Jazz Bastard Podcast

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. 

Does harp music fill you with images of celestial angels - or a (relatively) tamed Pharaoh Sanders?  Either way, there's something for you here in this brief overview of "cosmic" jazz.  We start with a good, long look at the early career of Pharaoh Sanders and his brief gig with displaced resident of Saturn, Sun Ra, then move on to Alice Coltrane's contribution to the formation of cosmic/spiritual music.  Finally, two exemplars of the genre - including one who's active and trending right this very moment - take the spotlight.  John and Alice Coltrane – COSMIC MUSIC: Pharoah Saunders – IN THE BEGINNING (disc 4); Lonnie Liston Smith – EXPANSIONS; Brandee Younger – SOUL AWAKENING.

The boys take a break by cobbling together an episode from a lengthy pop matters segment discussing Funkadelic, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Suzanne Vega, and Dr. Demento (among others) with an episode of Pat's Vinyl Corner covering Blue Note's recent LP issues as well as box sets by Coltrane and Leonard Bernstein (?)

Listeners of a certain age will remember the Saturday Night Live "sound" - all squealing saxes and twice-removed soul gestures.  In this podcast we talk about one possible precursor to the sound and three of its best known practitioners - some of whom may or may not have partaken in Bolivian Marching Powder from time to time.  No Pop Matters this round, as it ended up growing so big it got its own .5 edition.  Brecker Brothers – LIVE AND UNRELEASED; Donald Byrd – STREET LADY; David Sanborn – SONGS FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE; Randy Brecker – SOME SKUNK FUNK.

In this wide-ranging interview, the boys talk with bassist Nicholas Krolak, a Philadelphian with insights on pacing a set, marketing difficult-to-publicize music like jazz, the cost of including standards on a cd, and the oblique thinking of Bad Plus pianist Orrin Evans.  There's also some discussion of "bachelor cookies" (not a euphemism) in there.  Nicholas Krolak - VOICE = POWER; Booker Ervin - TEX BOOK TENOR; Orrin Evans - FLIP THE SCRIPT.

Female vocalists take the stage this episode, with voices ranging from small and whispery to bold 'en brassy and approaches ranging from the hardest of hardcore jazz to relatively pop-oriented (if not populist or low-brow).  Most of these are brand new releases, so grab them up and support musicians stuck, with the rest of us, in lock-down mode.  Pop matters trots out some obscure artists including Faun Fables, Paolo Nutini and Lorna Hunt.   Jazzmeia Horn – LOVE AND LIBERATION; Leslie Beukelman – GOLDEN DAFFODIL; Lauren Henderson – SONGBOOK SESSION; Thana Alexa – ONA; Lesley Barth – BIG TIME BABY

The boys aren't called bastards for nothing and sometimes they can be hard on unfamiliar musicians.  This episode they are pleased to revisit two artists whose earlier projects got rough treatment but whose new releases tickle a bastard's fancy.  At the same time, they discuss two artists brand new to the show and like their releases as well.  What are the odds?  (Seriously, we don't know.  We're both bad at math.)  Pop matters wanders from Urge Overkill (the most hated band from Chicago for a while there) to Iggy Pop (David Bowie's scariest friend for a while there).  Charles Pillow – CHAMBER JAZZ; Nuphar Fey – SERENITY ISLAND; GRID- DECOMPOSING FORCE; Sasha Mashin – HAPPY SYNAPSE.

As lockdown enters day number "both of us have lost count, haven't you? ", the boys decide to check out some new releases.  There's a prestige project celebrating the First Couple of jazz, offerings from North and South of the US border, and a lo-fi jam session cut and pasted for your listening pleasure.  Then Pat apologizes for the Alan Parsons Project and the Damned. Somebody has to.  Gabriel Chakarji – NEW BEGINNING; Makaya McCraven – HIGHLY RARE; Lakecia Benjamin – PURSUANCE; Rachel Therrein – VENA.

The boys focus on two pianists this time - the recently departed McCoy Tyner (stalwart of John Coltrane's "great quartet" and indefatigable leader of countless record sessions) and the long-departed Lennie Tristano (reclusive doyen of cool jazz education).  The subjects couldn't be less alike but both made fascinating music.  Normally, we'd insert some kind of joke right about here, but we're too busy hoarding toilet paper.  In pop matters, Mike's a real bastard while Pat muses about the Beatles' "best" album and its mixed attitudes towards women.  Lennie Tristano – NEW TRISTANO/THE REAL TRISTANO; THE DUO SESSIONS; McCoy Tyner – THE REAL MCCOY; EXTENSIONS; TRIDENT.

Four six-string masters going solo are the focus for this fortnight's podcast, and they cover the gamut from acoustic true-believers to studio mavens ready to mix it up with multi-tracking and effects pedals.  What are the benefits - and dangers - of attempting jazz without compadres?  Wouldn't you know it, Pat & Mike have opinions on that topic.  Pop matters focuses squarely on the King - at least for white people of a certain age - Elvis Presley.  Steve Khan – EVIDENCE;  Duck Baker – SPINNING SONG; Joe Pass – VIRTUOSO; Leo Kottke – THE BEST.

