Now Playing on AccuJazz - 10/30

The biggest part of my job at AccuRadio is getting new music, putting it on our server, and deciding what channels should play it. This process of discovering new music is also the most rewarding part of my job, so it's always a pleasure to let you, the listeners, know exactly what great new stuff is playing on AccuJazz.

This update is pretty big, as always, and includes mostly recent releases, though there is a section of older discs that recently came in to our possession at the bottom of the post. You can purchase the CDs online by clicking the titles, and discs that come heavily recommended are adorned with the envied double asterisk (**). To hear all of these new releases and lots of other great ones from the last 7 months, listen to the New Releases channel on AccuJazz.com while you peruse the post.

Without further ado:

New Releases:

Poncho Sanchez - Psychedelic Blues (Concord Records)
Latin Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

**Keith Jarrett - Paris/London: Testament (ECM)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz

Gerald Wilson Orchestra - Detroit (Mack Avenue)
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Big Band, Nothin' But the Blues

**Robert Glasper - Double Booked (Blue Note)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Groove Jazz, Jazz Fusion

Ramsey Lewis - Songs From the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey (Concord Records)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago, Mellow Jazz

**Jackie Ryan - Doozy (Openart)**
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

**Mike Reed's People, Places and Things - About Us (482 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Regions: Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

**Fred Anderson - 21st Century Chase (Delmark)**
New School, Live Jazz, Regions: Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Henry Threadgill - This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 (Pi Recordings)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Jon Irabagon - The Observer (Concord Records)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Regions: Chicago, New York Now

**John Wojciechowski - Lexicon (Self-Released)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago

**Joe Morris - Today on Earth (AUM Fidelity)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Avant-Garde Jazz

Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings - Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12)
New School, Cutting Edge, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Third Stream

**Chad Taylor - Circle Down (482 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Sachal Vasandani - We Move (Mack Avenue)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Composers: Monk

Fay Victor - The Freesong Suite (Greene Avenue Music)
Vocal Jazz, New School, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Curtis Stigers - Lost in Dreams (Concord Records)**
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Pop Composers

**Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - One Day in Brooklyn (Kinnara Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge

**Josh Moshier & Mike Lebrun - Joy Not Jaded (OA2 Records)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Regions: Chicago

**Laurent Coq - Eight Fragments of Summer (88 Trees)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Regions: Europe

The Fonda/Stevens Group - Memphis (Playscape Recordings)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

Quartet San Francisco - QSF Plays Brubeck (Violinjazz Recordings)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

Jason Stein - In Exchange for a Process (Leo)
Avant-Garde Jazz

John David Simon - John David Simon and Friends (WarmGroove Records)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Composers: Ellington

**Jacam Manricks - Labyrinth (Manricks Music)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Third Stream

Chris Schreiner - Only Human (Furious)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Emerging Voices, Fusion

Pamela Rose - Wild Women of Song (Three Handed Records)
Vocal Jazz, Modern West Coast, Women of Jazz

Benny Reid - Escaping Shadows (Concord Records)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices

Plunge - Dancing on Thin Ice (Immersion Records and Media)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: New Orleans, Trombone Jazz

Doug MacDonald - Fourth Stream (Blujazz Records)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Third Stream

Ben Perowsky - Moodswing Orchestra (The Royal Potato Family)
New School, Cutting Edge, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Mark Levine - Off & On (Left Coast Clave)
Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Ithmara Koorax & Juarez Moreira - The Complete Joao Gilberto Songbook (Motema Music)
Guitar Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz

Jason Parker Quartet - No More, No Less (Broken Time Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Trumpet Jazz

Mark Isham and Kate Ceberano - Bittersweet (Earle-Tones Music, Inc.)
Vocal Jazz, Composers: Ellington, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

Mike DiRubbo - Repercussion (Positone)
Straight-Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Nothin' But the Blues

**Brian Charette - Upside (SteepleChase)**
Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Organ Jazz, Composers: Ellington

Agustin Barreto - Between My Walls (Blending Fusion)
Covering all the Bassists, Jazz Fusion

Lilly Abreu - Brasileira (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz

Darius Jones - Man'ish Boy (A Raw and Beautiful Thing) (AUM Fidelity)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

Kelley Suttenfield - Where Is Love? (Rhombus Records)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Composers: Beatles, Women of Jazz

Massimo Sammi - First Day (Self-Released)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Avant-Garde Jazz

**David Ashkenazy - Out With It (Positone)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Give the Drummers Some

Jared Gold - Supersonic (Positone)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Organ Jazz, Groove Jazz

Eldad Tarmu Chamber Jazz Ensemble - Songs for the Queen of Bohemia (Queen of Bohemia Productions)
Regions: Europe, Good Vibes, Third Stream

Mario Adnet - Afro Samba Jazz (Adventure Music)
Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

The Manhattan Transfer - The Chick Corea Songbook (Four Quarters)
Vocal Jazz

Carol Welsman - I Like Men (Welcar Music)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz

Mimi Jones - A New Day (Hot Tone Music)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Covering All the Bassists, Women of Jazz

Terry Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators - The Ohio Theatre Concert (Delmark)
Old School

Petra Van Nuis & Andy Brown - Far Away Places (String Damper Records)
Vocal Jazz, Regions: Chicago

Paul Wertico - Impressions of a City (Chicago Sessions)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Ratko Zjaca - Continental Talk (In and Out Records)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Europe

Howard Levy - Tonight and Tomorrow (Chicago Sessions)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago

Angela Hagenbach - The Way They Make Me Feel (Resonance Records)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz, Mellow Jazz, Third Stream

Tessa Souter - Obsession (Motema Music)
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Pop Composers

Older Releases:

**Empty Cage Quartet - Stratostrophic (Clean Feed)** 2008
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz

Tin/Bag - And Begin Again (Evander Music) 2007
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz, Trumpet Jazz

Salsamba - Brazilia (North Star) 2007
Brazilian Jazz

Tiner / Phillips / Schoenbeck Trio - Breathe In, Feed Out (pfMentum) 2004
Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz

Bryan Vargas y Ya Esta - Afro Latino Soul (Mofongo Music) 2004
Latin Jazz

Salsamba - The Traveler (Clave Records) 2003
Latin Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Composers: Monk

Chris Greco - Well You Needn't: Standards, Vol. 1 (GWSFourwinds Records) 1999
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, Composers: Monk

**Plunge - Falling With Grace (Accurate Records)** 1997
New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: New Orleans, Trombone Jazz, Groove Jazz

Nicolai Panov - Jazz Gallery (PanovMusicProduction) 1995
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Europe, Third Stream

Chris Greco - Trane of Thought (GWSFourwinds Records) 1994
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Blacknuss (Collectables) 1971
New School, Pop Composers, Groove Jazz, Decade: '70s

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Volunteered Slavery (Collectables) 1969
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Groove Jazz, Decade: '60s

New Channels: "Composers: Beatles" and "Pop Composers"

We're a little late to the party, but AccuJazz is now officially part of the resurgent Beatlemania sweeping the world right now. We've just launched a new channel called "Composers: Beatles," playing over 150 jazz covers of Beatles songs. Accompanying the Beatles channel is "Pop Composers," which includes the Beatles material plus jazz versions of other "non-jazz" composers, like Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach and more.

"Composers: Beatles" includes everything from Buddy Rich's screaming big band doing "Norwegian Wood" to Gene Harris laying down the funk on "Get Back" and Baptiste Trotignon getting all sensitive on "Julia." It really makes for a fun and interesting listen, and it has quickly become one of the most-listened-to channels on AccuJazz.

It was also a lot of fun to create. It was the first new channel where I had the go-ahead to take AccuRadio CEO Kurt Hanson's credit card to the Amazon mp3 store and go crazy. Thanks to my faithful Twitter followers who made a lot of great suggestions about worthwile Beatle covers. I never knew quite how many Beatles covers there were out there, and I'm sure there are thousands more. The channel was also fun for me because I've totally fallen victim to the wider Beatle craze. I think I've listened to Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul, and Sgt. Pepper's a combined 20 times in the past couple of weeks.

Go on now and listen. Then, if you're so inclined, let your friends know about it, and let me know what you think!

