http://www.kzmu.org/listen.m3u ~ Use this link to access the show online.
Simplicity (Storyville Records 2016) may or may not be the theme of this week's show, but it is the title of our first offering coming from Denmark's the Carsten Dahl Trio performing his "A Minor Mood for You." Lennart Ginman (bass) and Frands Rifbjerg (drums), fellow Danes, complete the piano trio. American drummer Tyshawn Sorey follows with an esoteric three minutes from his new PI Recordings The Inner Spectrum of Variables. Tyshawn's ensemble includes Cory Smythe: piano; Christopher Tordini: bass; Fung Chern Hwei: violin; Kyle Armburst: viola; Rubin Kodheli: violoncello. With an all-star cast, The Power Quintet gives us the hard bop "Look at Here" from their 2016 High Note High Art featuring luminaries Jeremy Pelt- Trumpet; Steve Nelson - vibes; Danny Grissett- piano; Ron Carter- Bass; Billy Drummond- drums.
Markowitz/Andersson/Mogensen's In Transit (Hobby Horse Records 2016) follows with their musical interpretation of "Paris." The blind Danish bassist Richard Andersson is joined by countryman Anders Morgensen on drums and America's Phil Markowitz's piano. Clifford Brown & Max Roach's Study in Brown (Verve, 1954), a recording cited by The New York Times as "perhaps the definitive bop group until Mr. Brown's fatal automobile accident in 1956," closes this half-hour with Clifford's "Daahoud," featuring the leaders' trumpet and drums with Harold Land (t), Richie Powell (p) and George Morrow (b).
The first three cuts of the second-half revolve around the artistry of pianist Horace Parlan. From tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine1960's Blue Note Look Out! we find Horace as an important sideman and composer in "Return Engagement." George Tucker (b) and Al Harewood (d) provide the underpinning. Us Three, Horace's own 1960 Blue Note release, gives us his penned title track featuring the same rhythm section. US4, a group with one Swede, two Danes and an American, is a Stunt Records/Sundance Music celebration of Parlan in My Scandinavian Blues: A Tribute to Horace Parlan.
The cover is Parlan's "Us Three." Although stricken with polio at an early age, Horace overcame all odds to become a distinctive jazz pianist; he moved to Denmark in 1972 when he was forty-one. Russian born Yelena Eckemoff, now living in America, performed as a classical pianist in the Soviet Union before embracing the jazz idiom. We'll hear her "Coffee & Thunderstorm" from her new L & H Productions' Leaving Everything Behind with Mark Feldman's violin, Bill Hart's drums and bassist Ben Street.
With trumpeter/pianist Chris Rogers' 2001 Art of Life Records' Voyage Home, just newly released, we get an ensemble that features legendary Michael Brecker in a performance of Rogers' "Whit's End." Bassist/composer Matt Ulery follows with his new Woolgathering Records' Large - Festival with a 27-piece jazz orchestra featuring violin soloist, Zach Brock, in an unusual cover of Jimmy Rowles' "The Peacocks," a composition performed by dozens of jazz groups over the years. From the important voice of saxophonist JD Allen we'll hear his ideas about "Lightnin'" from his new Savant Records' Americana.
KZMU Music Director Serah turned us on to Miss Sophie Lee's cover of Robin/Shavers' "Undecided" from Lee's 2016 Traverse this Universe. The Heine Hansen Trio is next with a performance of Denmark's Hansen's "You're Gone and I Remain" from his new Storyville Records Signature. Judy Carmichael & Harry Allen's Can You Love Once More? (GAC Records 2016) follows with Carmichael and Allen's "An Almost Perfect Man." Along with vocalist Judy and Allen's tenor we have Mike Renzi's supportive piano. Roberta Piket contributes to this romantic half-hour with her "Saying Goodbye" from her Thirteenth Note Records' One for Marian/Celebrating Marian McPartland. Roberta's sidemen include Steve Wilson's alto, Harvie S on bass and others. Karrin Allyson gives us wonderfully sensual take on Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" with lyrics added by Chris Caswell and retitled "Something Worth Waiting For" from her 2006 Concord Jazz Footprints. Bruce Barth's piano is featured. London/Decca's 1948The George Shearing Trio, one of early bop's important recordings, follows with "I Only Have Eyes for You," a popular love song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, written in 1934 for the film Dames where it was introduced by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Concluding this titillating half-hour and the show comes from Jane Monheit's 2004 Sony Taking a Chance, an idea I would recommend to all you would-be-lovers out there. Jane and Michael Bublé have fun explaining exactly why "I Won't Dance." Nevertheless, in the Youtube video they cavort!
Let's have some fun!
A special thanks to KZMU's Music Director, Serah Mead and the troops @ Republic of Jazz for their help putting the show together: Agenor (BRA), Chris do Brasil (BRA), Domi & Victor (SPA), GAB (BEL), JR (SPA), Javi (SPA), Juan/Jazzzz61 (SPA), Lira (BRA), Luisa, Menos Que un Perro (ARG), Marcos (BRA), Melokan (VEN), Raz (ISR) and Sonia (SPA). Also friend, Raul Boeira, the Brazilian based in Passo Fundo and Spain's Javier Carrete.
