Monday, March 25, 2024

March 25, 2024

The main event in this week's program was the first track played, "Africa" by Alice Coltrane, off the just-released-last-week album, The Carnegie Hall concert. This record documents a February 1971 concert by Alice and group (which includes two drummers, two sax players, two bass players, an harmonium player, a tamboura player, and Alice herself on piano and harp). While there is definitely structure, "Africa" is basically a half-hour long freakout, where Alice and the boys kick out the jams (as I read in a review of a bootleg version of the concert). It's a fine trip. You can listen to "Africa" and the other tunes featured in this show here.

Breaking The Tethers shows up again on April Fool's Day, Monday, April 1. I'm not sure if there will be any tricks but there will be treats of the musical variety (yes, I'm mixing up special days, I know). Check this out from 10 to 11 am MT at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Thanks.

Andrew

Sunday, March 24, 2024

March 4, 2024

Here's a BTT program I forgot to post about, March 4. It was mostly newly-released stuff this week. Here's a few tracks I particularly dug:

The Lori Bell Quartet with a jazz flute version of Joe Henderson's "Black narcissus". Joe's version (from Power to the people) is still the best but I quite dug this one.

"Passing ships" by Andrew Hill, from the album of the same name (which was recorded in 1969 but not released until 2003). Super-horn heavy album.

"Snafu" by Yusuf Lateef from the reissued Eastern sounds. I've really been digging this record. I've played a number of tracks on BTT over the last several weeks.

"KRITN" by the Budos Band from their recent release, the EP Frontier's edge. The Budos Band are always fun to play.

That's enough of a hint about this show. You can listen to it here.

Thanks.

Andrew

March 22, 2024 - The Future Language

I crashed another CJSW program. The Future Language! Normally, The Future Language is a punk show but it went in some very different directions this week. Future Language host and CJSW music director, Helen Young, and I often talk about prog-type music and we decided we needed to bring this to air.  Helen selected half the tunes and I picked the other half. All sorts of awesome proggy craziness was fed to the airwaves and we had lots of fun. We're going to do it again sometime! Listen to everything that went down here.

Thanks.

Andrew

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

March 18, 2024

This was the second week in a row with a musician interview. Today, I chatted with Arthur and Jeff from Canadian band Last Ark Out. We discussed their music, their new album, Lift (I played a couple of tracks from this), future plans, and much more. Many thanks to Arthur and Jeff for joining BTT. You can listen to the interview and the rest of the program here.

It's back to just a regular music show next week, no interviews. Tune in on Monday, March 25, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM, from 10 to 11 am MT.

Thanks.

Andrew

Thursday, March 14, 2024

March 11, 2024

The main thing in this episode of Breaking The Tethers was an interview with drummer and composer Will Régnier, who called us from Laval, QC. We discussed his new record, Traces, and played a couple of tracks from it. Thanks, Will! Other music played included, as I noted on the BTT home page,  "James Brown, solo bass, solo piano, another variation of Soft Machine, and much more!" That's a nice mix! Listen to it all here.

Next week, Monday, March 18, it'll be interview time again. I'll be chatting with Arthur and Jeff from Last Ark Out, who are from Vancouver. We'll talk about their new album, Lift, and more. Plus great music will be played. Please join me from 10 to 11 am MT at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM

Many thanks.

Andrew

Sunday, March 3, 2024

February 26, 2024

On the page for this show on the CJSW site, I described the program with these words: Jazz flute! Oddball guitar! Avant (small) big band! Saxophone strangeness! Fusion funkiness! I think that covers it well! It was a good show with interesting tracks. A number of listeners agreed; I had several positive texts during the broadcast from folks who dug the music. You can feed the whole thing to your ears here.

For the next episode of BTT, on Monday, March 4, the music will play but I won’t be there. I’m away this week but Steve Russell will be taking my spot. He’ll do a great job. Join him from 10 to 11 am MT at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Thanks.

Andrew

Monday, February 19, 2024

February 19, 2024

A solid show for Family Day 2024. Old stuff, new stuff, and a number of large ensemble performances. The top track, IMHO, was "Kind folk", written by Kenny Wheeler and performed by Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, and Bill Frisell, from the 1997 ECM album Angel song. I played a version of this song by Craig Brenan and Florian Ross a few weeks back and thought I would contrast that with the original (I think this is the first recording of "Kind folk"). I've played this before on BTT a couple of times but it's so good, it deserves another airing. Here's the link to the full show: shorturl.at/kpqDP

Breaking The Tethers for February comes to an end next week, Monday, February 26. Join me for this last show of the month that day from 10 to 11 am MT at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Looking at the two weeks after that, I'll be away for the Monday, March 4 program. Steve Russell will be guest-hosting in my place. After that, on Monday, March 11, I'll be interviewing Canadian musician Will Regnier, who has a new album out, Traces.

Thanks.

Andrew