Jazz Gumbo

Artist - Tune - Album Tania Maria - Tranquility - Taurus Terence Blanchard - No Borders Just Horizons - Magnetic Jowee Omicil - Straight In My Pocket - Let’s Do This Jean-Luc Ponty - Echoes Of The Future - Upon The Wings Of Music Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery - Night Train - Jimmy & Wes – The Dynamic Duo The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack - Psychedelic Shack Weather Report - Punk Jazz - Mr. Gone Airto Moreira - La De Casa - Promises Of The Sun Nancy Wilson & George Shearing - On Green Dolphin Street - The Swingin’s Mutual Dionne Warwick - This Girl’s In Love With You - The Dionne Warwick Story Miles Davis - Mademoiselle Mabry - Filles De Kilimanjaro Max Roach - Driva Man - We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite featuring Abbey Lincoln Billie Holiday - Porgy - The Billie Holiday Story Dizzy Gillespie - Our Delight - In The Beginning Ray Charles & Cleo Laine - I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ - Porgy and Bess The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque. Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca I never leave the Regent Park Focus studio on a Monday evening not feeling better than when I got there. It just feels so good to spend an hour and a half or so simply sharing great music! There was a time in my life when I spent a lot of time listening to music. I mean really listening. Not doing other things and having music on in the background. I mean hours every week when the listening was the main thing going on. It’s a wonder to me how that was possible, because nowadays there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day, in the week, in Life. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s me, society, or just a natural part of that time warp that comes with getting older. Whatever the reason, I haven’t been able to solve the issue of time. I can’t fairly call it a problem because how can a lack of time be a problem when life is made up of time? It would be like a fish complaining about a shortage of water. Clearly, time itself isn’t the issue. It’s rather something to do with how I/we relate to it (because it isn’t just me, is it?). So, one of the very special things about Jazz Gumbo is that it has given me back a quantity of time. It’s time that was always there, obviously. But curating this show has infused a few hours of each week with a quality that was lacking. I’m listening to music again, in the way I used to: carefully, with my attention and my heart. And I’m listening communally, you could say, because I’m listening with an ear to sharing it with you. And I’ve learned from my Podomatic stats sheet that you are literally All Over The World! A vast community of music lovers! And that touches me. Those early times I referred to, when I took time to listen to music carefully…they almost always had some connection to others. Either I was physically with them, or I was exploring music someone had told me about, or I was listening to it being performed live. Or sometimes, it might just be the connection with the musician, who we understand – when we really listen – is sharing something, is telling a Life Story. It was a dynamic exercise in community. And Jazz Gumbo, and YOU, have brought that dimension back to me. I’m very grateful. And I thank you. Enjoy the Music Thrive! Kirby