listening session

Six Count hosted its first listening session with a small group of musicians in January. Dexter Moses, the featured guest, curated the following playlist for the evening: 

• “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” by Charlie Parker and Jay McShann (1942)
• “Cherokee,” by Charlie Parker and Efferge Ware (1942 or 1943)
• “Bag’s Groove” (1953) and “Off Minor” (1947), by Bud Powell
• The Black Peril, by Soweto Kinch (2019)
  • Liberation Rag
  • Degeneration, Pt. 11 – The Disorder Within
  • Liberation’s Dawn
  • Black Friday
  • Homecoming
• “52nd Street Theme (Live),” by the Branford Marsalis Quartet (2014)
• “I Cover the Waterfront (Live),” by the Don Shirley Trio (1968)
• “All The Things You Are,” by Phineas Newborn Jr (1956)
• “I’ve Done My Work,” by Donald and Geraldine Gay (2001)
• “Sugar (Solo Piano – The Keystone Transcriptions),” by Teddy Wilson (1939-1940)
• “On a Turquoise Cloud,” by Duke Ellington (1948)

Listen to the playlist on Spotify. *Not all versions of the songs selected by Dexter are available on the music service.

The musician also shares about his debut album, New Perspective. He plans to begin recording in April. 

Dexter is a previous guest on Six Count. Listen to his episode from September 2023 on the under-appreciated influence of Don Byas on swing and bebop. 

More about the artist 

Dexter is a saxophonist, composer, and educator in Durham.

A double alumnus from North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Dexter holds a bachelor’s in jazz studies and master’s in jazz composition and arranging. On Wednesdays, he hosts Evening Jazz at WNCU 90.7 FM, the university’s jazz radio station, from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.

Dexter teaches private lessons in saxophone, flute, and clarinet at the Russell Lacy Music school in Durham. 

(Episode art by Micah Haycraft)

Music credits

This season features the songs “Forged in Rhythm” and “Callous & Kind” by Keenan McKenzie & The Riffers (2017), used by Six Count with permission from the artist. 

Support the show

If you’d like to support Six Count for GivingTuesday, you can make a gift on DonorBox or Venmo @thexarawilde. Follow Six Count on Instagram at @sixcountpodcast and Xara Wilde on Facebook and Instagram @thexarawilde.

How to listen

You can find Six Count on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other listening app. The series also airs on taintradio.org, an online jazz radio station based in North Carolina, on Sundays at 6:00 p.m. and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. EST. 

VJC Q&T podcast host Russell Schmidt has known pianist/organist/composer Michael Kocour for more than a dozen years. A nationally-renown educator, Mike is the Director of Jazz Studies at Arizona State University. Additionally, he is a recording artist for Origin Records, releasing a solo piano album, East of the Sun, on that label’s OA2 imprint earlier this year.

In early summer, Mike sat down with Russ to partake in spirited, engaging discussions on jazz, music education, and the nature of creativity. In this second of two podcasts together, they discussed the sometimes-random nature in discovering one’s passions and influences, the deeper truths revealed on vinyl records, and even the lengthy path to be travelled just to join a school’s “stage band”.

Learn more about Michael Kocour here:
http://www.michaelkocour.com/
https://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/profile/michael-kocour

Listen to Michael Kocour (solo piano) perform his composition Winter’s Spell here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ceKy9Y0aU

Listen to Michael Kocour (organ quartet) perform his composition Chunky here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SXXrTByxyI&list=OLAK5uy_nftb9Vv4HNX37Li27g2dv1_aiCC6ItNHw

Purchase Michael Kocour’s recordings for the Origin Records/OA2 label here:
http://originarts.com/oa2/artists/artist.php?Artist_ID=138

Learn more about some of the artists, authors, venues, and recurring sitcom characters mentioned in the podcast here:
Jamey Aebersold – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamey_Aebersold
Michael Brecker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brecker
Tina Brooks – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Brooks
Jerry Coker – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Coker
Chick Corea – http://chickcorea.com/
Joe Daley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Daley_(musician)
Keith Emerson – https://www.keithemerson.com/
Bill Evans – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans
Joel Frahm – https://joelfrahm.com/
Benny Golson – https://www.bennygolson.com/
Herbie Hancock – https://www.herbiehancock.com/
Alfred Hitchcock – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
Scott Joplin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin
Wynton Kelly – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynton_Kelly
Gladys Kravitz – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bewitched_characters#Gladys_Kravitz
Brad Mehldau – https://www.bradmehldau.com/
Roger Miller – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Miller
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart
Lewis Nash – https://www.lewisnash.com/
Herbie Nichols – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Nichols
Oscar Peterson – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Peterson
Clarke Rigsby – https://tempestrecording.com/
Antonio Salieri – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Salieri
David Sax – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sax
Craig Taborn – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Taborn
McCoy Tyner – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCoy_Tyner
Rayburn Wright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Wright
The Nash – https://thenash.org/

Thanks for listening!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE!

Website:

https://www.valleyjazz.org/

Social Media (Facebook):

https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJazzCooperative/

About The Host:

Pianist/composer/educator Russell Schmidt has performed with such celebrated artists as Carl Allen, Michael Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Joe Lovano, Gerry Mulligan, Lucas Pino, Arturo Sandoval, and Clark Terry. Among his recordings as a leader are Anachromysticism (2012), which highlights Russell’s wide-ranging efforts as a jazz composer, Jazz Triptych, Volume I – The Sacred (2018), a collection of hymns and spirituals reimagined in the jazz language, and his most recent recording, the companion album Jazz Triptych, Volume II – The Secular (2019).

After a distinguished career in academia, Russell joined Music Serving The Word in June 2014 as Coordinator of Education, founding MSW’s Valley Jazz Cooperative program in 2016. Previously, he served as Director of Jazz Studies at Bowling Green State University and the University of Utah. He was also a member of the Eastman School of Music jazz faculty, where he co-conducted the Eastman Studio Orchestra. A student of Rayburn Wright, Russell holds two degrees from Eastman.

Find music from VJC Q&T host Russell Schmidt here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuao1b7Ztc7JNpUTzyorXDQ?

The Questions & Tangents podcast is produced by Caleb Kilian for the Valley Jazz Cooperative, an outreach of MSW Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization.