Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Playlist summary for Tom Ossana – The Thin Edge – September 14, 2016 MST 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.


http://www.kzmu.org/listen.m3u ~ Use this link to access the show online.


It's fascinating that 1940s "How High The Moon," a very popular song of its time - and eventually modern jazz's national anthem - has spawned several contrafacts (new work based on a pre-existing structure) including, among many others, Miles' "Ornithology", Lee Konitz's "Lennie Bird," Coltrane's "Satellite" and "How High The Bird" by Steve Williamson for melodic and rhythmic comparisons. When he finished the chart, Morgan Lewis could not have known the impact his tune would have on the jazz idiom throughout its seventy-two year history. With that in mind, tonight's show begins with a remastered copy of Charlie Parker's Dial Records' 1947 "Ornithology" featuring Miles, Lucky Thompson, Dodo Marmarosa, guitarist Arvin Garrison and Max Roach. Yes, we've heard this outing several times over the years and Charlie's solo, one that may be the best ever. It's the perfect setup for Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau's cover from their Nonesuch September 9, 2016 release Nearness.

In it they improvise simultaneously and briefly mention part of Parker's solo. Joshua and Brad's improvisation is much like the artists in Lennie Tristano's 1949 "Digression" - credited as being one of the first freely improvised jazz recordings. Lupa Santiago 4teto's + Ed Neumeister's 2016 Sound Finger Ubuntu follows with Santiago's "Probably Maybe" featuring the leader's guitar, Leandro Cabral's piano and Neumeister's trombone. The Cookers (Eddie Henderson - trumpet David Weiss - trumpet Donald Harrison - alto saxophone Billy Harper - tenor saxophone George Cables - piano Cecil McBee - bass Billy Hart - drums) close this half with a performance of Cables' "Beyond Forever" from Smoke Sessions Records 2016 release, The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart.

From John Coltrane's famed A Love Supreme we'll hear, for the first time, "Part 2 - Resolution" featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, who demonstrates amazing growth compared to his performance in Coltrane's 1960 Coltrane Jazz heard in the August 31 program. KA MA Quartet (Katharina Maschmeyer Quartet) - A Love Supreme / Universal Tone (BAUER STUDIOS 2016) follows with their treatment of Coltrane's tune. Katharina's reeds are complimented by the stunning guitar of Nils Pollheide. J. D. Moffat's favorite guitarist, John Abercrombie closes this half-hour with bassist Marc Johnson's "Furs on Ice" from John's 1987 ECM Getting There featuring the late Michael Brecker on tenor and Peter Erskine's drums.

Canada's Grammy-nominated Saxophonist Ben Wendel kicks off the third half with a cover of Miles' "Solar" from his new MOTÉMA RECORDS What We Bring with help from Gérald Clayton (p), Joe Sanders (db) and Henry Cole (d). We think of Andrew Cyrille as an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career he has performed both as a leader and as a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, both instrumental in the free-jazz movement of the 60s and beyond. From his 2016 unusually mainstream effort for Manfred Eicher's ECM: The Declaration of Musical Independence, we get Bill Frisell's "song for andrew no.1" with Frisell on guitar, Ben Street's bass and Richard Teitelbaum's keyboards. Steve Turre returns with a cover of Jobim/Lees' "Corcovado" - a mountain in central Rio Janeiro, also translated to "hunchback" - from his Smoke Sessions Records Colors for the Masters featuring Steve's trombone, Kenny Barron (p), Ron Carter (b), Jimmy Cobb (d) and Javon Jackson's tenor. Bringing this half to a close comes Eo Simon's Trio, making their first appearance on this show with a sensitive Bill Evans-type take on Bill and Miles' "Blue in Green" from his Youkali Music Mayan.

The late Charlie Haden gets us passionate with a cover of Deitz and Schwartz's "Haunted Heart" from his Quartet West - Haunted Heart recorded in France in 1991. Ernie Watts', the unparalleled romantic tenor saxophonist, joins the bassist with Alan Broadbent's piano and Larance Marable's drums. Toward the end, Charlie patches in Jo Stafford's vocal with the Paul Weston Orchestra from a 1950 Capitol recording. New from Impulse Records we get a Jacky Terrasson & Stéphane Belmondo (trumpet/piano) duet of Dave Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way" from Mother. From a request from Holladay Farms' Jules we get Scott Morgan's interpretation of Kurt Weil's "Lost in the Stars" from his 2016 Miranda Music cd Song of Life. Pianist Fred Hersch arranged the project and provides backup. Jane Monheit is absolutely spellbinding in a cover of Ray Gilbert/Marcos Valle/Paula Valle's "If You Went Away" from her 2007 Concord Surrender, a concept widely embraced in Wonder Valley. Way back in 1949, George Shearing got together with the most famous male vocalist of the time, Billy Eckstine, in a cover of Walter Donaldson's "You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do)?" The single was released on MGM shellac, but the remastered version is flawless. My heart is pounding just thinking of all these romantic feelings expressed musically! Am I right, ladies?


Let's have some fun!

Thanks to Music Director Serah and friends around the world for the program's content.

http://www.kzmu.org/listen.m3u ~ Use this link to access the show online.


Guillermo McGill - Es Hora De Caminar (2016) CLANDESTINO RECORDS



El baterista Guillermo McGill es una de las figuras más destacadas del jazz español, y toda una referencia en el jazz flamenco. A pesar de su trayectoria y de su autoridad profesional, y teniendo en cuenta que en esto de la crisis de la industria discográfica pinta bastos para todos, McGill se ha lanzado a la creación de su propia discográfica, a la que ha llamado Clandestino, y donde acaba de lanzar su último disco, y el primero de su sello, al que, significativamente, ha titulado ‘Es hora de caminar’.

Las ocho canciones que componen el disco son un recorrido por los intereses musicales de este artista; ya que se enfrenta tanto a palos de flamenco (malagueña, colombiana), que le sirven para homenajear al guitarrista Ramón Montoya, como a piezas puramente jazzísticas, ya sean compuestas por él, como el tema que abre el disco y da título al disco; como por las versiones que realiza del ‘Lonely woman’ de Ornette Coleman, del ‘First song’ de Charlie Haden (el disco está dedicado a Bernardo Sassetti, Haden y Coleman, todo ellos fallecido el año pasado) y del ‘Olha Maria’ de A.C. Jobim.

Para sacar adelante este primer disco de su discográfica Guillermo McGill ha contado con algunos de los pesos pesados del jazz español, como son el saxofonista Perico Sambeat, el contrabajista Javier Colina y el joven pianista Marco Mezquida, que a priori podía pensarse que era la parte más ‘débil’ del entramado. Sin embargo, el menorquín solventa su participación con nota muy alta.

Con todos estos elementos el disco se antoja un trabajo serio, alejado de flamenquerías más o menos populistas, y que requiere un ejercicio de atención para poder apreciar todo lo que contiene este ‘Es hora de caminar’.

Que el camino te sea propicio y crezca contigo.






Moker - Ladder (2016) el NEGOCITO Records



For fifteen years now Moker is creating adventurous jazz and impro whilst the "hammer" (Moker = Dutch for smithy hammer) stands as a symbol of the creative force of its five musical blacksmiths. With Ghent as their base camp and after four cd productions, now's the time for their fifth album: Ladder !!! 

Ladder incorporates the full spectrum of musical luggage and language which this band managed to collect on its path and it's the result of a working process in which Moker tried, once more, to stay off the beaten tracks... 

The way the music was concipiated, from the recording process to the chosen instrumentarium all resulted in a caleidoscopic, though entirely authentic and characteristic sound, full of references to timeless and inspiring musical heroes. Esthetically their journey passes through all kinds of spaces and sub-genres: 70's psychedelica, jazz, krautrock and afro as well as acoustic songs, minimal music, fanfaresque and electronic scapes. 

15 years of Moker, 15 tracks which are forged into an exotic sound adventure full of fantasy, without restrictions or taboos and with a powerfull, positive and constructive musical vision.


01. As Dark, As Deep... 02:10
02. Joy Collision 02:56
03. Zwengel 05:22
04. Streamin' 02:09
05. Rag Digit 03:32
06. Uthiopia 05:03
07. Time Is on Our Side 02:17
08. Zwaar Metaal 05:15
09. Dikken Beuk 03:04
10. Mind the Gap 02:27
11. Kruidsteen 01:38
12. The Afterbeat / Lesson #1 02:15
13. Skopalli 04:43
14. The Thread 03:53
15. Drunk(en) Monk 04:14

Mathias Van de Wiele - guitars & alto horn
Jordi Grognard - tenor saxophone, clarinets & bansuri
Bart Maris - trumpet & electronics
Lieven Van Pee - basses & electronics
Giovanni Barcella - drums

Recorded at Theatre "Scala", Ghent March 28 – 30th and May 3rd 2016
Recording & Mixing Engineer: Mafi
Mastering Engineer: Üwe Teichert
Executive Production: Rogé
Artwork: Bart Maris & Laurens Teerlinck



Luis González Trio (feat. Gilad Hekselman) - Made In New York ( 2016) PSM Music




Luis González Trio nació el 2008 de la necesidad de establecer un vínculo musical entre los tres componentes y ahondar en un sonido de grupo, personal y original. Desde entonces han grabado 6 discos como formación estable colaborando con diversos artistas de renombre y han tocado por todo el estado español.