Now Playing on AccuJazz - 9/21/09

Uh oh, it's been a long time since the last update. That means there's a LOT of new music playing on AccuJazz's many channels.

This update includes plenty of big-name new releases, like those by John Patitucci, Roy Hargrove, Roberta Gambarini, John Abercrombie, Terence Blanchard, Eldar, Stefon Harris, the Monterey Quartet (Holland, Rubalcaba, Potter, Harland), Matt Wilson, and Luciana Souza. Some more under-the-radar discs that have really impressed me include those by Ben Perowsky, Jesse Elder, Linda Oh, Ryan Blotnick and Tyshawn Sorey.

As usual, new releases are listed first, with a section at the bottom of older stuff just now added. Fans of our Avant-Garde Jazz channel should be excited to see 10 ESP Disk albums now playing, including discs by Ornette Coleman, Steve Lacy, Sun Ra, and more.

The "Older Releases" section in this post is larger than usual because I also looked to my personal collection to beef up some of the classic jazz offerings on AccuJazz with music by Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson, Wynton Kelly, Eric Dolphy, and more. Now that I'm receiving soooo much newer jazz, the balance in programming is tipping pretty heavily toward this decade, and, while I'm as enthusiastic an advocate as anybody for the promotion of new jazz, I also want the scope of jazz history to be accurately reflected in our programming.

I also purchased a lot of mp3's to create a listenable "Composers: Beatles" channel. The albums containing those songs are included beneath the Older Releases section. For albums from which only one song was selected, I also included the title of that song, so you can listen for it on the channel.

There were also plenty of albums already in our collection that had Beatles covers, and even a few new releases in this post (Gambarini and Perowsky, off the top of my head) that feature great Beatles tunes. Thanks to my awesome Twitter followers for tipping me off to a bunch of great Beatles covers I wouldn't have been able to find otherwise, especially @ryshpanmusic. So, all you Twitter skeptics out there, it really is useful for something!

As usual, double stars (**) adorn releases that come with a particularly high recommendation. Also as usual, I didn't have the time to listen deeply to every single release, so there are surely some discs worthy of stars that I just haven't had the time to absorb.

One more thing! It's a little late, but the Guitar Jazz channel is now playing a lot of early Les Paul Trio tracks, in tribute to the late guitar master, and the Avant-Garde Jazz channel is recognizing the great talent of late drummer Rashied Ali by featuring his collaborations with John Coltrane, Interstellar Space, Meditations, and Stellar Regions.

Without further ado, the list:

New Releases

**John Abercrombie Quartet - Wait Till You See Her (ECM)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Mellow Jazz

Roberta Gambarini - So In Love (Emarcy)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, European Jazz, Composers: Beatles, Women of Jazz

**Roy Hargrove Big Band - Emergence (Emarcy)**
Straight Ahead, Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Big Band, Trumpet Jazz, Mellow Jazz

**Stefon Harris - Urbanus (Concord Records)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Good Vibes, Groove Jazz

Count Basie Orchestra - Swinging, Singing, Playing (Mack Avenue)
Straight Ahead, Vocal Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Big Band, Nothin' But the Blues

John Surman - Brewster's Rooster (ECM)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe

**Luciana Souza - Tide (Verve)**
Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

**The Monterey Quartet - Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Covering All the Bassists

Eldar - Virtue
Piano Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Jazz Fusion

**Matt Wilson Quartet - That's Gonna Leave a Mark (Palmetto)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Give the Drummers Some

**John Patitucci - Remembrance (Concord Jazz)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Covering All the Bassists, Groove Jazz

**John Irabagon - Outright! (Innova)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Chicago, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Composers: Bird and Diz

**Fred Anderson - Staying in the Game (Engine)**
New School, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Chicago Jazz Festival 2009

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall - Anything Goes (Concord Jazz)
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Latin Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Modern West Coast, Trumpet Jazz, Groove Jazz

Andy Martin - Setting the Standard (Drewbone Music)
Straight Ahead, Everybody's Boppin', New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Trombone Jazz

**Ben Perowsky - Esopus Opus (Skirl Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York Now, Give the Drummers Some, Composers: Beatles

