Posted by Li Robbins on September 1, 2008 at 03:35 PM
When the day eases into evening Katie will be playing jazz, a little funk, some R&B...on Tonic (6 p.m.), with music from Diana Krall, Cannonball Adderley, Earth, Wind & Fire, guitarist John Stein, singer Dione Taylor, and organist Jimmy Smith among others.
Speaking of Jimmy Smith, here's an oddity that is just too much to pass on -- an excerpt from a movie called Get Yourself A College Girl, where Smith plays to a "college crowd" -- a jazz version of When Johnny Comes Marching Home of all things. Note the hat at around 2:00 into the video -- subtle.
Somehow I've managed never to see, let alone hear of this 1964 movie before, but I can tell you I will be renting it at the earliest possible opportunity...too camp for words. Or as one viewer put it on the aforelinked IMDB site, it's one of the "truly fabulous awful movies of all time."
Jimmy Smith, on the other hand, really was a truly fabulous organ player, which is why Katie will be playing some of his music tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.).
Posted by Li Robbins on August 29, 2008 at 03:00 PM
As a writer and a music critic it's always interesting to see what other writers/critics come up with when writing about live performance. I rather like this pithy comment about PJ Perry from Sheila Keenan, writing in the Daily News: "P.J Perry blew hot, he blew cool, and he blew the audience away..."
It's also always interesting to hear a musician talked about by another musician. For example, a musician with the handle "jsweenie13" posting to a live video of Perry playing in Washington D.C. (The video quality is just too terrible to put up for you, but here's where you can see it, sort of.)
"Having had a few chances to get on stage with PJ on a few random jam sessions," says jsweenie13, "I gotta say the guy is just a monster...the most lyrical player i think i've listened to."
To hear a live performance of Mr. Perry for yourself, tune into Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening, when Katie features a concert the sax player made with another sax player, Campbell Ryga, at The Cellar jazz club in Vancouver.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 28, 2008 at 03:00 AM
The last time I wrote about Kenny Dorham I suggested that he was kind of like the John Mcdonald of trumpet players, and this season has only borne that out. The baseball season, that is. Yes, just as the brilliant but quiet Mcdonald is sometimes overshadowed by shortstops who might have more hitting power Dorham was sometimes overshadowed by trumpeters who had more flash, or bigger personalities -- people like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.
But he was a great trumpet player, and Thursday night on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie plays a live set Dorham recorded at the Cafe Bohemia in New York in 1956.
And here he is in action, fielding beautifully...
By the way, Dorham's daughter, Evette Dorham, (who is writing a book about her father) describes herself like this...quite touching: "I am a proud daughter of a jazz pioneer, trailblazer, composer, arranger, sometime vocalist, sometimes referred to as the 'uncrowned prince' of his genre and a man of musical passion, Kenny Dorham."
Posted by Li Robbins on August 27, 2008 at 04:35 PM
Kenny Barron is, as NPR so aptly put it: "A living bridge between multiple generations of jazz." Proof tonight, should you be in New York City, at the Village Vanguard where Barron will be playing with a much younger group of musicians.
Alas, not in NYC? Another option is some slightly more vintage Barron as played by Katie on Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening, a live set from about a decade ago at another club in New York, Bradley's. Barron was with a trio for that performance.
And in case you can't make either -- here he is in a duet with another fine pianist (and yes, from one of those younger generations) -- Brad Mehldau, playing All Blues.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 26, 2008 at 04:40 PM
A nice line up of music tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.). Proof: music from Betty Carter and Nancy Wilson, saxophonist Richard Underhill and Vancouver latin jazz band Zapata Negro.
Also from one of my all time favourite under-recognized-in-North-America Italian singers, Gianmaria Testa. (He gets a link to do battle with the under-recognition factor.)
As per usual there is also a live concert segment, tonight from cornetist Warren Vaché and his brother, clarinetist Allan Vaché, recorded live in Hamburg in 1994.
And here is Warren Vaché a couple of decades earlier, with Scott Hamilton. Vaché's solo starts at around 4:00 -- smooth as butter. Salted butter, that is.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 25, 2008 at 04:55 PM
For some, just those names "Getz Gilberto" conjures a whole era in music, when bossa and jazz first met and fell in love. Well, tonight you can travel back to that time, as Tonic (6 p.m.) takes you to the Cafe au Go Go in New York City, for a 1964 concert set by saxophonist Stan Getz and vocalist Astrud Gilberto.
The eponymous album that they released in 1965 is the only jazz recording to get a Grammy "album of the year," until last year's win by Herbie Hancock for his Joni album. And yet, legend has it that Astrud Gilberto wasn't even in the original plans, that it was Mrs. Stan Getz who thought Astrud would be a hit, so Stan complied. Other legend has it that Getz himself saw her potential. Either way, it became one of the best selling jazz recordings of all time.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 24, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Last week the man sometimes called "Quebec's father of world music," Eval Manigat, passed away in Haiti, his country of origin. Many musicians (and CBC folks who worked with him) were shocked and saddened. As Robert Rowat, producer of the weekday edition of Tonic (6 p.m.) said: "His music was an ingenious blend of jazz and diverse Caribbean sounds, always interesting and above all sensual. He was a highly regarded figure on Montreal's music scene. We're grateful for the recordings that he left behind."
This evening on the weekend edition of Tonic (6 p.m.), host Tim Tamashiro will celebrate Manigat's life through some of those recordings.
And in case you missed this when it was posted following the news of his death, here's a performance that features Eval Manigat on vibes -- in fine funky form -- at the "Katrinaid Concert" held at the Montreal Spectrum in December of 2005, with the late Georges Thurston and Olivier René de Cotret.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 21, 2008 at 02:00 PM
Oscar Peterson once said of pianist and Hammond B-3 organ player Mike LeDonne that he was "one of the most promising and talented pianists of this era..." Today on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie will feature a live set by the talented Mr. LeDonne on the B3.
Speaking of the Hammond, in perusing the "virtual museum at The Hammond Zone, a website devoted to the mighty organ, was entertained to find this vintage advertisement for a version called the Hammond Chord Organ, claiming "You'll play a tune in 30 minutes!"
"A few weeks at home with the Hammond Chord Organ and you'll master dozens of pieces from the hit songs to classics. And you'll do it without lessons or boring scales and exercises!"
Ah those boring scales and exercises, who needs 'em. (Guess at that point no one had thought of "air organ," let alone Organ Hero.)
Plus, she has a live set from saxophonist Cory Weeds, recorded at the The Cellar in Vancouver. Here's the backstory on that:
Cellar Live is the Vancouver-based record label created in 2001 by musician/producer/jazz club owner Cory Weeds. When he bought the club in 2000 he also decided to record some of the great music that was played at the club. Eight years and around fifty recordings later -- it's quite an archive. And of course one of the benefits of running the show is getting his own music heard too.
Maybe that should be another tip for the Times list (see last post). How to get your music heard? Why, just buy your own club and start your own label.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 19, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.), plays some music by the Oliver Jones Trio on this evening's programme, a bright tune called Scrambled.
This put me in mind of Jones, who was in the news yesterday for being named to a committee which will determine how the late Oscar Peterson's memory should best be publicly honoured. The two pianists were long time friends, and Jones was involved in most of the major tributes for Mr. Peterson.
One group in Montreal suggested renaming a metro station in Peterson's honour, back in March. But I wonder, if people across the country were polled, what other suggestions might come up?
Mine would be to create a Montreal music garden, a beautiful spot for reflection and for music, with regular live concerts...maybe the only proviso for musicians would be that one piece of music in their set would in some way connect to Peterson. (I can dream, can't I?)
Posted by Li Robbins on August 18, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) features some out-takes from the soundtrack of the jazz film Round Midnight on this evening's show -- music that features Dexter Gordon, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson and John McLaughlin. And really, one needs no more excuse than that to post the above -- the Thelonious Monk Quartet with one version of that very tune.
