Discovering Jazz

Having just heard the news of the passing of one of my favourite jazz musicians, pianist and composer Carla Bley, I thought I’d re-visit a past podcast from 2021.

Last week I talked about modes used in jazz. Modes are really nothing more than a scale. This week I’ll talk about some other scales, and play tunes that illustrate that scale. I talk about the bebop scale, diminished scale, various minor scales, the blues scale, and the whole tone scale. And play tunes by…Continue reading Episode 249: Great recordings With Frequently Used Scales

I usually try to avoid talking about jazz theory in this podcast. That’s partly because of it’s complexity, as well as my own limited knowledge. I do believe its possible to love a piece of jazz without understanding the theory behind it. At the same time, if we have a sense of some of the…Continue reading Episode 248: I Don’t Particularly Like Modes A Lot

“Tis Autumn! There have been some wonderful jazz, big band, broadway, and even ‘folk’ oriented tunes written about the Fall season. In this episode I play a version of ten of my favourites. They range from Paul Bley to Frank Sinatra—and I even throw in something by early Joni Mitchell. You’ll also hear Woody Herman,…Continue reading Episode 247: Favourite Autumn Songs

Still lots of cd’s I need to listen to and file, discard, or listen to again. I played a few last week….and this week I have a few more. Some are old some are new. Some of the compact discs I’m playing and from which I’ll include a track on this podcast are: Charles Lloyd:…Continue reading Episode 246: Still Surrounded by CD’s.

Time to listen to and sort out some of the cd’s that are surrounding me right now. And I’ll play some tracks from the most enjoyable—or at least the most interesting–ones.

How did North America’s first International Jazz festival get established in Edmonton, Alberta? Why Edmonton? And who is the Kansas City Bluesman, Big Miller, after whom a park in this city has been named? And lastly…what famous jazz musician left town in the middle of his concert, absconding with his band’s pay? More from an…Continue reading Episode 244:How a Small City in Canada became known as “Jazz City”.

It’s been claimed to be North America’s first International Jazz Festival. In a city of only half a million. Festival founder Marc Vasey talks about how Edmonton, Alberta, Canada became known as ‘jazz city’. And he talks about some of the challenges and inspiring moments from those early years of 1980 to 1983. Some of…Continue reading Episode 243: Jazz City!

This is the last of my 4 part series on folk songs ‘jazzified’. I also introduce you to some Western Swing—which combines so many different genres. I play jazz recordings by The Stanley Clarke Trio with Hiromi, John Coltrane, Vince Guaraldi, Big Miller with Jon Hendricks, Seattle’s Floyd Standifer, and the wonderful Icelandic pianist Sunna…Continue reading Episode 242: More Folk ‘n Jazz.

The first 12 minutes of this podcast takes you to Sweden. Three tracks with Swedish jazz musicians playing folk music from Russia, U,S,A,, and Hungary. That’s followed by Django Reinhardt playing a traditional Russian tune. Then we have more jazz interpretations of Spirituals by Nina Simone, Bevely-Glenn Copeland, Ramsay Lewis, Don Shirley, and Albert Ayler.…Continue reading Episode 241: Folk Music and Jazz, Part 3

Did you know that Sonny Rollins didn’t actually write “St. Thomas”. And that Randy Weston recorded this traditional folk song before Rollins, but under the name of “Fire Down There”? And another piece of information: Thelonious Monk’s “Japanese Folk Song” wasn’t really a folk song—as the writer was known. But it has entered an oral…Continue reading Episode 240:Jazz Interpretations of Folk Songs Part 2

A lot of folk songs—and I’m talking mostly about traditional tunes—have been adapted into jazz. And in a lot of cases the results have been spectacular! Right from the earliest years of jazz when Louis Armstrong with Earl Hines had the 1929 hit of St. James Infirmary. And today, 94 years later, we have the…Continue reading Episode 239: Folk Music and Jazz, Part 1

I’m back with new episodes after a three week break. There have been many well-deserved tributes to Tony Bennett, who we lost July 21st of this year. Here is another one, focusing mostly on his ‘jazz’ side. A number of great jazz musicians played with and respected Tony Bennett, and I feature a few of…Continue reading Episode 238: Tribute to Tony Bennett

This program, originally posted January of 2019, features tracks from 2018 albums that Downbeat Magazine reviewers–and a few others–raved about. You’ll hear: -singer Stacey Kent -Polish bassist Wojtek Masolewski and his Quintet – Canadian trumpet player Ingrid Jensen -More trumpet from Ambrose Akinmusire -Downbeat Hall of Fame pianist Kenny Barron -Guitarist Steve Tibbets -London’s Sons…Continue reading Archives: Episode 50, Top Rated Albums of 2018

More from my archives of old programs while I take a bit of a summer break. IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this program had been recorded directly off a feed from Trent Radio, the sound quality isn’t up to my usual Discovering Jazz podcast standards. But the music’s great…and I hope you’ll find some of the information…Continue reading Archives: Episode 10: New Acquisitions from Fall of 2017.

This is the Trent Radio program that spawned the Discovering Jazz podcast. In February 2016 my partner and I had recently moved to Peterborough, Ontario and I decided I wanted to do a program on Trent Radio, Call letters CFFF-the community and university radio station. Since they didn’t have a jazz program and I was…Continue reading From the Archives: NCRA Award Winning Episode from 2017

Some more New Discoveries from The Real Book. Some are songs written by jazz musicians, others are Broadway ‘standards. I play music by artists as diverse as Bing Crosby and Roland Kirk. I also try to look at what exactly is a “Charlie Parker Blues”. And for many of those tunes, I play an original…Continue reading Episode 237:Quiet Now, Minority,Blue Room, Broadway,Blues for Alice, Gloria’s Step, Could It Be You

As I go through this ‘jazz bible’ for students and jammers, I keep discovering new tunes. This leads me to listen to some versions of them. And this week and next I’m sharing some of my ‘discoveries’. I start the podcast with two different versions of Wayne Shorter’s Beauty and The Beast (including a great…Continue reading Episode 236: Discoveries from The Real Book, Part 1

The last of my series on the upcoming Edmonton Jazz Festival. This week I explore some history—touching on the fore-runner of this festival, Jazz City. That festival became Canada’s first Internationally renowned Jazz Festival….beginning in 1980. I also explore the attempt being made to attract youth to this festival. Many of the artists are young,…Continue reading Episode 235: Youth, Gender Parity, and history: Edmonton Jazz Fest Part 3.

Today’s podcast starts with an amazing ‘jam’ led by pianist Emmet Cohen. Other jazz artists featured this week are The Leon Phal Quartet from France, flautist Naissam Jalal, The Ostara Project of Canadian women ‘superstars’, Edmonton trombonist Audrey Ochoa, and Polish bassist Piotr Lemanczyk. And more on the ‘fringes’ of jazz, you’ll hear Nik West…Continue reading Episode 234: More Great Artists Playing Summer Jazz Festivals. Part 2