The Independent Ear

Ancient Future – the radio program 3/26/09

Posted on March 26, 2009 by The Independent Ear

Hear "Ancient Future" Thursdays 5:00-8:00 a.m. on WPFW 89.3 in the Washington, DC metro area

                                                        or listen live at www.wpfw.org

 

Playlist: March 26, 2009 (in ARTIST, "TUNE", ALBUM, LABEL order)

 

Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band

"Long Yellow Road"

Long Yellow Road

RCA

 

Ray Charles

"Undecided"

Blues + Jazz = Soul

Rhino

 

Lorez Alexandria

"Polka Dots and Moonbeams"

Lorez Sings Pres

Sing

 

Lorez Alexandria

"Wildest Gal in Town"

More of the Great Lorez

Impulse!

 

Lorez Alexandria

"Something Cool"

A Woman Knows

Discovery

 

Ron Carter

"Uptown Conversation"

Uptown Conversation

Label M

 

Angelic Gospel Singers/Dixie Hummingbirds

"One Day"

Jazz Singers (box)

Smithsonian

 

We Three (Roy Haynes/Phineas Newborn/Paul Chambers)

"Our Delight"

New Jazz

 

Russell Gunn

"Bitch, You Don’t Love Me"

Love Stories

HighNote

 

Zen Badizm

"Revelation"

Zen Badizm

Freedom School

 

Alison Crockett

"Everything is Beautiful"

Bare

Soul Image

 

Tony Williams Lifetime

"There Comes a Time"

Ego

Polydor

 

Jaco Pastorius

"Continuum"

Punk Jazz

Rhino

 

(weekly Soundviews feature record)

Omar Sosa

"Promised Land"

Across The Divide

Half Note

 

Omar Sosa

"Gabriel’s Trumpet"

Across The Divide

Half Note

 

Omar Sosa

"Ancestors"

Across The Divide

Half Note

 

(New Release Hour)

Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber

Making Love to the Dark Ages

Live Wired

 

Billy Harper

"Knowledge of Self"

Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2

Talking House

 

Dee Alexander

"This Bitter Earth"

Wild Is The Wind

Blu Jazz

 

Ravi Coltrane

"Epistrophy"

Blending Times

Savoy Jazz

 

Keith Jarrett-Gary Peacock-Jack DeJohnette

"Strollin’"

Yesterdays

ECM

 

Nicole Henry

"Waters of March"

The Very Thought of You

Banister

 

Host/Producer: Willard Jenkins (willard@openskyjazz.com)

 

 

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Ancient Future – the radio program: 3/19/09 playlist

Posted on March 19, 2009 by The Independent Ear

Women’s History Month focus: NEA Jazz Master Melba Liston (classic)

                                               Jane Bunnett (contemporary)

                                               + weekly Soundviews focus

                                         WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, DC

ARTIST

TRACK

ALBUM

LABEL

Randy Weston

"Spirits of Our Ancestors"

Chicago Jazz Festival recording

 

Randy Weston

"Earth Birth"

Mosaic Select

Mosaic Select

 

Dizzy Gillespie Big Band

"My Reverie"

Dizzy in South America

Red Anchor

 

Melba Liston

"Christmas Eve"

Melba Liston and Her Bones

Metro

 

Melba Liston

"Blues Melba"

Melba Liston and Her Bones

Metro

 

Melba Liston

"Zagred This"

Melba Liston and Her Bones

Metro

 

Gloria Lynne

"For All We Know"

Lonely and Sentimental

Everest

 

Randy Weston

"Harvard Blues"

Volcano Blues

Gitanes

 

Randy Weston

" Introduction"; First Movement: "Uhuru Kwanza"; Second Movement: "African Lady"

Third Movement: "Bantu"; Fourth Movement: "Kucheza Blues"

Uhuru Afrika

Roulette

Mosaic Select

 

Randy Weston

"Hi Fly"

Earth Birth

Verve

 

(Soundviews feature)

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Kinsman

Pi Recordings

 

Jane Bunnett

"Brake’s Sake"

The Water is Wide

Evidence

 

Jane Bunnett

"Powerful Paul Robeson"

Spirituals & Dedications

Justin Time

 

Jane Bunnett

"Black is the Color"

Red Dragon’Fly

Narada

 

Jane Bunnett

"Almendra"

Alma de Santiago

Blue Note

 

JANE BUNNETT LIVE INTERVIEW

 

Jane Bunnett

"Sway"

Embracing Voices

EMI (Canada) (forthcoming on Sunnyside)

 

Jane Bunnett

"Serafina"

Embracing Voices

EMI (Canada) (forthcoming on Sunnyside)

 

WWW.WPFW.ORG

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African Rhythms anecdote #4

Posted on March 12, 2009 by The Independent Ear

photo by Oumar Fall

 

 

The fourth in our ongoing series of anecdotes from the forthcoming book African Rhythms, our as-told-to autobiography of Randy Weston, takes us back to the dawn of the 1950s when Randy was a green 23-year old asipiring piano player on tour with the old blues singer Bull Moose Jackson.