Naturally there are many contradictory opinions (about 280 of them) of the above performance. This one's interesting:
"Not the definitive reading of Round Midnight, its value is in seeing Monk at work. Wedged on the chair back. The ever-present hat. The metronomic foot. What strike me as much anything is the joylessness of it all. Look again at the last few seconds of this clip. The sidemen, unblinking, carved in stone, staring off into the middle distance. Monk turning away... Vanishing...Evanescing... Coming back to only regard something he sees on the ceiling.
Joyless? Well, they're certainly in some other zone...but I would quibble with "metronomic" -- at times Monk's foot appears to dance.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 15, 2008 at 02:30 PM
Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was thus nicknamed because he apparently had a huge appetite as a kid (and as a man, judging from pictures), resulting in the nickname "Cannibal," which devolved to "Cannonball."
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) salutes the great alto player, and right now so does the Radio 2 blog, with a look back at 1958 and a TV programme called The Subject Is Jazz, with Cannonball as the guest.
This starts at around 2:00 into the video -- Cannonball talking about bebop, about hearing Charlie Parker for the first time...if you've any interest in bop and Adderley (who also plays) you'll want to watch this!
Posted by Li Robbins on August 14, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Jeremy Zmuda is one of the many guitarists to owe a debt of gratitude to one of jazz's most influential guitarists, Jim Hall. Zmuda translated that debt into musical currency, by writing a piece called Jimmy, which Katie will play this evening on Tonic (6 p.m.)
Speaking of Jim Hall, did you know that he's collaborating with Bill Frisell? He is, and here's what he has to say about that: I am very excited about my current collaboration with fellow guitarist Bill Frisell. We recently finished mixing the music we recorded a few months ago and are getting ready for the release. The process of creating this CD was quite different than those in the past. We recorded the majority of the music at Tony Sherr's studio in Brooklyn which was an adventure in itself. Tony is a wiz with analog recording and everything thus far was done to tape."
To tape, no less! Their downloadable collaboration will be available on September 1 via ArtistShare, a project designed to enable fans to participate in the making of a CD in various ways. So, for example you can submit cover art ideas, among other things.
And a note to Hall complete-ists -- to see Jim with his dog "Django," click here.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 13, 2008 at 02:00 PM
Mali's Issa Bagayogo has been nicknamed "Techno-Issa," and if you decide to download his latest recording, Mali Koura, from iSteveJobs you will find it marked electronica.
Well, as you'll hear if you tune into Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening, when Katie samples his music, though electronica is a grab bag term it's unlikely that this will be the first description that will pop into mind upon hearing his music. The new recording weighs in too much on the Malian acoustic instruments side for that. You may, however, think the word "dance," since so much of his music impels a body to do just that.
But this older song, Dambalou, (doesn't seem to be any videos of his new stuff) will explain both the electronica tag, and why his music has been a hit on dance floors the world over:
Posted by Li Robbins on August 12, 2008 at 04:41 PM
Speaking of instruments that have been, at times, dubbed novelty turns (see previous post) vibist/composer Bobby Hutcherson is sometimes credited with helping vibes to be seen as a legitimate jazz voice, not just an occasional quirky colour in the palette. Among many accomplishments, Hutcherson played on some great Bluenote classics (including a personal fav, Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch).
So pair him with a pianist like Cedar Walton, (note -- like the previous link, a fan appreciation site due to lack of official) who came up roughly in the same era and have the same musical vocabulary, chances are you'll hear some excellent jazz. Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), Katie will give proof to my theory via music from a live recording the pair made in 1982, at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 11, 2008 at 04:45 PM
As a slightly out-of-date listing on Verve Music aptly puts it, "Even almost a decade after her death in 1994, Carmen McRae remains an institution unto herself."
It's just as true for jazz vocal fans in 2008, something Katie notes this evening on Tonic (6 p.m.), with a live set McRae recorded at the Blue Note in New York in 1983.
Here she is with one of her signature tunes, I'm Gonna Lock My Heart.
So utterly decisive and swinging -- what a singer. What a woman!
Posted by Li Robbins on August 8, 2008 at 03:00 AM
Friday night Tonic (6 p.m.) moves into weekend mode with vintage soul from the O'Jays, latin funk from Marcos Valle, and loads of jazz -- from Art Pepper and Dave Brubeck among others. One of those others is a concert broadcast of Oscar Peterson, recorded live at the Munich Philharmonic in 1998.
Always on the lookout for how Oscar Peterson's memory is being kept alive, so I was pleased to see that this fall there's an Oscar Peterson tribute happening in connection with the 20th edition of Mercat De Musica Viva De Vic (a music industry convention/major festival in Barcelona).
And it points to the international reach of O.P.'s playing. Just to cite one example, here's an excerpt from the translated bio belonging to Spanish pianist David Quevedo, who will be playing at this tribute:
"His main interest was composition, so performed classical studies at conservatory while screaming and guitaring with his first rock band in the early nineties. Also studied with few canarian jazz musicians and worked with too many canarian artists. Then he listened Oscar Peterson music and everything changed."
Posted by Li Robbins on August 7, 2008 at 04:30 PM
As always, the Tonicians, a.k.a. Katie and her producer Robert, have sent me a note to let ya'll know about what some of the highlights of the show are. And one of those highlights is some music from a collaboration between trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and singer Willie Nelson.
Did you just say "huh" or equivalent? Well, you may have missed it but Nelson did indeed pair up with Marsalis in a programme called Willie Sings The Blues, which had Mr. Nelson fronting the Wynton Marsalis Quintet.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 6, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Katie will be featuring a set of tunes recorded live by Dinah Washington on Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening -- from 1954.
Let's see, that would mean Washington was about 30 at the time, coming into in her prime. (Which was of course cut short far too prematurely -- she died when she was only 39, on December 14, 1963.) What a loss of a voice.
As Quincy Jones said, in his biography, "Q," Washington could "take the melody in her hand, hold it like an egg, crack it open, fry it, let it sizzle, reconstruct it, put the egg back in the box and back in the refrigerator and you would've still understood every single syllable."
Posted by Li Robbins on August 5, 2008 at 04:30 PM
A Tonic (6 p.m.) highlight du jour: The theme from Kojak "re-grooved" by percussionist and bandleader Willie Bobo.
This leads me nicely to a subject I've been musing about lately, since I'm on a kick of watching The Wire from beginning to end. And that subject is "re-grooving" TV theme songs -- and what a nice impact that can have on the viewing experience. The two themes that leap to mind are the theme to Weeds (which features a different interpretation of Malvina Reynolds' Little Boxes each episode) and The Wire, which recasts the Tom Waits song Way Down In The Hole for every season.
It makes the theme seem more integrated as a creative part of the entire show, and it's evolutionary rather than static -- very appealing. Plus, as I'm sure the makers of these shows know, in the era of DVD viewing this means you're less likely to fast forward through it to immediately get to the action. (In the case of The Wire it also doesn't hurt that they re-edit the opening so regularly and so brilliantly.)
But back to the Kojak theme. Check this out, if you are of an analytical frame of mind,...and have a lot of patience: Kojak: 50 Seconds Of TV Music To Analyze.
The video was based on the ideas of a book by Philip Tagg, because, according to the writeup at Media Music Studies: "By 1976 the title theme for the TV series Kojak had been heard by at least 100 million people in at least seventy countries. It is an infinitesimal part of all the mass media music outside the traditional musicological frames of reference. Tagg argues that conventional musicology cannot help us understand how music works on an everyday basis in the popular mass media market of ideas."
Posted by Li Robbins on August 4, 2008 at 03:01 AM
Recent Order Of Canada recipient, trombonist Ian McDougall, is featured on this holiday Monday (well, holiday for most of the country) on Tonic (6 p.m.), many hours from now.
