Arthur Blythe was Columbia's last major "out" signing, and he gets the full episode treatment now that he's playing with the angels. Horace Tapscott – THE GIANT HAS AWAKENED; Arthur Blythe –LENOX AVENUE BREAKDOWN, LIGHT BLUE; Roots - STABLEMATES. Plus, Pat misses by that much on all four selections of the Mike-citement meter.
After a quick rant / mission statement re: this very podcast to which you're listening, Mike and Pat discuss child prodigies, Bowie sidekicks, french violinists, and a cast of dozens more. Now put that harmonica down and step away from it slowly! Joey Alexander – MY FAVORITE THINGS; Bruno Vansina - THE MORNING FOREST (AKA NOSE UP BOTTOM DOWN); Donny McCaslin – BEYOND NOW; Scott Tixier – COSMIC ADVENTURE.
Mike and Pat let the snark fly as they take on three vocal albums and one hippity-hop effort with Yakuza connections (allegedly). Al Jarreau – LOOK TO THE RAINBOW; Somi – LAGOS MUSIC SALON; Robert Glasper – ART SCIENCE; Toshinori Kondo – KI-OKU. The show begins and ends with a heartfelt request for podcast topics from our listeners, so please chip in!
Lionel Richie got nothing on Sonny Rollins - as we learn from Newk's 15 minutes solos on the incredible (and sometimes exhausting) Complete Village Gate release, he sure can keep it going all night long. Branford M. solo and Dexter Gordon chip in to provide context and Pat rants about the movie Sing. Branford Marsalis – IN MY SOLITUDE; Dexter Gordon – BOTH SIDES OF MIDNIGHT; Sonny Rollins – COMPLETE LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE 1962
Mostly new stuff . . . mostly jazz. Like most of our podcasts, mostly great! Theo Croker – ESCAPE VELOCITY; Thundercat - DRUNK; Fred Hersch / Julian Lage – FREE FLYING; John Scofield – PAST PRESENT.
Collaboration is the name of the game, whether small groups mixing it up or big thinkers painting on bigger canvases. Pop matters is more expansive than usual, so any way you slice it, lots of bastardy to enjoy. Jason Moran – ALL RISE; Stanley Clarke – D STRINGS; THE BAD PLUS JOSHUA REDMAN; John Hollenbeck – SONGS I LIKE A LOT.
It's Mike's turn to rant as he complains about the state of ECM - the storied jazz label based in Germany - and then both boys dig into a buffet of recent releases, some more echo-y than others. Kenny Wheeler – SONGS FOR QUINTET; Keith Jarrett – CREATION; Jakob Bro – GEFIEN; Tim Berne – YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING ME.
Mike's picking all the selections tonight and Pat's picking fights with everyone in sight - Lutherans, banjoists, people who don't 'get' Stairway to Heaven . . . Looks like a caffine intervention may be the only way out. David Sanchez – OBSESION; Tord Gustavson – WHAT WAS SAID; David Sanborn – TIME AND THE RIVER; Chick Corea / Bela Fleck – TWO
Pat's been combing through the bins and another episode focusing on the black stuff results. Also, he almost convinces Mike that irreputable is a real word. Stone Alliance – STONE ALLIANCE; Jane Ira Bloom – MIGHTY LIGHTS; Hannibal Marvin Peterson – NAIMA; Jeff Parker – THE NEW BREED; Los Admiradores - BONGOS, FLUTES, GUITARS.
Third time's a charm - we've finally completed and posted the big-band podcast we attempted twice in ancient 2016. Here we discuss the final winners of the 2015 Downbeat critic's poll winners and the etiquette for podcast seances. Darcy James Argue – REAL ENEMIES; Maria Schneider – THE THOMPSON FIELDS; Michael Formanek – THE DISTANCE; Thelonious Monk - BIG BAND AND QUARTET LIVE
Mike and Pat catch up on a couple of quartets missed on the fourth anniversary show and a couple more poll winners from 2015. Their pledge - this year we make up our own stinkin' list of 2016 releases to cover (by stealing from other lists, naturally). Tom Harrell – FIRST IMPRESSIONS; Henry Threadgill – IN FOR A PENNY, IN FOR A POUND; Harold Land – PROMISED LAND; Plotz – EXTRAORDINARY RENDITIONS.
