In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond

Two of my favorite standards are covered here. Dig vocal and instrumental covers of Trane's Moment Notice, then Miles' So What. Following that is a jazz voyage with Hancock and Pharoah. Then we pay tribute to the victims and families of the Parkland shootings with music from Rob Garcia, Noah Baerman and Noah Preminger. The podcast concludes with Ellington's Jeep Blues.

This podcast runs the gamut of modern jazz styles. We begin with a classic piano trio from jazz master Ahmad Jamal. Then creative nonet arrangements from newcomer Dan Pugach. That is followed by early jazz/rock fusion from Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and George Duke. Finally you will hear guitarist Bill Frisell with his version of a surfer classic.

Had a great time interviewing Nicole Zuraitis (vocals, piano) and her husband Dan Pugach (drums, arranger) about their new album releases and upcoming gigs. You will get to hear from their new CD's, Nicole's Hive Mind and Dan's Nonet Plus One. Following the interveiw is a review of the 2018 Grammy Awards in the Jazz categories.

In this epidsode pianist, composer, arranger and educator Earl MacDonald joins me in an interesting discussion. We delve into Open Borders of the musical, political and social kind. By the way, Open Borders is the name of Professor MacDonalds latest album with a 10tet. We also put Earl through the Blindfold Test and get his reactions to a wide range of pianists and jazz styles. Open Borders on CD Baby

In these days of political chaos and division, truth does matter. We are reminded of that through music from Noah Baerman (Satyagrahi) and Kamasi Washington (Truth) at the center of this podcast. Those tunes are sandwiched between classic jazz from Miles and Blakey, and a jazz/fusion set featuring Haque, Mahavishnu and new from Chick/Gadd.

My annual podcast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, with jazz music. This year it takes on even more importance following the racism displayed by the man in the White House. Perhaps some good can come from this incident by awakening the good people of this country to stand up and resist racism and injustice in our society with non-violence as Dr. King would have wanted.

This podcast celebrates the birthday of jazz fusion guitarist John McLaughlin. We play his music in several different settings to show the depth of his artistry and innovation. Most of this show has (Mahavishnu) John McLaughlin as a leader, but there are also tracks as a sideman. His work with Miles Davis is legendary. The podcast ends with an unrelated track from a CTI release of Milt Jackson playing Hubbard's Sunflower.

2017 was a great year for new jazz releases. There were so many great new albums that this extended podcast is 2 3/4 hours in length. Happy New Years to all my podcast listeners. Looking forward to more great music (and a change in politics) in the coming year.

Let's begin with a Christmas tune from Hartford alumni "The Human Race" led by Dane Scazzari. Then some of the great releases of 2017. Finally you will hear in its entirety Ellington/Strayhorn's arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite, inspired by the Tchaikovsky classic.

This podcast pays tribute to the victims and families of the Sandy Hook massacre on its 5 year anniversary. Jimmy Greene pays homage to his daughter, a victim of the attack. We also pay tribute to another tragedy; the murder of John Lennon with jazz covers of several of his tunes. Also in this episode is a set of McCoy Tyner music to celebrate his birthday.

A podcast of heavy hitters in the jazz world. Wynton, Donald, Miles, Joe, Wayne are represented here. I also threw in some heavy hitters from the Hartford scene led by tenor saxophonist Jovan Alexandre.

We take a different take on jazz standards in this week's podcast. Inspired by a Facebook post, I assembled this program of modern compositions that may or may not be considered new standards along with more traditional covers of older standards.

This podcast was recorded the day after Thanksgiving. We begin with music inspired by this, my favorite holiday. Since Thanksgiving is centered around eating food, we will begin with Arthur Blythe's Stuffy Turkey. Then we "Give Thanks" with saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and partake of some Soul Food with Cyrus Chestnut and Atla DeChamplain. Lots more music follows. Playlist Artist ~ Track ~ Album Arthur Blythe ~ Stuffy Turkey ~ Focus Jimmy Greene ~ Give Thanks ~ Mission Statement Hank Mobley ~ No Room for Squares ~ No Room For Squares Hank Mobley ~ Up a Step ~ No Room For Squares Cyrus Chestnut ~ Soul Food ~ Soul Food Atla and Matt Dechamplain ~ Soul Food ~ Pause Atla and Matt Dechamplain ~ Two for the Blues (feat. Jon Hendricks) ~ Pause Nicole Zuraitis ~ Sunny Side ~ Hive Mind Marian McPartland ~ Naima ~ n/a - Internet Download w/Lee Konitz Jane Ira Bloom ~ Emily & Her Atoms ~ Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson Jane Ira Bloom ~ One Note from One Bird ~ Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson Jen Allen ~ Pieces of Myself ~ The Repurcussions

Last week I played a set of "Women in Jazz". This week we go full out with an All Women jazz revue. We have some established artists such as Anat Cohen, Maria Schnieder and Helen Sung as well as lesser known players like Tineke Postma, Ingrid and Christine Jensen, Monica Herzig and Sunna Gunlags.

This podcast begins with a set of women instrumentelists in jazz music. This features Rosnes, Brakeen, Carrington and Ingrid Jensen. The balance of the show has mostly new music with a definite groove.