The Independent Ear

Ancient Future radio 1/7/10

Posted on January 8, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Ancient Future radio, produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins, airs on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro area.

 

Theme: Randy Weston "Route of the Nile"

 

Dupree Bolton

Katanga

Fireball

Uptown

 

Helen Sung

Bye Ya

Helenistique

Fresh Sound

 

Allen Toussaint

Bright Mississippi

The Bright Mississippi

Nonesuch

 

Melissa Walker

Our Love Remains

In The Middle of it All

Sunnyside

 

Langston Hughes (poem)

I’ve Known Rivers

Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers

Rhino (compilation)

 

Allen Toussaint

West End Blues

The Bright Mississippi

Nonesuch

 

Cannonball Adderley

Capricorn

Soul Zodiac

Capitol

 

Wynton Marsalis

Sometimes It Goes Like That

Live at the Village Vanguard

Columbia

 

Miles Davis

Fall

Complete Studio Recordings

Columbia/Legacy

 

Fela Kuti

Roforfo Fight

The Best of the Black President

Kalakuta/Knitting Factory

 

Sibongile Khumalo

Sonny Boy

Immortal Secrets

Sony

 

Simphiwe Dana

Injongo

On Bantu Biko Street

Gallo

 

Soundviews (weekly new release spotlight)

Bobby Hutcherson

Spiritual

Wise One

Kind of Blue

 

Bobby Hutcherson

Equinox

Wise One

Kind of Blue

 

Bobby Hutcherson

Nancy with the Laughing Face

Wise One

Kind of Blue

 

Bobby Hutcherson

Like Sonny

Wise One

Kind of Blue

 

What’s New: the new/recent release hour

Kenny Davis

Too High

Kenny Davis

Daken

 

Jacques Schwartz-Bart

Abyss

Abyss

Oblique

 

Mimi Jones

Watch Your Step

A New Day

Hot Tone

 

Uri Caine/Bedrock

Count Duke

Plastic Temptations

Winter & Winter

 

Saltman Knowles

Shesh

Yesterday’s Man

Pacific Coast

 

Etienne Charles

Folklore

Folklore

 

Chelsea Baratz

Water No Get Enemy

In Faith

 

contact:

Open Sky

5268-G Nicholson Lane

#281

Kensington, MD 20895

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Ancient Future: Top 20+ for 2009

Posted on December 30, 2009 by The Independent Ear

2009 Ancient Future Top 20 (in alphabetical order)

Dee Alexander, Wild is the Wind, Blu Jazz

Jane Bunnett, Embracing Voices, Sunnyside

Kurt Elling, Dedicated to You, Concord

Oran Etkin, Kelenia, Motema

Robert Glasper, Double Booked, Blue Note

Stefon Harris & Blackout, Urbanus, Concord

Bobby Hutcherson, Wise One, Kind of Blue

Vijay Iyer, Historicity, ACT

Sean Jones, The Search Within, Mack Avenue

James King, Allen’s Odyssey, Vibrant Tree

Joe Locke/David Hazeltine Quartet, Mutual Admiration Society 2, Sharp Nine

Joe Lovano UsFive, Folk Art, Blue Note

Branford Marsalis, Metamorphosen, Marsalis Music

Nicole Mitchell Black Earth Strings, Renegade, Delmark

David Murray, The Devil Tried to Kill Me, Justin Time

Joshua Redman, Compass, Nonesuch

Marcus Roberts, New Orleans to Harlem, J Master

Jackie Ryan, Doozy, Open Art

Michael Thomas Quintet, Live at Twins Jazz, Jazhead

Miguel Zenon, Esta Plena, Marsalis Music

 

REISSUE of the year:

Fela Kuti, The Best of The Black President, Knitting Factory

 

…And another deserving Baker’s Dozen

JD Allen Trio, Shine, Sunnyside

Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, Making Love to the Dark Ages,

    Livewired Music

Donald Bailey, Blueprints of Jazz, Talking House

Babatunde Lea Umbo Weti, A Tribute to Leon Thomas, Motema

Marcus Strickland, Idiosyncracies, Strick Muzik

Stanley Clarke Trio, Jazz in the Garden, Heads Up

Tar Baby, Tar Baby, Imani

Pepe Gonzalez, Looking Back, IFP

Aruan Ortiz, Alameda, Fresh Sound

Jack DeJohnette-Danilo Perez-John Patitucci, Music We Are,

    Golden Beams

John Surman, Brewster’s Rooster, ECM

Gerald Clayton, Two-Shade, Artists Share’

Wayne Wallace, Bien Bien!, Patois

 

The Ancient Future radio program, produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins, airs on WPFW 89.3 FM (www.wpfw.org) Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro area.

