Jazz Bastard Podcast

In honor of a Record Store Day release of "In Baltimore", we decide to devote an episode to tenor saxophonist George Coleman, who served tours of duty with Max Roach, Elvin Jones, and Miles Davis among others.  The focus is on his mid-sixties to early seventies work as we ponder George's strengths and weaknesses and whether he's been given a fair shake in jazz history.  Pop matters touches on several groups and then wanders over into a discussion of jazz clubs because we're on our own without adult supervision and who can stop us?  Herbie Hancock – MAIDEN VOYAGE; Miles Davis – MY FUNNY VALENTINE / FOUR AND MORE; Elvin Jones – POLY CURRENTS; George Coleman – IN BALTIMORE.

Mike thinks "basserageous" is the stupidest title for the podcast yet, but is it, really?  There's a lot of competition.  Anyway, this fortnight's gem looks at ECM albums where the bass is large and in charge, which provides opportunities to talk about ECM's aesthetics, how technological changes in the seventies allowed bass players new prominence, and Pat Metheny's hair.  Mostly Pat Metheny's hair.  Eberhard Weber – SILENT FEET; Gary Peacock – GUAMBA; Pat Metheny – BRIGHT SIZE LIFE; Gary Burton – EASY AS PIE; John Abercrombie – GATEWAY.  Pop matters explores what happens when you find beatles in your green onions.

Mike's on the road for this one, and he's the only one in the car who likes jazz, so things get a bit hairy as he listens to this week's selections.  All were selected by Pat (safely at home) and all are by artists new to both, so there's some fumbling about as they listen to four 2021 releases and try to figure out why they annoy Mike's new cats so much.  Paul Bedal - CERULIAN STARS; Roni Ben-Hur - STORIES;  Jeff Coffin & Helen Gillet - LET IT SHINE; Colin Cannon - McGOLRICK.   

The jazz world lost Chick Corea this February and we bastards miss him like everyone else.  Well, maybe not like fans of electric-era Return to Forever, but we certainly miss him.  In this episode, we focus on some of Chick's acoustic music, looking at some early works that show both his melodic and avant-garde sides, and his tribute to a predecessor with a considerably less sunny personality than Chick himself.  Pop matters delves into strange tributaries as Mike works his way through his mother's cd collection.  Stay tuned to the end for Mike's tribute to a parent lost to cancer.  Chick Corea – DUET; ARC; NOW HE SINGS, NOW HE SOBS; REMEMBERING BUD POWELL.

Time for a traditional mixed-bag podcast ranging over the decades and through musical styles, though 2001 gets special treatment for whatever reason.  Artists range from an Ornette Coleman-esque quartet from the sixties to an uplifting piano trio from right now, with an outward questing pianist and trumpeter in the middle of the sandwich.  Pop matters dwells on some recent vinyl re-issues of old skool alternative rock classics and  - good lord - is that some Thin Lizzy in there?  Irene Schweizer – CHICAGO PIANO SOLO; Dave Douglas – WITNESS; Philippe Lemm – FIRST STEPS; Bobby Bradford & John Carter – FLIGHT FOR FOUR.

Pat got a four-LP set from John Zorn’s Tzadik label and thought an episode catching up with recent events in the Zorniverse might be a good idea.  Mike thought the title of this episode was a good idea.  Brace yourselves.   All four albums feature Zorn the composer, while only one features Zorn the alto saxophone player and only one features a demonically possessed Muppet on vocals.  Pop matters reveals that Mike still doesn’t like Joanna Newsom and still has mixed feelings about Frank Zappa.  John Zorn – SANHEDRIN; NOVE CANTICI PER FRANCESCO D’ASSISI; THE LAST JUDGMENT; ALHAMBRA LOVE SONGS.

A lot of 2020 was spent in the fetal position, so it's not surprising some interesting jazz releases passed us by.  This episode the boys check out four Blue Note releases from that memorable year, all of which we like pretty gosh darn well.  So at least there's something from 2020 we like.  Pop matters wallows in eighties nostalgia, but what did you expect?  Various Artists - BLUE NOTE RE:IMAGINED; Ron Miles – RAINBOW SIGN;  Artemis – ARTEMIS: Joel Ross – WHO ARE YOU? 