Su último proyecto les lleva a viajar a la capital mundial del jazz: New York City (USA).
En la ciudad de los rascacielos y las vanguardias grabaron su 7º álbum titulado "Made in New York" donde se incluyen composiciones originales de Luis González con un estilo que fusiona el flamenco, la musica latina y el jazz, y arreglos de estilos y compositores tan heterogeneos como : Piazzola, Bach, Bartok o Jimmy Cliff.

En este nuevo álbum el pianista y compositor ha querido inspirarse en la sonoridad del flamenco y tambien beber de las fuentes de musica europea o latina como de la musica clásica o el tango para dar siempre un toque de originalidad y singularidad a la sonoridad del trío.
Luis González ha ido a la gran ciudad con sus compañeros de viaje y amigos, Joan Solà-Morales (contrabajo) y César Martínez (batería) pero tanto en las actuaciones que hizo allí, como en el disco que grabó colaboran el joven saxofonista Lucas Martínez (con su disco “Fly”) que acababa de llegar de una provechosa estáncia en Àustria y la cantante Laura Noah, instalada en NYC.

En la grabación colabora el prestigioso guitarrista Gilad Hekselman de origen israelita con residencia en NYC, que es uno de los talentos del panorama jazzístico actual en plena efervescencia. Gilad Hekselman ganó el Gibson-Montreaux Jazz Festival y ha grabado y tocado con artistas como : Esperanza Spalding, Mark Turner, Jeff Ballard o John Scofield.


01. Frigi Blues (Luis González) 07:30
con Gilad Heckselman, guitarra y Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor

02.  My Ideal (Whiting, Robin, Chase) 05:11
con Gilad Heckselman, guitarra

03. Sarabande BWV 812 (J.S.Bach, arr. Luis González) 05:31

04. Many Rivers to Cross (Jimmy Cliff) 03:49
con Laura Noah, voz

05. Bulgarian Rhythm (Bartok, arr. Luis González) 04:34
con Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor

06. Anochecer (Luis González) 04:30
con Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor

07. Libertango (Piazzola arr. Luis González) 06:36
con Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor

08. Dentro de mi (Laura Noah) 04:24
con Laura Noah, voz

09. Calle Nueva (Luis González) 07:41
con Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor

10. Atardecer (Luis González) 06:17
con Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor

11. Nocturn per Mireia (Luis González) 03:16

Joan Solà-Morales, contrabajo
César Martínez, batería
 
Made in New York
featuring Gilad Hekselman, guitarra
Lucas Martínez, saxo tenor
Lau Noah, voz



Johann Gustav Wood Factory - Johann Gustav Wood Factory (2016)


Johann Gustav Wood Factory is a visionary Danish orchestra consisting of 6 young musicians. With an improvisational approach to the music, the orchestra plays with an extreme amount of energy and complete awareness.

The music takes off in a melodic jazz universe but elements from all kinds of genres such as pop-, rock and folk are also influencing the sound. This gives the band the opportunity to hand pick all their favourite things from every shelf and therefore they have several aces on their hands in order to renew the music in all kinds of directions. From the compositions of simple and minimalistic character to a massive wall of sound in others, they keep the melody in the main focus. Based on this, the orchestra has found a unique sound despite a great variety throughout their compositions.


1. Woodery 04:32
2. Strolling 06:14
3. Cream Brulée 05:10
4. Lullabye-bye 04:45
5. Oatts Input 06:21
6. New Day 04:57

Malte Nordtorp - trumpet
Simon Sommer - saxophone
Christian Moosdorf - guitar
Anton Langebæk - bass
Lasse Schjerning - drums




Jordan Young - Jazz Jukebox (2016) POSI-TONE RECORDS



Drummer Jordan Young swings back on the set with a wide array of styles and moods on his latest release for Posi-Tone, aptly entitled "Jazz Jukebox." While presenting a diverse variety of selections to delight, engage and entertain listeners, Young consistently pushes his melodic message to the forefront with skillful leadership and ably displays a tasteful command of his own instrument. The session sings and soars from start to finish with the prodigious B-3 genius of Brian Charette, the sensationally sizzling lines of guitarist Matt Chertkoff, and there is also a special guest appearance by saxophonist Nick Hempton, who lends his soulful sounds to the mix for a few tunes. Listeners will certainly enjoy this flowing and thoughtful program of straight forward musical selections and should agree that "Jazz Jukebox" solidly reinforces that Jordan Young is an insightful tastemaker and an emerging new voice in jazz.