November 20, 2007

"Scrapper" - Alain Caron (Conversations)
"Take the cake" - Jesse Van Ruller (Trio)
"Soledad" - William Parker/Raining On The Moon (Corn meal dance)
"Kiss and run" - Sonny Rollins (Plus four)
"Little bits" - Leo Smith (Rastafari)
"Hope flows… like water" - Tom Teasley (Painting time)
"Black satin (remix)" - Miles Davis (Evolution of the groove)
"Decollement" - Charlie Hunter and Bobby Previte as Groundtruther with John Medeski (Altitude)
"Downtown east side picnic" - The Bob Murphy Quartet (Downtown east side picnic)
"Wink leak/Traps/Leonard Feather" - Bley/Sheppard/Swallow/Drummond (The lost chords)
"Muir Woods suite: phase 5" - George Duke (Muir Woods suite)
"No problem" - Clarke Terry (Color changes)
"Manha de caranaval" - Ed Bickert (At last)
"Jump up, get down" - The Brubeck Brothers Quartet (Intuition)
"Billy duck" - Marilyn Crispell and Gerry Hemingway (Duo)
"That way" - Spacious couch (Tonal vision)
"Summertime" - Matthew Shipp String Trio (Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, Knitting Factory, New York, June 8, 2000)
"Les nuits de Monsieur Naj" - Erik Truffaz (Arkhangelsk)
"Rocket #9" - Hugh Marsh (Hugmars)
"Mixed message" - The Nels Cline Singers (Draw breath)
"Ghost of Betsy" - Terence Blanchard (A tale of God's will (a requiem for Katrina))

Not a bad little show. I managed to make it through OK with the remnants of a very bad cold. My faves from this week: "Billy duck" by Crispell and Hemingway (I've just discovered Marilyn Crispell), Shipp's version of "Summertime" (I know this almost overwhelmed at least one person who was listening to the show), "Les nuits de Monsieur Naj" by Truffaz, and "Rocket #9" by Hugh Marsh (gotta love a Sun Ra cover!).

I won't be doing Breaking The Tethers next week (November 27). Philip Barker from Morning Joy will be more than ably taking my spot. I'll be back for the December 4 show.

Andrew

September 5, 2006

"Mean Ameen" - Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble (Live at the original Velvet Lounge)
"Huff" - Junction (Self portrait)
"Hat and beard" - Eric Dolphy (Out to lunch)
"Industrial suite" - Paul Bley, Jimmy Guiffre, Steve Swallow (Life of a trio: Sunday)
"Chimera" - Tanya Kalmanovitch (Hut five)
"VI" - Bang on a Can and Don Byron (Ballad for many)
"Quiet" - Sandro Dominelli (Meet me in the alley)
"Fragile" - Brand X (Do they hurt?)
"Purple gazella" - Duke Ellington (Afro-bossa)
"Live in the ideal" - Simon Fisk (Intent)
"Freak in" - Dave Douglas (Freak in)
"Young rabbits" - Jazz Crusaders (Kings of jazz)
"Lowblow" - Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey, Lenny White (Electric)
"Dazed and confused" - Lesismore (At last)
"Garvey's ghost" - Max Roach (Percussion bitter sweet)
"Optica torre" - Tripleplay (Expansion slang)
"Before Kirk" - Chris Tarry (Of battles unknown mysteries)
"Greek street break in" - Sadik Hakim (Ready or not 2)
"Kali noire" - Catherine Potter (Duniya project)
"Space odyssey" - Detroit Experiment (Detroit experiment)
"Facelift" - Soft Machine (Third)
"D.B.G. blues" - Oliver Jones (Have fingers, will travel)
"Wedding song" - Zubot & Dawson (Strang)
"Digestivo" - Mark Dresser Trio (Aquifer)
"So often" - Kidd Jordan, Hamid Drake, William Parker (Palm of soul)
"Divisions " - Nomo (Newtones)

There were a fair number of Canadian performers in this show as well as several "first plays" (such as Eric Dolphy and Duke Ellington). In addition, there were some real "highlight" tracks, at least for me :-) These included Dave Douglas' "Freak in", "Space odyssey" by the Detroit Experiment (I've since played the original by Marcus Belgrave twice; it's a fantastic piece), and "Facelift" by Soft Machine (I've said it before, I love that "Third" LP by the Softs!). Hmm, these are all kinda spacey tunes; I wonder if there's a trend there... And, of course, Ready or not 2 gets milked again, this time for "Greek street break in" by Sadik Hakim.