But it's never to early in my books to talk about or listen to jazz. In fact I remember once, years ago, a roommate asking me if it was possible for me to listen to some other kind of music than jazz in the early mornings in our thin-walled bedrooms. "Why, no," I said. (But I did turn it down. A little bit.)
Anyway, this evening Katie will be turning up the live music energy, featuring a concert performance McDougall and his sextet recorded at The Cellar in Vancouver. Randal McIlroy, writing in Coda Magazine said of this recording: "The Ian McDougall Sextet is Old School, as they say...and lord if they don't do it well. Trombonist McDougall holds to the model of well-tailored muscle that made high period Blue Note so thrilling..."
P.S. The photo shows McDougall performing with pianist John Stetch this July.
Posted by Li Robbins on August 1, 2008 at 03:00 AM
As noted in an earlier post called The Little Giant, jazz sax great Johnny Griffin passed away at the end of last week.
Friday evening Tonic (6 p.m.) pays tribute with a set of tunes from guitarist Wes Montgomery with Johnny Griffin as his special guest -- recorded live at the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris in 1965.
And of course in the blogosphere there are numerous tributes to the fleet fingered sax player -- from Rifftides, Jazz.com and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society -- among others. Also of course, as always the real tribute is via taking the time to savor and appreciate the music -- which you can do tonight via Tonic (6 p.m.).
Earlier this summer I heard an interview on Q with the great jazz pianist, Hank Jones, who was witty and funny and pretty much stole the show. All that at 89. Well, today he's all that at 90.
On Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie pays tribute to to Hank Jones. Right now, right here, El Blog pays tribute as well, by sharing this lovely solo performance of Willow Weep For Me.
If you just watched/heard the above and you're interested in learning more about this really magnificent pianist, a project called OctoJAZZarians ("an on-going series celebrating these living legends, pioneers who were first hand participants in the evolution of America's greatest art form") has a brief (but kind of charming) update on what Hank Jones has been up to of late.
Personally, I am liking (now there's an interesting phraseology) all of the highlights on today's edition of Tonic (6 p.m.):
The excellent pianist Cyrus Chestnut (pictured here) plays music by Elvis Presley (jazz embracing rock n' roll).
Vocalist Stacey Kent with a classic Serge Gainsbourg song (which might explain why I heard Stacey Kent on practically a daily basis when in France earlier this year).
Canadian guitarist Jason Crawford paying tribute to Wes Montgomery (the world needs more acknowledgment of Mr. Montgomery).
Brazilian music from Paulo Ramos and Monica Freire (via Montreal, which gives it a whole new Quebec-Brazilian flavour).
And the live set is from pianist Gene Harris and his Alley Cats -- funky, jazzy, bluesy --who could ask for anything more?
Tonic (6 p.m.) is featuring music from the late Henri Salvador on the show this evening. I was in Paris when Salvador died this winter, and I don't think I've ever seen such national mourning (and celebrating) of a musician before -- you saw pictures of him for days in all the papers, a video featuring him in his comeback years (while in his eighties!) in heavy rotation in bars.
Salvador was said to introduce rock n' roll to France in the 1950s, with songs like Rock'n'roll Mops, Dis-Moi Que Tu M'aimes Rock, Rock Hoquet and Va T'Faire Cuir Un Oeuf, Man. (With titles like that, no wonder.) Later he became a comedian/TV star, and as previously mentioned, hugely beloved. Mitterrand made him a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and Jacques Chirac, Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mérite -- just to give you some context of how he was regarded, if you're not familiar with Salvador.
Here he is towards the end of his very long career, with Jardin D'Hiver.
Beautiful. (And I don't mean the girl, although she is too. But that voice!)
Despite the rather desperate lack of places to play, let alone money to be made, there are always a certain number of young musicians who gravitate to jazz -- and more power to them. One of those up and comers is Chantale Gagné, a pianist based in both Montreal and NYC. Tonic (6 p.m.) calls her "a new star on Canada's jazz horizon." Tonight the show features music from her debut indie recording --for a preview check out Gagné's MySpace page.
Also, the concert portion of the show is from Brazilian jazzers Trio Da Paz (with vibraphonist Joe Locke), recorded live in Germany last year. Trio Da Paz, by the way, are one of a number of jazz groups to avail themselves of Jazz Corner, self-described as "the largest portal for the official websites of hundreds of jazz musicians and organizations." Plenty to check out there for jazz fans too.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 28, 2008 at 01:33 AM
Well, this will be my last post for the time being. Before I hand this blog (and your kind attention) back over to the vacation-mellowed Li Robbins, I'd like to give you a quick heads up about a couple of programs coming your way this evening on Radio 2.
On Tonic tonight Katie Malloch will sample the excellent debut recording by Canadian jazz pianist Chantale Gagné and feature music from guitarists Kevin Barrett and Larry Coryell and singer Nancy King. She'll also have a set of tunes from Trio Da Paz with special guest vibraphonist Joe Locke recorded live at the 2007 Jazz Baltica Festival in Salzau, Germany.
Tonight on Canada Live, you'll hear an encore presentation of a special concert Toronto-based calypsonian David Rudder (pictured) gave with the equally legendary Lord Superior and up-and-coming calypso revivalist Drew Gonzalves at the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio. Rudder has been proclaimed "a Trinidad national hero on the order of Marley in Jamaica, Fela in Nigeria and Springsteen in New Jersey" by Rolling Stone Magazine, and his all-star show at the GGS was sweet and hot.
In the meantime, I'll say thanks to you, dear readers, for your good company this week. It's time now for me to turn my attention away from the screen and back to the garden where the weeds are... my oh my, bigger than I thought. I think I might just have another coffee first and enjoy Li's next post.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 27, 2008 at 04:26 PM
Tim's all about fingers - and toes - this Sunday evening on Tonic. He'll have "Tickle Toe" from Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, John Scofield's "Heel to Toe", and Dave Young's version of "Tale of the Fingers". You'll also hear a spotlight on pianist Brian Dickinson and great music from the Sex and the City Soundtrack.
There's a surprise as well - Oscar Peterson performs the theme song from a very popular children's show!
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 25, 2008 at 02:31 PM
This evening Tonic gets your weekend started with a set of tunes that singer/pianist Carol Welsman recorded last month at the Lion D'or in Montreal.
The multi-faceted, multi-lingual and multi-award winning Welsman has gone from success to success over the last few years, with a 2008 Smooth Jazz Award and 600,000 records sold in Canada alone. She's worked with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Brazil's Djavan and two very different musical "Georges" -- Benson and Shearing. She's written songs for Ray Charles and Celine Dion. These days she's based in California, but still I remember the week-long stints she used to play at Toronto's fabled Top of the Senator jazz club in her home town not too many years ago.
To get you primed for her set today, here's a taste of a CBC documentary from 2006 called "the Language of Love". You'll hear Herbie and Carol in a duet performance, complete with a "mutual appreciation" intro that'll help you listen to Carol's playing with informed ears.
Although the tune isn't identified, I'm pretty confident in saying that it's Herbie's classic Cantaloop Island - a little slower and smoother off the top than he used to play it, but maybe it's Carol taking the stylistic lead? It certainly gets cool and crunchy in the middle. Have a listen:
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 24, 2008 at 01:57 PM
Here's a quick peek at this afternoon's line-up on R2:
On Disc Drive with Jurgen Gothe, it's music by Richard Strauss along with tunes from French 5-string bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons, guitarist Daniel Bolshoy and more.
And on Tonic with Katie Malloch you'll hear some classic hard bop from saxophonist Harold Vick, gentle Latin sounds from the Alex Cuba Band, nu-jazz from the group Koop, and jazz vocals from Chantal Chamberland. Plus there will be a set of tunes from the trio of pianist Ahmad Jamal recorded live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago back in November, 1992.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 23, 2008 at 07:59 AM
On Tonic this evening, there'll be vocals from DK Ibomeka and Melody Gardot, nu-Braz from the group Zambe, and a Chris Shaw re-mix of a classic Sarah Vaughan recording.
