Playlist for 10-13-2015 WFCF - Jazz Greats!

"City Listens to Jazz" - Katerin Siryk
oil on canvas
Visit the artist's website!

No theme for today's show but a lot of recent recordings as I gear up for this years Top 55 Jazz Tracks list! Also went thrift shopping yesterday and found one of those frames that holds album covers, with a Kai Winding lp in it. When I opened it up, the vinyl was inside and in great condition! We'll listen to a chunk of a side in the second hour. Tune in today (10/13) from 3-7pm eastern by clicking here. See you then! - Kendo

Hour One:

Joe Magnarelli - "NYC-J-Funk" - Three On Two (2014)

John Pizzarelli - "Silly Love Songs" - Midnight McCartney (2015)

    3:15 Jazz Coffee Break

Duke Pearson - "Canto Ossanha" - I Don't Care Who Knows It (1970)

Anita O'Day - "Peel Me a Grape" - Time for Two (1962)

Christian Tamburr - "A Team" - Voyage (2014)

Johnny Smith - "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" - Johnny Smith Plus The Trio (1960)

Clifford Brown and Max Roach - "Powell's Prances" - At Basin Street (1956)

Johnny Smith
photo by William "PoPsie" Randolph

Raquel Cepeda - "East of the Sun" - I'm Confessin' (2012)

Scott Healy Ensemble - "Summit Avenue Conversation" - Hudson City Suite (2012)

Marlena Shaw - "You're My Everything" - Dangerous (1996) - 4:44

Hour Two:

Rod McGaha - "The Challenge" - The Black Flower Project (2014)

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - "Moonlight In Vermont" - Ella and Louis (1956)

Peter Zak - "Jackie" - The Disciple (2013)

Thelonious Monk 1947 - William Gottlieb

Thelonious Monk - "Carolina Moon" - Genius of Modern Music (1952)

Ed Reed - "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" - I'm a Shy Guy (2013)

Kai Winding - "Dirty Dog" - Dirty Dog (1966)

Kai Winding - "Sunrise, Sunset" - Dirty Dog (1966)Kai Winding - "Cantaloupe Island" - Dirty Dog (1966) 

Adam Scone - "I Scream Scone" - I Scream Scone! (2015)

Giacomo Gates - "Hazel's Hips" - Everything is Cool (2015)

Bob James & Nathan East - "Waltz for Judy" - The New Cool (2015)

Hour Three:

~~ Flagler Files~~

Stanley Turrentine with Milt Jackson - "Introspective" - Cherry (1972) Ride Home!

Cecile McLorin Salvant - "Wives and Lovers" - For One to Love ()

Dan Jordan - "Triste" - Pure Joy (2015)

Dexter Gordon - "Backbone" - A Swingin' Affair (1962)

Chris Connor - "They Can't Take That Away From Me" - Sings George Gershwin (1956)

Jared Gold & Dave Stryker

Jared Gold - "God Has Smiled On Me" - Metropolitan Rhythm (2014) 5:50 Gospel Express

Ella Fitzgerald - "Prelude to a Kiss" - Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book (1957)

Hour Four:

Brother Jack McDuff - "Down Home Style" - Down Home Style (1969)

Mark Egan - "Slinky" - About Now (2014)

Soul Manne & the Brothers - "Ellie's Love Them" - Shaft (1970)

Donald Fagen - "Planet D'Rhonda" - Sunken Condos (2012)

Michael Ross - "Yak Attack" - Ginger (2013)

Lorraine Feather - "I'd Be Down With That" - Flirting With Disaster (2015)

John Ellis & DOUBLE WIDE - "Booker" - Charm (2014)

Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet - "Equinox" - Intercambio (2015)

George Cables - "Lotus Blossom" - In Good Company (2015)

Long-Ass Car Ride Review - Scott Healy Ensemble!

 Long-Ass Car Ride Reviews: I take long-ass car rides, I listen to albums, I let you know if they are worthwhile.

Scott Healy Ensemble - "Hudson City Suite" (2012) - 8.75/10
 
Scott Healy - piano, Tim Hagans - trumpet, Jeff Driscoll - soprano sax,
Kim Richmond - alto sax; Tom Luer - clarinet/tenor sax, Alex Budman - tenor sax, Doug Webb - baritone sax, Bill Churchville - trumpet, Brian Swartz - trumpet, Tim Hagans - trumpet, Andrew Lippman - trombone, George Thatcher - bass trombone, Carlitos Del Puerto - bass, Bill Wysaske - drums, others...

In a word - marvelous!

Aside from highly listenable compositions and presentation, Scott Healy's gift is one of architecture. His use of dynamics to build tension and pace a chart so that it thrills rather than overwhelms the listener is marvelous. Solos are spaced apart by brilliant ensemble passages, and the unit is ridiculously responsive and tight!

