Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

Harold López-Nussa has been successfully making records that blur the lines between straight-ahead jazz, Latin Jazz and Cuban folk music for years now.  His latest release on Mack Avenue, Te Lo Dije (the title roughly translates to "I Told You" pushes those boundries even further.  López-Nussa once again has his favorite musicians working with him: Julio César González (Bass), his brother Ruy Adrí...

As the follow-up to his GRAMMY-winning big band album,  Back to the Sunset , Cuban-born drummer, composer, educator, and 2011 MacArthur Genius Fellow Dafnis Prieto returns to a smaller group release called Transparency , on his independent music label, Dafnison Music. Prieto's fearless Sextet features a top-shelf lineup, including Román Filiú (alto sax), Alex Norris (trumpet), Peter Apfelbaum (ten...

" I view Kenny as the most unique composer and pianist of his generation. Because he died young and avoided the spotlight, his brilliant compositions have been overlooked for too long" - Noah Haidu On the occasion of what would have been Kenny Kirkland's 65th birthday, pianist Noah Haidu is getting ready to release the first endeavor dedicated entirely to Kirkland's original music. Noah's CD, Doct...

We are almost three-quarters of the way through the dumpster-fire that has been 2020, and Christian McBride has done more than his share to try to keep our minds on new music. No less than three of the top releases of this troubled year have his imprint, with a new release coming out this week.  Early in the year we finally got the long-awaited recording of his multi-part suite The Movement Revisi...

I trust you have enjoyed the first two parts of my three-part conversation with bassist Mark Egan and drummer Danny Gottlieb this week. Mark and Danny have released Electric Blue this week, their first recorded duo project, on Egan's Wavetone imprint.  Check it out on CD, streaming, or high-quality vinyl to see what one of the most important rhythm sections of the electric era are up to today.  Ma...

Podcast 764 is Part Two of my three part conversation with Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb. Having been partners in rhythm for almost fifty years, their latest release, Electric Blue , is their first recorded set of duets.  Part One was a detailed discussion of the making of Electric Blue , and the approaches bassist Egan and percussionist Gottlieb take in making recordings. Part Two continues the co...

After nearly 50 years of playing music together, going back to their days as students at the University of Miami through their years of touring and recording as members of the original Pat Metheny Group, with the Gil Evans Monday Night Orchestra, exploring new tones and textures with their band Elements and heading up their own individual projects, bassist Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb have forged...

August 29 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Parker, Jr., best known to music fans as Charlie Parker, or simply "Bird." From his birth in Kansas City, Kansas to his untimely death at the age of 35, Parkerwas insgtrumental in re-creainge and establishing the music we call jazz. Regrettably, his early death from hard living and abusing drugs may also have perpetuated a stereotype of...

When bandleader/composer/arranger John Beasley began to reimagine the music of Thelonious through the vehicle of his inventive, versatile MONK'estra, it might have been easy to assume that he had created a continuing homage to one of jazz's singular talents. Perhaps it would morph into something like the Mingus Big Band? But if that is what you thought, you would have been wrong. While both MONK'e...

Gregg August's latest work could not be more timely. It's entitled Dialogues on Race, Volume 1 and quite frankly, is there a more important topic for the world to be having a conversation about today? Using his experience as a classical musician, and modern classical composer, he has taken a broad subject and used various musical devices to illuminate this difficult matter. The death of Emmit Till...

David Gilmore's second album for Criss Cross, From Here to Here , is just his sixth release as a bandleader. This seems to be a criminal lack of material, as Gilmore has spent the past 35 years as a key member of performances and recording sessions with the likes of Steve Coleman, Randy Brecker, Christian McBride, Cassandra Wilson and Wayne Shorter. Gilmore began his career as part of the M-Base C...

I crossed another "I've really got to talk to this cat" off my list earlier this summer when I finally got to interview bassist Martin Wind on the occasion of his new release White Noise .  Martin has been the rock of the rhythm section for groups led by Matt Wilson and Dena Derose for years, as well as recording a few albums under his own name.  White Noise is a most unusal trio album - bass, gui...

I've been a big fan of the Ropeadope Experiment  series, beginning back in June 2001 with  The Philadelphia Experiment  - featuring ?uestlove, Christian McBride, and Uri Caine with special guest Pat Martino. The Detroit Experiment , produced by Aaron Luis Levinson and Carl Craig, followed soon after with a stellar cast including Amp Fiddler, Geri Allen, Karriem Riggins and many more. 2007 saw the...

