Week 29:: Put Your Mind at Ease

Whether it's the taxes, the global financial meltdown, Darfur, or just something as piddly as your crushing and imminent final / term paper / thesis defense, WSRP has the 5-letter solution for all that ails you.

R-E-L-A-X.

if that fails, might we suggest an alternative:

penicilinvaliumalcoholriddilinmarijuanaeverybodylovesraymond.

Consider this your W-S-Rx-P dosage.

Audio

Playlist

1. Johnny Griffin - The Congregation - The Congregation
2. Dianne Reeves - My Little Brown Book - Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life
3. Miles Davis - Jeru - Birth of the Cool
4. Wallace Roney - Hey Young World - Mystikal
5. Lee Morgan - Speedball - The Gigolo
6. Com Voce - Desafinado - Com Voce
7. Jimmy Cobb - Can You Read My Mind? - Marsalis Music Honors
8. Charles Lloyd - Pocket Full of Blues - Voice in the Night

::WSRP::  Oh No We Di'nt; Oh Yes We Di'd.

Week 28:: Bass(ish) is the Place(ish)

As promised last week - no solid themes from WSRP until the Term Paper embargo is lifted.  However, as a quick jaunt through my iTunes revealed, I do have a number of very hip little songeroos you might be interested in which are - very loosely - involved with some funky bass attributes.

We start with Mingus - - what more do you need to know?

Yes, "Come together" is a Beatles cover (and it's psycho-somatic). 

Sure, Now you'll listen.

Audio

Playlist

1. Charles Mingus - Boogie Stop Shuffle - Mingus Ah Um
2. Charnett Moffett - The Shepard - For the Love of Peace
3. Joshua Redman - The Crunge - Momentum
4. Avishai Cohen - Come Together - Lyla
5. Cassandra Wilson - Throw it Away - Glamoured
6. Michael Blake - Feast - Blake Tartare
7. Chris Potter - Togo - Follow the Red Line

::WSRP::  It Wasn't Me, It Was the Juan-Armed Man.

Week 27:: All Gods Go to Heaven?

In the never-ending effort to stick by a previous rash decision without compromising real world objectives, I'm planning ahead for Term Paper season and getting out a few weekly episodes of the WSR-Pizzle.  

But not before I craft together a show to make your drool pool and your ears itch.

Behold the power of not-enough-time-to-rethink-good-choices.

Audio

Playlist

1. Charlie Parker - Salt Peanuts - Complete Savoy/Dial Recordings
2. John Abercrombie - Backwoods Song - Gateway
3. Big John Patton - Let 'em Roll - Let 'em Roll
4. Charles Mingus - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Mingus Ah Um
5. Dave Brubeck - Blue Rondo A La Turk - Time Out
6. Hendrick Meurkins - Triste - New York Samba Jazz Quintet
7. Ella Fitzgerald - Desafinado - Jukebox Ella
8. Sonny Rollins - Global Warming - Without a Song: the 9/11 Concert

::WSRP::  Shake thorougly before use.  Best served chilled.

Week 26:: Ivory Ploughers

After last week's focus on the Swing Era, which was essentially a focus on Big Bands, I thought we'd go in the opposite direction this time.  Though nothing revolutionary, it occurred to me several weeks back to do a show on the evolution of the Piano Trio, which has become the single most enduring and widespread of all jazz ensembles, and for reasons I'm not qualified to parse, also one of the most flexible.  As Jazz has grown/evolved/differentiated/whatever, virtually everyone, from ragtimers to fusion-heads has found a place for the piano trio (piano, bass, drums) in their repetoire.

It rapidly occured to me just how labor-intensive it would be to first assemble a proper stylistic/chronological catalogue of relevant artists/albums, and further to condense it into 1 hour.

So instead - as always - I took the pass more travelled:  this is a hodge podge in loose chronology of some of the different sounds produced by the piano.  It does not capture the full variety, extremes, or nuances available.  But it should give you some choice morsels to follow as your personal taste dictates.

Audio

Playlist

1. Junior Mance - Letter From Home - 
2. Bill Evans - Swedish Pastry - 
3. McCoy Tyner - T'n'A Blues - Today and Tomorrow
4. Herbie Hancock - United Blues
5. Keith Jarrett - Part VII - The Carnegie Hall Concert
6. Taylor Eigsti - Love for Sale - Lucky to be Me
7. Brad Mehldau - Get Happy - Anything Goes
8. Jean Michel-Pilc - Mr. RG - Live at the Iridium
9. The Bad Plus - And Here We Test Our Powers of Observation - Give
10. Jason Moran - Life Every Voice - Artist in Residence

::WSRP:: By the Piano Player a Drink Because He's Groovin' Me Down.

