Jazz Bastard Podcast

In this very special (i.e., short and understaffed) "bonus" episode, Pat talks about some of the artists he caught at the Chicago Jazz Festival this year.  Artists discussed include Cecile McLoren Salvant, Christian McBride, the Chicago Art Ensemble, Miguel Zenon and many more!  Mike will be back for the next regular episode - promise!

2019's dropping hot with the boys examining four brand new releases (one still in the pipeline) by independent types (as opposed to, you know, those big corporate-sponsored names in jazz).  Mostly the music leans left, but the final selection is more mainstream and, unusually enough in the  jazz world, openly religious...

It's the start of a new year, so time to poke our noses into lists of last year's best releases.  This episode we've chosen four selections from the New York Times best-of, and are generally happy with the results - not that they care.  Henry Threadgill – DIRT AND MORE DIRT; Makaya McCraven – UNIVERSAL BEINGS; Walking Distance with Jason Moran - FREEBIRD; Andrew Cyrille – LEBROBA.

All hands on deck - it's a big band episode!  The boys look at two "historical" releases - one an oddity from the 1950's, the other a pace-setter from the nineties, and then dig into three brand new releases by large units.  Lots of musings from Pat about the pro's and con's of large ensemble jazz, but hey, that's what the fast-forward button is for.  Stay tuned for a heart-felt endorsement of Scott Walker's misanthropic "Scott 2...

Young people - they leave the toilet seat up, use apps with made up names like Tinder, linger on your lawn, and don't even know what a rotary phone is.  Luckily, some of them also release jazz albums, and this episode the boys talk about three such releases, along with a set from a trio of players enjoying ripe middle age.  The podcast wraps with a shout out to some of our email correspondents and a surprise appearance by a They Might Be Giants track...

Cue the "Odd Couple" theme.  This episode, the bastards take a listener's request to heart and discuss two musicians of wildly differing tempers - Art Blakey and Warne Marsh.  Art was never into cool jazz, Warne was never a messenger, but you just know, if they had to share an apartment for some unlikely reason or other, wackiness would ensue.  Towards the end the podcast degenerates into discussing favorite James Bond themes, so be warned...

New-age-y music from the seventies, an organ trio with an inside-out guitar slinger, a saxophonist who almost went supernova in the eighties, an album of acapella movie themes?   This episode should be eclectic enough for anybody . . . who likes jazz, anyway.  Wil Blades – FIELD NOTES; Petra Haden – PETRA GOES TO THE MOVIES; Bennie Wallace – THE FREE WILL; Oregon – MUSIC OF ANOTHER PRESENT ERA.

It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, between bebop and hard-bop, between singles and LPs.  It is . . . the ten-inch zone.  The mid-fifties saw a transition away from 78s towards two kinds of "long-players" - 7 inch singles that ran as long as the old 10 inch 78s, and 12 inch LPs...

Yes, folks, it's a theme episode again, and this time it's percussionists leading from the back of the group - if not the back of the beat.  We've got quite a mix, from a little known Blue Note artist's best-known album, to Bill Evan's favorite drummer showing off his wares, to brand new work from a drummer lamenting - and celebrating - a brother he lost too soon.  And then there's Charlie Watts...

Not all fusion is hyper - some can be pretty chill.  Take Peter Erskine's "Dr. Um" band - or Phillip Upchurch's gang of studio cats.  This episode looks back at two slices of fusion from the seventies than fast-forwards to now, asking if the genre has to keep its feet planted firmly in the seventies or not.  Be careful - if you listen past the tag, Paul Lynde and Kiss will be discussed, like it or not.  Kenner - 8BALL CITY;  Phillip Upchurch – DARKNESS, DARKNESS; Dr...