Quartet Offensive - Carnivore (Self-Released)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices

Jesse Elder - The Winding Shell (Off)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Terence Blanchard - Choices (Concord Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, New Orleans, Trumpet Jazz

Pauline Jean - A Musical Offering (SJR Sekonsa Jazz Records)
Vocal Jazz, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

Lisa Hilton - Twilight & Blues (Ruby Slippers Productions)
Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Women of Jazz

**Linda Oh - Entry (Self-Released)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Covering All the Bassists, Women of Jazz

**Ryan Blotnick - Everything Forgets (Songlines)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Groove Jazz

Gordon Grdina's East Van Strings - The Breathing of Statues (Songlines)
New School, Cutting Edge, Avant-Garde Jazz, Third Stream

Benjamin Taubkin / Sergio Reze / Zeca Assumpcao / Joatan Nascimento - Trio + 1 (Adventure Music)
Piano Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

Marbin - Marbin (Self-Released)
Cutting Edge, Chicago

John Proulx - Baker's Dozen (MaxJazz)
Straight Ahead, Vocal Jazz, Modern Mainstream

**Tyshawn Sorey - Koan (482 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Kobie Watkins - Involved (Origin Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Give the Drummers Some, Groove Jazz

David Gibson - A Little Somethin' (Positone)
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Trombone Jazz, Groove Jazz

Cory Weeds - Everything's Coming Up Weeds (Cellar Live)
Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', New School, Modern Mainstream

Sinan Bakir - On My Way (Self-Released)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, European Jazz

Ben Dowling - World Rising (Vision Sound)
Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

Older Releases

Tim Collins featuring Charlie Hunter - Fade (Ropeadope Digital)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Good Vibes, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

Tim Collins - Valcour (Arabesque)
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Good Vibes

Diane Delin - Talking Stick (Blujazz)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Mellow, Third Stream, Women of Jazz, Chicago Jazz Festival 2009

Diane Delin - Duality (Blujazz)
New School, Chicago, Third Stream, Women of Jazz, Chicago Jazz Festival 2009

Ben Paterson Trio - Breathing Space (Origin Records)
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Mellow Jazz, Chicago Jazz Fest 2009

Steve Coleman - Curves of Life (RCA)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Live Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz, '90s

Steve Coleman - Motherland Pulse (Winter & Winter)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Jazz Fusion, '80s

Eric Dolphy - Live at the Five Spot Vol. 1 (Prestige)
Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Live Jazz, '60s

Stan Getz - Serenity (Emarcy)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, '80s

Stan Getz - Sweet Rain (Verve)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', '60s

Dexter Gordon - Gettin' Around (Blue Note)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', '60s

Dexter Gordon - The Panther (OJC)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Nothin' But the Blues, '70s

Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner (Blue Note)
New School, Modern Mainstream, '60s

Joe Henderson - The Kicker (OJC)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Nothin' But the Blues, '60s

Fred Hersch - Fred Hersch Trio + 2 (Palmetto)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now

Wynton Kelly - Piano (OJC)
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', '50s

Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares (Blue Note)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', '60s

Hank Mobley - Workout (Blue Note)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', '60s

Don Pullen - Kele Mou Bana (Blue Note)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, '90s

Wayne Shorter - High Life (Verve)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz, '90s

Pepper Adams - 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot (OJC)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Live Jazz, Nothin' But the Blues, '50s

Steve Coleman - Drop Kick (BMG)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz, '90s

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane - Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (Impulse!)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Composers: Ellington, Nothin' But the Blues, Mellow Jazz, '60s

Red Garland - Can't See For Lookin' (OJC)
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Mellow Jazz, '50s

Dexter Gordon - A Swingin' Affair (Blue Note)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Nothin' But the Blues, '60s

Barry Harris - For the Moment (Uptown Jazz)
Piano Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Live Jazz, Composers: Monk, '80s

Johnny Hodges - Everybody Knows (GRP/Impulse!)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Old School, Big Band, Composers: Ellington, Nothin' But the Blues, Mellow Jazz, '60s

