Apologies/CJSW Funding Drive

First off, I need to issue a major apology.  I am very late in posting both the October 14 and 21 shows.  I came back from a great holiday and jumped right into almost two weeks of fairly full days at work.  I just keep forgetting to post the lists.   I will put them up on Monday (I'd do them now but the lists are at work and I'm at home... another excuse, I know :-).  

The other (important) thing I need to mention is that we are now in the midst of CJSW's annual funding drive.  CJSW (the station that airs Breaking The Tethers) receives half its funding from the University of Calgary Students Union (via a student levy); this covers the day-to-day expenses only (including the few paid employees, all four of them; pretty much everyone else is a volunteer, including yours truly).  Capital expenditures, equipment upgrades, surprise financial needs, and more are funded solely by the money that is donated by CJSW listeners in the funding drive.  So, this week's activities are crucial to the ongoing operations and programming of the station.  The goal for the station this year is $200,000; my rough goal for the funding drive edition of Breaking The Tethers is $1000.  Anything donated would be very welcome.  The funding drive edition of Breaking The Tethers will take place on Tuesday, October 28, 6-9 am.  There will be some incentives from CJSW for pledges (see http://www.cjsw.com/funding/funding_drive_incentives.html) plus there will be added CD incentives (some commercial jazz CDs, some special mix CDs made by me).  Please listen in and call 403-220-5000.

Andrew

September 16, 2008

I'm on a little later than usual with this :-) :

"Ciuri ciuri" - Michael Occhipinti (The Sicilian jazz project)
"Pretty memory" - Nat Adderley (Work song)
"Moonshine" - Dave Douglas (Moonshine)
"Awakening" - Mahavishnu Orchestra (Inner mounting flame)
"Melt down" - Lisa Hilton (Sunny day theory)
"High tea for Stephany" - Joanne Brackeen (Out and out jazz)
"And I love her" - Kevin Hays (Blue Note plays the Beatles)
"Flying" - Glenn Ferris Pentessence Quintet (X actimo!)
"Secret weapon: part II" - Blink (The epidemic of ideas)
"Chanson de rue #6" - Damian Nisenson Trio + 3 (En concert)
"Many thousands gone" - Bobby Hutcherson (Head on)
"Swing out" - Bob Mintzer Big Band (Swing out)
"Blakzilla" - Branford Marsalis Quartet (Braggtown)
"St. Louis blues' - Johnny Lyttle (Jazz for a rainy afternoon)
"Return of the prodigal son" - Stanley Turrentine (Return of the prodigal son)
"Long as you're living" - Elizabeth Shepherd (Parkdale)
"Maracatu-too" - Stan Getz with guest artist Laurinda Almeida (Stan Getz with guest artist Laurinda Almeida)
"The 3/4 tune" - The Peter Evans Quartet (The Peter Evans Quartet)
"74 miles away" - Cannonball Adderley (The best of Cannonball Adderley: The Capitol years)
"Electoral college" - Adam Niewood & His Rabble Rousers (Epic journey)
"Little jump" - Terri Lynne Carrington (Jazz is a spirit)
"La belle affaire" - L'Orkestra Des Pas Perdus (Project 9)

This was a fun show with a fairly varied setlist. It marked a number of first appearances, including both Adderley brothers (Julian "Cannonball" and Nat) as well as Stan Getz (with a pretty cool tune). Perhaps my fave tune this week is "Many thousands gone" by Bobby Hutcherson; very much 1971, kind of experimental, somewhat spacey jazz.

I'm out of town for meetings and vacation for most of the next few weeks and won't be back on air until October 14. In the meantime, Philip from Morning Joy and Stewart from Pound Cake Jazz will more than ably take over Breaking The Tethers in my absence (Philip twice and Stewart once). I am in their debt.

Andrew

September 9, 2008

I'm on time this week! Here's the track list, posted in the same day as the show:

"III Wooster St." - Francois Bourassa Quartet (Rassnotes)
"Minor mood" - The Poll Winners (he poll winners: Barney Kessell with Shelly Manne and Ray Brown)
"Golden eagle dance" - Didier Lockwood & Raghunath Manet (Omkara)
"House of Haynes" - Joel Haynes Trio + Seamus Blake (Transitions)
"Brick steps (part III: fallback plan suite)" - Taylor Eigsti (Let it come to you)
"Monkey waits" - Simon Fisk/Chris Gestrin/Jerry Granelli (Vague hotels)
"The real mcbop" - Arturo Sandoval (Live at the Blue Note)
"Paris of the prairies" - Mark Dejong (The unknown)
"Breaking and entering" - Adam Niewood & His Rabble Rousers (Epic journey)
"Law of balance" - David Gilmore (Unified presence)
"Sway" - Jane Bunnett (Embracing voices)
"There was something in my drink" - Bobby Previte and the New Bump (Set the alarm for Monday)
"El amor en los tiempos de la finca" - Rova Saxophone Quartet (Beat kennel)
"Measure up" - Robert Walter (Cure all)
"Death of a space piper" - Rare Air (Space piper)
"Homage" - Frank Gratkowski Quartet (Spectral reflections)
"Fall song: dusk" - Jan Jarczyk (Fall songs)
"If that's true" - Esperanza Spalding (Esperanza)
"Kitten" - Dave Douglas (Moonshine)
"In a sentimental mood" - The Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet (The way of the saxophone)
"Agur janunak" - Elkanno Browning Cream (Elkanno Browning Cream)