Sarah is among the most avidly re-mixed vocalists these days, with her sultry vocals floating above re-interpretations of several of her hits. Some of her other "revivers" include Gotan Project, Ufo and Max Sedgely. I don't want to give away this evening's song, so instead I invite you to watch Max Sedgley's re-mix of Sarah and Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn Theme here:
You'll also hear music by Stevie Wonder played by jazz pianist Johnny O'Neal. Plus, a set of tunes from singer Mel Tormé recorded live in Tokyo in December, 1988.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 22, 2008 at 12:40 AM
On TONIC this evening you'll hear music from the First Lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Prior to becoming Mme. Nikolas Sarkozy, the Italian-born, French-and-Swiss raised industrial heiress (nee Carla Bruni Tedeschi) enjoyed a successful career as a high fashion model. In 1997 Bruni switched careers and recorded a collection of breathy French chanson, followed by an album of songs based on the poetry of Yeats, Emiliy Dickenson, and Dorothy Parker (to name a few). An avowed "polyamorist", Bruni was linked romantically to Mick Jagger and Donald Trump before her marriage to the French President in February of this year following a whirlwind romance.
Bruni's popularity as a French icon has largely eclipsed that of her husband's ever since, although given his plummeting ratings, that is not too difficult a feat. The press has largely had a field day with Bruni, the French because she is married to that man, and the rest of the world because she sings a particularly French style of music that has never really caught on elsewhere. (That may be changing, with Feist possessing a certain French-inspired "je ne sais quoi" that appeals globally and Yael Naim catching on worldwide following her appearance in the MacBook Air commercials).
I'd like to suggest we all take a giant step back and judge Bruni on her music alone. I've been listening to her for several years, ever since she caught my attention on a compilation of new French songwriters. Sure, the kitten-ish purr might put a person in mind of a breathless Brigitte Bardot at times, but there are enough lovely melodies, smart arrangements and sexy "sly winks" to let us know that Bruni is more than just fluff.
Is Bruni the real thing? Tune in to Tonic and decide for yourself, and in the meantime, have a look at her in an acoustic setting here.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on July 21, 2008 at 05:09 PM
This evening on Tonic, Katie is ready to brighten your Monday with music from vocalists Amos Lee, Jully Black, Dione Taylor and Anita O'Day.
Don't miss the concert set of great tunes from the Ray Brown Trio. Here's bassist Ray Brown in fine form in 2001 at his 75th birthday concert (he died in 2002).
Speaking of hounds (see previous post), not so long ago I came across a blog post that posed a question I'd never thought to ask: Where Have All The Dog Songs Gone. The writer of that post felt that there aren't good country songs about dogs. And she went on to ask why:
"Is it because listeners would rather listen to songs about love gone wrong than songs about the unconditional love between man and beast? I highly doubt that. According to my amateur research, about 90 percent of country fans own dogs. So wouldn’t it make sense to have some songs about the one thing artists and fans really have in common?"
A Radio 2 blog reader named Bill Walker took issue with this notion:
"No good country music about dogs? Are you serious? Perhaps your definition of country music is too narrow. Try Bugler, from Further Along by the Byrds."
I think Bill would approve of the theme Tonic (6 p.m.) has going this evening -- as Tim tells me he will play the music of "Lost Dogs, Hank Dog and Lucky Dogs."
It would probably be a safe bet to say that Latin music is most frequently described as "hot," whatever the music is actually like. You'll always hear someone in the dead of winter spinning some Latin track to "heat things up," conversely, because it's hot in the midst of summer, the "hot Latin music" will get played to reflect this. (Pretty sure there's a case to be made that not enough Latin music gets played in Canada in spring and fall -- statistically difficult to prove, but hey, it's a theory.)
In the interests of accuracy Tonic (6 p.m.) did not bill the Latin music they're playing on Friday this way, which actually struck me as an appreciated exception to the rule, and that's what sent me down this mental path.
As for the Latin music that Katie will be playing, you can hear percussionist Poncho Sanchez, and a live set of latin jazz from the Quebec Jazz Orchestra.
So as a preview of the former, one minute of music from Sanchez. Let me just say this -- it's simmering, it's temperature elevating, it's actually pretty caliente.
Jimi Hendrix once said that Kenny Burrell's sound was the sound he was looking for. The last time I posted something about this connection, one very knowledgeable blog reader, Mike Lewis, pointed out the following:
"Hendrix had a very open mind when it came to jazz and there are bootlegs of him playing with people like John McLaughlin, Dave Holland and Tony Williams. And there are rumours that he recorded with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It's well known that he was scheduled to record with Gil Evans. I've also heard that he had discussions with Duke Ellington about collaborating."
Info and insight much appreciated. Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear Kenny Burrell, a live set from the 75th birthday bash held for him at Yoshi's in Oakland, California two years ago.
Pianist Horace Silver has said that he's been "blessed to walk among and perform with some of the greatest geniuses in this music we so call lovingly call jazz." Since he's one of them, that's very generous.
Silver is the guy who wrote tunes like Nica's Dream, Song For My Father, The Preacher, songs that are part of the jazz repertoire today, and have been sampled by musicians working outside of the jazz sphere as well. And even more than that, he helped create one of the fundamental jazz sounds, hard bop, which he then went on to funkify.
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) some vintage Horace Silver live, recorded at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
P.J. Perry's playing has been described as "eloquent as Shakespeare," and you get a chance to hear some of that eloquence this evening on Tonic (6 p.m.). Katie will feature what she says is a "show-stopping set of tunes," recorded live at the Cellar in Vancouver. (Shakespearean AND show stopping, doesn't get much better than that. )
And as you know if you are a jazz fan, Mr. Perry has been a significant player on the Canadian scene for a long time. So given that longevity, here's a little flashback, to a CBC TV production in 1966, and the Bobby Hales Orchestra. Yup, there he is in the sax section, on Can't Buy Me Love.
Too bad he doesn't get to solo, but still fun to watch...
Here is an early-in-the-day notice that Monday evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear music from some of Canada's top jazz musicians, recorded live at the (now sadly defunct) Top Of The Senator Jazz Club in Toronto -- guitarist Ed Bickert, sax player Mike Murley, and bassist Steve Wallace.
Sadly I can't find a performance of this trio to play for you, but here is a very nice way to swing into your week -- Ed Bickert, playing Do Nothing Till You Here From Me, year not mentioned, but obviously from a considerable number of years ago.
As one person who watched it said: "Look up 'cool' in the dictionary & you'll find Ed Bickert's photo there." And it still is true.
Katie Malloch has one of the most mellifluous voices on CBC radio, so I believe her when she says that tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) the music is designed to ease listeners into a mellow weekend mood. (Just listening to Katie is a guarantee of that, in my books.)
The musical mellowness will be found via vintage soul from the O'Jays, Latin jazz from the quintet of guitarist Andrew Scott, and some blues from Dizzy Gillespie.
But perhaps most mellow-inducing of all, Katie also presents a live set of music performed by John Legend, recorded in New York City.
Legend, by the way, may be pretty mellow, but he's also something of an activist -- his Show Me Campaign, an anti-poverty effort, was one of the reasons Mr. Legend recently received a CARE Humanitarian Award for Global Change.
Talking to the Washington Times about the award he said, "I've always been socially and politically aware...the more I read, the more I know that we must all somehow become involved in helping others."
Sounds like a soulful version of Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight, with Katie playing music from the Meters, Stevie Wonder and Remy Shand.
Oddly enough just the other day someone was asking me what had become of Remy Shand, who went from Winnipeg to Motown, not something too many Winnipegers can claim. (I know I can't. Though I'm a former Winnipeger.) Yes, his first recording, The Way I Feel, was released on Motown Records about six years ago amd it was quite a hit, for good reason -- what talent. It was also quite a story, he essentially put together the recording in his Winnipeg home. He won a Juno for that album, and was Grammy nominated. And after a couple of years, he seemed to disappear.