"Hudson City Suite" is an impressionistic description of life in a mythical city - influenced by Ellington in the best possible ways but also highly original. Many of the pieces are either tone-poems or descriptive musically. Highlights include "Central Trolley" - a ride that begins with the pastels of a morning's hush in solitude, growing more brash as the train fills with caffeinated people heading downtown. Of note is Kendall Kay's brush work, first resembling the soothing rhythms of the trolley, slowly building to full blown stick bashing - driving the whole piece. The ingenuous "Summit Avenue Conversation" is just that: dialogue of all forms human, from everyday brass to sass-talkin' saxes, building wonderfully with great solos from Andrew Lippman, Tim Hagans & Alex Budman, ending in a very clever repartee between only plain brass and the languid sax section.

"Princess Tongora" is more impressionism with muted trumpets, tinkling piano and river-like melodies. Jeff Driscoll lights this one up on soprano sax. The composer's piano solo is mesmerizing, fraught with longing. A brief "Interlude" paints a magnificent still-life of big city existence. The bluesy and tradional "Franklin Steps" has much to love, particularly from drummer Kay, along with some cool poly-tonality. The soloing is a bit par for the course from just about everybody except Healy - who has a stellar turn on piano. "Gaslight" is expectedly film-noir, not quite establishing itself but boasting a truly wonderful ending.

Packed with intrigue is "Koko On the Boulevard"; more fabulous dynamic build ups over fun and ambiguous form with lush, complex harmonies and a seriously shining solo from Doug Webb on baritone sax. It all gets wrapped up by a neat combo of muted brass and clarinets. The closing "Prelude" (actually the first of the set to be composed) in particular evokes Ellington; more femme fatale music complete with Johnny Hodges-style vibrato and a mellow trumpet solo from Brian Swartz (just about all the soloists on this album are knockouts). Some of the best writing is saved for the end of the suite with lovely, shimmering ascending and descending lines.

One hesitates to toss around the word masterpiece these days in regards to a larger jazz composition, since there are so many. "Hudson City Suite" is one, perhaps the first true masterpiece of the new millenium. If you like Ellington, you will absolutely love it; a very, very strong work that is highly enjoyable to listen to straight through (rare!) Check it out! 

Playlist for 9-8-2015 WFCF - Work Force!

"Labor Day Weekend" - Zoe McCarthey

oil painting
Visit the artist's website!

Themed show today! Hopefully you all enjoyed your long, holiday weekend! Mine was awesome - delicious pastas and pizza, grapefruit shandies and my baby! In honor of Labor Day, the first 2 hours of today's show will have a "work" theme! All the famous ones and then some with Roland Kirk, John Patitucci, Duke Ellington and Johnny Hammond! As always plenty of slots for recent releases off the new jazz shelf at WFCF. Tune in today (Tuesday 9/8) from 3-7pm eastern by clicking here. See you then! - Kendo


Hour One:

Heads of State - "Uncle Bubba" - Search for Peace (2015)

Andrea Wood - "Take a Chance" - Kaleidoscope (2014)

    3:15 Jazz Coffee Break

Scott Healy Ensemble - "Central Trolley" - Hudson City Suite (2012)

Lorraine Feather - "Off Center" - Flirting with Disaster (2015)

Nat Adderley - "Work Song" - Work Song (1960)

Thelonious Monk - "Work" - Thelonious Monk Plays (1954)

Johnny Hammond - "Workin' On a Groovin' Thing" - Breakout (1971) CTI Moment

Duke Ellington - "Work Song" - (1944)

Johnny Smith - "Nice Work If You Can Get It" - Moonlight in Vermont (1952)

Hour Two:

Roland Kirk - "Kirk's Work" - Kirk's Works (1961)

Michel Camilo - "Birk's Works" - On The Other Hand (1990)

George Benson - "Siberian Workout" - Good King Bad (1975) CTI Moment!

Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet - "Solar" - Intercambio (2015)

Hank Mobley - "Workout" - Workout (1961)

John Patitucci - "Labor Day" - Now (1998)

Terri Lyne Carrington - "Come Sunday" - The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul (2015)

Hour Three:

Jack McDuff - "The City Bump" - The Fourth Dimension (1974) Ride Home!

Jack McDuff - "All In Love is Fair" - The Fourth Dimension (1974)

James Moody - "Workshop" - James Moody and His Modernists (1948)

Craig Handy - "Mojo Workin'" - Craig Handy and 2nd Line Smith (2011)

Bob Mintzer Big Band - "Land of Oak" - Get Up! (2014)

Antonio Adolfo - "Todo Dia" - Tema (2015)

Don Patterson - "Whistle While You Work" - These Are Soulful Days (1973)

Art Farmer - "Work of Art" - Work of Art (1953)

Hour Four:

Hampton Hawes - "Jordu" - All Night Session Vol. 1 (1956)

Dave Haskell Group - "Eye of the Hurricane" - Pivot Point (2012)

J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding - "I Concentrate On You" - The Great Kai and JJ (1960)

Ella Fitzgerald - "In a Sentimental Mood" - Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book (1957)

Quincy Jones - "Killer Joe" - Walking In Space (1969)

Anita O'Day - "Lover Come Back To Me" - The Lady Is a Tramp (1952)

Orrin Evans - "A Secret Place" - The Evolution of Oneself (2014)

Donald Vega - "Eleuthera" - With Respect to Monty (2014)

Cal Tjader - "Lucero" - Mambo with Tjader (1954)

Doug Carn - "Fatherhood" - My Spirit (2015)