The New Year is here and even bastards need a break now and then.  So while Mike crosses the nation and gets back to laboring in education, Pat takes the baton to talk about some jazz releases from last year's three-part Record Store Day extravaganza, and to muse on jazz vinyl in general.  Hate the black stuff?  Don't worry - next episode the boys will be back in the saddle doing what they do best.  Don Cherry – CHERRY JAM; Marion Brown – PORTO NORVO; Jimmy Giuffre – 3&4 THE NEW YORK CONCERTS; Jazz Sabbath – JAZZ SABBATH.

Hooray - we've made it alive through 2020 and through eight seasons of this podcast, too.  To celebrate the big "eighth" (the internet claims it's bronze and pottery for that anniversary, should you want to send gifts) we talk about half that many jazz octets, and throw in an album named after a funky sea-creature as a bonus.  In pop matters, Harry Nilsson's alternate takes and Italian prog get brief look-ins.  Gianluigi Trovesi Octet- FROM G TO G; Alan Wakeman – THE OCTET BROADCASTS 1969 AND 1979; Paul Jackson – BLACK OCTOPUS; Rod Levitt –DYNAMIC SOUND PATTERNS; Paul Dunmall Octet – BEBOP STARBURST.  

Mike loves him some holiday jazz specials,so in honor of Christ coming to earth, realizing it was a lost cause, and leaving before he even hit forty, we're looking at five Christmas-themed albums and EPs.  Three of them appear on Telarc, and Pat has things to say about that.  Pop matters is mostly stuck on Harry Nilsson, as we suspect it will be for some time.  Lauren Henderson – CLASSIC CHRISTMAS; Warren Wolf – CHRISTMAS VIBES; Dave Brubeck - A DAVE BRUBECK CHRISTMAS; Mel Torme – CHRISTMAS SONGS;  Oscar Peterson – AN OSCAR PETERSON CHRISTMAS.

We've been looking at various critic's and website's "best jazz of the 2010's" lists, but now the listeners get to weigh in.  Their wide-ranging suggestions encompass a couple of fairly accessible albums and a couple more challenging discs, all featuring artists who have yet to appear as headliners on our show.   This will conclude our sequence on the best of the decade, but don't worry - things won't get back to normal yet.   Holiday and eighth anniversary episodes are in the chamber.  Craig Taborn - DAYLIGHT GHOSTS; Matthew Shipp - PIANO SONG; Yussef Kamaal - BLACK FOCUS (2016 Brownswood); Aaron Parks – LITTLE BIG.

We take a break from surveying the best of the 2010's to take a gander at five releases from the second half of this wunnerful year, 2020.   Maybe everything else has gone to heck in a handcart this year but the music releases remain strong, as our survey attests.  Three of the five releases are on up and coming label Outside In Music and all of them have something to recommend.  Aaron Burnett - JUPITER CONJUNCT; Kasperi Sarikoski – 3 + 1; Júlia Karosi - WITHOUT DIMENSIONS; Chad McCullough – FORWARD; Mariel Bildsten – BACKBONE.  Pop matters dips into that bane/blessing of the 1970s, disco.  

For the last of our four-episode examination of discs we missed from various best of 2010's lists (and that's almost, but not quite, rapping, isn't it?) it's all about "something blue".  Or, in this case, something Blue Note.  One entry on Avant sneaks in on the basis of its title, so at least it's not a Blueopoly.  J D Allen – AMERICANA – MUSINGS ON JAZZ AND BLUES; Blue Note All Stars – OUR POINT OF VIEW; Nels Cline – LOVERS; Kenny Barron – CONCENTRIC CIRCLES.   In pop matters, Mike takes a minute to slag off Laura Marling and Elliot Smith while Pat wonders if a much more talented Pat's eponymous group was jazz or pop.  