OK, this one's kind of weird. What if a band called Mostly Other People Do the Killing did a note for note remake of Kind of Blue? What if Pat and Mike pondered it for a fairly long time? What if postmodernism is kind of spent at this point? Tune in to find out. Miles David - KIND OF BLUE, Mostly Other People Do the Killing - BLUE.
Christmas cheer is in somewhat short supply as the boys consider five more holiday recordings (check out Ep. 54 for their previous plunge into the holiday well). Does Pat have a record-store masochism problem? You be the judge. Bing Crosby – MERRY CHRISTMAS, Diana Krall – CHRISTMAS SONGS, Kenny Burrell – HAVE YOURSELF A SOULFUL CHRISTMAS, Ramsey Lewis – SOUND OF CHRISTMAS, David Axelrod – ROCK MESSIAH.
Sometimes, when a computer and a piece of software just can't get along anymore, they have what's called a "malfunction." Who gets hurt the most? The podcasters, of course, After two valiant attempts at recording 105, the boys give up. At Mike's suggestion, then, a "make-up" cast starring Pat and only Pat on the joys of jazz and vinyl. Regular service resumes in two weeks - we promise. Artists discussed include John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Brad Mehldau.
It's been four years, and Mike and Pat celebrate by discussing some out of the way quartet music - and trying to determine which jazz quartets were the greatest of all time. Throw in some political commentary and missed programming communication, and you've got an anniversary blowout! Hollywood Sax Quartet – JAZZ IN HOLLYWOOD; Bartosz Dworak – POLISHED; Clifford Jordan – GLASS BEAD GAMES; Anthony Braxton – QUARTET (COVENTRY); Rex Stewart and His Feetwarmers; James Blood Ulmer – LIVE AT BIRDLAND....
The boys look at two more poll winners, a recent jazz trio album, and a historic reissue of a white house concert. Fond memories of seventies' odes to automotive cleanliness ensue. Christine McBride – LIVE AT VILLAGE VANGUARD; Eri Yamamoto – LIFE ; Dave Brubeck and Tony Bennett– WHITE HOUSE SESSIONS – LIVE 1962; Steve Coleman – SYNOVIAL JOINTS.
Mike and Pat cover two albums from Down Beat's Critics Poll winners of 2015 and two albums that should win a poll for "most seventies ever." Charles Lloyd – I LONG TO SEE YOU, WILD MAN DANCE; Nat Adderley – SOUL ZODIAC; Cannonball Adderley – LOVE, SEX AND THE ZODIAC
Mike and Pat explore albums from a recent Jazz Times list of forgotten fusion gems. Unfortunately a bad sign influences the proceedings and Nat Adderley's Soul Zodiac has to be put off until next episode. Gary Burton – DUSTER, COUNTRY ROADS AND OTHER PLACES; Larry Coryell – INTRODUCING THE ELEVENTH HOUSE; Dave Liebman – LOOKOUT FARM.
It's all about the loneliness of the solo jazz man this time, as Mike and Pat take a listen to some solo recitals by unlikely instruments. Trombone? Alto Saxophone? Acoustic Bass? Drums (and things)? You get the idea. Anthony Braxton – FOR ALTO; Albert Mangelsdorff – TROMBONELINESS; Han Bennink – NERVE BEATS; Dave Holland – ONES ALL
The boys take a quick trip through the tragically short career of Thomas Chapin, an inside/outside sax and flute player whose flame burned brightly and briefly. Then Mike complains about Kate Bush for a while. Thomas Chapin – NEVER LET ME GO – DISC 2; THIRD FORCE; Peggy Stern – THE FUSCHIA; Holly Hofmann – LIVE AT BIRDLAND.