In keeping with our recent podcasts about piano trios, Podcast 755 is a converation with veteran drum legend Jeff Hamilton. His career has spanned almost every type of ensemble - the Big Bands of Woody Herman and Count Basie, the exotic quartet the L.A. 4 with Ray Brown, Bud Shank and Laurondo Almedida, and backing singers from Ella Fitzgerald to Diana Krall to Natalie Cole.    He has two working...

It's past the midpoint in what has been a hot and sticky summer in New England, so why not some summer themed music for these remaining lazy, hot days? Today is August 16th, the feast day of Saint Roch, the patron saint of Dogs, so why not celebrate the "Dog Days"? The Romans associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest st...

One of the best piano trios you might not have heard much of over the past fifteen years has been the group lead by pianist Denny Zeitlin. With Buster Williams on bass and Matt Wilson on drums, the three top-notch musicians have recorded five wonderful albums for the Sunnyside label. Living on opposite coasts of the US, the trio interacts sporadically, making the wonder of their live performances...

This weekend should have been the annual Newport Jazz Festival. Regrettably, the worldwide pandemic that has stopped liver performances everywhere has made it impossible for the Festival organizers and Artistic Director Christian McBride to go forward.  Summer just isn't summer for me without the great jazz festivals I normally attend, or for that matter from simple one-off local shows on the Town...

On "World Music Day", June 21, a day that celebrated the contributions of musicians worldwide, a group called the Music Workers Alliance launched an unemployment countdown clock, ominously counting the days until July 31, when enhanced unemployment benefits (the extra $600 weekly called FPUC - Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation) are set to expire. Each day of the countdown, MWA published a...

The centennial celebration of Peggy Lee's birth continues to be commemorated with new music releases and the airing of an updated documentary. Honoring one of the 20thcentury's most important musical influences in the world of jazz and popular music, and in conjunction with UMe/Capitol, the Peggy Lee Estate recently released The Capital Transcriptions 1946-1949  and the airing of an updated editio...

It's been a pleasure to watch pianist Christian Sands grow as a composer, musician and bandleader. By the time he was ready to graduate from Manhattan School of Music, he had released three trio albums and been nominated for a Latin Grammy as part of the School's  Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, led by Bobby Sanabria. Tabbed by Christian McBride to be part of his quintet Insight Straight, Sands quickly...

It's always a delight to speak with alto sax star Rudresh Mahanthappa. Possessed of a deep knowledge and deeper interest in a wide variety of topics, he brings a wry sense of humor to any discussion we have had.  The release of his Hero Trio album is well worth talking about. Backed by longtime collaborators Francois Moutin (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums), Rudresh pays homage to some of the musici...

Back on January 20th - and doesn't that seem like a year or so ago? - I posted Podcast 720 , which featured Cathy RIch, the daughter of legendary drummer Buddy Rich, talking about her father, and the posthumous release of Just in Time: The Final Recording , a live set recorded at Ronnie Scott's in London. At that time, we also talked about the publication of Buddy Rich -One of a Kind: The Making o...

What is a musician to do when he can't play in front of audiences? Or if her studio time has been cancelled?  And how does he or she deal with the lack of supporting musicians? If you are Ben Goldberg, you use this time to create " Plague Diary ", a musical diary of new material posted every day to Bandcamp.  Existing only as a series of digital downloads (althugh purchasers can stream it on Bandc...

Whether its on baritone sax, alto flute or bass clarinet, Dr. Brian Landrus is among the most exciting players and composers around. Just over forty years old, and a newly minted Ph. D. from Rutgers University, Brian has been made several of the most interesting recording of the past few years. From The Deep Below in 2015, his large ensemble work Generations in 2017 and the new release For Now, La...

Jimmy Cobb, one of the most important drummers in jazz from the 1950's on, has died at the age of 91. The cause was lung cancer.  Had he only played on Kind of Blue , the 1959 masterpiece from the Miles Davis Sextet, his mark in the jazz world would have been made. His subtle pulse, all brushes, cymbals and snare, make the music from that historic day breathe, and along with his running mate Paul...