In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond

My debut radio show on WWUH from University of Hartford. A station with a tradition of supporting jazz music over the air and live concerts. This excerpt of my show starts with Noah Preminger and Joshua Redman covering Ornette Coleman. John McLaughlin provides a meditative piece. Then some newcomers on the jazz scene, Miami's Troy Roberts on sax and 12 year old phenom Joey Alexander on piano.

This podcast is dedicated to late great Ornette Coleman who passed away this week. Ornette was a saxohonist, trumpeter, violinist, composer and an innovator of the Free Jazz and Avant Garde movement. The second half of this podcast is from Pat Metheny's Song X Podcast. Pat does a great job of explaining Ornette Coleman's music, and the experience of recording with him.

New and Old pairings make up this weeks playlist. Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and keyboardist/arranger Jason Miles, bass and guitar from Harvie S and Sheryl Bailey bring in the new. Then Coltrane is paired, first with Duke Ellington and then guitarist Kenny Burrell for the classic old. Kenny Garrett covers John Coltrane to close out the podcast.

Two late great sax masters are featured in this podcast. Michael Brecker and Jackie McLean bookend this podcast. In between we explore the music of Mary Lou Williams and a young strong tenor player from Hartford CT, Jovan Alexandre.

An African inspired podcast featuring some of the all-time great masters of jazz music. Harold Mabern kicks things off with his interpretation of Afro Blue with vocals from Gregory Porter. Than we get into the heavyweights with John Coltrane's Africa/Brass followed by McCoy Tyner and Jackie McLean.

We start with honoring blues legend B.B. King who passed away this week. Next up are a couple of live tracks from Jimmy Green and Jason Lindner. Our featured album is from Alexandre Silverio with the unique sound from the bassoon. We finish the podcast with a set of Fusion and rock classics performed by Jaco, Rez Abbasi and Rob Garcia.

The featured album this week is from Connecticut native Phil Bowler with his debut recording as a leader. His group Pocket Jungle definitely plays 'in the pocket'. We start out the podcast with a beautiful duet from Laurence Hobgood playing a piano/bass duet with the late great Charlie Haden. The "Made in CT" theme continues with new music from Jovan Alexandre and Joshua Bruneau. Great sax player Joshua Redman (James Farm) and Joe Henderson are also heard on this show.

This is Part II of the Jazz Times critic's poll continued from a podcast of 2 weeks ago. While these tracks are down the list of the Top 40 new albums of 2014, they show the creative directions of modern jazz music today. From the freedom of Trio 3, the latin influences of Miguel Zenon, and the energetic jazz fusion of Hiromi, jazz is continues to be a vibrant forward moving art form.

This radio show was broadcast on Martin Luther King Day. The music on this playlist was inspired by Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. We begin with Herbie Hanckock's "I Have a Dream" written for the King's great speech given during his march on Washington, 1963. Recent events remind us that 52 years later, the King's dream for justice and equality has yet to be realized.

These selections are from JazzTimes magazine's critic's choice of the top 50 albums. These tracks show the wide range of directions and influences that are shaping modern jazz music. This is part one of two shows I will podcast featuring this list.

Some of the best modern jazz artists are represented on this week's podcast. Many are young emerging players (Josh Evans, Rob Garcia, Masa Kamaguchi, Noah Preminger, Rudy Royston), others are established movers and shakers in the jazz world (Matt Wilson, Bill Frisell, Greg Abate). All are worth listening to here. Featured Album the imagined savior is far easier to paint - Ambrose Akinmusire on iTunes Track ~ Artist ~ Album Chronic Mistakes ~ Josh Evans ~ Portrait Motif ~ Greg Abate ~ Motif The Still Standing Blues ~ Rob Garcia 4 ~ The Passion of Color You Dirty Dog ~ Matt Wilson Quartet John Medeski ~ Gathering Call Mimi Sunrise ~ Rudy Royston ~ 303 Ceaseless Inexhaustible Child ~ Ambrose Akinmusire ~ The Imagined Savior is Far Easier To Paint Marie Christie ~ Ambrose Akinmusire ~ The Imagined Savior is Far Easier To Paint Turn, Turn, Turn ~ Bill Frisell ~ Guitar in the Space Age Try a Little Tenderness ~ Masa Kamaguchi, Rob Garcia, Noah Preminger ~ Background Music Afternoon in Paris ~ Frank Kimbrough ~ Quartet

To kick off our first show of 2015, we start with Donald Vega and Jimmy Greene, who appeared last weekend at The Side Door in Old Lyme CT, one of my favorite jazz venues. The rest of the show features recent works by some great jazz artists that contributed new music this last year, including Helen Sung, The Cookers, Vin Scialla, Azar Lawrence and more. Here's to a New Year of Peace, Love and Jazz.

This is the second half of last week's holiday show. While Christmas has come and gone, we all would like to extend the spirit of the holidays alive. So this show begins with three tracks from the Truth Revolution Records Holiday album, Together. That is followed by some memorable jazz albums of 2014 from Jimmy Greene, Tom Guarna and Kavita Shah.

Here is a set list to make your holiday celebration a jazzy one. From Christmas classics, to modern jazz tunes, this podcast will put you in the holiday spirit. Wishing you all a peaceful, joyous holiday season.

On this 50th Anniversary of the recording of John Coltrane's classic "A Love Supreme", we feature this landmark suite in its entirety. For this podcast each movement is performed by a different artist. We start with Trane, then Branford Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Orchestra and finally, the Turtle Island String Quartet. Before that tribute set we review some of the great recordings released this year from the Cookers, Fred Hirsch, Noah Baerman, and Jimmy Greene.