TAKING A BREATHER

Greetings!

"Jazz...Or Something Like It" (meaning me) will be taking a break on October 20 & 27 (the press of other responsibilities, I'm afraid).

Meanwhile, I recommend to your attention a few wonderful new CDs that recently showed up in my mailbox.

The first is called "Harlem Mad" by the unusually named Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators.  This wonderful album contains 20 Crytzer originals, composed and performed in the "vintage" style of 20's and 30's New Orleans/K.C.-influenced Big Bands.  As I recently wrote to Glenn, a few months back I heard the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in Philly playing a program that featured Dixieland and Roots Jazz, and the Syncopators could hold their own with them!  This band has serious chops, folks.  Check them out at: www.syncopators.net.

Another soon-to-be favorite CD is the new release from the Christian McBride Big Band.  It's "The Good Feeling" (Mr. McBride is, of course, a Philly guy), and it features some of his best work re-imagined for big band.  Christian truly shine as he steps away for the first time from his familiar ground as a small group leader.  Great playing all around, and don't miss some fine vocals by Melissa Walker.  Find out more (including hearing some samples) on the Mack Avenue Records site: http://www.mackavenue.com/artists/detail/christian_mcbride.

We'll certainly be playing both these CDs on upcoming shows.

See you in November.

October 13 - Playlist

Happy Birthday Art Blakey & Thelonious Monk (Art Tatum, too)!

Thelonious Monk - Nice Work If You Can Get It (Genius Of Modern Music Volume One)
Count Basie - Blues For Ilene (At The Sands)
Dave Brubeck - Someday My Prince Will Come (Everybody Wants To Be A Cat)*

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers/Thelonious Monk - Evidence (Art Blakey & Thelonious Monk)
The Giants Of Jazz - Blue Monk (The Giants Of Jazz)

Art Tatum - Tea For Two (Piano Starts Here)
Charles Mingus - Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (Blues & Roots)
Acoustic Alchemy - One For Shorty (Roseland)*

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Sincerely Diana (A Night In Tunisia)
Art Blakey - Infra-Rae (The Jazz Messengers)

Gary Burton - Common Ground (Common Ground)*
Stan Getz - Her (Focus)

Thelonious Monk Big Band - Four In One (In Concert)

Carmen McRae - Get It Straight (Carmen Sings Monk)
Wynton Marsalis - Let's Cool One (Marsalis Plays Monk)
Andy Summers - Bemsha Swing (Green Chimneys)

Michael Franks - Summer In New York (Time Together)*
Charlie Haden Quartet West with Norah Jones - Ill Wind (Sophisticated Ladies)
Frank Sinatra - Nice Work If You Can Get It (The Complete Reprise)

* indicates Recent Release

October 6 - Playlist

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Love Is Just Around the Corner (Park Avenue South)
Tommy Flanagan - Sunset & The Mockingbird (A Great Night In Harlem)

FEATURE ARTIST - One

Lynn Stein - Alone Together (Softly)*
Lynn Stein - Only Trust Your Heart (Softly)
Lynn Stein - I'll Be Around (Softly)

Modern Jazz Quartet - Django (Three Windows)
Roberta Gambarini/Andrea Donati - 12:00 A.M. (Under Italian Skies)

FEATURE ARTIST - Two

Stanley Jordan - Giant Steps (Friends)*
Stanley Jordan - Bathed In Light (Friends)

Sonny Rollins with Roy Hargrove - I Can't Get Started (Road Trips, Vol. 2)*
Miles Davis/Herbie Hancock - Circle (The Essential Herbie Hancock)

FEATURE ARTIST - Three

Christian McBride Big Band - Shake 'N Blake (The Good Feeling)*
Christian McBride Big Band -In A Hurry (The Good Feeling)

Bill Barron - Men At Work (Modern Windows Suite)
Bill Evans - Some Other Time (Time Remembered)

THE VOCALISTS

Johnny Winter - Drown In My Own Tears (Johnny Winter)
Cassandra Wilson - Blackbird (Silver Pony)
Frank Sinatra - Love Is Just Around the Corner (The Complete Reprise)

* indicates Recent Release

September 22 - Playlist

Stan Getz - The Song Is You (At Storyville)
Esperanza Spalding - Little Fly (Chamber Music Society)*
Turtle Island Quartet - Moments Notice (A Love Supreme: The Legacy Of John Coltrane)

FEATURE ARTIST, Part I

John Coltrane - Trane's Slo Blues (Prestige Profiles)
John Coltrane - Locomotion (Blue Train)

Sonny Rollins - Rain Check (Road Shows, Vol. 2)*

Roberta Piket - Laurie (Sides, Colors)*
Jason Moran - You've Got To Be Modernistic (Modernistic)

Maurice André/Claude Bolling - Vespérale (Toot Suite)
Randy Weston - Loose Wig (The Storyteller)

FEATURE ARTIST, Part II

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - Bye-Ya (At Carnegie Hall)
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane - Angelica (Duke Ellington & John Coltrane)

