Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

It's summer in New England, so why not some lazy music for these 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 referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellatio...

Do you know how in the summer you tend to put off things you do IN the house in order to take care of things OUT of the house? Like weeding or sitting on the deck, listening to the water rush in the ponds, and drinking a cold one? Well, I've done my share of that outdoor stuff lately, and I've neglected piles of CDs. This podcast takes a step to rectify the situation. Here are selections from a bu...

Mace Hibbard is a Texas Tenor (and Alto, and Soprano), but he wasn't always aware of what that really meant. Texas is the state that brought us saxophone giants like James Clay, David "Fathead" Newman, Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Buddy Tate and Budd Johnson, to say nothing of King Curtis and Ornette Coleman. But having been brought up in a home with a trumpeter father, Mace learned his music fr...

Rufus Reid is a living legend on the bass guitar, and has been at the forefront of jazz education for more than forty years, having written the definitive book on bass technique. The Evolving Bassist has won numerous prestigious awards and prizes, and was one of the first books I picked up when I began learning to play the electric bass this year. His history of collaboration includes taking part...

Jazz musicians need to make a living just like everyone else. For the talented musician, this means taking advantage of opportunities not only in their main love – say, jazz – but also taking gigs in R&B, Hip-Hop, the college campus, the theatre, or anywhere else they can hone their craft. This is the path that Melvin Jones has taken. His first CD as a band leader, Pivot , was released on Turnarou...

Monty Alexander has given us an embarrassment of riches. In the past ten weeks, he has released two wonderful new CDs, each featuring a very different side of his musical personality. Alexander recorded Uplift for John Lee's Jazz Legacy label, leading a piano trio composed of himself, bassist Hassan Shakur, and drummers Herlin Riley (7 tracks) and Frits Landesbergen (3 tracks). It's an elegant rom...

Today would have been the 90th birthday of Dr. Billy Taylor, one of jazz's great pianoplayers, educators and ambassadors. He died in December 2010. I attended a tribute to Dr. Taylor earlier this week at the University of Massachusett's Jazz in July program, one of the many educational programs Dr. Taylor helped to establish. Present for the tribtue was Brett Primack, aka The Jazz Video Guy, who h...

The death of singer Amy Winehouse is hardly a surprise to those who have followed the amazing train wreck that was her life. She released only two fine CDs during her 27 years, and wasted talent that could have made a significant impact in bridging the worlds of jazz, pop and soul. Her voice will be missed; she will not. The Smooth Jazz All-Stars released a "tribute" Cd to her a few years ago, and...

Here in Western Massachusetts the mercury in the ol' thermometer ha hit well over 90 degrees all week, with no relief in sight for the weekend. That won't stop Nancy and me from seeing Lucinda Williams and Amos Lee in a dual-headlining concert Saturday night, though. It's worth pointing out that Lee is signed to Blue Note Records, the home of jazz artists exclusively in the past. However, the labe...

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Nancy! Once again I celebrate the day by posting the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)", along with another version of how the song came to be, courtesy of music historian Rick Busciglio: In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and BoB Hope that was never produced. Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942) he and hi...

Once well known for his composition “Afro Blue" (especially John Coltrane's incendiary interpretation of the song), as well as his hugely popular rendition of Herbie Hancock's “Watermelon Man," the opulent legacy of Mongo Santamaria has been largely overlooked in the years since his death. Jose Rizo's Mongorama rightly brings the legendary conguero ’s music back into the spotlight. This is good ti...

I figured, if Ray Charles could record a country album with the inflections of blues and jazz and be successful, why can’t I? – Diane Schuur. Diane “Deedles” Schuur has been a straight ahead jazz singer of some note (and success) for the past three decades. An outstanding big band singer as well as a talented small group leader, she has that “old school” sound reminiscent of Dinah Washington or Sa...

Anyone reading this blog for any length of time knows that I am an unabashed fan of the Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival at . Held the last weekend in June every year, it’s the best weekend of music you’ll have all summer, dollar-for-dollar and note-for note. This year’s event, held again at the wonderful Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) , marks its 34th year as one of the most celebrated...