Andrew

August 29, 2006

"Rundle" - Murley Braid Quartet (Mnemosyne's March)
"Love and hate" - Jackie McLean (Destination out)
"Interlude" - Wayne Shorter (Alegria)
"Road hog" - Nojo (You are here)
"War orphans" - Charlie Haden (Liberation music orchestra)
"Black sabbath" - Andrew Hill (Dance with death)
"Five per cent for nothing" - Yes (Fragile)
"Razor's edge" - Dave Holland Big Band (What goes around)
"Patrician" - Springer and Ducommun (New country)
"Garr" - Jaki Byard (Family man)
"Morning prayer" - Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid (Exchange session vol 1)
"Les policemen" - Mother of Pearl (SheBop!)
"Youth orientated" - Happy Apple (Youth orientated)
"1110 Dovercourt" - D.E.W. East (D.E.W. East meets Nick Brignola)
"Nocturnal transmission" - Medeski, Martin, and Wood (Uninvisible)
"In the details" - Coat Cooke Trio (Up down down up)
"Enfant" - John Zorn (Spy vs spy)
"Song for Che" - Aaly Trio + Ken Vandermark (Hidden in the stomach)
"Sun ship" - John Coltrane (Sun ship)
"I'm getting sentimental over you" - Ella Fitzgerald (Original jazz classics)
"Improvisie" - Paul Bley (Improvisie)
"Journey to strange" - Carnival Skin (Carnival skin)
"Modus operandy" - Michael Brecker (Wide angles)
"Cat's back" - John Abercrombie/Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine (November)
"In memory of" - Randy Weston (Kings of jazz)
"Bells (second part)" - Prima Materia (Bells)

Looking back, I think this was a great show. Loads of "first appearances" by many great artists (e.g. Andrew Hill, Wayne Shorter, John Zorn, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.) along with the "first plays" of a few of my faves (e.g. "Sun ship" by Coltrane, "Garr" by Jaki Byard, and "In memory of" by Randy Weston). I also managed to squeeze in one short tune by Yes - gotta get a taste of prog here and there!

November 13, 2007

"Forbidden sand" - The Saul Berson Quartet (Not here, not now)
"Figs" - The Rosemary Galloway Quartet (Live at the Montreal Bistro)
"Killer mosquito" - Bernie Worrell (Improvisczario)
"Mambo inn" - John Basile (Time will reveal)
"Joshua" - Joe Henderson (So near, so far (musings for Miles))
"Ode to Angela" - Bobby Hutcherson (For sentimental reasons)
"Ne-ne" - Soulive (Next)
"Chase" - Jerry Caringi (Changes)
"Des prunes" - Michel F. Cote ((juste) Claudette)
"Meditations" - Charles Mingus Sextet With Eric Dolphy (Cornell 1964)
"Breaking" - Mike Allen & George McFetridge (Threads)
"Mor feen" - Wilson/Lee/Bentley (Escondido dreams)
"I should have known better (live remix)" - Josh Roseman (New constellations)
"Whirlycurl" - Ron Davis (Subarashi live)
"The 5 elements and the natural trinity" - The Jason Lindner Big Band (Live at the Jazz Gallery)
"Hurry up and wait" - Greg Chako (Paint a picture, tell a story)
"Unconditional" - Jerrold Dubyk Quartet (The way you see it)
"Eastern truth" - The David Joel Quartet (Spiral sky)
"Grattitude (for Jennifer)" - Dean McNeill (Prairie fire: large jazz ensemble)

Not a bad show. It featured material from a lot of new CDs that I had just finished reviewing for the station. Some of these were the best tunes from poor/bad albums (e.g. "Mamo inn' by John Basile and "Chase" by Jerry Caringi - I likely won't be playing anything else from these, sorry), some of these were good tunes from good albums (e.g. "Mor feen" by Wilson/Lee/Bentley and "Des prunes" by Cote - I will be playing more from these records in the coming weeks). The "big long" piece for today was "Meditations" from the recently-discovered Charles Mingus Cornell 1964 concert. Good stuff!

And for those of you who know about this performance, I think I'll dig out Coltrane's "Om" and play it for the Christmas week show (which may well be Christmas Day). All of it. Be warned.