FourPlay - Any Time Of Day (Best Of)
Dave Brubeck - Travelin' Blues (Night Shift)

THE VOCALISTS

Sarah Vaughan - Romance (Brazilian Romance)
Sammy Davis, Jr. - A Lot Of Livin' To Do (Eee-O 11: Best Of The Rat Pack)
Cassandra Wilson - A Little Warm Death (New Moon Daughter)
Frank Sinatra - The Song Is You (The Complete Reprise)

* indicates Recent Release

September 15 - Playlist

"LIVE FROM NEW YORK..." (A Tribute)

Georgie Auld - Theme From New York, New York ("New York, New York" Soundtrack)
Bennie Goodman - Sing Sing Sing (The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert)

Sonny Rollins - Where Or When (Without A Song: The 9/11 Concert)

Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band - Lady Chatterley's Mother (Compact Jazz)
Cannonball Adderley Sextet - Planet Earth (In New York)

Duke Ellington - Blues Medley (New York Concert)
Wynton Marsalis - Donna Lee (Live At The House Of Tribes)

Dave Brubeck Quartet - St. Louis Blues (At Carnegie Hall)

Steve Kuhn Trio - Two By Two (Live At Birdland)
Joe Lovano And Hank Jones - Lady Luck (Kids: Live At Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola)

Dexter Gordon - The End Of A Love Affair (Live At Carnegie Hall)

Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto - It Might As Well Be Spring (Getz Au Go Go)
Mel Tormé - Just One Of Those Things (The Great American Songbook)
Frank Sinatra/Tony Bennett - New York, New York (Duets)

September 1 - Playlist

Brubeck & Desmond - Stardust (1975: The Duets)
Stefano DiBattista - Embraceable You (Parker's Mood)

FEATURE ARTIST

Charlie Parker - Scrapple From The Apple (Ken Burns Jazz)
Charlie Parker - Passport (Bird's Best Bop On Verve)
Charlie Parker - Now's The Time (Yardbird Suite)
Charlie Parker - Temptation (Charlie Parker With Strings)

SuperSax - Ornithology (The Japanese Tour)
Roy Hargrove/Christian McBride/Stephen Scott Trio - Repetition (Parker's Mood)

Soulive - Cannonball (Doin' Something)
Lionel Hampton Quintet - These Foolish Things (Lionel Hampton Quintet)

Stan Getz - How About You (Spring Is Here)
Weather Report - Indiscretions (Sportin' Life)

Ahmad Jamal - Devil's In My Den (A Great Night In Harlem)
Regina Carter - Find Yourself (Everybody Wants To Be A Cat: Disney Jazz Vol. 1)

Sonny Rollins - Blues For Philly Joe (Newk's Time)
Paul Chambers - Chamber Mates (Bass On Top)

THE VOCALISTS

Michael Franks - Charlie Chan In Egypt (Time Together)*
Charlie Haden Quartet West with Diana Krall - Goodbye (Sophisticated Ladies)
Frank Sinatra - Stardust (The Complete Reprise)

* indicates Recent Release

August 25 - Playlist

Eddie Costs Quartet - Luck Be A Lady (Guys And Dolls Like Vibes)
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - When Your Lover Has Gone (The Heavy Hitter)
Fletcher Henderson - Big John's Special (Ken Burns Jazz)

FEATURE ARTIST (ONE)

Bill Evans Trio - Waltz For Debby (At The Village Vanguard)
Bill Evans Trio - Turn Out The Stars (Best Of Bill Evans Live)

Charles Mingus - East Coasting (East Coasting)
Miles Davis - Blue In Green (Kind Of Blue)
Stan Getz & Bill Evans - WNEW [Theme Song] (Stan Getz & Bill Evans)
 
Lonnie Smith - Spinnin' Wheel (Droppin' Science)
Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man (Head Hunters)
 
Dave Brubeck Trio/Gerry Mulligan - Mexican Jumping Bean (Live At The Berlin Philharmonie)
Mel Tormé - Just Friends (Rob McConnell & Boss Brass)
 

FEATURE ARTIST (TWO)

Count Basie And His Orchestra - Jumpin' At The Woodside (Legendary No. 3)
Count Basie And His Orchestra - April In Paris (April In Paris)
Count Basie And His Orchestra - Little Darlin' (The Complete Atomic Basie)
 
Sammy Davis Jr./Count Basie - My Shining Hour (Our Shining Hour)
Count Basie And His Orchestra - Lester Leaps In (The Count Basie Story)
Duke Ellington/Count Basie - Corner Pocket (The First Time!)
Count Basie And His Orchestra - All Of Me (Frankly Basie)
 
Count Basie And His Orchestra - Makin' Whoopee (At The Sands)
Ella Fitzgerald - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (Love Letters From Ella)
Frank Sinatra/Count Basie - I Wanna Be Around (The Complete Sinatra/Basie)*
Frank Sinatra/Count Basie - Luck Be A Lady (At The Sands)

* indicates Recent Release