Jazz Bastard Podcast

Ambition can be a great thing in jazz  - emphasis on the "can."  We look at a mixed bag of releases experimenting with third stream music, Bach, and other elements.  The results, like the music itself, are mixed.   Still, our guess is that you haven't heard about at least one of these artists yet, and maybe not all four...

Many moons ago on episode 95 we did an podcast devoted to Freddie Hubbard, so in honor of the new Complete at the Lighthouse release, we thought it was time to do one for Lee Morgan.  But not to discuss Live at the Lighthouse because that's the way we roll.  (Look me up on facebook if you have questions about that release).  We survey the trumpet master's brutally truncated career and ponder what might have been while enjoying one of Blue Note's all time all stars...

The newest of the new.  That's what our podcast brings you, sometimes, anyway, and this episode features four bangers from brand-spankin' 2022.   Three of the four offer some "fusion" elements of one kind and another, and the other Mike keeps at arm's length because it edges him into the Jackie attack zone, and long-time listeners know that's not where he likes to be.  Also, the boys threaten to eat Pandas, so there's that...

Mike's busy in Europe so Pat goes solo with a look at controversial jazz label CTI...

Mike drags Pat out of his blanket fort for close encounters with a couple heavy hitters of the avant-garde, a Chicago legend who doesn't believe in intonation, and a tribute to that legend that gets celestial from time to time.   In pop matters Mikes talks about a little known jazz short film from the fifties and Pat gets totally tubular...

It's an episode years in the making when Mike is finally able to track down guitarist, composer, and raconteur Duck Baker.   We discovered Duck through his solo recording of Herbie Nichols' tunes, but Mike finds out that Duck has collaborated with such luminaries as John Zorn, Roswell Rudd, and Eugene Chadbourne while keeping up a stream of solo and group releases and composing dozens of tunes...

Two fifty is as good an artificial milestone as any, so the boys decide it's time for a GOAT episode.  First they wrestle a top-twenty artist list into shape, arguing that there's so much consensus out there little work remains to be done and still taking an hour doing it.  Then it's on to the tricky bit - picking out 21 through 40.   Totems will get tumbled, weird choices will get made, and hearts will get broken.  Mostly Mike's...

It's the shock of the new as the boys take on three 2022 releases that stretch our heads in various directions, including a solo guitar outing, a visit to a mythical cave, and a trumpet excursions that goes even stranger places.  After that, a chill-out album from Blue Note is a welcome change of pace if nothing else.  Pop matters delves into this year's edition of the Chicago Jazz Fest, so stay tuned.  And watch out for those falling trees...

From time to time the bastards do a show devoted to one artist, and this time, happenstance leads us to feted and prolific "out" trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.  His career stretches back to the seventies and he's worked with a murderer's row of avant garde musicians, but we're focusing on more recent work with him as a leader...

Sometimes "tribute "can be a dirty word in jazz - a sign a project's only justification is a well-known name - a warning that reverence may have trumped inspiration on a record.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  This episode, the bastards look at four 2022 releases that each celebrate a towering figure from jazz's past without getting tangled up in its shadow...