Andrew

November 6, 2007

I'm a little late with this list. I had hoped to get it up sometime on Tuesday, the same day as the show, but it escaped my mind. I was off campus yesterday so I wasn't able to get to it until today. My apologies. Anyway, here goes:

"On the prowl" - Dennis Van Westerborg (Times & places)
"Univoyage" - Miroslav Vitous (Universal syncopations)
"The sound from there" - Norman Howard & Joe Phillips (Burn baby burn)
"Volver a los 17" - Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra with Arturo O'Farrill (Una noche inolvidable)
"Funkin' around" - Down to the Bone (Supercharged)
"Small town jack" - Bill Evans (Soulgrass)
"Johnny come lately" - Jane Fair Quartet (Chances are)
"Gnomesville" - Larry Goldings Trio (Sweet science)
"Border crossing" - Grand Slam (Live at the Reggatabar, Cambridge, Massachusetts)
"Know Diddley" - Tom Teasley (Painting time)
"The pawnshop wedding song" - Kevin Breit & Folkalarm (Skedaddle)
"Look for the black star (take 2)" - Dewey Redman (Look for the black star)
"Maybe yes, maybe no" - PJ Perry Campbell Ryga Quintet (Joined at the hip)
"Honky tonk" - Miles Davis (Evolution of the groove)
"Double down" - Four 80 East (En route)
"Kind folk" - KennyWheeler/Lee Konitz/Dave Holland/Brill Frisell (Angel song)
"Tiffany/Time remembered" - The Bill Evans Trio (Last note: Fat Tuesdays, NYC, September
10, 1980)
"The latest" - Alvin Batiste (Marsalis Music honors Alvin Batiste)
"Levees" - Terence Blanchard (A tale of God's will (a requiem for Katrina))
"Take your clothes off when you dance" - Ed Palermo Big Band (Take your clothes off when you dance)
"Dimitri, Yvan et Aliocha, c'etaient nos noms" - Battista Lena (Les cosmonautes russes)

This was an odd show in that I played the "best of a bad lot" from some performers and albums. For instance, for instance, the music of Dennis Van Westerborg is largely not to my taste; however, there was one OK track on the new Westernborg CD so I played it. The same goes for the Down To The Bone and Four 80 East tunes (I like Four 80 East best of the three, BTW).

On the other hand, I also played some great stuff from great performers and albums, a few of which have quickly become favourites. These include "Kind folk" from Kenny Wheeler and company and "Look for the black star (take two)" from the late Dewey Redman (I love it when he lets loose on the Musette roughly halfway through the track; I'll play something else with Dewey on the musette, from his time with Ornette Coleman, next month).

Andrew

August 22, 2006

"Headlong" - Bill Gilliam (Spirit matter)
"Bomsu" - Trevor Watts Moire Music Drum Orchestra (Wider embrace)
"Never got to Pernambuco" - Don Ross (Music for vacuuming)
"Back home" - Lennie Tristiano Quintet (Live in Toronto 1952)
"Sam enchanted dick" - Jack Bruce (Things we like)
"Tropicando" - Jorge Sylvester Afro-Caribbean Experimental Trio (In the ear of the beholder)
"Blend" - Sandy Bull (Re-inventions)
"How postmodern of me" - Quinsin Nachoff (Magic numbers)
"Two miles before dawn" - Two Banks of Four (Kings of jazz)
"Boodschappenlijst IV" - Misha Mengelberg (Solo)
"JeNeane's dream" - Joey DeFrancesco (Organic vibes)
"To pianist Cecil Taylor" - Anthony Braxton (For alto)
"Air" - Cecil Taylor (World of Cecil Taylor)
"Pussywillows cat-tails" - Lori Cullen (Calling for rain)
"Swing low, sweet cadillac" - Dizzy Gillespie (Dizzy Gillespie (Ken Burns jazz))
"Staples" - Steve Lacy (Saxophone special +)
"Muster fur kammerorchester" - Carlo Fashion (Kings of jazz)
"Rainbow on my table" - Assis Tsahar & the Brass Reeds Ensemble (Hollow world)
"Hidden strength" - Ted Moses Quintet (Ready or not 2)
"Tears for the boy wonder (for Winston Marsalis)" - Other Dimensions in Music (Other dimensions in music)
"Afro white" - Hedvig Hanson (Kings of jazz)
"Prairie dog ballet" - Jim Pearce (Prairie dog ballet)
"Olhossss…" - Sao Paulo Underground (Sauna: um, dois, tres)
"Moon dance" - Sun Ra and His Arkestra (Cosmic tones/Art forms)

Some "first plays" this week, including Steve Lacy and Anothny Braxton. Also a "first play" of sorts was the compilation Kings of jazz. This appeared on the CJSW jazz playlist around this time and it furnished a fair amount of nifty stuff for "Breaking the tethers" and other shows over the next several weeks; perhaps I should dig it out of the library and revisit it one of these days. Ready or not 2 was plundered again. The program ended with Sun Ra, which is always a good thing.

