April 15, 2024

There were only six tracks played in today's BTT show but they were six mighty tracks. Well, maybe not all were "mighty" but they all were good food for the ears and brain. A few words on some of them:

"The magnificent 7" by Kamasi Washington, from the epic album, The epic. I haven't played anything from this record for a while but it's always a good one to return to. This was a fine tune with which to start the program.

"Nightclub jitters" by The Replacements. Post-punks do lounge jazz, just once.

"Five banana" by Carla Bley. An all-time fave of mine. I haven't put it on air for many years so it was due an outing.

"Leo" by Alice Coltrane. From a recently-released 1971 concert at Carnegie Hall. Crazy stuff.

You can take in all of these and more here.

BTT returns, as usual, in a week, on Monday, April 22, from 10 to 11 am MT, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Thanks.

Andrew

April 4, 2024 - Alternative To What?

On this day, I was privileged to be able to guest-host the long-running CJSW program, Alternative To What, again. As I usually do when I host ATW, I went all over the musical map and played all sorts and styles of songs, long and short, old and new. On this occasion, I think I may have done the best job at this I’ve ever done, at least on an ATW show. According to the texts that came into the booth, folks listening to the program live really liked it. I did too. If you’re reading this, I think you can listen to the show ASAP; to do that, go here.

Thanks.

Andrew

PS My fave title from this show is “Satanic immersion in goat piss” by Goring Christ. I played this song in the mini Satanic death metal set towards the end of the show.😆

April 8, 2024

This certainly wasn’t the craziest edition of Breaking The Tethers but some solid music was played, much of it Canadian. Plenty of newly released tunes were also featured. Here’s a few tracks I particularly liked:

“Lonnie’s lament” by the Mike Ledonne Groover Quartet. A great version of a fave Coltrane composition.

“Light through the window” by Sam Wilson. Sounds like she has been listening to Ryley Walker.

“Watergate” by Fumio Itabashi. Classic solo piano from Japan.

Listen to these and more here. 

BTT keeps on going on Monday, April 15, I’m going to play at least one longer tune. Hang out with me from 10 to 11 am MT at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Thanks.

Andrew

April 1, 2024

Welcome to a new month. And it's April Fools Day. I didn't try to pull a fast one today, just played some fine tunes, mostly new releases. The main thing I noticed about this show was that many of the songs featured some great bass playing, both electric and acoustic. I didn't plan this but I'm glad it turned out this way. I dubbed this show The Cool Bass Playing Edition of Breaking The Tethers. Listen here.

The next time my dulcet tones will be featured on air at CJSW will not be next Monday. Later this week, on Thursday, April 4, I'll be filling in on Alternative To What. Regular host Kerry Clarke can't make it so she has deputized me to do my thing on her show. As always, thanks Kerry! Join me from 4 to 6 pm MT at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

All this being said, I will also be back with another episode of Breaking The Tethers next week. Usual time, usual place: 10 to 11 am MT, cjsw.com or 90.9 FM, Monday, April 8.

Thanks.

Andrew

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 15, 2024 - Alternative To What?

As happens a few times a year, I was blessed with the chance this week to guest-host the long-running CJSW program Alternative To What? The regular host, Kerry Clarke, was unable to host this week so she very kindly deputized me in her stead. Many thanks to Kerry!

Music-wise, when I host ATW, I tend to go a little crazy. Sometimes I go a lot crazy. Maybe I did that this week. There certainly was a GREAT DEAL of variation, starting with the Fat Elvis Zeppelin reggae of Dread Zeppelin to the weirdo keyboard glitches of Xenopraxis. In-between, among other things, we had Revolution 9 gone chipmunk, lots of vibes, a few avant jazz tracks, a 38 second song by Yes, Nigerian rock, and much more. Feed it all to your brain here.

Thanks.

Andrew

February 12, 2024

As with last week’s BTT episode, most of the tunes here are newly-released or re-released, with a couple of older selections added for good measure. What was my favourite song from the tracks today? Probably the first one played, “Chin miau” by Yusef Lateef from his influential 1961 album, Eastern sounds (this was the reissue). Fun song of the day: “Coop’s condiments” by Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm, which is a song (with vocals) about the condiments in a restaurant (seriously). It’s all here.

The penultimate episode of Breaking The Tethers this month is next week, February 19 is the day. 10 to 11 am MT is the time. CJSW 90.9 FM or cjsw.com is the station.