 

Contact

Willard Jenkins

Open Sky

5268-G Nicholson Lane

#281

Kensington, MD 20895

willard@openskyjazz.com

Posted in Playlists | 5 Comments

Ancient Future radio 12/24/09 Playlist

Posted on December 24, 2009 by The Independent Ear

Ancient Future radio is produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins for WPFW 89.43 FM, Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro area.

Wynton Marsalis
Winter Wonderland
Crescent City Christmas
Columbia

Clairdee
Baby It’s Cold Outside
This Christmas
Clairdee

Joe Williams
Let it Snow, Let it Snow
That Holiday Feelin’
Verve

Moore By Four
Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Red Hot Holidays
MB4

Toninho Horta & Oscar Castro-Neves
Ave Maria
A Brasilian Christmas
Astor Place

(Various)
Silent Night
Bending Towards the Light (A Jazz Nativity)
Milan

Joyce
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
A Brasilian Christmas
Astor Place

Carla Bley
Ring Christmas Bells
Carla’s Christmas Caroils
Watt/ECM

Phillip Manuel
Silver Bells
Swingin’ In The Holidays
Glad-Man

Coleman Hawkins
Greensleeves
Christmas Songs
Milestone

The Afro-Semitic Experience
Descarga Ocho Kandelikas
Play For Peace
Reckless DC

Mo’ Rockin’ Project
All Praise
Sahaba
Remarkable

Pops Mohamed
Salaam
Ancestral Healing
M.E.L.T.

Boys Choir of Harlem (w/James Williams)
I Wonder As I Wander
Christmas Carols and Sacred Songs
Blue Note

Grover Washington Jr.
I Wonder as I Wander
Breath of Heaven
Columbia

Tremaine Hawkins
The First Noel
Swing Into Christmas
Columbia

Frank Jackson
What Do I Want For Christmas
Kasis

Clarkwise
The Christ-mas Song
The Christ-mas Song
A Star in the East
Mknific Music

Meredith D’Ambrosio & Hank Jones
Christmas Waltz
(CDR compilation)

Bobby McFerrin
Peace
Bobby McFerrin
Elektra Musician

Duke Ellington
The Nutcracker Suite (complete 9 movements)
Three Suites
Columbia

Randy Weston
Uhuru Kwanza
Mosaic Select
Mosaic

Bill Summers
Umoja
The Essence of Kwanzaa
Monkey Hill

Maia
Kujichagulia
A Power Stronger Than Itself
AACM

Babs Gonzales
Bebop Santa Claus
Cool Whalin’
Babs

CONTACT:
Willard Jenkins (willard@openskyjazz.com)
Open Sky
5268-G Nicholson Lane
#281
Kensington, MD 20895

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Ancient Future radio 12/17/09 Playlist

Posted on December 17, 2009 by The Independent Ear

The Ancient Future radio program airs on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro region at 50,000 watts. Ancient Future is hosted by Willard Jenkins.

Randy Weston
African Cookbook
Spirits of Our Ancestors

The Metronomes
Monk’s Mood
Something Big!
Jazzland

Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan
See See Rider
Trouble In Mind
Steeplechase

Kenny Burrell
Wavy Gravy
Midnight Blue
Blue Note

Joe Henderson
Drawing Room Blues
Lush Life
Verve

Rickie Lee Jones
Up From the Skies
Pop Pop
House Blend

Dupree Bolton
Katanga
Fireball
Uptown

McCoy Tyner
Fly with the Wind
Fly With The Wind
Milestone

David “Fathead” Newman
The 13th Floor
House of David
Rhino/Atlantic

Byron Wallen
Millenium
Earth Roots
MELT

Malika Zarra
Pouvoir
On The Ebony Road

SOUNDVIEWS (weekly extended new/recent release feature)
Fela Kuti
Water No Get Enemy
Best of the Black President
Kalakuta/Knitting Factory