Carmen McRae - Carmen Sings Monk (RCA)
Straight Ahead, Vocal Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Composers: Monk, Women of Jazz, '80s

Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple (Blue Note)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Nothin' But the Blues, '60s

Wayne Shorter - Etcetera (Blue Note)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, '60s

Ornette Coleman - Town Hall 1962 (ESP Disk)
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz

Steve Lacy - The Forest and the Zoo (ESP Disk)
Avant-Garde Jazz

New York Art Quartet - New York Art Quartet (ESP Disk)
Avant-Garde Jazz, '60s

Albert Ayler / Don Cherry / John Tchicai / Roswell Rudd / Gary Peacock / Sonny Murray - New York Eye and Ear Control (ESP Disk)
Avant-Garde Jazz

Paul Bley - Barrage (ESP Disk)
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz, '60s

Ronnie Boykins - The Will Come, Is Now (ESP Disk)
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz, '70s

Don Cherry - Live at Cafe Montmartre Volume Two (ESP Disk)
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz, '60s

Henry Grimes - The Call (ESP Disk)
Avant-Garde Jazz, '60s

Frank Lowe - Black Beings (ESP Disk)
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz, '70s

Sun Ra - Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold (ESP Disk)
Avant-Garde Jazz, '70s

Special to the Beatles Channel

Bill Anschell - A Different Note All Together (Accurate) "Nowhere Man"

Lynne Arriale Trio - Come Together (Motema) "Come Together"

Count Basie - Basie's Beatle Bag (Verve)

Beatle Jazz - All You Need (Lightyear)

Erin Bode - Don't Take Your Time (MaxJazz) "Here, There and Everywhere"

Don Byron - Romance With the Unseen (Blue Note) "I'll Follow the Sun"

Avishai Cohen - Lyla (Sunnyside) "Come Together"

Julie Hardy - The Wish (World Culture Music) "I'm Looking Through You"

Matt Jorgensen + 451 - Another Morning (Origin Records) "Helter Skelter"

Brad Mehldau - Day is Done (Nonesuch) "She's Leaving Home"

Lee Morgan - Delightfulee (Blue Note) "Yesterday"

John Pizzarelli - John Pizarrelli Meets the Beatles (RCA)

Lonnie Smith - Turning Point (Blue Note) "Eleanor Rigby"

Curtis Stigers - You Inspire Me (Concord Records) "I Feel Fine"

Baptiste Trotignon - Solo II (Naive) "Julia"

George Benson - The Other Side of Abbey Road (A&M)

Various Artists - Step Inside Love: A Jazzy Tribute to the Beatles (Esc)

Various Artists - Day Tripper: Jazz Greats Meet The Beatles (Verve)

Various Artists - Come Together: A Guitar Tribute to the Beatles (NYC)

Various Artists - I Got No Kick Against Modern Jazz (GRP)

Various Artists - Blue Beat: the Music of Lennon and McCartney (Blue Note)

Jazz Now, Right Now

Your very own AccuBlogger appeared on another, slightly more high-profile, jazz blog today: NPR's A Blog Supreme. I'm one of 11 young jazz enthusiasts, including ABS editor Patrick Jarenwattananon, contributing to a project on the blog called Jazz Now.

The point of the project is to single out 5 albums that you'd recommend to people interested in getting into modern jazz, to make it clear that jazz is a thriving, vital, exciting art form. It's partially a reaction to the gloomy results of a recent NEA survey, pointed to by arts critic Terry Teachout as sure signs of the death of jazz.

By offering up examples of excellent, youthful jazz, we say to the doomsayers, "do you realize how much great music is still being created right now, as we speak?" But we're also doing our part to build the young jazz audience, hopefully avoiding the apocalypse scenario that Teachout and others predict.

So, go ahead and read my post, and listen to the 5 music samples. If you like them, buy the records, tell your friends, and find similar artists that you dig. Search out live jazz in your area and experience the joy of in-the-moment music making! Then, write about it on Twitter with the hastag #jazzlives (more info about that last bit here.)