So prompted by Tonic playing Shand, and this question (coming as it did from someone who also liked Shand when we heard him live about five years ago) I started looking...and finding almost nothing. A message board thread asking "whatever happened to Remy Shand," from years ago. A slightly more recent blog post asking the same question. (Actually, there are numerous blog postings asking Where Is Remy Shand? ) A Remy Shand MySpacepage devoted to keeping his sound alive, in the absence of another recording. And the news section of his website giving an error message.
Obviously there's a story there, perhaps one I totally missed. Possibly a not very happy story, I suspect. But at least there's still music from that one great, soulful album to listen to, as you'll hear tonight on Tonic.
Someone once called Cal Tjader the "Clark Kent of jazz," a mild mannered guy who became a superman onstage. The west/coast meets latin style of vibist Tjader sure has lasting appeal for some folks, like the people involved in Soul Vibrations (the "definitive internet resource for Cal Tjader admirers and collectors").
Despite no one maintaining any kind of official posthumous Tjader website (as is often the case with jazz musicians), Tjader seems to have inspired a kind of cult like devotion and loyalty. (In part because, I think, of his influence on later forms of music related to jazz, namely acid jazz.) Space Age Pop Music, for example, call him "the greatest Anglo musician in Latin music," quite a claim.
Tjader died in 1982, but the year before he played a concert at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, and tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a set of music from that performance.
Sidebar: Tjader's daughter, Elizabeth, has become a kind of artist in her own way -- a garden artist. As well as being inspired by Monet, she was also inspired by her parents. "I grew up in a family who surrounded itself with beauty,” says Tjader. For the whole story, go to Critter-Friendly Gardens.
Tonic (6 p.m.) features music tonight from Dianne Reeves, pianist Lorraine Desmarais, R&B legend Louis Jordan and guitarist Charlie Byrd, but also, the piece de resistance, a set of tunes from pianist Oscar Peterson recorded live in Germany in 1968.
And speaking of the late and great (one time when the cliché make sense) Oscar Peterson, a slightly belated congratulations to bassist Dave Young, who was presented with the Oscar Peterson Award on the weekend at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.
The prize has been going for almost a decade, to "honour Canadian musicians for the quality their art and their outstanding contributions to the evolution of jazz in this country." And Young is a most worthy recipient.
Pianist Michel Camilo is a guy who loves to play live, as this road story shows:
"I will never forget something that happened when I was performing a few years ago at a theater in Malaga, Spain. In the middle of our show, with a thousand people in the audience, we suddenly lost power. Not just amplification, but all lights, air conditioning -- everything. We were truly 'Unplugged!'
With our eyes, we could not see each other on stage, we could not see our instruments, and we could not see the audience. But we could see all of these things with our hearts. So what did we do? What else could we do? We played. We played and played, sending notes into that warm Spanish night. And we listened, as the audience – mostly strangers to one another – came together as one."
Lovely.
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) gives you a chance to hear a live performance by Camilo, from the Blue Note in New York City. And as a bit of a preview, here's Camilo performing From Within. As one listener/viewer said: "When I see this performance my hair gets curled."
When alto sax player Frank Morgan died last December, the world lost another living link to bebop. His life was also an extraordinary tale of hardship and survival -- the final chapter being a stroke in 1998 -- after which he continued to tour and perform.
But the hardships started back in the height of the bebop era. Not only a Charlie Parker disciple, he sadly also had Parker's heroin addiction. Only in his case, he ended up spending a fair bit of time in jail, since his habit led to theft. This didn't mean he stopped playing music though. In fact, he once said that the greatest big band he ever played with was in San Quentin:
"...Art Pepper and I were proud of that band. We had Jimmy Bunn and Frank Butler, and some other musicians who were known and some who weren't, but they could play. We played every Saturday night for what they called a Warden's Tour, which showed paying visitors only the cleanest cell blocks and exercise yards. But people would take that tour just to hear the band."
Towards the end of his life Morgan also worked with prison inmates, recovering addicts, and at-risk youth, playing music and talking about his life -- quite an extraordinary man.
Tonight you can hear for yourself, as Tonic (6 p.m.) showcases some of Morgan's music, recorded live at the Jazz Standard in New York City.
Cuban-Canadian Hilario Duran, one of the big winners at this year's National Jazz Awards has been doing some touring of late, getting positive press wherever he plays -- for example in Montreal, where the Gazette included him as a critic's pick in advance of his performance at the Montreal Jazz fest.
"Pianist Hilario Duran has monster chops and the kind of fertile imagination that only Cuba's musical hot house can breed."
And then following his recent performance in Vancouver, as reported in the Vancouver Sun:
"Cuban-born Toronto pianist Hilario Duran never lacks energy, and his trio show Sunday at Performance Works had people dancing in the rear doorway. With a firm grip on all forms of Cuban jazz, Duran's fingers flew over the keyboard as bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Mark Kelso kept pace."
Canada Day celebrations continue on Tonic (6 p.m.) with music from guitarist Jake Langley, vocalist Molly Johnson and pianist Oliver Jones.
It being into the thick of festival season I thought I'd post a video of one of these performers playing live at a festival. When I came across this video I just had to put it up -- it captures such a truly classic summer music festival moment. (Poor woman, you can practically feel her frustration!)
It also captures some nice, very mellow playing by Jake Langley.)
Looks like a very nice lineup of music today on Tonic (6 p.m.), including some tunes from the perennial favourite, Dr. John. The concert set features Donald Byrd and his quintet, recorded at the Half Note Cafe in New York City in November, 1960.
I don't know how active Byrd, now 78, is as a performer (although he did release a recording two years ago), but he did recently take part in a tribute to fellow jazz trumpeter, Clifford Brown, at the 20th annual Clifford Brown Festival.
"Clifford was unreal ... a straight-A student," Byrd said, adding that after Brown graduated from Howard High School, then the only secondary school for black students, he started at what is now Delaware State University, but "he had to leave because he wasn't allowed to play jazz there."
Byrd, who said he was asked to take Brown's spot in the band after he died, called him "a man who was brilliant and intelligent ... one of the best musicians of the 20th century."
The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is an all-star lineup of musicians based in Los Angeles, led by bassist John Clayton, sax player Jeff Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. It is, as one reviewer put it "some of the swingingest big band jazz around." Tonight you can hear them recorded live in Pittsburgh in 2004 -- if, that is, you listen to Tonic (6 p.m.).
Should you also be prepared to take a "jazz cruise," come this November, you could also hear The Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orch live in the flesh, since they're one of the many jazz bands who will be playing on board on this particular Jazz Cruise.
Just the other day I was talking with a colleague about cruises - he's a fan. And, apparently, used to defending his vacation trip of choice, since he immediately pointed out that they have evolved mightily since any Love Boat stereotype.
Coincidentally today I happened to notice an article about the proliferation of music-themed cruises, including the Elvis Cruise, and any number of blues cruises, like this Canadian cruise. Based on musicality of name, they'd be my choice. (Baby won't you take me on a blues cruise?)
Not long ago I stumbled on a blog called The Bassic Sax Blog, whose bloggist seemed a tad bitter about the lot of the baritone sax player.
"The bigger the horn, the more you pay…and pay…and pay…and pay," said he she. And also: "...manufacturers charge more because they can. As bari players, we are held hostage, and don’t have a choice."
But as one R2 Blog reader pointed out, "Means more demand for the few bari players there are. And if you're a late bloomer, maybe a chance to work your way into a band."
This made me feel a little better for the poor bari players. At least until coming across a few Facebook groups for related instruments. The "People Who Actually Know What A Euphonium Is" group, for example. (You will have to be a Facebook member to view; takes about five annoying minutes, is all.)
Yes, the Euphonium players also apparently feel misunderstood, as this excerpt from their page shows:
"So what instrument do you play?"
