Notes and Playlist 12 September 2023

Today we stretch the boundaries of what we call jazz and blues in remembering three important musicians who passed in the past couple of months. First, in our ongoing tribute to Pittsburgh native Ahmad Jamal, and in honor of a little bit cooler weather, we listen to a brilliant version of “Autumn Leaves.” After that we remember Canadian Robbie Robertson and the Irish singer, poet, and musician Sinéad O’Connor. Also on the show, a 2020 release from supergroup Artemis and new music from the Scottish band, Mama Terra and a new single from Zoe Rahman. 

 

Playlist

Cedar Walton – The Rubber Man

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – Are You Real?

Ahmad Jamal – Autumn Leaves

Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U

The Band – The Weight

Zoe Rahman – For Love

Artemis – The Sidewinder

Mama Terra – A Mind Supreme

Bob Marley and the Wailers – No Woman No Cry (Live)

 

Notes:

“Autumn Leaves” – Song composed by Joseph Kusma (Les Feuillas mortes) in 1945. It has since become a jazz standard as an instrumental song. The song has been recorded by many famous jazz musicians, including Artie Shaw ((1950), Stan Getz (1952), Ahmad Jamal (1955), Errol Garner (1955), Duke Ellington (1957), Cannonball Adderly, featuring Miles Davis (1958), Vincent Guaraldi (1958), Bill Evans (1959), John Coltrane (1962), and Miles Davis, a live recoding of the song, in 1964.

“The Weight” – Written by Robbie Robertson, performed by The Band. Levon Helm (Vocals), Rick Danko and Richard Manuel (Harmony), Robbie Robertson (acoustic guitar).

Ahmad Jamal (1930-2023): Watch Ahmad Jamal perform “Autumn Leaves” in Paris in 2017.

Watch Zoe Rahman perform “Down to Earth” in Bremen, Germany, in 2013.

Watch Artemis (Renee Rosnes, Ingrid Jensen, Nicole Glover, Alexa Tarantino, Noriko Ueda, Allison Miller): perform “Galapagos” live.

Read about Mama Terra’s release of their new album, The Summoned, here.

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Playlist and Notes: 30 August 2022

With the beginning of the fall semester, summer is quickly coming to an end. The first set includes three songs that reminds us of the joy and thrills of summer, and the melancholy that creeps in as the weather gets a little cooler and the leaves begin to fall.   Since this is my first show since the pandemic temporarily closed the university in March 2020, the second set on today’s show remembers three people who have died since that time: Chick Corea, Charlie Watts, and, just last week, the shocking news that Joey DeFrancesco, who recorded scores of albums of his own behind the organ, and as sideman with many performers, including Miles Davis, had passed. I will play more songs to remember DeFrancesco in the coming weeks. I also celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Charlie Parker and offer a heartfelt congratulations to Joni Mitchell in her triumphant return to the Newport Folk Festival in July. Finally, after the seeing the film Elvis at the Cumberland Drive-In a...
Read more

Playlist and Notes: 7 February 2023

On today’s show we have several themes and start some month-long retrospectives. In the honor of Black History Month we will profile some of the great blues singers during February, featuring two artists each week. In another segment, we will listen to jazz music from, and inspired by, Africa. But to start the show today, we begin with an acknowledgement that it is winter in Central Pennsylvania with a couple of songs about the season. Joey Alexander – Winter Blues Kieth Jarrett – Blackberry Winter Michael Brecker – Midnight Mood Blind Willie McTell – Statesboro Blues Mississippi John Hurt – Coffee Blues Ramsey Lewis Trio – You Been Talkin’ ‘Bout Me, Baby Moe Koffman – A Night in Tunisia Mulatu Astatke – Girl From Addis Ababa Black Flower – O Fogo Blues Tribute  We begin our survey of important blues artists with a person who is not that well known but highly influential: Blind Willie McTell: Born blind in 1901 to an unwed 14-year-old mother, who would die in 19...
Read more

Playlist and Notes: 6 September 2022

Image
  On September 10, 1956, the Miles Davis Quintet, along with John Coltrane, recorded the Thelonious Monk tune, “’Round Midnight.” It would be the first of Miles’s great quintets, Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (double bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). The song would be the first track on an outstanding album, Round About Midnight , which released in 1957. On today’s show we have a listen to music where the other members of the quintet are leader. Later this semester we will have a retrospective of Philadelphia’s own, Philly Joe Jones. We also honor a couple of legends’ birthdays during our second segment: Horace Silver (2 September 1928, Norwalk CT), Sonny Rollins (7 September 1929, New York City), and Elvin Jones (9 September 1927), playing drums on Coltrane’s “A Few of My Favorite Things.” On last week’s show we heard a couple of important black female singers from the 1950s who influenced Elvis Presley. Today, a curren...
Read more