New Channel: Brazilian Jazz

You may have noticed the "Shoutbox" on the AccuJazz homepage. I get an encouraging amount of comments through that little thing. At times I even engage in a genuine conversation with a loyal listener through the 'box. Brazilian Jazz marks the first AccuJazz channel instigated completely by comments in the ShoutBox. Some contributors, including one very persistent individual, have been bugging me to create a Brazilian jazz channel for a long time. Despite other listeners pointing out that there's plenty of great Brazilian jazz on the existing Latin Jazz channel, these folks kept lobbying for Brazil.

I'm glad I followed through. The resulting channel is not merely a select few songs from our Latin channel that happend to have Brazilian rhythms. It's a new thing altogether. All the Brazilian-rooted music on the Latin channel is here, but I also went through AccuRadio's servers and found a lot of other relevant music that, up till now, has only been playing on the Latin format, Radio Preciso. Funnily enough, there's already a "Brazilian Jazz" channel there, but it's a definite misnomer; it's mostly Brazilian popular music, with a little bit of jazz and folkloric styles thrown in.

There was still a lot of good music over on the Radio Preciso channel that would help fill out my nascent AccuJazz project and add some stylistic diversity. So the new Brazilian Jazz channel includes a lot of jazz-tinged MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) as well as some new jazz and bossa nova that wasn't on the Latin Jazz channel previously.

So, when you launch the channel, you'll hear everything from the classic Getz/Gilberto recordings to Dexter Gordon's hard bop bossa to the jazzier output of Caetano Veloso. Go ahead and listen, and then Shout at me about how much you like (or don't like) the channel!

Also, watch out for an all-Jobim composers channel in the coming weeks. If you don't know who Jobim is, listen to the Brazilian Jazz channel and just take a look at the "Composer" field in the media player. Chances are you'll find his name there sooner rather than later.

AccuJazz News: ChicagoJazz.com Radio

I'm pleased and proud to announce a new joint venture from AccuJazz and ChicagoJazz.com: ChicagoJazz.com Radio. It's an unprecedented radio application that anyone with any bit of interest in Chicago's jazz scene will find useful and interesting.

The "Radio Station" features 10 subchannels, including "Chicago Vocalists," "Chicago Veterans," "Chicago Avant-Garde Jazz," and, probably the coolest, "Chicago Jazz Fest 2009," playing music by the many great artists, local and national, scheduled to perform at this year's fest. Access it by going to ChicagoJazz.com, scrolling down just a bit, and clicking on the banner that says "Listen Now to ChicagoJazz.com Radio." You can get to the subchannels by clicking on the "Other Channels" tab in the player.

Why shine the spotlight on Chicago? Why not New York, New Orleans, or Rolla? The answer is pretty simple: we're from Chicago. Right now I'm sitting in the AccuRadio offices downtown, a few dozen feet away from one of America's most iconic buildings, I play in Chicago's music venues, I frequent the city's jazz clubs, and, truth be told, artists from Chicago have produced an enormous amount of great jazz over the years.

Another question: what's ChicagoJazz.com? It's a pretty coveted URL, for one. It's also the web arm of Chicago Jazz Magazine, a bi-monthly newsprint magazine distributed for free at restaurants, bars, and libraries around Chicago. The website features local jazz news and a huge amount of local musicians' personal websites, like a localized MySpace. It's a great starting place for anyone looking to get familiar with the Chicago scene, and now there's the perfect soundtrack to browsing the site.

You can read my appreciation of the past and present of Chicago Jazz here, in my post about AccuJazz's Regions: Chicago channel. From Louis Armstrong to Johnny Griffin, Joseph Jarman to Kurt Elling, Chicago has incubated its fair share of jazz creativity.

While the AccuJazz channel has already been out for a little while, ChicagoJazz.com Radio will hopefully expose AccuJazz programming to a new audience, and it lets listeners go deeper into the different strands of Chicago Jazz. For example: there are definitely plenty of Avant-Garde tracks that are on their dedicated channel that didn't quite make the cut for the main Chicago channel. Same goes for the other subchannels. Plus, for those of you in to that sort of thing, there's even a "Chicago Smooth Jazz" channel. It's alright, you can listen. I won't tell anyone.