In this third podcast on some of the best-reviewed jazz of the 2010's that we missed first time 'round, the boys look at four albums that 'borrow' something, whether inspiration from a sci-fi author, jazz protests of the sixties, or jazz greats of the past such as Charlie Parker or Duke Ellington.   It's a light pop matters segment this time but little known indie band The Bolshoi and Italian horror soundtrack maestros Goblin do get a mention.  Delfeayo Marsalis – SWEET THUNDER; Irreversible Entanglements – IRREVERSABLE ENTANGLEMENTS; Nichole Mitchell – MANDORLA AWAKENING II:  EMERGING WORLDS; Rudresh Mahanthappa – BIRD CALLS.  

In this second episode of our prestigious four-part series (we got that idea from Masterpiece Theatre), "new" or at least "newish" music is the focus.  Four albums from the best of the 2010's that seem to promise ambition and adventure and, for the most part, deliver.  The journey may get rocky at times, but brace yourselves as we head for the hinterlands.  Matana Roberts – COIN COIN CHAPTER TWO:  MISSISSIPPI MOONCHILE; Linda May Han Oh – AVENTURINE;  Sons of Kemet – YOUR QUEEN IS A REPTILE;  Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah  - CENTENNIAL TRIOLOGY.  Pop matters ranges from Harry Nilsson to Umberto and, let's face it, no one's home on that range.

The boys start their trawl through some best-of-decade picks they missed during the last eight years by focusing on four albums in the, let's face it, somewhat amorphous "something old" category.  By which we mean, I think, albums on best of decades lists featuring well-established artists playing in fairly familiar modes.  Any, the results are mixed (surprised, anybody?) but do let us pontificate on a few of the big names from the last few decades and dream of being jazz producers . . . Jack DeJohnette – HUDSON; Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden – JASMINE; Sons of Kemet – YOUR QUEEN IS A REPTILE; Joe Lovano – BIRD SONGS.  

This is a strange one, listeners, as the boys compare and contrast various jazz "best-of" lists for the 2010's and then let you, the listener, "behind the curtain" as they decide how to populate the next four shows of the podcast.  Mike's rubric:  something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.  Having already discussed 250 (count 'em) albums from the 2010's, can our intrepid podcasters find a "Kind of Blue Killer" from the last decade?  And will any of us be around for episode 300?  Tune in to find out.  (Pop matters touches on Sly Stone, Badfinger, Daryl Hall, and Captain Beefheart.)

Sometimes the boys just can't agree.  This is one of those times.  Two new selections split them down the middle (though they at least "like" both selections), while one of the two oldies drives poor Mike (and Mike's family) up the proverbial wall (or is that escalator?)  Carla Bley (and poet Paul Haines) – ESCALATOR OVER THE HILL; Matt Ulery – POLLINATOR; Mathis Sound Orchestra – WORLD UNITY; George Adams – AMERICA.  Odd crooner Scott Walker and the Giles Martin remix of Abbey Road are the focus of pop matters.

Lockdown can't stop the boys from interviewing interesting musicians (it's not like we did it in person before . . .)  This time pianist, composer and educator Danny Green visits our slightly demented neck of the woods to discuss his latest project (a group called LP and the Vinyl with a vocalist covering . . . gasp . . . rock and pop tunes as well as jazz standards) as well as three albums that influenced his approach to music making.  The discussion ranges from favorite San Diego haunts to the perils and pleasures of touring to how the internet makes teaching music to young people, let's say, "interesting."  Brad Mehldau Trio - ART OF THE TRIO - VOLUME 4; Chick Corea - THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE; Alexandre Andres - MACAXEIRA FIELDS; LP & the Vinyl – HEARD AND SEEN.

Ya want big bands?  We got big bands.  Sometimes we got one in each speaker.  In this exploration of the more extroverted side of jazz, the boys explore works by a blazing trumpet player (and world-class womanizer), a so-so clarinetist with a heart of gold, two piano-playing band leaders who both worship Duke Ellington, and two (but it sounds like thirty) major-league skin-pounders.  Much musing on the glory days of fifteen musicians criss-crossing the nation via bus results, and there's just time left to discuss Wilco, Carl Wilson and . . . Celine Dion?   Buddy Rich and Max Roach – RICH VS. ROACH; Duke Ellington and Count Basie – FIRST TIME! THE COUNT MEETS THE DUKE; Woody Herman – COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS DISC 7; Harry James – TRUMPET BLUES – THE BEST OF HARRY JAMES.