In some ways, this is a fairly "straight" set (for Breaking The Tethers), at least for the first couple of hours. Nothing wrong with that, though. The last hour is more on the freakier side, especially with the Gratkowski Quartet piece and the rock-like "Kitten" by Dave Douglas.

Folks may notice that there were two sax quartets featured this week, Rova and Brooklyn. I didn't plan to play tracks from these similar groups (they have the same instrumentation: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) but that's the way it turned out. It got me to thinking that there are actually a fair number of saxophone quartets, perhaps the most famous of which is the World Saxophone Quartet.

Next week's edition of Breaking The Tethers will be my last for a month. For a variety of reasons, I'll be unavailable until the October 14 show.

Andrew

September 2, 2008

I'm very, very late with this, close to a week. I really try to get the list for each show posted within a day or two after the show but it just didn't happen this week; I just got snowed under in other aspects of my life (still am!). Anyway, apologies and here's the list:

"Cousin Esau" - Tilden Webb Trio (Cellar groove)
"Glass" - Blink (The epidemic of ideas)
"Green haze" - Miles Davis (Musings of Miles)
"Dakar" - John Coltrane (Dakar)
"Beyond the limit" - Bob Mintzer Big Band (Swing out)
"Bamboo pants" - Billy Martin & John Medeski (Mago)
"Cherokee" - Sharel Cassity (Just for you)
"Mr. Yunioshi" - Ted Nash (The Mancini project)
"Off blue" - The Mark Atkinson Trio (IV)
"Shades of jade" - Mark Johnson (Shades of jade)
"Nine minute (or so) chabad nigun" - Daniel Zamir (I believe)
"Spirit of '76" - Michael Moore & Fred Hersch (This we know)
"The sulpher miner" - Michael Occhipinti (The Sicilian jazz project)
"Gastro funk" - L'Orkestra Des Pas Perdus (Project 9)
"Penske" - Will Bernard (Party hats)
"#42 take 15 (Duke's last soliloquoy)" - Mal Waldron (The cool world)
"I hear voices" - Jane Bunnett (Embracing voices)
"Track 2" - Marion Brown (Koeln, Germany, March 13, 1977)
"!!!!!" - The Peter Evans Quartet (The Peter Evans Quartet)
"Morning mantra" - William Parker (Double sunrise over Neptune)
"Moment" - Francois Carrier/Michel Lambert/Jean-Jacques Avenel (Within)

I think my fave part of this show was the last hour: The first playing of Marion Brown on Breaking The Tethers (more from him in the future!), the crazed "!!!!!" from the Peter Evans Quartet, and I very much liked ending things with the two lengthy "out there" pieces by Parker and the Carrier/Lambert/Avenel team. Earlier on, I was particularly fond of the "Nine minute (or so) chabad nigun" by Zamir, the bit from The Cool World (been meaning to play this for a while), and the track by Martin and Medeski (apparently, there's a new MMW CD coming out, with some sort of a connection to a work by John Zorn; I'll have to get my hands on it somehow).

Andrew

August 26, 2008

"Casual coordinates" - Elaschuk/Ryga Quartet (Cellar live: the first five years)
"Straight-up" - Eric Allison (After hours)
"Four folk songs" - Ben Allison & Man Sized Safe (Little things run the world)
"Interlude" - John Stetch (Standards)
"Rahsaan in the serengetti" - Ari Brown (Venus)
"Sounds like seven" - Marian McPartland (Ambiance)
"Stalker" - Francois Couturier (Nostalghia - Song for Tarkovsky)
"Sniffin' around" - Brubeck Braid (Twotet/deuxtet)
"Deluge" - Taylor Eigsti (Let it come to you)
"Amad" - Duke Ellington (Far east suite)
"Some echoes" - Steve Swallow Ohad Talmor Sextet (L'histoire du clochard)
"Stolen moments" - Gary Bartz Sonny Fortune (Alto memories)
"Dry September" - John Patitucci (Line by line)
"A place to roam" - Simon Fisk/Chris Gestrin/Jerry Granelli (Vague hotels)
"Hey you" - Ethel Ennis (If women ruled the world)
"Chant poo" - Francois Bourassa Quartet (Rassnotes)
"I adore you" - Esperanza Spalding (Esperanza)
"Flood (maqam hijaz kar)" - Amir ElSaffar (Two rivers)
"Men in black" - Mark Dejong (The unknown)
"Five corridors" - Adam Niewood & His Rabble Rousers (Epic journey)
"Minellos (part 2)" - Rubin Steiner (Wunderbar 3)
"The long view: postlude" - Marty Ehrlich (The long view)

Another not too bad show, with plenty of piano and some performers I'd never played before (or, in some cases, even heard of before I pulled the CD from the shelf in the CJSW library). Top tune o' the day has to be "Four folk songs" by Ben Allison; great arrangement, fantastic melody played by the trumpet, possibly my fave jazz track released last year.

