Discovering Jazz

This episode is part 1 of a three part series on bass players in the world of jazz. I begin with the tuba—which, along with the bass saxophone, was the primary bass instrument in turn of the century New Orleans Jazz. They couldn’t use a strin

Twelve more recordings voted by jazz critics and radio stations as being the best of 2021. I start with Los Angeles pianist Cameron Graves and end with Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga. And between those selections are a variety of straight-ahead and ‘

From perusing a number of ‘best of’ lists, filled with choices of top albums of 2021 by jazz fans and critics, I present tracks from 9 more albums. Some of it is more ‘modern’ sounding–such as Wadada Leo Smith, Floating Poin

This week I play two versions of the tune that students and professional jazz players say is a ‘must learn’ if you’re going to any kind of a jazz jam. I also list other tunes that people from the Jazz World site mentioned when I asked t

You’ve been invited to an informal jam session and you want to make sure you are familiar with the tunes likely to be played or ‘called out’. Which ones do you need to know? I asked this question on a facebook site (The Jazz World) popu

Various websites and magazines put out their ‘best of’ lists for 2021. I chose the first six that came up on Google, and also looked at the summary of the albums most played by jazz radio stations (mostly American) for the year. I listened to

When I searched for ‘the best jazz albums of 2021’ in mid December, I found six sites that listed or ranked their favourites. Some of them were compilations of different critics or fans responses; others I don’t know how they compiled t

A great variety of interesting and excellent music that I’ve downloaded sometime between 2017 and now. Some of it is what we all know as ‘jazz’, including Karryn Allison, Bill Evans Trio, Kenny Washington, Kelly Eisenhour, Billy Childs,

This week I play Christmas and winter holiday music by some of the greatest jazz players and singers of all time. You’ll hear Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, Arti Shaw, Toronto’s Robi Botos, Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, John Col

A jazz fan, Peter Waddell, who says he is not a musician. He once again selects some amazing records and talks about why these particular tracks give him joy. Lots of modern recordings and two historical gems. Since he has commended me for playing on the

A reviewer wrote about my podcast: “Larry shares the findings of his ongoing journey with enthusiasm: …..innovators and perfectors from a century of creative expression; global giants and local joys’ the old and the new’ influence

After Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue took the jazz world by storm, jazz musicians and fans expressed much excitement about what has been termed ‘modal jazz’. This is a sub-genre that uses long passages of unchanging harmony based on differen

This episode was inspired by finding three jazz magazines in a Little Library outside of jazz singer Susannah Adam’s home in Victoria, B.C. There were a bunch of articles on jazz vocalists, including one where Luciana Souza chose some recordings wi

Five songs and the stories behind them. I talk about and play different versions of Round Midnight (aka Round About Midnight), In a Mellow Tone (aka In a Mellotone), Night Train, My One and Only Love, and You Don’t Know What Love Is. And all five o

Hey! This week’s episode of selected downloads are even better than last week’s. At least it felt that way as I was listening to this latest episode. I start it off with a gorgeous version of Autumn Leaves with Laila Biali and a host of some

I’ ve already presented episodes playing some favourite lp’s, cd’s, and even some 78’s. Now its time for some downloads. Some are old recordings, some fairly new. I play Marlena Shaw, Chet Baker, Duke Ellington with Mingus and Roa

I’m picking out a few tunes from a few favourite cd’s. Lots of music, not too much talk for this episode. You’ll hear a few familiar favourites such as Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Dave McKenna and Buddy DeFranco, Stanley C

Part two features some more of the musicians rated in the 69th Annual Jazz Poll from Downbeat Magazine. This week I start out with Kris Davis (with Nels Cline), and follow it with the vocal-less Nels Cline Singers. You’ll also hear Freddy Cole, Lai

The results of Downbeat’s 69th Annual Critics Poll inspired me to discover and listen to a few artists. And to re-listen to a few others. You’ll hear some of what I discovered on this episode. I start with some new members placed into the &#8

Carla Bley, at the age of 85, was just voted onto Downbeat Magazine’s Hall of Fame. There is an article in the August 2021 issue where she talks about having found her ‘voice’—a voice that has endured through all the twists and tu

This week I go to my cd collection and pick out a few with which I was familiar at one time, and give them another spin. The recordings span the years 1955 all the way to 2021. Included are three Canadian cd’s. One is by Dave McMurdo out of Toronto

To start off the 2021-2022 season of Discovering Jazz, I thought I’d play some familiar (and a few not so familiar) tunes from my lp collection. I play a few ‘regulars’ whose music has appeared on this program over the years: Don Shirle

This is an episode that is near and dear to my heart. Absolute Pitch (sometimes inaccurately called ‘perfect’ pitch) is something I had, then lost. And its something that people who don’t have it can never understand. When you have it,

You go to a jazz jam session with students or amateurs. One of the most common musical guides that almost every player uses is The Real Book, 6th Edition, Volume 1. The original Real Book was put together in the mid 1970’s by some Berklee College o

This is an episode I posted November, 2019…..before my guest, Angela Verbrugge, won the listener’s poll in Jazz Times magazine for favourite female vocalist. Angela sent me (upon my request) some recordings from jazz singers I probably never