 

    This tour was a really big deal for me because other than the service it was not only my first time leaving home, but also my first time going down south on the blues circuit.  The pay was $25 a day, which sounded like a lot of money at first — remember, this was 1949.  Out of that $25 you had to pay your room rent and buy your meals; but for me I was still living at home and this sounded like a golden opportunity to travel.  It was the same for [drummer] Connie Kay and he and I quickly became tight friends.  We were similar in height and worked great together on the bandstand as a rhythm section, overcoming the bass player’s obvious shortcomings.

 

    The tour started in the fall and one of our first memorable gigs was in Washington, DC.  This was during a period when battles of the bands were quite common and very popular.  In DC the battle was Bullmoose Jackson versus Ruth Brown’s band, which had Willis "Gatortail" Jackson on sax.  Willis was like [Bull Moose’s strawboss] Frank "Floorshow" Cully, one of those entertaining bar walkers who would hold that one continuous note while removing his clothes and stuff like that.  But Willis Jackson was a better saxophone player than Floorshow, who was just one of those guerillas, all show and bluster, little substance.  The first time I saw those cats lying down on the floor battling, playing one note and meanwhile taking off their shirts and ties was something I had never seen before and it was pretty corny to me.  But the audience ate it up!  This was some real black showbiz of the day.  Ruth’s band probably won that battle because Bull Moose was more of a crooner, with a sweet and tender voice, a very romantic kind of singing, not exactly a hardcore blues shouter or a dynamic crowd-pleaser like Ruth.  Bull Moose sang the blues all right, but Ruth and Willis were more dynamic performers.

 

    We played the whole black circuit on this tour, from the Eastern Seaboard down to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and over to Mobile, Alabama, New Orleans, Houston, and Oklahoma City; those were the stops that stood out in my mind.  I also remember playing in places in North Carolina where there was hay on the floor with folks dancing on the hay.  We played in joints where the piano had maybe two working octaves and the bandstand was so tiny that the piano couldn’t fit onstage and I’d have to sit in the audience to play.  But it was a learning experience and we quickly learned that although that $25 a day sounded like great pay in the beginning to a young inexperienced guy like me, after we paid for our rooms and our meals we had hardly any money left.  Floorshow was also an incurable gambler who would take our payroll and gamble with it, leaving us short sometimes.  So we never had any real money.

 

    This was way before civil rights so we were staying in all-black  hotels.  Another memorable gig was in Mobile, Alabama where we played in a place that had never had a black band before.  When we arrived there was a state trooper posted outside this ballroom where we were to play.  Floorshow’s advance publicity photo had preceded the band and it pictured him with his saxophone up in the air; he fancied himself as an acrobat of the sax and he would often jump in the air while holding that one note.  The state trooper at the door asked us "which one of you guys is this guy" pointing at the photo.  We all said "that’s Floorshow" because he was a real pain in the ass that was always making us crazy so we wanted to get even.  The trooper looked hard and said "we better see you do this tonight" pointing straight at Floorshow, "or we’ll take your ass to prison!"  Welcome to Mobile!  Right away we knew this could be a hot night in Alabama.

 

    We got to the gig and right at the start of the show Bull Moose is singing these syrupy romantic ballads and his usual blues.  All of a sudden these overly excited white women started rushing the stage — and remember, this is Ku Klux Klan country!  Needless to say this shook us up and we kept trying to tell Bull Moose to change the tempo, change the songs, or do something to lower that heat!  There were actually women sitting on top of the piano!  Thankfully nothing happened but we did a whole lot of sweating that night, and it wasn’t from the room temperature.

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30th Anniversary Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland

Posted on March 12, 2009 by The Independent Ear

Tri-C JazzFest 2009 complete 30th Anniversary festival lineup

 

For further information please visit www.tricjazzfest.com or call 216/987-4400…

 

 

Thursday, April 23
• Parade at The Avenue in Tower City Center 5 p.m. Free.

 


Friday, April 24
• George Benson pays tribute to Nat "King" Cole at Allen Theatre,

Playhouse Square, Cleveland

. 8 p.m. $40-$65.

 


Saturday, April 25
• "Jazz for Kids" concerts featuring Joe Hunter and Friends at Children’s Museum of Cleveland, 10730 Euclid Ave. 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. $7 for museum members, $10 for nonmembers. Call 216-791-7114.