Euphonium.
"Oh. . . What's that?"
It's like a baritone.
"Oh, yeah. I know what a bari sax is."
No. It's not a saxophone. It's a low brass instrument.
"Ohh. So the tuba."
No.
"The trombone?"
No.
"Then what is it?"
(Sigh)"
That said, the Euphoniums do have around 4,000 members.
The connection here is John Coltrane. This video accompanies what I would call classic Coltrane, and as Tonic (6 p.m.) is promising to play some classic Trane tonight, I thought I'd jump the gun with a video of My Favourite (or to give in and use the American spelling, Favorite) Things.
But in nosing about for one instead I came across some other "classic Coltrane," in this case Giant Steps, set to animation by Michael Levy.
An interesting visual impression of Coltrane's Giant Steps, interesting as animation, but also in its interpretation of Coltrane's playing as a thing so angular and precise. (I would have animated it as something more elliptical...were I to animate.)
You can see a higher quality version of this at Levy's website, by the way.
It's the "flip-flops, denim cut-offs, ice cooler" edition of Tonic (6 p.m.), where you can put your feet up and enjoy the beginning of summer. (And I do hope that Katie's foot is up -- heard she had a little problem involving an ankle while out dog walking -- those dangerous leashes. Rest up, Katie!)
Summer solstice arrives at 7:59 EDT, and Tonic (6 p.m.) counts down the minutes to the official start of summer with music from the Ohio Players, Kool & the Gang, the Caribbean Jazz Project, jazz vocalist Emilie-Claire Barlow, saxophonist Campbell Ryga and percussionist Ray Barretto. You'll also hear from Hammond B3 organist Sam Yahel, (YSES! more B3), singer DK Ibomeka and from the British neo soul group Incognito.
And in honour of the beginning of summer...Ella, from 1969. Exquisite.
Some instruments seem to go in and out of fashion. The glockenspiel, for example. The autoharp. (The latter is still waiting for its full return to favour.) The Hammond B3 organ though, it's been having a gratifying resurgence in popularity for some years now. Gratifying because nothing beats the sweet, rich sound of a Hammond B3.
Jimmy Smith was one of the finest jazz organists ever, and tonight you can hear him on Tonic (6 p.m.), performing some tunes from a live show he did in 1993.
Right now you can hear (and see) him playing Bobby Timmons' Moanin', to a very appreciative audience...
Here is the Official R2 Blog apology for those who turned on Tonic (6 p.m.) last night to hear the Joe Lovano feature, based on a post yesterday. The Official R2 Blogger screwed up, posting the info a day early.
It is in fact TODAY that you can hear a live set of tunes described as "lush and romantic" from saxophonist Joe Lovano with the WDR Big Band and strings. Good news is, you get a second chance to give in to that urge to press play.
Nice, eh?
Also on Tonic tonight, music from Sergio Mendes whose latest, Encanto, features guesties including Colombian star Juanes, Belgium's Zap Mama and Italian rapper Jovanotti.
Conrad Good, of Vancouver, B.C. and Sandra Taweel, of Halifax, N.S.
Congratulations!!! You both win a trip for two to the Montreal jazz festival. We're all jealous, but we're also happy for you. No, really, we are.
That photo, btw, is from last year's festival, the Wayne Shorter Quartet, (somewhere back there there is a drummer). Shorter isn't at this year's fest, but jazz players include Mccoy Tyner, David Murray, Brad Mehldau, Hank Jones and on and on. Here's the full artists index.
And of course there's likely to be another Tonic (6 p.m.) Contest next year, so stay tuned.
This morning in the Tonic World Headquarters (a.k.a. producer Robert Rowat's office, I suspect) Katie drew the two winners in the "win-a-trip-for-two to the Montreal Jazz Fest contest, and she will be announcing their names on Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening. I'll post the winners on the blog at around 7pm eastern too, so if for some reason you're not able to catch the show, check back here as well.
But meanwhile, a word about some of the music you can hear on this evening's programme. The featured live set has been described as some "lush and romantic" music from from saxophonist Joe Lovano with the WDR Big Band and strings, recorded live in Germany.
For now, here's Joe -- and Hank Jones. Not lush, but romantic. And just really lovely.
P.S. If you care to join a discussion about Joe's mouthpiece in this performance (really), why, just click on over.
Last chance at the fair! Today is the final day to enter the Tonic (6 p.m.) contest to win a trip for two to the Montreal Jazz Festival. It's a famously great festival -- as R2 listener/blog reader Luc Doucet recently said: "Montreal opened the doors to jazz, it has made jazz accessible to the great public not only to music lovers or experts. Montreal has democratized jazz."
The prizes ( two trips for two) include airfare, hotel, tickets, and a rendezvous with some musicians, as well as Tonic (6 p.m.) host Katie Malloch.
So, listen up Friday evening when Katie poses a jazz-related question, and even sends you to the answer -- then you can enter at Tonic's Jazz Contest.
On Monday June 16th Katie will draw from the ballots with correct answers, and announce the winners on the show.
Having written about the contest a few times this week I must say I am filled with Montreal Jazz Fest envy -- can't go this year. But good luck to all who entered. And for the lucky winners, this year's festival also has the added depth of being dedicated to the late Oscar Peterson, pictured here at the festival in 2001.
Photo Courtesy of the Montreal Jazz Festival, by Bernard Brault (La Presse)
When it comes to romantic cities in Canada, Montreal has 'em beat. (With the exception of Quebec City, perhaps.) No disrespect to the rest of the country intended, of course. (And hey, I live in Hogtown, and no way am I going to make a case for it to be on that particular shortlist.)
There are few times of year in Montreal that are more heightened and imbued with a very specific kind of romance than jazz fest time, which is why the contest that the Montreal Jazz Festival and Tonic (6 p.m.) are presenting is so very enticing. Two trips-for-two will be given away on Monday -- to win just listen to the show for the question of the day, then click on over to Tonic Jazz Contest to enter.
Meantime, on today's show Katie is playing music from the usual suspects -- jazz, R&B, soul and world music suspects that is -- and among others you can hear some music from Alex Cuba, who, speaking of romance, can play some extremely romantic music. The vid. below isn't new, but it features a song that A.Cuba did a few years back that is very much in that category, a duet with Ron Sexsmith called Lo Mismo Que Yo.
(Admittedly, not such a happy romantic moment...but memories of one that was, anyway. And lovely to listen to.)
Miles Davis played it. So did Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis and Arturo Sandoval. That's the Montreal Jazz Festival, and just one short list of greats, all trumpeters, who've performed at the festival.
As you know if you've been listening to CBC, (or reading the R2 blog), this week Katie Malloch is running a contest which will see four lucky people heading to this year's festival. For details on how to enter, please click on over to Tonic's Jazz Contest.
And to hear the question which will allow you to enter the contest, tune in tonight, (or Thursday and Friday) to Tonic (6 p.m.). Bonus, tonight a live set by trumpeter Chet Baker and his quartet recorded (not in Montreal) but live in Tokyo in June, 1987.
A trip to the moon, on gossamer wings.... Well, not quite, but a trip to the Montreal Jazz Fest, by more conventional mode of transportation is the prize being offered on Tonic (6 p.m.) this week.
Katie is giving away two trips for two: airfare, hotel, tickets. Bonus -- you get to meet Katie!
Every day this week until Friday, June 13th, Ms. Malloch asks a jazz-related question on the show, and you can send in your answer at Tonic Jazz Contest. Prizewinners will be drawn on Monday June 16th from correct ballots, and Katie will announce the winners that day on Tonic (6 p.m.)
Today's show features some spectacular Brazilian music from Carlinhos Brown, who, believe it or not, is somewhere in the photo -- performing at last year's Montreal Jazz Festival.