Andrew

August 15, 2006

"Conga blue" - Jane Bunnett (Radio Guantanamo)
"Kernow" - Anouar Brahem/John Surman/Dave Holland (Thimar)
"Hulmu rabia" - Anouar Brahem/John Surman/Dave Holland (Thimar)
"Danielle's waltz" - Lewis Nash (Rhythm is my business)
"NPS" - Dave Young (Two by two)
"By many names" - Fred Anderson (Timeless)
"Captain marvel" - Chick Corea and Return to Forever (Light as a feather)
"Growing a big banana" - Henry Threadgill (Carry the day)
"La china leonicia" - Gato Barbieri (Chapter four:alive in New York)
"Song without words I" - John Cale (Words for the dying)
"Eight" - Ron Carter (Eight plus)
"Sea of wilderness" - Tony Williams (Sea of wilderness)
"Upon reflection" - Amanda Tosoff Quartet (Still life)
"Exploded cod" - Audun Klieve/Generator X
"John Ramsay" - Francisco Mela (Melao)
"Paan-masala" - Moksha Ensemble (Lady sun)
"Mean Ameen" - Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble (Live at the original Velvet Lounge)
"Got to be this way" - John Mayall (Jazz blues fusion)
"Asleep in a snake basket" - Twink (Supercute)
"Humus - the life-exploring force" - Don Cherry (Actions)
"Yes! I'm in the barrel" - Louis Armstrong (appears on various compilations of Louis Armstrong & the Hot Five)
"N'Dondore" - Jean-Jacques Avenel (Waraba)
"Dancing on one foot" - Charles Lloyd (Sangam)
"Shafaa" - Belmondo/Yusef Lateef (Influence)
"Morning light" - Stuart Dempster (Underground overlays from the cistern chapel)

A number of favourites appeared this week, including "Captain Marvel" by Chick Corea and Return to Forever (great, catchy vocal sections from Flora Purim), "Eight" by Ron Carter (wonderful use of a string section), and the incredible "Humus - the life-exploring force" by Don Cherry, which goes to some very interesting places. I also included some tracks which may or may not be jazz but they fit on Breaking the Tethers e.g. Twink's "Asleep in a snake basket", which features toy piano as the main instrument, and John Cale's trance-like "Song without words I".

Andrew

August 8, 2006

"Gargoyles" - Free Trade (Free trade)
"Next love" - Don Byron (Tuskegee experiments)
"Tour without passport" - Kazutoki Umezu (First deserter)
"The in crowd" - Ramsey Lewis Trio (Various #1)
"Concept" - Amanda Tosoff Quartet (Still life)
"Core" - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (Free for all)
"Heavy mental (for Wayne Krantz)" - Tim Berne (Shell game)
"Tsakwe" - Abdullah Ibrahim (African suite)
"LeRoy's tune" - Francois Houle Et Cetera (Hacienda)
"Lincoln reviews his notes" - Lyle Mays (Fictionary)
"Blessings" - McCoy Tyner (lluminations)
"Perceptions" - Nick Ayoub (Ready or not 2)
"Crux" - Ned Rothenberg (Crux)
"Charcoal" - Michael Bates' Outside Sources (Fine balance)
"It" - Dewey Redman/Cecil Taylor/Elvin Jones (Momentum space)
"Thinking of you" - Brad Goode (Hypnotic suggestion)
"Noon harras" - Derek Bailey/John Zorn/William Parker (Harras)
"In a silent way/Shhh-Peaceful/It's about that time" - Miles Davis (Panthalassa)
"Mercy (variation no. 1)" - Demon Fuzz (Afreaka!)
"We do we go" - Nomo (Newtones)
"Epitome" - Odean Pope (Locked & loaded)
"Skag" - Archie Shepp (New thing at Newport)
"Beast" - Rhythm Devils (Apocalypse Now sessions)

Overall, a nice set of tracks. I'm only going to specifically mention one thing here, "Mercy" by Demon Fuzz, from their Afreaka! album. Basically, these guys were a UK ska/reggae act that freaked out in the late 60s, let their hair grow, donned African duds, and put out one album and an EP, both of which vanished fairly quickly and became collectors' items. Fortunately, both recordings were rereleased on one CD a couple of years ago. The music is an almagam of jazz, soul, prog rock, and all sorts of other odds and ends, all well-played and presented. Great stuff. I haven't played any Demon Fuzz since Aug.8, 2006; I'll have to play more soon.

Andrew