Discovering Jazz

Here is a rerun of the first of a 3 part series I recorded a few months ago on the jazz solo—trying to explore what makes a great one—-and why people ‘in the know’ consider them great. I also wonder how much of those solos are spo

When you think of jazz the vision is of saxophones, trumpets, crazy drum solos, guitarists moving all over the fretboard, hot piano, funky or walking bass players, etc.  You don’t envision french horns. This episode will change all that! 🙂    Some

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.  He is now tea

This week, just a few jazz artists by whose name I put a check mark as I went through Downbeat Magazine’s 2019 Critics Poll. As a followup from last week’s podcast on internationally recognized Canadian jazz musicians, I play a track by Vanco

Every year 150 or so critics rank what they consider to be the top jazz artists in 63 categories, and this is presented in the August issue of Downbeat magazine. Sometimes Canadian jazz musicians are represented.  This year I found 9 who I knew to have C

Here is another favourite episode of mine that I thought would be more popular than it was.  Originally posted last November, this is all about new melodies that were written over chord sequences of another tune, and then became famous. Did you know, for

The Downbeat Jazz Critics poll, published in the magazine’s August issue, summarizes the assessments of some top jazz critics as to the ‘best’ in various categories.  One of those categories is the Jazz Album of the Year. This year&#821

This episode, recorded the Spring of 2018,  features a discussion with Toronto voice coach and singer, Micah Barnes. Micah was a rock and soul singer who made the transition to jazz, and he talks about the differences.  I ask the question “what mak

A very knowledgeable jazz bassist from Peterborough named Craig Paterson sends regular emails of great jazz recordings, and on this program I play a few of them.   It helps me discover new and old music………and I’ll share some of th

Continuing with re-issuing some programs from my archives every 2nd week, here is one on the great Bob Dorough who left us over a year ago. Here is a quote from one of my reviews on the itunes site (Canadian):  “I knew that I’d be hooked when

This is actually Part 3 of a series looking at the cross fertilization of jazz and classical (aka ‘serious’)  music, featuring Al Baggs—a  Peterborough saxophonist and lover of jazz and classical music. This episode explores how each or

Another ‘archive’ program this week; for the summer I’ll have some of the best programs from the past two years of “Discovering Jazz” every 2nd week. This week is one of the two episodes of Beatles music transformed into jaz

It’s Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis, first released in 1959.  It still sells more per year than any current jazz recordings.   Why?  And why do critics also rate it as one of the best albums of all time?  I quote a few critics and musicologists, play

Last year I recorded a 4-part series on Jazz and Politics.  Here is Part 3—probably my favourite of the four.  It explores a few different political issues relevant to jazz music, and I play lots of great music. If you consider ‘politics&#821

This is the last of three series of programs on the upcoming Victoria International Jazz fest (Jun 21-30).  I play music by some of the great jazz artists coming as well as interview the founder and artistic director, Darryl Mar.  If you’re thinkin

This program starts off with the performer I’m most looking forward to seeing and hearing at this year’s Victoria Jazz festival, March 21-30—Pianist/singer, Patricia Barber.  An interesting rendition of a Beatles tune. You’ll also

This is the first episode since my move from Peterborough to Victoria—and as an introduction to the jazz world in Victoria, I’m putting together, over the next three weeks,  three one hour programs about the upcoming 36th edition of the Victo

As I settle in my new residence in Victoria, B.C., before I begin recording some brand new programs (probably next week), here is another one from the archives—-keeping my Peterborough, Ontario Connection. This was the first program featuring Al Ba

Continuing with programs from the Archives until I once again begin recording episodes. Here I talk about the 85 year old Jazz magazine that is still going strong, Downbeat.  You’ll hear a bit about its history, the first ‘review’ publi

One of my favourite series of programs was the four episodes from last year that involved jazz musicians who have played a part in making music that isn’t jazz.  Sometimes they were studio musicians, or put a special ‘flair’ into a pop

While I’m settling in to my new home in Victoria (and apartment hunting), I’ll re-post some episodes from the archives.  This week, keeping some Peterborough connections, it’s resident ethnomusicologist/bassist and all round genius from

The home base of Discovering Jazz is moving from Peterborough, Ontario to Victoria, B.C. Today…..due to doing a lot of preparation for our move, I’m just going to relax and listen to some great music. Of course it’s hard to keep myself

Herbie Hancock, jazz pianist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador apparently came up with the idea of having April 30 as a day to highlight jazz and its roll of uniting people all over the world.   But there was an earlier inspiration—a unifier during th

What will jazz look like in the future?  Will it be the same as today?   Will it have some similarities to yesterday?   Will ‘hip-hop’, dance, free jazz, weirdo electronic music, etc. be incorporated?   Or will life (and jazz) be simple again

What is the future of jazz?   Will everything change when the Miles Davis generation dies out?  Who will replace them? In this program, I discuss with Peterborough guitarist, Mike Graham, what jazz might look like in the future—-as well as what it