To say that The Montreal Jazz Festival is legendary among jazz festivals is to say the Taj Mahal is legendary among the world's monuments. It's pretty incredible. You have to accept massive crowds (sometimes in a heat spell), and not always getting where you want exactly when you want, but it is totally worth it.
So it's pretty great that the festival, via Katie Malloch's show Tonic (6 p.m.), is going to send four people to the festival this year. Tonic is giving away two trips for two, airfare, hotel, tickets, and you get to meet some of the musicians -- and Katie!
This is how it works. Every day starting today, Monday June 9th til Friday, June 13th Ms. Malloch will pose a jazz-related question twice on each show. Not only that, she'll send you somewhere to find the answers. So it couldn't be easier.
The two trips will be drawn on Monday June 16th from correct ballots, and Katie will announce the winners that day. Sadly, freelancers for the CBC cannot enter. Damn. But you can! Just listen then go here.
This year's festival, by the way, is dedicated to Oscar Peterson, who I'm sure will be recognized musically in all kinds of ways, as is only fitting.
I've never been all that much for the saying "a picture's worth a thousand words," for obvious reasons. A video, on the other hand, that's another matter. (At least, when it comes to live music performance.) And if you need any such enticement to make you want to hear more music by accordionist Richard Galliano, this is it:
For more Galliano tune in tonight to Tonic (6 p.m.) to hear a live recording made at the 2006 Jazz in Marciac Festival. (Until then, repeated watchings of the video are permissible.)
I don't think I've ever heard a bad recording of Sarah Vaughan, or I should say, a recording of Sarah Vaughan singing badly, though I suppose they might exist. But you won't hear that tonight, you'll hear "Sassy" in fine form, singing live at the 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival. If, that is, you tune into Tonic (6 p.m.)
And as a quite irresistible teaser here she is singing Summertime, recorded a few years later in 1975.
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), Bill Evans and his Trio at the Village Vanguard in New York, from recordings made almost half a century ago that remain on many desert island-type lists, as a survey by All About Jazz a few years back shows.
"The most cited live jazz recording by AAJ writers at the time was actually a pair of releases: Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside 9376, 1961) and Bill Evans, Waltz for Debbie (Riverside 9399, 1961), constituting the contemporaneously available afternoon and evening performances of the Bill Evans Trio at New York City’s Village Vanguard, Sunday, June 25, 1961."
They are fantastic recordings, as Adam Gopnik so ably explains in a lovely piece about the 1961 sessions. Written for the New Yorker, it's reprinted at the Bill Evans Pages.
There are many good insights in Gopnik's piece about the Evans 1961 sessions -- here's just one:
"They are as close to pure emotion, produced without impediments - not at all the same thing as an entire self poured out without inhibitions, the bebop dream - as exists in music. His music hints at the secret truth that New York is sad before it is busy, and that it is a kind of inverted garden, with all the flowers blooming down in the basements."
Tonic (6 p.m.) is gearing up for their fabulous win-a-trip-for-two to the Montreal Jazz Fest contest, which takes place June 9th to 13th. To enter you'll need to tune in during that time period and listen for the Daily Jazz Question. Here are the rules & regs if you want to start psyching yourself, or just ensure that you are not an employee of something rendering you ineligible.
And getting into the spirit of the Tonic contest a little early, here's today's Daily Blog Jazz Question:
Q: Which Canadian jazz trombonist was lead trombonist for many years with Rob McConnell's Juno and Grammy award-winning Boss Brass?
A: Ian McDougall. Good for you! No trips for two for that correct answer, I'm afraid, but if you tune in tonight you can hear a set McDougall and his band recorded live at the Cellar in Vancouver. (And as previously mentioned, tune in beginning June 9th to Tonic for your chance to win the trip to the Montreal jazz fest.)
To those of you who have been faithful to it in return...and to the Young in Heart...I dedicate Monday's version of Tonic (6 p.m.). And to those who are not faithful? Watch out for flying monkeys.
Yes, Tonic features some jazz interpretations of music from The Wizard Of Oz tonight from the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Abbey Lincoln and guitarist Greg Lowe.
I think it's a real testament to those Arlen/Harburg compositions that they are so entrenched in our musical consciousness, although I suppose you could make a case for it having something to do with compulsively watching the movie throughout one's life. (For those of us who have, and we are many.)
But there truly are some great songs in that score, something that did not go unrecognized back in 1939 either -- the Academy Awards for Best Song went to Over the Rainbow. Actually the instrumental score by Herbert Stothart also won an Academy award that year, for Best Original Score. (But you're less likely to hum that while wistfully looking over a wagon wheel.)
As the blog Soul Bounce once put it, "Common, Talib Kweli, Mary J. Blige and Timbaland have all benefited from Nina [Simone's] work. Is there any wonder why? Respect."
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear one of those remixes of Simone, not sure which tune, although it could be See Line Woman. A song which, depending on your age and musical tastes, you may only know from the Feist version, Sea Lion Woman. (Which she performed live at the Junos, much to the carping classes' dismay, they thought she should do 1, 2, 3 etc.)
Anyway, Feist's cover of Simone's famous version was addressed in this Q&A with Time Out New York, and I thought some might find it interesting:
"Q: On The Reminder, you cover Sea Lion Woman, which was popularized by Nina Simone. Were you at all hesitant to record a song so strongly associated with a giant like her?
I never thought about that, because it’s not like I’m trying to arm-wrestle with Nina Simone. She’s a genius! I first heard the song on a field recording from the 1930s. It’s a kind of school-yard-game chant sung by two little girls. Nobody knows who wrote it, but a lot of folk musicians in the ’60s claimed songs they didn’t write.
Q: Are you saying Nina Simone stole Sea Lion Woman?
She claimed to have written it, yes, and I took some rhythm ideas from her version. But it’s 40 years later, I’m a different person, it’s a different time. Music is more individual now."
Here's a live version of Simone giving a little lesson on how to sing See Line Woman.
Sorry, Jian and Q107, in this case the reference is to Quincy Jones. Because tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a set of tunes from the Quincy Jones Big Band recorded live in Paris back in 1960.
It was a good year, and here's proof. (Although I should warn you it's very brief -- but a great teaser for the music you can hear this evening on Tonic.)
And just a reminder, you can see and hear all the videos posted on the blog by going to R2Tube.
Cellar Live is a Vancouver-based record label created in 2001 by musician/producer/jazz club owner Cory Weeds. When he bought The Cellar Restaurant and Jazz Club in 2000 he also decided to record some of the great music that was played at the club. Well, seven years and I think almost fifty recordings later it's quite an archive.
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) presents some of the music recorded at The Cellar, in fact music by Cory Weeds himself (he's also a sax player) with his quartet, recorded in January. And here's a little write up of that recording and of Weeds own background, over on Jazz Elements.
A note for Tonic (6 p.m.) fans -- the show will end an hour early tonight in most time zones (ET, CT, MT & PT) due to the Montreal International Musical Competition. It's the first part of the live-to-air finals of the piano competition, so it promises to be very exciting listening.
But in case you're wondering what Katie has in the hopper for the part of Tonic you can hear, some of the highlights are music from DK Ibomeka, Jill Scott, as well as Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis -- R&B and jazz.
Miles, of course, is no longer with us, but Hancock is going strong. And actually he's still a young guy on the performing circuit, relatively speaking. That's relative to the musicians cited in a recent article about jazz octogenarians, including Teddy Charles, a vibraphonist who played with Miles. (Thus the segue!)
For fans of jazz and of healthy living, it's quite heartening to read:
"Five decades on, he [Charles] is still going strong — part of a generation of musicians living and working in the New York suburbs who are rewriting the live-fast, die-young jazz stereotype, said Dan Morgenstern, the director of the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark."
For the rest of the piece, click on over to the NYTimes, Jazz Survivors.
Teddy Charles, by the way, sounds like quite a guy -- "Captain Ted" not only plays the vibes, he also leads sea cruises, as you'll see if you go to his website.