Thanks

Andrew

February 5, 2024

A lot of new jazz came into the station in the week or two preceding this edition of Breaking The Tethers. Accordingly, I featured a lot of this stuff in the show; all of this was good. I also put in a couple of older tunes, “I’ve been to many places” by Matthew Shipp, one of my faves, and “Sciatica” by the Kyle Brenders Quintet, an interesting track from an album that I had largely forgot about; I’m glad I played it. You can listen to the show here. 

Thanks.

Andrew

July 24, 2023

Nine is the number when it comes to Breaking The Tethers. Unless I play a bunch of short tunes and I don’t play anything very long, I end up featuring nine songs on the show. This is what happened this week (and on many other weeks). A few tracks to point out from this week’s nine:

“Trip merchant” by Larry Young. Organ jazz starting to head outside, just before Young became Khalid of Space.

“Fell to earth” by Soft Machine. This might be the best cut from this long-running group’s latest studio album, Other doors.

“Outeroids” by Alan Shorter. Free jazz from Wayne Shorter’s trumpet and flugelhorn playing brother.

You can listen to the nine at shorturl.at/atyF4

Thanks.

Andrew 

June 12, 2023

Lots of songs played this week, from many points on the musical map. I described this show on the CJSW page as “Groovy 70s jazz and strong and weirdness and more!” Sometimes my words don’t fit, sometimes they do and this is one of those situations. Listen to this program here. 

Thanks.

Andrew

June 5, 2023

Looking at the track list, quite simply, some great stuff was played this week. Let’s look at a few of these:

“As falls Wichita, so fall Wichita Falls” by Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays. The sprawling title track from a great album. Is it art-prog-jazz? Pick your words; it’s an amazing trip.

“Love song” by Tony Williams. Always a tremedously interesting drummer to listen to. This is from one of his two Blue Note albums before starting the early jazz-rock band Lifetime.

“Tree-fun-doe-la” by Joe Henderson. One of my fave sax players. Any Joe Henderson is good Joe Henderson. 

Go here to listen to this show.

Thanks.

Andrew

May 29, 2023

Like the previous week’s program, this was a fine show. Simply, I really liked the tunes. There was more Soft Machine (I actually try to not play the same artist two weeks in a row but what the heck), an awesome Ahmad Jamal performance (partly on the electric piano, a somewhat rare thing), and some Marvin Gaye funkiness (“Right on!”). Dig it all at tinyurl.com/5c82tuhp. 

Thanks.

Andrew

May 22, 2023

Ooh, looking at the tracklist, this was a good show. It starts off with some Soft Machine (always a good thing to do!), from the live set that came out last year, the Dutch Lesson (apparently, there’s another Soft Machine live recording coming out in 2024); there’s another of my faves, Lee Morgan; a solo bass tune from Ksawery Wojcinski (which is GREAT); and some Muffins, a more recent fave of mine, from the 13 CD (!) collection, Baker’s Dozen. It’s well worth listening to; go to rb.gy/8mwhwa

Thanks.

Andrew

May 15, 2023

As you know, I’m catching up on un-posted Breaking The Tethers shows from 2023. For most of these programs, I’ve got a fair memory of what I played that day, beyond just what’s on the track list. With this show, though, I can’t really remember much about it; sorry about that. I do know what the Brad Mehldau and Bruce Cockburn songs sound like, generally speaking 😁. You can hear this edition of BTT here.

Thanks.

Andrew

June 5, 2023

More catching up, cleaning up the messes I made in 2023. Looking at the June 5 show from that year, some great music was played. Among others, I point you to the epic "As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Fall" by Metheny and Mays, "Love song" by the always fantastic Tony Williams, and "Three days til Sunday" by the Muffins, an increasingly fave band of mine.  Listen to it all here.

Thanks.

Andrew

January 29, 2023

This week's Breaking The Tethers was made up of some newly-released material, some older items (though nothing from the 20th century, all more recent than that), plenty of Canadian stuff, and a fair amount of piano. My top tracks were "Pointsplaneslines" by Quentin Tolmieri, "Beach and car" by Josh Zubot Strings, and "Kind folk" by Craig Brenan and Florian Ross (though I prefer the version on Kenny Wheeler's 1995 ECM album, Angel song; Wheeler wrote the song; I think I'll play this version sometime soon on BTT). All these and more are worth listening to; go to rb.gy/ogsqjl.

