintet" which included tenor saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. This album indicated a new change for Miles Davis in that a lot of his old standard repertoire was being replaced by compositions by himself and the band including works by Shorter,...

This marvelous album is tonight's Jazz Feature and as it is the first night of The Jazz Show's new policy, The Jazz Feature will be heard right after our theme and initial intro....right after 9pm instead of the old time of after 11pm. The Jazz feature is Montreal based Christine Jensen and her Jazz Orchestra. This album called "Habitat" won the 2014 Juno Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. The ba...

This album which is one of Lee Morgan's finest ironically was recorded in 1964 and never released until 1981 when the Blue Note vaults were researched. It was more than a pleasant surprise when it was finally put out. Lee Morgan had made an astonishing comeback with his recording "The Sidewinder" and had overcome his personal problems to emerge a greater more mature musician. He was still only 26...

This album is a creative step-up for pianist McCoy Tyner who had signed with Blue Note Records after his tenure with John Coltrane. McCoy chose an all-star group for this date that took place in 1968.Woody Shaw is on trumpet, Gary Bartz on alto saxophone and the great Wayne Shorter is on tenor saxophone. Ron Carter who is best known as a bassist plays his first instrument here: the cello. He is he...

Stan Kenton's Orchestra over the years covered just about every style of music imaginable. From simple dance music to the most complex semi-classical scores. This album called "Contemporary Concepts" is Kenton at his most swinging. It is serious Jazz and features a range of exciting soloists like alto saxophonists Lennie Niehaus and Charlie Mariano, to tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins, trombonists C...

This date was recorded live at a small club in Watts called the Black Orchid on August 15,1961. It is a recording of a one-night stand by the great voice of the tenor saxophone: Gene Ammons..... backed by the the club's house band led by organ master Richard "Groove" Holmes with guitarist Gene Edwards and drummer Leroy Henderson. These small neighborhood clubs dotted the Afican-American inner-citi...

This legendary date by a legendary pianist/composer is considered by many to be his masterpiece. Elmo Hope was a friend and contemporary of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk and grew up with them. Hope's career was spotty and his recordings few and his life was blighted by drug addiction and ill health but his musical legacy is firm. During his four years in Los Angeles from 1956 to 1959 he had a few...

Dexter Gordon was a pioneer of Modern Jazz and influenced a whole school of saxophone players including John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. This live set recorded in Copenhagen at that city's most famous Jazz club The Montmartre during Gordon's happy and productive European sojourn. Dexter is accompanied by the finest rhythm section in Europe with two American ex-pats: pianist Kenny Drew and drummer...

A most unique ensemble...a real "living room band". The Jimmy Giuffre 3. Mr Giuffre on clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophones, Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone and Jim Hall on guitar. This unit only made one recording and this is it. Giuffre was a wonderful musician/composer/arranger who explored every type of music from straight-ahead Jazz to the outer reaches of the avant-guard and free-form...

One of the finest recordings by one of the most popular and critically overlooked tenor saxophonists in Jazz: Illinois Jacquet. Often dismissed as a screamer and a showboater, Jacquet remains a misunderstood major voice of the tenor saxophone. The truth is Mr. Jacquet was an outgoing player and was always out to please his audience but was always musical and harmonically sophisticated. Possessing...

The whole show tonight is dedicated to the 2014 edition of the T.D. Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Guest host and one of the founding fathers of the Jazz Festival is John Orysik, the festival's Media Director. John will discuss the festival and pick the music to be heard while Gavin Walker will be here to interject a few words as well. The Jazz Show's annual tribute to Vancouver's most rec...

Andrew Hill was a unique and wonderful composer/pianist. Andrew attracted the ear of Blue Note head honcho, Alfred Lion when Hill moved to New York in 1963. Hill appeared as a sideman on Hank Mobley's classic "No Room For Squares" date and Mr. Lion immediately signed Andrew to a contract and produced Andrew's first album for Blue Note the now classic "Black Fire". Hill made many records for the la...

Guitarist Grant Green seemed to suddenly appear on the national Jazz scene from out of nowhere appearing on Blue Note Records as a leader and as a sideman in the early 60s. He had honed his skills in his hometown of St. Louis MO and was asked to come to New York by alto saxophone master Lou Donaldson who recommended him to Blue Note's honcho Alfred Lion. Green became a favourite and recorded frequ...

Miles Davis and his band which he called "Directions" was at this time playing music alongside some of the great rock stars of the day. Davis' music had changed and he was using electric instruments and some rock elements as well and had dropped the standards and tunes like "Walkin'" and "So What" from his repertoire. The music here is an extension of the concepts found on "Bitches Brew" (his best...

Bob Belden wrote this music for a 69 piece orchestra to portray the life of Elizabeth Short aka "The Black Dahlia". Her full story is on the web but the music can stand on it's own. Moody, introspective and sometimes dream, exotic and exciting. This huge project features work by trumpeters Tim Hagans and Lew Soloff, saxophonists Lawrence Feldman, Mike Migliore, Joe Lovano and Bob Belden and trombo...

This album recorded in August of 1957 is an important milestone in the recorded legacy of John Coltrane. By the time of this recording he had broken his drug habit and kept a heavy practice schedule plus he had joined one of the most important and ground breaking bands in Jazz music....the Thelonious Monk Quartet. With this date even the critics who had been very harsh to Coltrane (with the except...

Today (April 21) is the 82nd Birthday of one of the world's great Jazz trombonists and an incredible composer/arranger Lockesly Wellington Hampton....better known as "Slide". He became a competent trombonist when he was young and soon graduated to playing with known bands led by Lionel Hampton (no relation) and Maynard Ferguson. He also wrote arrangements and compositions for those bands and other...

This Jazz Feature is a short concert performed in Sweden at the Ahus Jazz Festival in July of 1973 with the great tenor saxophonist playing with pick-up rhythm section of US ex-pats. The people involved with Mr. Ammons are Horace Parlan on piano, Red Mitchell on bass and a fairly unknown drummer named Ed Jones. They provide Gene Ammons with the right backing and although he had about a year to liv...

The recordings are considered some of the finest of Billie Holiday's long career. They are three recording dates done for a small independent label called Commodore Records run by a musically sensitive producer named Milton Gabler. Gabler loved and respected Miss Holiday and wished to present her with HER choice of material in the best possible setting. These recordings were done firstly in April...

This wonderful recording that seems to be overlooked was Monk's penultimate recording for Columbia Records and the final official documentation of his Quartet with the great tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse. They do three new Monk compositions on this disc. The rest were performed at a later date with Rouse absent due to a death in his family so it is Monk with his regular accompanists, Larry Gales...