Discovering Jazz

If you are an amateur or professional jazz musician taking part in a jazz jam, or someone who enjoys listening to those jams, at some point someone will call out tunes like “Moment’s Notice”, or “Lazy Bird”.   And, for sure,

In a documentary called “Brownie Speaks”, all about trumpeter Clifford Brown, one unidentified jazz personality states “I can’t say that Miles was intimidated by Cliff, but Miles wouldn’t play when Cliff was there”. Cl

So many jazz tunes have been written about the seasons—and Spring is a big one!  We might even get one this year. This week’s program is nice and mellow….just to ease use gently into the new season.  Even if spring will be a little late

Some of these ‘standards’ are written by jazz artists.   Others are from popular music written by film and Broadway composers. I’m finding them as I go through The Just Real Jazz Book and the infamous “The Real Book 6th edition&#8

This is the last episode of the Cuban Jazz series.  And I’ve decided to feature a Juno award winning Cuban-Canadian group of women. I play music from both their albums, as well as spotlight some of the individual musicians in the group—includ

This week’s episode starts by talking about how resilient Cuban jazz musicians were able to forge a brand new style of music.  It was their way of making the best out of being told they weren’t allowed to play the music of “imperialist

Some great Cuban jazz!   And a few interesting tidbits of information. You’ll hear music by David Amram (with Thad Jones, Pepper Adams, and others), Ray Barretto, Jane Bunnet, Harold Lopez-Nussa, Juan De Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars,Rita Mon

In celebration of the coming of Maqueque—a group of five Cuban women plus flautist/soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett–coming to Peterborough in April, I’m starting a three part series on Afro-Cuban Jazz. Today’s episode tracks its &

So many great jazz solos….wish I could play them all!  I’m still trying to figure out what makes a *great* jazz solo, compared to one that isn’t so great.  Listening to some of these is giving me some ‘intuitive’ sense&#8212

In this episode you’ll hear more of the solos that jazz musicians and writers say are ‘essential solos’. You’ll also hear words and phrases like ‘architectonics’, ‘vertiginous’, ‘eking’, ‘

The ‘improvised’ solo is the heart of jazz. This series of programs looks at what have been termed ‘essential solos’, using an article from Jazz Times magazine, where jazz writers and musicians described the solos that have been t

Recorded live from the studios of Trent Radio in Peterborough, Ontario, this is an assortment of tracks from jazz albums I blindly selected from the station’s extensive jazz library of vinyl. It includes some of the ‘usual suspects’&#82

I play a track from eight different jazz albums—seven of them from 2018. They include five recordings that Downbeat Magazine, in their January 2019 issue, claim are the “Masterpiece Albums of 2018”.   They may or may not coincide with y

Hello.   I’m taking a break from Discovering Jazz programs for a few weeks—but I’ll see you in 2019. If you want something to tide you over until the next program, give my last year’s holiday special a listen.  It was Episode 14.

Part 2 of the formative recordings of jazz musician, fan, and organizer, Craig Paterson.   You’ll hear some Miles, some Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Liberation Music Orchestra, and Phil Dwyer.  Great music! And some great stories&#8

Jazz bassist and concert organizer Craig Paterson talks about some of the albums that formed his excitement about jazz.   Craig also tells some great stories about those albums and the concerts those albums spawned. And I play a recommended track from ea

Contrafact refers to a new melody written over the chord sequence of an older tune.  And there are a lot of very popular jazz tunes that have done just that! In this program I play a few of them. You’ll find out what old tune has had the most jazz

Today was a day to catch up on some of my listening and play a few records, cd’s, and downloads that I came across over the last couple weeks.  Then I learned about the death of one of my favourite trumpeter/fluegelhornists, Roy Hargrove.  He was o

The focus on today’s episode is the relationship between improvisation and spontaneity in life.  It all involves a willingness to say *yes*.   I start with a statement from Vancouver jazz writer, drummer, and choral director, Brian Tate, where he c

Includes two great but obscure Canadian jazz artists.

Today, I play a few jazz 78rpm records from my collection.  78’s were popular from the turn of the century up into the late 1950’s. One unique thing about 78’s is that you could eat them.   Technically at least!  As well as some great m

Lots of discoveries over the summer.  Some of them records, some cd’s, and a lot of them being music posted by friends and friends of friends. And one discovery begats another….such as when Peterborough bassist  Craig Paterson posted somethin

The first part of this episode addresses the inroads female jazz artists have made over the years, as I start with a track by the amazing trio of Geri Allen, Teri Lyne Carrington, and Esperanza Spalding,  followed by something from the new album by Molly

Jazz has always been political in some form.  Right from its earliest beginnings, this African American music was taken over by the dominant American middle class ‘white’ culture with no credit going to the black originators.  That’s po

Oppression and Liberation----Jazz and Politics.