AccuJazz News: Roll-Out Continues With "Decade: '90s"

The pace is slowing a bit, but we're still rolling out new channels pretty frequently. This week, with "Decade: '90s", we come one channel closer to finishing our roll-out of decades channels.

As is the case with the '80s, the jazz scene in the '90s is impossible to tether to any single style, concept, or trend. There were a lot of excellent jazz musicians, young and old, continuing to make passionate music in an extremely diverse range of styles, including the ever-more popular practice of eschewing style and tradition altogether.

A shortlist of major jazz talents who started their recording careers in the '90s includes Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dave Douglas, Stefon Harris, Brian Blade, Avishai Cohen, Jason Moran, and Medeski, Martin & Wood. Whoa.

Plus, there were a lot of great jazz veterans still making records: Joe Henderson, Tony Williams, Ray Brown, Bobby Hutcherson, Benny Golson, Paul Motian, Roscoe Mitchell and Billy Taylor, to name a few. The '90s, while not considered a golden age for jazz, like the '50s or '60s, definitely saw its fair share of good music.

Go ahead and hear it all, now, on AccuJazz's "Decade: '90s" channel. Then, as always, let me know what you think!

Thanks for the few comments I've been getting lately, BTW. I appreciate it, and I'm sorry if I don't respond immediately; I'm simply not used to getting comments on the blog and kind of stopped looking for them for a while there.

R.I.P. Rashied Ali and Les Paul

Wow, what a day. Two legendary musicians have died: guitarist/inventor Les Paul and jazz drummer Rashied Ali. I was shocked to first hear the news about Rashied via the Secret Society blog, only to read somewhere on Twitter a few minutes later that Les Paul had passed, too. Dark day, as blogger/critic Nate Chinen puts it.

Rashied Ali (1935-2009)

Mostly known for his groundbreaking work with John Coltrane, Rashied Ali is in the pantheon of jazz drummers. He grew up a few doors down from Coltrane and says he used to stand outside Coltrane's house to listen to him practice. On Coltrane's Meditations, Ali played alongside Elvin Jones, one of the two or three most important jazz drummers of all time. After that, Jones left Coltrane, leaving all drumming duties to Ali.

Ali continued playing until his death, often playing the freely improvised music he was famous for, but just as often playing in more conventional hard bop idioms. He was scheduled to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival just this past Sunday, but reports said his brother Muhammad subbed for him. Now we know why.

From a drummer's standpoint, I never studied Ali's playing too in-depth, but I did appreciate his undeniable power on John Coltrane's Interstellar Space (Ali's most famous recorded performance). I also remember thinking to myself a number of times in my drumming education something along the lines of "man, I should really get deeper into Rashied Ali." Hopefully I'll be checking that off the to-do list soon.

Watching and listening to Ali's playing today, I really realize what an incredible impact he's had on jazz and how truly incredible his propulsive playing is. The fact that he could play a 55-minute duo version of "Impressions" and continue to create new ideas the whole time is beyond impressive. Check out Howard Mandel's extensive 1990 interview with Ali here. NYTimes ArtsBeat has a proper Obit up here, and Doug Ramsey's Rifftides has a remembrance and an excellent video interview in which Ali discusses his relationship with Coltrane.

Les Paul (1915-2009)

Then there's Les Paul, who will be remembered as both a great guitarist and the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, which pretty much changed the course of music history. He led a long, long career doing everything from hosting TV shows to pioneering recording practices, playing jazz clubs and topping the pop charts.

Listening back to his early jazz recordings, it's startling the kind of technical facility Paul possessed. I guess my brain put him in the inventor box and assumed that must mean he didn't have much time to get pro chops on the guitar. But Les Paul was a musician first. He never set out to be a great inventor, but rather invented the electric guitar out of necessity. Hopefully he will be remembered as both an important inventor and a phenomenal guitarist.

It's interesting to note that Paul probably had about as big an impact on Rock and Roll as anyone, yet spent a huge portion of his life playing in jazz clubs. So, next time you feel like shaking your fist at Rock and Roll for killing jazz, think about how we're all interconnected: While Les Paul was tearing through some Ellington tune at Iridium, Ace Frehley was entertaining thousands with Paul's namesake guitar.