It's a Naked City Du-fecta as Mike and Pat discuss the work of some downtown New Yawk post-modernists and fondly recall their youth. John Zorn – NAKED CITY; Bill Frisell – TRIO LIVE; Uri Caine – THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS; Tom Waits – RAIN DOGS.
Peter Gunn sparked a TV-Detective-Show-With-Jazz-Soundtrack craze, and Mike and Pat plunge into the murky depths of late fifties' jazz and existentialist philosophy to find out just what happened. Sometimes the naked city just isn't pretty. Warren Barker – 77 SUNSET STRIP; Henry Mancini – MORE MUSIC FROM PETER GUNN; Johnny Williams – CHECKMATE; Elmer Bernstein – STACCATO; George Duning – THE NAKED CITY.
Back to the origins of jazz guitar we go, checking out some acoustic luminaries and an electric pathfinder. The introduction of the Mike-citement meter makes this a very special episode indeed. Eddie Lang/Joe Venuti – VOLUME ONE; Lonnie Johnson – STEPPIN' ON THE BLUES; Django Reinhardt – THE CLASSIC EARLY SIDES, VOL 2; Charlie Christian – COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS, VOLUME TWO.
Shut yo mouth! We're just talking about Freddie . . . Hubbard that is, whose career stretches from Blue Note hard bop to CTI funk to mainstream jazz and ends on a blue note when the brass-playing Icarus splits his lip. Eric Dolphy - OUT TO LUNCH; Freddie Hubbard - READY FOR FREDDIE, RED CLAY, ABOVE AND BEYOND; Herbie Hancock - VSOP QUINTET.
Pat and Mike discuss some used records Pat picked up, with some familiar faces and some new ones in the mix. Stay tuned for shocking allegations against one of the artists. Art Farmer – SING ME SOFTLY OF THE BLUES; Don Pullen/George Adams – LIVE AT MONTMARTRE; Kenny Wheeler – DOUBLE DOUBLE YOU; Al Haig – PIANO INTERPRETATIONS.
Gato Barbieri is best known for the Last Tango in Paris soundtrack. After this episode, Mike will be best known for his obsession with butter. Gato Barbieri – LAST TANGO IN PARIS; LATIN AMERICA (VOLS 1 & 2); Charlie Haden – LIBERATION MUSIC ORCHESTRA; Paquito D'Rivera - REUNION
The focus is on solo piano recitals (sorry Erroll's rhythm section), and it brings out a dark episode from Pat's past. Erroll Garner – THE COMPLETE CONCERT BY THE SEA; Keith Jarrett – THE KOLN CONCERT; George Winston – AUTUMN; Brad Mehldau – 10 YEARS SOLO LIVE
The boys get topical as they take on the biggest rap album of last year and the longest jazz album of last year - then look back at possible sources of inspiration for both. Kamasi Washington – THE EPIC; Kendrick Lamar – TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY; James Brown – The PAYBACK; Eddie Gale – BLACK RHYTHM HAPPENING
"Tell me about your jazz childhood," the nice man by the couch says, and Mike and Pat reply "It all started with an uptight semi-genius named Wynton Marsalis." This episode is all about the early years - specifically small group recordings - but some day, some year, there'll be so much more. Wynton Marsalis – DEBUT, MARSALIS STANDARD TIME VOL 1; BLACK CODES FROM THE UNDERGROUND; LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY.
The Village People once asked the question: "Young man, who do you want to be?" Three of tonight's artists knew the answer - one's still workin' on it. Avishai Cohen – DEVOTION; Ray Bryant – MONTREUX 77; Scott Hamilton – RADIO CITY; Johnny Griffin – RETURN OF THE GRIFFIN
