Discovering Jazz

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

One of my favourite Discovering Jazz podcasts. I used to play French Horn and tried to play blues on it. Even used it in a rock-blues group, with questionable success. But there is quite the tradition of truly great jazz french hornists, and I’ve d

According to Wikipedia, Jan Randall, a Canadian composer, pianist, and arranger, has made a career of composing soundtracks for films, theatre, radio, and television.  He combines playing by ear with his formal classical and jazz training.  And

Shortly before I moved from Peterborough, Ontario to Victoria, B.C., I spoke with Peterborough jazz guitarist, Mike Graham. I asked him for his thoughts on the future of jazz. He had lots of interesting things to say….and on this episode I play par

While many of those jazz tunes jazz artists like to play are from films or Broadway, many are written by jazz musicians. For this episode, from 2019, I feature seven tunes that have become ‘standards’. Two of them were written for films, and

This is a program originally aired on Trent Radio and placed on my podcast site in November, 2017. Inspired by a jazz instruction blog & podcast , LearnJazzStandards.com, hosted by guitarist Brent Vaarstra, and his post called “92 Modern Jazz Albums

I’ve truly learned a lot since I started putting together these podcasts four years ago. That’s why the program is “Discovering Jazz”. I keep discovering new things about jazz and about jazz compositions. That being said, a lot of

Some great music here! I’ve listened to a track or two from each of the albums nominated in the jazz and world music categories for this year’s Junos. I’m playing something from the winner in four categories, plus a handful of jazz nomi

Last week I spoke about how Miles Davis could be considered to be the most predominant jazz ‘bellwether’. This was related to his role in contributing to particular tunes becoming ‘standards’, even influencing how other musicians

This was inspired by a book by my favourite science fiction writer: Connie Willis, called “Bellwether”. In a flock of sheep, there is one sheep that, for some unexplained reason, influences all the others in terms of when and where they move.

This episode was inspired by somebody, when I played and sang “How Deep Is The Ocean?” asking me if I was playing ‘jazz chords’. So this episode tries to discover, using the same Socratic method as in the lyrics to that tune, what

This week I dig into my record collection again and pull out a few favourites. You’ll hear tracks from: -Toronto’s Archie Alleyne with the Frank Wright Quartet, -Lalo Schifrin, -Zoot Sims w. Jimmy Rowles, -Shelly Manne, -Lenny Breau, -Stan Ge

This week I went through my jazz lp’s and selected a few familiar favourites. Well, at least familiar to me. I play some Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bobby Hutcherson w. Eugene McDaniels, Shorty Rogers, Mose Allison, Buddy Emmons w. Lenny Breau, Big Miller