Week 25:: It Don't Mean a Thing...

Finally, we've made it to the heart of the beast - the Swing Era.

As not only a jazz fan, but also a social Swing Dancer (Lindy Hopper, thank you), I've got a lot of personal preferences and ahistorical connections to this music, which is one of the reasons I have so intentionally put it off thus far.

I love this music, in ways more visceral than I can describe.  It doesn't detract from the value I place on my adventurous/cerebral/modern jazz - I see them as extensions of the same system - but the fact that this music represents an overlap with one of my main social activities is a Huge source of conflicting biases.

I often chide my swing buddies about the odd (and usually small) slice of the Swing Era with which they are familiar.  Modern swing dancers have a certain canon, and it overlaps only in places with what many, in retrospect or contemporarily, looked back upon as the more valuable, or even popular, tunes, musicians, etc.

Ex: Slim Galliard.  Great player, but essentially a novelty R&B act, who doesn't make the top 100 of any standard Swing Era jazz discography.  But, thanks to a few choice cuts ("Slim's Jam" and "Potatoe Chips"), Slim Galliard is well known to certain circles of 20-somethings in 2009.

I'm not bemoaning this - in fact I think it's AMAZING that so many young(er) people care about this music outside the standard jazz fan base, but it is odd the way the two groups consider the other to have 'warped' views of the Swing Era.

As you can tell already, this is a topic I'm a bit too contemplative about for your own good.  Enjoy the show, and by all means, feel free to FF through my (micro) tirades.

Audio

Playlist*

1. Count Basie Orchestra - Jumpin' at the Woodside
2. Fletcher Henderson Orchestra - Christopher Columbus
3. Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra - For Dancers Only
4. Louis Armstron Orchestra - Satchel Mouth Swing
5. Chick Webb Orchestra - Jungle Mama
6. Ella Fitzgerald/Chick Webb Orchestra - Undecided
7. Benny Goodman Quartet - Smiles
8. Lionel Hampton Orchestra - Ring Dem Bells
9. Roy Eldridge & Gene Krupa Orchestra - Ball of Fire
10. Count Basie Orchestra - Swingin' The Blues
11. Andy Kirk & Mary Lou Williams - Mellow Bit of Rhythm
12. Jay McShann - Swingmatism
13. Charlie Barnet Orchestra - Pow-Wow
14. Earl "Fatha" Hines Orchestra - Second Balcony Jump
15. Harry James Orchestra - Boog-it
16. Duke Ellington - Cottontail

*because most of these were issued originally in the pre-album days, and are thus (widely) available on a variety of compilations, I won't bother with album titles this week.

::WSRP:: 80% Less Talking Than Orson Well's War of the Worlds.

Week 24:: WSRP Goes SXNY

This week, in honor of South By Southwest (SXSW), perhaps the largest semi-official indie rock fest in the world, we're hosting our own 1 hour of choice cuts and fresh beats, mostly new with a few old faves mixed in.  South By N-Y focuses on the hot little bands that are shaking things up in Austin and across underground radio waves nation wide.

Lace up (but don't tie) your converse, partially-zip your slightly-too-tight hoodie, and squeeze into those green thin leg jeans.  Now adjust your buddy holly glasses, and brush the frock of hair out of your eyes - No! do it again. This time with condescension!

Audio

Playlist

1. Beck - Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat - War Child presents Heroes, vol. 1
2. Beck - Girl (Bitrate Variation in B-Flat) - Gameboy Variations EP
3. Bishop Allen - The Ancient Common Sense of Things - Grrr...
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll - It's Blitz!
5. Peaches - Search & Destroy - War Child presents Heroes, vol. 1
6. Metric - Help, I'm Alive - Help, I'm Alive
7. Marnie Sterns - Ruler - This is It and I am It And...
8. Datarock - Fa Fa Fa - Datarock
9. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea - Bitter Tea
10. Radiohead - Weird Fishes - In Rainbows
11. Animal Collective - My Girls - Merriweather Post Pavilion
12. Animal Collective - Brother Sport - Merriweather Post Pavilion

::WSRP::  "Weird S**t Ryan Plays."  I like it.