Nice Washington Post obit here, and a gem of a video.

The next AccuJazz playlist update will turn a spotlight on both Paul and Ali. The Guitar Jazz channel will feature a lot of Paul's early trio recordings, and the Avant-Garde Jazz channel will highlight three Coltrane/Ali collaborations: Interstellar Space, Stellar Regions, and Medidations. Watch the blog for an update on when this goes in to effect.

AccuJazz News: Roll-Out Continues With "Mellow Jazz"

This week's new channel, Mellow Jazz, celebrates the softer side of jazz. It's not just about mood music, though it probably would make a pretty tasteful soundtrack to your next dinner party. It's about showcasing the sometimes-overlooked art of the jazz ballad.

A little perspective: throughout jazz history, jazz has mainly been defined by explosive, infectious rhythms. It wasn't any sort of new harmonic concept or innovative instrumentation that was so exciting about the early New Orleans jazz bands; it was their syncopated, "hot" rhythms that set them apart. Even most of the subsequent innovations in jazz had rhythmic experiments at their core: Latin jazz with its imported Cuban and Brazilian beats, bebop with its faster tempos and super-syncopated melodies, free jazz with its abstraction of rhythm, and fusion with its brazen back beats and odd time signatures.

BUT: there's a flip side to all this rhythm-centric development in jazz: the soul-searching, romantic jazz ballad. Now, of course rhythm still plays a role in ballads, but it's usually not the main event (There are some exceptions: when the Oscar Peterson would play ballads, they were effectively saying: "Hey, we can play at half your tempo and still swing twice as hard!").

With the slowing down of tempos and stretching out of harmonic and melodic motion, there is more room for nuance and less chances to hide behind empty technique. The performer is challenged to use the open rhythmic space to tell a story, not just play notes.

Early masters of the lyrical ballad include Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, and virtually all jazz musicians include ballads as a portion of their repertoire. Even Ornette Coleman did "Embraceable You" on his classic LP, "This is Our Music." With so many jazz musicians to choose from, the Mellow Jazz playlist end up being much less monotonous than you'd think: there's the sensous bossa nova of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, the ornate pianism of Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal, big band ballads by Basie and Ellington, and romantic vocals from Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves and more. Some of the expansive modern music often labeled as "ECM jazz" even makes the cut, making for an often relaxing, but always interesting listening experience.

Go ahead and give it a listen, then let me know what you think. Also, let me know how it works as the soundtrack to your next dinner party or makeout session.

Next week: Decade: '90s.

AccuJazz News: Roll-Out Continues With "Modern West Coast"

I'll be honest: there's a lot less music playing on this new Region channel than the last one, but there's still a lot. The thing about "West Coast Jazz" is that the term doesn't have an exclusively regional connotation, but a stylistic one, too. It's not uncommon for musicians to describe a song as having a "West Coast Jazz" feel. It's interesting that the music coming from California in the 1950s was so distinct that the region became synonymous with a sound. That's certainly not the case with today's West Coast jazz. Today's West Coast jazz offerings display a great deal of diversity, and very little of it conjures the classic cool jazz sound of Chet Baker or Chico Hamilton.

AccuJazz has long had a Cool Jazz channel. It used to be called "West & Cool," but I changed it to "Cool Jazz" for the relaunch of the site earlier this year in anticipation of the region channel at hand. The purpose of this channel is to give a broader view of the music from that part of the country, including lots of newer music from people like Charlie Haden, Nels Cline, Scott Amendola, John Clayton and Jenny Scheinman. And don't worry, I've included some of the classic West Coast stuff by folks like Art Pepper and Gerry Mulligan, too.

Go ahead and listen to the channel, and let me know what you think! FYI: the icon for the channel you see is a photo from outside the historic Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach. It was a hub of the West Coast scene in its '50s heyday, but it looks like they don't offer up much jazz anymore. I guess the image isn't totally apropos for a "Modern" west coast channel, then, but that's OK. Personal note: my family used to vacation in Hermosa Beach when I was younger, and I remember walking by the Lighthouse many times, long before I knew that I should care about its rich history.