Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

"Thana Alexa is a great new talent...has a beautiful voice and is a great composer and bandleader...She's a musician first and a vocalist second." -   Antonio Sanchez High praise from a great musician and Ode to Heroes delivers the goods. The album mainly features the engaging original compositions of singer-songwriter Thana Alexa, along with vibrant takes on jazz standards like Wayne Shorter's "F...

It's the best band I ever worked with."- Maria Schneider The Brussels Jazz Orchestra will present the U.S. premiere of "Graphicology—A Visual Jazz Score" at Jazz at Lincoln Center, March 20-22 at 7.30 and 9.30 pm at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (located at Broadway at 60th Street, 5th Floor, New York City).   For the performances, the BJO will team up with illustrator and jazz lover Philip Paquet, with...

With the release of Bird Calls , Rudresh Mahanthappa moves forward by looking back. During the fertile five year period that has found him releasing six albums as a leader or co-leader (and at least half a dozen more as a sideman); the alto-saxophonist had been working primarily with an electric sound, climaxing with the powerful Gamak CD in 2013. Bird Calls finds Mahanthappa returning to an acous...

"Music has a unique way of communicating and healing. I'm so thankful that music is my profession - that I am able to write and arrange to create settings that convey the emotions I experience, not the least of which is the pain that my family and I have endured at a time when words fail." - Jimmy Greene I first met Jimmy Greene when he was a budding young talent at the Hartt School of Music in th...

While jazz instrumentalists see to often come together to create ‘supergroups” or play “supersessions”, jazz vocalists seem a bit reticent to do so. The reasons may range from ego issues to concerns of vocal compatibility to just plain lack of opportunity Thankfully none of those problems exist for featuring notable New York singer s Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou. I’ve enjoyed...

One of the last authentic practitioners of bebop saxophone, Charles McPhersonremains at the top of his game. On his new album The Journey , McPhersondemonstrates all the vigor, inventiveness, technical dexterity and expressive warmth that drew attention to this brilliant alto stylist during his formative associations with Charles Mingus, Barry Harris, Pat Martino and Art Farmer. The vitality, wit...

Dubbed “an unsung hero in modern jazz” by the All Music Guide, the baritone saxophonist Glenn Wilson has been cherished by discerning listeners who recognize a visionary improviser and inspired bandleader when they hear one. On his new live album Timely , on Cadence Jazz Records, Wilson is joined by a treasured compatriot, the trumpeter John D’Earth. Along with the pianist John Toomey, the bassist...

This year Nancy and I will literally be at sea on Valentine’s Day, returning to the Port of New Orleans from a week long cruise of the Western Caribbean. For those of you not so fortunate, here’s a set of tunes to serenade your Valentine at home, a Sweet Sixteen for the Sweet Fourteenth of February. Podcast 464 includes both jazz vocals and instrumentals, mostly standards new and old including:  ...

It was almost three years ago when I spoke with Joel Harrison about the Alternative Guitar Festival he was organizing. In the time that has passed, the event has grown to multiple days of performances and master classes, attracting six-string devotees from around the country. The 2015 event will take place in various locations around New York City. Shapeshifter Lab (February 4), and Rockwood Music...

One of the great Melting Pot bands working in jazz today, The Afro-Semitic Experience manages to resist definition as it finds new adjectives to describe the music they play. Co-founded by African-American jazz pianist Warren Byrd, and Jewish-American jazz bassist David Chevan in 1998, the seven-piece band combines an eclectic array of styles, sophisticated musicianship, good songwriting, deep gro...

To honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King on the anniversary of his birth, here is the Official Straight No Chaser song of the holiday - “Martin was a Man, a Real Man” as recorded by Oliver Nelson in 1969. The band for the recording included Nelson, Pearl Kaufmann and Roger Kellaway (piano); Chuck Domanico (bass); John Guerin and Roy Haynes (drums); Frank Stroizer and John Gross (sax) and Bob B...

To all who are traveling on an evening that often becomes "amateur night" take extra care and pick that designated driver! A perennial favorite song for New Year's Eve, and the Offical SNC Song of the evening is Frank Loesser's classic, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" Written in 1947, when Loesser was already an accomplished songwriter, having co-written hits like "Two Sleepy People" and "Spr...

The newspapers and internet are swarming with critics “Best of 2014” lists right about now, but here at Straight No Chaser we take a slightly different approach. I am grateful to get the chance to listen to a great number of jazz-related releases during the course of the year, and rather than attempt to say what is “best”, I prefer to lay out a list of recordings that I found particularly moving,...

Podcast 462 is the annual Christms gift from me to you - an hour plus uninterrupted music for decorating, drinking, hanging out and soaking up that holiday atmosphere. I've gone through my library to mix up old and new tunes, some old favorites and others new to your ears. In any event, enjoy, and pass the download on to your friends and loved ones. The 2014 edition includes: Peggy Lee – “It's Chr...

2014 has been something of a lean year for Christmas Jazz releases. While in past years I have had close to a dozen CDs to showcase, this year only three new releases, and one expanded reissue are worth pointing out to those who are shopping for seasonal sounds. However, the quality is most DEFINTELY here. Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has become the standard bearer for New Orleans jazz over the past f...

With the possible exception of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue , no jazz album has found its way into non-jazz fans’ record collections over the years more than John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme . Recorded fifty years ago this week in Rudy Van Gelder’s Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, two days of recording resulted in another seismic shift in the world of jazz. Ashley Kahn is uniquely qualified to t...

"Throughout (Joan) Merrill's books, almost all of the characters, major and minor, are jazz people. There is on-going commentary on today's jazz scene and how it differs from yesterday. No preaching, just strong and well-argued opinions during realistic conversations between characters." -- Bruce Crowther, jazz writer and crime novelist Fictional Detectives and jazz have always had a cozy, if not...

2014 has been quite a year for the music and memory of the late Jimmy Giuffre (1921-2008). Known primarily by jazz aficionados as one of the early progenitors of Avant chamber jazz, Giuffre wrote a hit or two and performed with virtually all of the jazz greats during his long career, including Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and the Modern Ja...

The first ever collaboration of forward-thinking architect / composer Christopher Janney and legendary bassist / producer Bill Laswell promises a wild ride on the highest artistic level. The duo, with its cast of world-class musicians, utilizes composition, dance, sound, and visuals to create a multi-media experience unlike almost anything happening these days. A new project, entitled “Exploring t...

November is here and I can no longer pretend that the days are going to be warm. Leaves carpet the lawns and streets here in New England. Autumn is truly in the air. Last week my wife Nancy and I were in Manhattan for a few days, and found ourselves sitting on park bench in Central Park, resting our feet for a while. In a fit of inspiration, I grabbed my iPhone and serenaded her with Tal Farlow’s...

Shall we tick off the names of the great jazz guitarists who plied their art before the advent of the rock era? The names always begin with Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt and Freddie Green. Then we move to Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney - and don't forget about Tal Farlow .   Farlow helped pioneer a be-bop approach to the guitar, playing small clusters of notes, often i...

Miguel Zenón has become one of jazz's most original thinkers. At the age of 37, he's one of the best-known alto saxophonists in jazz, a winner of a Guggenheim fellowship, and one of only a handful of jazz musicians to be chosen for the coveted MacArthur “genius” fellowships (in 2008), In many ways, he is at the forefront of a new movement that in recent years has brought the composer to a new prom...

In past years I’ve done a Halloween podcast featuring songs with scary titles – check out these beauties from 2012 , 2011 and 2009 – and last year I changing course a bit, and all the songs mentioned the Prince of Darkness, Ol’ Scratch, Lucifer – yes, the Devil -   in the title of the song or album. For 2014, it's the return of the Spooky Song. Maybe it's the title or the track, maybe it's the sou...

My wife Nancy and I will be in attendance at the Beacon Theatre in New York City Monday night when the Allman Brothers Band plays their next-to-last live performance together. After 45 years of existence, the venerable band has decided they will no longer perform as a group, and will go on to other projects. Few rock bands are as integrally involved with jazz as the Allman Brothers Band. From thei...

Mark Elf is one of the most unsung guitar heroes in jazz today. His performance and composition abilities are outstanding, and he plays with a fire and soulfulness that many hotshot players lack. Check out any of his recordings on his own Jen Bay Records imprint, to hear someone at the height of his powers. For my money, his 1998 release, Trickynometry , is one of the finest jazz guitar albums of...