 

• "Women in Jazz" concert featuring Marion Hayden at Mt. Zion Congregational Church,

10723 Magnolia Drive, Cleveland

. 1 p.m. Free.

 

• Buddy Guy with John Scofield at Allen Theatre. 7:30 p.m. $25-$45.

 

• "Latin Night" concert with Eddie Palmieri Y La Perfecta II with Grupo Fuego at Cuyahoga Community College Metro Campus Auditorium, 2900 Community College Ave., Cleveland. 8 p.m. $25.

 


Sunday, April 26
• Jonathan Batiste Quintet at East Cleveland Public Library,

14101 Euclid Ave.

4 p.m. Free.

 

• Sachal Vasandani at Nighttown,

12387 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights

. 8 p.m. Free.

 


Monday, April 27
• Ernie Krivda and the Detroit Connection pay tribute to Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins at East Cleveland Public Library. 7:30 p.m. Free.

 


Tuesday, April 28
• B-3 master Eddie Baccus Sr. at Karamu House,

2355 East 89th St., Cleveland

. 8 p.m. Free.

 

• Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland,

8501 Carnegie Ave.

8 p.m. $25.

 


Wednesday, April 29
• Premiere of "Crossing Bridges" by Cecilia Smith at Ohio Theatre,

Playhouse Square, Cleveland

. 8 p.m. $20.

 


Thursday, April 30
• Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band with Randy Weston (rare solo piano performance) at Tri-C Metro Campus Auditorium. 8 p.m. $30.

 


Friday, May 1
• Dave Brubeck Quartet with Kurt Elling at Allen Theatre. 8 p.m. $40-$65.

 


Saturday, May 2
• Dave Koz with Joe Sample and Randy Crawford at Allen Theatre. 8 p.m. $25-$45.

 

• "Jazz Meets Hip Hop" concert featuring Bill Ransom at Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, 15711 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, in the ballroom. 10 p.m. $25.

 


Sunday, May 3
• TCJF SoundWorks featuring Sean Jones plays the music of McCoy Tyner at East Cleveland Public Library. 4 p.m. Free.

 

 

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Ancient Future – the radio program 3/12/2009 playlist

Posted on March 12, 2009 by The Independent Ear

Playlists for the WPFW (89.3FM in Washington, DC listen: www.wpfw.org)  Ancient Future program, produced/hosted by Willard Jenkins, are listed in Artist – Tune – Album Title – Label order

 

                                                        Archival Segment

Miles Davis All-Stars        Sid’s Ahead                Broadcast Sessions 1958-59        Acrobat

Billie Holiday                    The Man I Love        The Complete Columbia Recordings

Randy Weston                  The Man I Love        With These Hands                        OJC

Jo Jones                           Greensleeves           The Everest Years                        Universal

Jo Jones                           Bebop Irishman        The Everest Years                        Universal

Sibongile Khumalo             Skhumbule Nkosi       Immortal Secrets                        Sony

Ornette Coleman               To Us                       Beauty is a Rare Thing                Rhino/Atlantic

Robert Johnson                 Phonograph Blues      The Complete Recordings            Columbia

Charlie Parker                   A Night in Tunisia     The Complete Dial & Savoy Masters  Savoy

Darrell Grant                     Day of Grace             Truth and Reconciliation             Origin

Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley    The Old Country    (self title)                        Capitol

Don Pullen                        1529 Gunn Street       Mosaic Select                             Mosaic

The Bad Plus                     Everybody Wants to Rule the World  In The Zone          WWOZ

Mel Lastie                         In the Spirit World     That Old Time Religion               AFO

Mary Lou Williams             The Devil                   Black Christ of the Andes           Smithsonian

Steve Wilson                     Respect Yourself        Soulful Song                              MaxJazz

Steve Wilson                     Chelsea Bridge           Generations                              Stretch

                                                          Soundviews Segment

Bill Henderson                    You Are My Sunshine  Live at the Vic                          Ahuh

Bill Henderson                    Sleepin’ Bee               Live at the Vic                          Ahuh

Bill Henderson                    Never Make Your Move Too Soon Live at the Vic         Ahuh

                                                           New/Recent Release Hour

Meilana Gillard                    A Spirit Remembered   Day One                               Inner Circle

Erica Lindsay                      Blues Up                       Live at The Rosendale Cafe  ARC

Dr. Lonnie Smith                Dapper Dan                   Rise Up!                              Palmetto

Joshua Redman                  Hitchiker’s Guide           Compass                             Nonesuch

Paoli Mejios                       Bailamo A7 Mama?         Transcend                           (self)

Milton Nascimento              Tarde                            Novas Bossa                        Blue Note

Steve Herberman               Someone to Light Up My Life   Ideals                         Reach

Eliane Elias                        Minha Saudade               Bossa Nova Stories              Blue Note

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