|
 Generally speaking I'm slow to assemble a program. I'm open to suggestion from anywhere beforehand. But when it all comes into focus and the thoughts, pictures, and memories build a structures that is ready. I leave a window open, just in case.- Rambler is a fun tune by tuba master Bob Stewart. I'm so glad Arthur Blythe has included the lower register in so much of his work. Grandpa had a Rambler and it was something else entirely.
- Ken Thomson is Who To Watch For. Out of the blue is this tune called Welding For Freedom and it justifies my strategy of leaving a window open. Win/win.
- Nathan Hubbard collect SDMA for Best Jazz Album. There was a lot of texture in the eleven o'clock hour. Tons of great names contributing, and Nathan making it bubble. xlnt
Thanks for listening |
|
|
 You might notice the subtle realignment with the blogname. If not it's okay, but it will bring into sharper focus the team effort being invested into Progressive Nights, the new sound of jazz radio (not a trademark phrase but it ought to be). Monday through Thursday, 10pm to Midnight. Chad Fox, Tony McGee, and yours truly. Let me just go ahead and preempt the suggestion of an over-the-line team called "The Progressive Knights." First fail is no vulgarity in team name. Sorry.- Go listen to Horace Silver right now. Anything you can get to. No need to go overboard. Just listen awhile and savor the sweet bluesy jazz.
- I keep coming back to the Index of Possibilities. Much of my programming spins out of this concept. One key to the Index is don't get too tense.
- Go listen to Eric Dolphy. Maybe you think you aren't ready. Maybe you're fooling yourself. Start with his version of "Tenderly."
Thanks for listening. |
|
|
Forgetting something, omitting something else, and maybe not enough to go around. These are the conditions which prevail.- Dawn of Midi tomorrow night at the Soda Bar.
- Eric Dolphy/Booker Little blazing through Status Seeking
- Christian Scott played "The Eraser" better than Thom Yorke wrote it.
Thanks for listening |
|
|
A funny thing happened on the way to Free Time. It started two hours early with Percussive Profiles!- Bernard "Pretty" Purdie to Elvin Jones "The Drum Thing." Then Peter Erskine for sixty minutes. E Ticket Ride right there. Some heavier lifting helps one appreciate a lighter load. I'm talking about duration.
- Larger groups in this evening's Creative Music section. 8 Bold Souls, Big Trouble, David Murray, and Keefe Jackson. Small groups allow for the space and structure but larger groups seem to swell and teeter and then all the directions that music starts flying in like a blizzard or levitation.
- The Dropper might land on your toe if you aren't ready so here's Uninvisible by Medeski Martin & Wood.
Thanks for listening |
|
|
The Index of Possibilities is deployed transparently throughout any programming span, regardless of projection intent. It illuminates the phrase "more of a guideline than a rule" and The Index can also take the heat in a pinch, as in "that escalated quickly." - Mantra by Alice Coltrane to begin. Joe Henderson and Pharoah Sanders pretty much on edge from beginning to end. Not much more, not much less. Mantra.
- Song for Charles by the Art Ensemble of Chicago to start Free Time. No one has ever knitted the sounds created into such a solid aural fabric of fascination. Maybe it's just me. (paris, 1969)
- Make your own Index of Possibilities. Wrap your brain around it, see what it can do for you. Everybody's different!
Thanks for listening. |
|
|
Tonight's program shamelessly pandering to the broadest demographic of Jazzheads if they are free wheeling modernists unconcerned by implications of structure and/or the suggestion of reconstructed textures vis-a-vis oblique voicings. It's a three day weekend where we should be more thankful than Thanksgiving. Game On!- I felt like the first hour should have been enjoyable if one is anywhere near the above rhetorical description.
- Sun Ra was born 100 years ago, hence the spotlight tonight. I just call it Sun Ra Day. It could be any day of the year. It will always be special. Besides, I don't want to get into it about the Saturn thing.
- So many angles to Jazz. Swangin'!
Thanks for listening. |
|
|
I have been operating on the assumption that it's the 9th of May. Forty five minutes left in the day and I just found out it's the 8th. Could be worse, somehow. And now, Program Notes:- John McNeil arranged a great spin on Giuffre's 'The Train And The River,' and I played 'Sugar Craft' instead of 'Whatever Happened To Gus' by MMW. Once a year I make myself go to a different tune from Combustication. It's only because WHTG is the most perfect assemblage of ideas ever.
- Each layer of Free Time has brought some new angle to fascinate me so I'm hoping it's doing the same for you. Joseph Jarman, Steve Lehman (spotlight on Damion Reid), Steve Lacy, Shadow Boxer's Delight (unreal), Jason Kao Hwang, Tin/Bag (Free Time can be pretty, too), and Andrew Hill to end the show.
- May 25th, check the Jazz Calendar for the Jazz Workshop event.
Thanks for listening.
|
|
|
An image from somewhere in the pages of William S. Burroughs comes close to dramatically summarizing my mind of late, "a blizzard of glass shards." Google doesn't back me up on this but it doesn't matter. Tonight was really about making it "just this" and not "that."- Dusk, by Andrew Hill, sounded especially beautiful tonight. The Sun Died, as reconstructed by Ellery Eskelin, was superb. Apparently, context is everything. Some close calls really showed the value of my Index of Possibilities theory. Similar to Cecil Taylor's "...just don't hesitate."
- Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman, and Elvin Jones. Lots of space and power.
- Grachan Moncur III has a real way with making a tune hum. Love And Hate, from Exploration.
Thanks for listening. |
|
|
The interview with Nathan Hubbard went well for a high wire act, and all encompassing enough to obliterate any thought of Program Notes until Friday afternoon. Then it took another two days to get to it. So much for spontaneity.- Volume 4 of Encinitas And Everything After will be presented on Sunday, 4/27/14. Ogd_S(11) Translation Has Failed is a mobile unit and is fully accountable for processing Hubbard's ideas. Taoist Sanctuary, 4229 Park Blvd 92103. 8pm.
- Klang is the James Falzone Quartet. They bring such energy and ability that I'm sure some promoter in town has an eye on them. Has to.
- Between Bynum at the beginning and Cherry at the finish, Steve Lacy singlehandedly astounded the aural capabilities of man and machine. Gusts, in case you need to track it down.
Thanks for listening.
|
|
|
Progressive Nights concludes with the subtle textures and captivating inventions in the particular style as curated every Thursday night by yours truly. This might sound like a generic phrase cooked up before a pressing deadline, but it's the real deal. Get into The Speakeasy and have a listen. Individual experience may vary each week, but this is a long term commitment and relevant within its context.- Yes I played "Western Wren (A Bird Call)" again. It's a magical interaction between Jeff Ballard drums, Lionel Luoeke guitar, and Miguel Zenon saxophone. Found on Ballard's Time's Tales.
- Yes the Rosetta Trio piece might have seemed out of place after "Bloodcount." But what a transition to "Lena" and the majestic power of Cecil Taylor. Free Time!
- Yes Todd Sickafoose Tiny Resistors came to the rescue at the very last minute. What a great night. Special thanks to Mark and Kimi from Brooklyn.
Thanks for listening.
|
|