Next week's BTT will be on Monday, February 5 (yes, February already), from 10 to 11 am MT, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM. Good music will be played. Please tune in.

Thanks.

Andrew

May 8, 2023

This was a mostly-Canadian edition of Breaking The Tethers, which is never a bad thing. My fave track from this show was the groovy “Singularity” by the Victoria BC group Astrocolor (the rest of the record, Moonlighting: astrojazz, vol. 1, is great too). Go here to listen to a podcast of this program.

Thanks.

Andrew

May 1, 2023

Kind of a mellow show but still an interesting one. Heck, any program with Pharaoh Sanders and the Muffins on it is an interesting show, and a good one! Feed this thing to your ears here.

Thanks.

Andrew

December 25, 2023

Here's the link to the Christmas Day 2023 edition of Breaking The Tethers: rb.gy/4e4zg5. This was a fun show and a different one. Over the years, I've rarely had to do a show on Christmas Day so I've kept the the "Christmas" BTT shows on other days pretty light on the holiday element; a few Xmas songs here, a few there, some funny stuff, some serious stuff. As BTT fell smack dap on Christmas this year, I figured I would go whole hog holiday. Everything was Christmas, all the tracks. There was still jazz (e.g. "We wish you a funky Christmas" by Adam Shulman) but most of the tracks came from other genres (rock, funk, folk, comedy, sound collage, and more) and were, basically, crazy. Give the podcast a listen and join in the nuttiness!

Thanks.

Andrew

January 22, 2024

I've said it before but it's worth repeating: Some shows just go well. The music flows and falls together nicely. My banter is good. There are few, if any, butterfingers moments or technical issues. This week's program was one of those Goldilocks editions. I had a good feeling at the end of it.

Musically, the episode was dominated by two long(ish) sets. One set was relatively straight-ahead and had a notable amount of piano. The other was more from the outer rim of jazz. In addition to these, there was a soul-jazz number ("The underdown groove" by Russ Spiegel) and a UK free jazz number ("Too suchmuchness" by Elton Dean et al). Please give it all a listen here. 

Breaking The Tethers will return on the last Monday of January 2024, the 29th (yeah, we're there already!!). Join me from 10 to 11 am MT that day, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Thanks.

Andrew

January 15, 2024

There were only four tracks played in this episode of Breaking The Tethers, which might be an all-time low. There's a good reason; two of the tracks took up over half of the program and the other two weren't short either. A few notes on three of the pieces:

"Actions for free jazz orchestra" by Krzysztof Penderecki .This is the companion piece to the Don Cherry composition, "Humus: the life exploring force" (which I accidentally called "Humus: the life affirming force" on air, sorry) which I played on the Nov. 27 BTT show. Both appear on a record released in 1971, Actions. Both are crazy, in good ways.

"Sri Rama Ohnedaruth" by Alice Coltrane. I'm getting on an Alice Coltrane kick, which is always a good thing. Fantastic strings on this song. Spiritual jazz before there was Spiritual Jazz.

"Una New York" by Luther Thomas Human Arts Ensemble. More free jazz meets hard funk. I played the other track from this re-release from 1973, "Funky donkey", on January 1.

This was a great show, I think. You should give it a listen.

You should also tune into the next Breaking The Tethers show, which will be on Monday, January 22, 10 to 11 am MT, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM. See you then and there!

Thanks.

Andrew

January 1, 2024

For this, the inaugural Breaking The Tethers show of 2024, I decided to present an "all-new" program. That is, everything played was newly-released or newly-re-released. I hadn't done a show like this in a very long time (maybe since 2022?) so January 1 seemed liked an appropriate date to bring back this format (for just one episode, for the time being). Plenty of good music was featured; my favourite was the free jazz meets hard funk of "Funky donkey" by the Luther Thomas Human Arts Ensemble (a re-release from 1973; I'm planning to play another track from this record on the January 15 BTT program). Here's the show in full: rb.gy/azqr5n

Thanks.

Andrew

January 8, 2023

Unlike the January 1 program, this second show of 2024 was not an "all-new" edition of BTT. But it wasn't far off, with only a couple of tracks, from the New York Art Quartet and John & David Sneider, not officially falling into the "new release" category (and the Sneider song still came from 2023). Overall, not a bad way to take a further step into a new year. You can listen to the show here. 

Thanks.

Andrew