In this very special episode the boys sit down to talk with alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and raconteur David Binney, who talks about his long career in jazz, his recent move from New York to Los Angeles, his upcoming projects, and his work mentoring young musicians.

After the "politicapocalypse" (Mike's coinage - ask him) of the previous episode, the boys decides to gently transition away from that minefield by looking at two artists more obliquely engaged with political discourse and two artists more or less removed from it entirely (by temperament and timing).  To soothe Pat's scalded nerves, Mike brings a couple "cool" cats to the party, though by the end he agrees that one of them just might have been satirizing a certain mid-sixties obsession with Latin American rhythms.  Mastodon, Trembling Bells, and disco-era Hank Crawford make up a truly eclectic pop matters segment.  Paul Desmond – TAKE TEN; Bob Brookmeyer – SMALL BAND, TROMBONE JAZZ SAMBA; Yazz Ahmed – POLYHYMNIA; Eric Hofbauer – BOOK OF FIRE.

Try as he might, Pat can't escape Mike's jones for jazz mixed with politics, so he submits and the boys do a trawl through just a few of the examples of art-music and rhetoric spilling forth from improvising musicians less than thrilled, let us posit, by the political bent of the last few years.  Do the bastards pontificate more than the music they're criticizing?  You be the judge.  Cutting edge acts such as Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and the Go-Go's give Pop Matters that contemporary vibe it so desperately needs.  Wynton Marsalis – BLOOD ON THE FIELDS; Ben Lamar Gay – 500 CHAINS; Karrin Allyson – SHOULDER TO SHOULDER; Terri Lyne Carrington – WAITING GAME.

Inspired by bassist Cecil McBee's star-turn on Lloyd McNeill's Elegia, the boys devote a whole episode to examining works led by Cecil or just plain enhanced by his presence.  He's had a wide-ranging career as a side-man so they cherry-pick what highlights they can while wondering if the next setting on the engineering knob after "10" and "11" is really "sexual."  A rapper, a classic by Beck, and some brand new dream pop get look ins during pop matters.

The boys look at three recent releases including a vocal-focused celebration of Canada, a two-hander by composers of children's television soundtracks and a Swedish flutist upset with the political tides of the last few years.  After a spirited, if dispiriting, discussion of jazz as "protest music" propers get paid to a pivotal recording of avant-funk-folk jazz by a co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet.  Finally, Brad Mehldau's flirtation with Bach gets a look-in during a very high-brow pop-matters segment.  Steve Haines - STEVE HAINES AND THE THIRD FLOOR ORCHESTRA; Elsa Nilsson- HINDSIGHT; Pat Irwin – WIDE OPEN SKY; Julius Hemphill – DOGON AD. 

Purely because Pat ran across a classic artist and a brand new find (for him, at least) who are both women guitarists, we decided to build a whole show around artists fitting that description.  Which lets us cover four very different albums while still leaving Mike time to complain about classic rock eminence Kansas.  Emily Remler – EAST TO WES; Leni Stern – WHEN EVENING FALLS; Camila Meza – RETRATO;  Mary Halvorson – DRAGON’S HEAD.

The Bastards' Christmas present to you (should you listen to this episode the day it drops) is a seventh anniversary celebration featuring - you guessed it - septets.  And copper, sheep, speculation about the role a great title makes in creating a jazz classic, and all sorts of other goodies.  Unwrap and enjoy.  The Fat Babies – 18TH AND RACINE; Oliver Nelson – BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH; Pierre Dorge and the New Jungle Orchestra  - LIVE IN CHICAGO; Ben Allison – RIDING THE NUCLEAR TIGER; Mulgrew Miller – HAND IN HAND.  

Every now and then when the holidays roll around, the boys celebrate by surveying some jazz-related Christmas releases.  This is one of those now and thens, and they've picked an eclectic bunch indeed.  After the tinsel talk winds down, Mike muses about Nick Cave (little known fact - Nick is Santa's favorite artist), tries to guess Pat's glam rock favorites, and gets an update on "world's angriest sunbeam" Nellie McKay.  Various Artists on Columbia Records – JINGLE BELL JAZZ; Stan Kenton – A MERRY CHRISTMAS!; Geri Allen – A CHILD IS BORN; Paul Horn – JAZZ SUITE ON THE MASS TEXTS; Dave McKenna – CHRISTMAS IVORY.

William, oh William, it was really nothing - but an all-Bill all the time podcast!  At Mike's suggestion, this round's musicians are all named Bill.  Heck, half of them are white guys named Bill Evans who gigged with Miles Davis.  How's that for homogeneity?  Don't fret - the other Bills at this party bring heavy-gauge avant credentials to balance things out.  Bill Evans – YOU MUST BELIEVE IN SPRING; Bill Evans – STARFISH AND THE MOON; Bill Dixon – INTENTS AND PURPOSES; Bill McHenry – ROSES.