Fela Kuti
Shuffering and Smiling
Best of the Black President
Kalakuta/Knitting Factory

WHAT’S NEW (the new release hour)
Miguel Zenon
Pandero y Pagade
Esta Plena
Marsalis Music

Miguel Zenon
Que Sera de Puerto Rico
Esta Plena
Marsalis Music

Somi
Prayer To the Saints of the Brokenhearted
If the Rains Come
Oblique

Bobby Hutcherson
Nancy with the Laughing Face
Wise One
Kind of Blue

Bobby Hutcherson
Spiritual
Wise One
Kind of Blue

Rez Abassi
Air Traffic
Things to Come
Sunnyside

George Colligan
Come Together
Come Together
Sunnyside

CONTACT:
Willard Jenkins
5268-G Nicholson Lane
#281
Kensington, MD 20895

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Wondering Aloud: What’s up with New York Times jazz writers?

Posted on December 14, 2009 by The Independent Ear

Though not a resident of New York City I spend a fair amount of time there — and if you work anywhere in the jazz business a working knowledge of New York is almost essential. I do a fair amount of work there, mainly curating two annual concert series for Tribeca Performing Arts Center. In fact — shameless plug intended: the 3rd and final concert in our annual young artists’ series Jazz in Progress is Saturday, December 19 at 7:00pm featuring what promises to be a killin’ young band under the leadership of bassist Joe Sanders, one of the 3 finalists from the recent Thelonious Monk Competition that we’ve featured. So as one keenly interested in jazz in the New York metro area I subscribe to the Sunday New York Times. The NYT remains one of the few dailies that still pays attention to jazz and the many jazz activities in New York, though in recent years the paper has contracted a severe case of A.D.D. where jazz is concerned and that attention might best be characterized as intermittent. Still the paper employs two very fine writers on the subject of jazz, Nate Chinen and Ben Ratliff. Whenever a performance review or preview, a record review, or a jazz artist profile appears in the NYT you can bet it was written by either Chinen or Ratliff.

The Sunday NYT coverage of jazz in their essential Arts & Leisure section has dwindled down to less than quarterly, though the section’s coverage of other artistic disciplines continues to make it a fairly essential read, particularly for film and theater. Where I’m wondering aloud is where it concerns what has become a weekly Arts & Leisure section feature dubbed Playlist. This is where one supposedly goes to find out what are the most provocative new record releases — or at least those records which have provoked one writer or another to include them in what is essentially an encapsulated record review column. Chinen and Ratliff are two of a rotating cast of writers who contribute the weekly Playlist column and both amply display the broadness of their music interests by reviewing recordings from a variety of music genres… including what often appears to be one or two token jazz releases, and what in some cases amount to a jazz blackout — NO jazz included. For the Sunday, December 6 edition Chinen chose to lead with Beyonce’s latest, followed by Blakroc, the retro-soul compilation Daptone Gold, an item on a Newport Jazz Festival performance download service, and the Norwegian improvisers Supersilent, which only the most lame retailer would include in the jazz or even jazz-related section. Yesterday’s edition of Playlist (12/13), contributed by the estimable Jon Pareles, included not a whiff of anything jazz-related. I needn’t tell any jazz artist or media person out there that despite the new 21st century record paradigm, there continue to be a healthy number of jazz recordings released on a weekly basis. In this DIY era we may even be witnessing a more robust number of jazz record releases than ever! It’s safe to say that dozens of worthy jazz artists are rakin’ and scrapin’ for whatever newspaper ink they can gin up, with a mention in the New York Times being the gold standard of general interest dailies.

Those weeks when it’s not Chinen or Ratliff’s turn in the Playlist rotation one can count on one thing — there will be NO jazz recordings under review in the Playlist column. So one wonders why Chinen and Ratliff are compelled to be so catholic in their music review tastes while their peer contributors to Playlist feel absolutely no compulsion to include jazz releases in their Playlist contributions. Why is there no artistic reciprocation with these Playlist columns? Why are the only two writers who contribute the paper’s jazz commentary and reportage so open to other forms, while completely overlooking 99% of the jazz recordings being released. Given their respective writing skills and potential for such enormous influence… just wondering aloud…

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