Almost twenty years after his death (the anniversary will be September 28), there seems to be no end to the public’s – and music industry’s – interest in all things Miles Davis. Last year saw epic box sets on the market, and this year seems to be no different. A long promised film on the great trumpet player’s life starring Don Cheadle has been shelved until 2013, but a number of musical projects...

Karrin Allyson is one of my favorite singers. She has the uncanny ability to choose from among the myriad of songs available to her and make selections that produce albums that are greater than the sum of their songs. Rather than simply pick from the Great American Songbook, she has devoted whole albums to songs by Brazilian and French writers, an album of blues, and a reinterpretation of the musi...

Fifty years ago tonight, Miles Davis brought a quintet into the Blackhawk club in San Francsico, California for two weekend dates. Seven sets later, the shows were history, but thankfully both Friday night and Saturday night shows were recorded, and eventually released on separate, then a combined, album. 1961 was a transitional year for Miles. John Coltrane was gone from the First Great Quintet,...

Our annual Spiritual Music Podcast features music from faiths from across the world (or in Sun Ra’s case, across the universe). I hope you’ll find something moving in the various songs I’ve selected, including music from:   Jonas Hellborg – “Be! And All Became” from The Word .   Johnny Griffin Orchestra – “Meditation” from The Big Soul Band   Youssou N'Dour – “Allah” from Egypt .   Alice Coltrane...

Violinist Billy Bang, noted for forging his own way on his instrument, died on April 11. According to an associate, he had been suffering from lung cancer. Bang was 63.   Born in Mobile, Alabama as William Vincent Walker, Bang was raised in the Bronx and began playing the violin at a very young age. He was allegedly given the nickname "Billy Bang" in homage to a cartoon character.   After a trauma...

Gary Smulyan is consistently ranked as the greatest baritone saxophone player in jazz by the yearly Downbeat reader and critic polls. Currently a faculty member at Amherst College, Smulyan keeps a busy schedule of touring as a sideman in bands like the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stras and Joe Lovano’s Nonet, while performing as a leader in trio and larger ensembles. I causght up with Gary as he was prepa...

Critically-acclaimed jazz pianist Junko (pronounced “June-Ko”) Onishi is set to tour several cities in the U.S. this Spring in support of her new CD, “Baroque,” released this past  Fall by Verve Records.  She’s hitting the finest clubs in San Francisco , Los Angeles and New York , performing in a trio with Gregory Hutchinson on drums and Dwayne Burno on bass. James Carter will join the group as a...

Sunday evening, Spring sneaked in and finally put an end to the most tiresome winter I can recall. Monday morning, we got an inch or so of snow. More on Wednesday. Sigh. With Mother Nature failing to cooperate, the best way to get in a spring mood is to listen to some jazz with a spring theme. With that in mind, Podcast 212 features a variety of tunes, both instrumental and vocal, with Spring in t...

New Orleans’ own Dr. John has been recording for more than 50 years. He is steeped in the rhythms and traditions of the city, and has spent his career championing its music. As he told New Orleans rhythm & blues historian Jeff Hannusch, “[New Orleans music] is part of whatever I’m about. The importance of it is beyond anything I do.”   Born Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack, he learned piano and guitar...

Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras. A day of excess before weeks of denial, leading up to the Easter Sunday celebration. It calls for over-the-top celebration, and here’s the music for it – an hour-plus long collection of New Orleans jazz, R&B and funk, both old and new, including:   Dejan’s Original Olympia Brass Band – “Olympia Special” Louis Armstrong – “Gutbucket Blues” The Meters – “Chicken Strut” 7 Wal...

Elliott Sharp, one of the great avant-garde guitarists and composers of the past few decades, will turn 60 years young this weekend, and will celebrate with two great big wonderful birthday parties in New York . The first will be held at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn on Friday night, March 4, 2011. Entitled E#@60: A Benefit Concert Honoring Elliott Sharp’s 60th Birthday , it is billed as “A O...

The soprano sax gets a bad rap these days, and I confess to being one person who finds it being overused. The result is music that comes across as whiny, rather than plaintive, at times. Sometimes it's just cliched.   However, in the hands of Jane Ira Bloom, the soprano sax is a vital, often illuminating instrument. Her latest CD, Wingwalker , can swing, bop, be contemplative and be romantic, some...