Andrew

August 19, 2008

"My soul's been anchored in the Lord" - Paul Neufeld (Walk together)
"Sister Mamie" - Yusef Lateef (Live at Pep's)
"Theme from Night Visitor" - Ted Nash (The Mancini project)
"To whom it may concern" - Tony Williams Lifetime (New York 1969)
"Wow" - Sharel Cassity (Just for you)
"Basswave" - Markus Stockhausen/Ferenc Snetberger/Arild Andersen/Patrice Heral
(Joyosa)
"Always there" - Joel Haynes Trio + Seamus Blake (Transitions)
"Celebration jig" - Bob Brookmeyer/New Art Orchestra (New works)
"Remember Fela" - Gangbe Brass Band (Whende)
"Greasy brain food" - Crash (Candy shop)
"Witch doctor no. 2" - Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars
(Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars: lighthouse at Laguna)
"Experience" - Francois Carrier/Michel Lambert/Jean-Jacques Avenel (Within)
"Bedtime story" - Michael Moore & Fred Hersch (This we know)
"Misadventures" - Blink (The epidemic of ideas)
"Laura" - Coleman Hawkins (The hawk flies high)
"O.G.D."- Jake Langley/Joey DeFrancesco Trio (Sound of jazz series: 30th anniversary collection)
"Seventh day rain" - The Chad Makela Quartet (Flicker)
"Lights of Lake George" - William Parker (Double sunrise over Neptune)
"Going home" - Teddy Edwards (Smooth sailing)
"7 midot" - Daniel Zamir (I believe)

This was my return show to Breaking The Tethers, in a sense, after hosting Pound Cake Jazz on Thursday. Everything went fairly well; this was a fun show to do.

Looking at the music, kudos go to Yusef Lateef, William Parker, and Daniel Zamir though I have to say that I really liked pretty much everything. I should note that "Greasy brain food" (great title!) by Crash was the 2500th track played on Breaking The Tethers, in a little over two years.

Andrew

August 15, 2008

This was a showfill for one of the alternating Friday 6-9 am jazz programs, Pound Cake Jazz (the other show on Fridays is Jazz For Quantum Cats):

"Third invocation" - D.D. Jackson (Suite for New York)
"Night dreamer" - Wayne Shorter (Night dreamer)
"Concrete view" - Nils Wogram, Root 70 (Getting rooted)
"Some other time" - Bill Charlap Trio (Somewhere: the songs of Leonard Cohen)
"A tale begun" - Jan Garbarek (In praise of dreams)
"My bucket's got a hole in it" - Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis (Two men with the blues)
"Coupe" - Robert Walter (Cure all)
"Concorde" - The Modern Jazz Quartet (Concorde)
"Flintstones II" - Herb Ellis/Ray Brown Sextet (After you've gone)
"Vague hotels" - Simon Fisk/Chris Gestrin/Jerry Granelli (Vague hotels)
"Walkin'" - Frank Morgan (Reflections)
"Black Thursday" - Tin Hat Trio (The sad machinery of spring)
"Jaya jaya Rama" - Alice Coltrane (Huntingdon ashram monastery)
"Concerto for George" - The People's Band and Congress of Musicians (B.J. Levy presents ThePeople's Band and Congress of Musicians)
"For Nick/Horn/Know" - Francois Houle 6 and Danielle Hebert (Poor boy: songs of Nick Drake)
"The unknown" - Mark Dejong (The unknown)
"Flute down" - Karl Denson (Dance lesson #2)
"Trap-op" - Ed Littman (Splatt)
"Event horizon" - Assif Tsaher with John Tchicai (Vision one: Vision Festival 1997 compiled)
"Tin tin deo" - Stanley Turrentine (Look out!)
"O'Neal's bridge" - William Parker (Double sunrise over Neptune)
"Blues for" - John Lloyd (Four and five)
"Ellingtonia II" - Rosella Washington & Tyrone Brown (CIMPosium, volume 9)

Not a bad show, I must say. I had to dig into the CJSW library a bit for some of the tracks in the last hour and made some interesting discoveries (the Vision one and CIMPosium CDs; John Lloyd's Four and five). Sometimes when I do this, I find myself struggling to discover anything that will fit the progrsm; other times, it's amazing CD after amazing CD. Such is the way things go.

My next show is on Tuesday, my usual Breaking The Tethers spot.

Andrew