Spooky coincidence! I happened to be listening to a new recording called Miles From India: A Celebration Of The Music Of Miles Davis, when I sat down to write about featured music coming up on Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening, only to see that Katie will be featuring music from the recording tonight. What can it mean?!? Absolutely nothing, but still.
It really is an interesting recording though, featuring some of India's foremost musicians collaborating with Miles Davis alumni, jazz musicians who worked with Miles at various points in his career. People like Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Dave Liebman, Marcus Miller and many others. (Wallace Roney gets to "be" Miles.)
What I've heard so far is very good, and to my mind very much in the spirit of Miles. In a bit of related trivia, recently there was a concert presenting some of this music live. To read more about that check out this article at All About Jazz -- and for a review of the show, here's Nate Chinen's piece in the NYTimes, mostly quite favourable.
And as usual, a live set on the show tonight to let you know about, from guitarists Tal Farlow and Lenny Breau, recorded live in Rumson, New Jersey in May, 1980.
The other day, a nice rainy holiday Monday, the other person who inhabits my house (a.k.a. the husband) was thumbing through the old jazz LPs, looking for old trio recordings by Oscar Peterson. Nothing else would suit his mood, nothing but Oscar. I like that in a husband.
Today on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can get a fix of Oscar Peterson too, when Katie features a set of tunes from the Oscar Peterson Trio recorded live at the Blue Note in New York City in March, 1990. I'm guessing those would be from the Telarc set of the four albums recorded in just a few days at the Blue Note, by Peterson with bassist Ray Brown, guitarist Herb Ellis and drummer Bobby Durham. Doesn't get much finer.
Years ago I read Lauren Bacall's first autobiography, which chronicled in fascinating detail her childhood in New York City, and of course her romance with Humphrey Bogart.
And also trivia, for instance how in her early movies the big brains in Hollywood tried to create a Bacall signature tune -- I think it was Hoagy Carmichael's Baltimore Oriole that was supposed to play every time she made an entrance. That idea died a quick death.
What stuck though, was "the look." You know the way she kind of looks down her chin, that beautiful face so demure as she makes remarks about knowing how to whistle? Apparently this was not contrived by those pulling the strings, it was because she was just plain nervous, particularly in her early films with Bogie, who was both devastatingly attractive and much older than she was. Anyway, one way to steady your trembling chin is to look down, right?
But enough of my fond memories of Bacall and Bogart, I invite you to hear some of Katie's tonight as she salutes the acting duo with music from their 1946 classic The Big Sleep.
And for you live show aficionados, I should also mention that tonight's concert is from vibraphonist Mark Sherman, recorded live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club in Basel, Switzerland in February of this year.
"My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious and subconscious way I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often -- in fact mostly -- at the expense of everything else in my life."
-Stan Getz
A remarkably honest thing for a musician to just come out and say -- it's true of many but admitted by few. Getz's quest for perfection started early -- he was a professional musician while still in his teens. He was considerably hampered by drug addiction in the 1950s, and more or less escaped to Europe for a while, as did many jazz musicians of the time.
When he returned to the U.S. in the 1960s it was to a comeback no one could have predicted -- via the Getz/Charlie Byrd fusion of jazz and bossa. That craze didn't last though, and by the late 1960s he was back in Europe.
But during the peak of his 1960's fame he played a date in Paris, one that you can hear part of tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) -- Getz with a quartet live in 1966.
Today on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a set of tunes in honour of Duke Ellington's 70th birthday, recorded at the White House in Washington, D.C. in April, 1969. Ellington died on May 24th, 1974, as a small note of May 2-4 trivia. So it's not just Victorian era music you should be playing this long weekend, but also Ellingonia!
As such, I thought I'd play one of Duke Ellington's "big requests" right here on the blog, Satin Doll.
Sorry about the ending, but worth it anyway, don't you think? And a small reminder -- to watch any of the music videos posted on the blog, please go to Radio2Tube.
Parkdale is one of the more interesting neighborhoods in Toronto, largely un-gentrified, although this is changing. It's mix of gritty city life at its most intense, and creative city life at its most intense. Many artists, pushed out of previously artist-affordable areas, have settled in this neighbourhood near the lake.
Singer Elizabeth Shepherd is one, which is one reason why her latest recording is simply called Parkdale. Today Tonic (6 p.m.) will be playing music from that disc (it's good, am listening to it as I write).
In the meantime here's a very, shall we say, casual video about the making of this recording -- including some of Shepherd's music, and her reasons for naming the recording Parkdale.
Not with a wild rumpus, but with Tonic's (6 p.m.) Friday evening mix, which includes music from vocalists Michael Buble, Denzal Sinclaire, Gail Wynters and Corinne Bailey Rae, as well as from guitarist Andrew Scott, and Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66.
Also, a live set from South African superstar, Jonathan Butler, recorded in Johannesburg last year. (Not to be confused with the popular Broooklyn real-estate blogger of the same name who blogs at Brownstoner.)
No, this Jonathan Butler is a guitarist who plays a mix of smooth jazz, R&B and gospel, and according to his website, wrote the first single by a black artist to be played by white radio stations in apartheid South Africa.
Tonic (6 p.m.) doesn't just play jazz, but they do play a lot of it, and tonight you can hear some from the likes of Monty Alexander, the Quincy Jones Big Band, Wes Montgomery and many others.
As you might imagine, given the passion of jazz fans, the world of jazz bloggin' is a fairly active one, including the intrepid Darcy James Argue, whose Secret Society blog has steered me to many interesting jazz related places, including this video of sax player Matana Robert talking about gender and jazz...in other words, what it is to be a woman playing jazz and to be constantly asked about that.
Now maybe that's too much talk for you, in which case, here is some music, from the aforementioned Mary Lou Williams, with Stan Getz. (Aforementioned in Matana Roberts' monologue.)
It's a sign of remarkable fame when a nickname conjures up the person. And in the case of Old Blue Eyes it also seems remarkable that it's already been ten years since he died. No wonder Frank beat out the other 50,000 contestants and wound up on a stamp, which just became available, south of the order.
According to NPR, originally the U.S. Postal Service was going to do the stamp in sepia tones, but Nancy kiboshed that, wisely, since as she put it, "wait a minute, where are the blue eyes?" Absolutely -- just look at them, gleaming preternaturally from that stamp.
North of the border, as in us, (Canada, CBC Radio 2, Tonic), you can hear a tribute to Frank Sinatra this evening, as Katie presents FrankSinatra related music on Tonic (6 p.m.). Of course you can also hear it around the world online for that matter, north and south of almost any border, just go to the menu on the R2 mainpage and click on Live Streaming.
Katie will play Sinatra tributes from vocalists Tierney Sutton and Joe Coughlin, as well as a set of tunes from the Chairman of the Board himself, recorded live at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in 1966. Ring-a-ding-ding!
The Pajama Game is a musical about labour troubles -- not of the birthing variety, think pajama factory. Yes, a musical about a labour dispute, not a contradiction. I think I've only seen the movie version once, though I thoroughly enjoyed it -- all those p.j.'s, the struggle for higher wages, romance -- what's not to like?
Today Tonic (6 p.m.) features some of the tunes from The Pajama Game, which opened on Broadway on May 13th in 1954. Probably the best known tune from it is Hernando's Hideaway, but you can also hear versions of Hey There and Steam Heat.
Meantime, just keep on knocking three times and whispering low, after all, you and I were sent by Joe, so strike a match and you will know, that you're in Hernando's Hideaway...OLÉ!
"Oscar Peterson was a very, very strict disciplinarian and (had) a wonderful work ethic and you don't just become the world's greatest jazz pianist by luck."
-Oliver Jones
Oliver Jones has always been overshadowed by the late Oscar Peterson, and has always, at least as far as I can tell, been thoroughly gracious about it. (As in this recent CP article.) The two came of age together, but obviously Peterson became a huge international star while Jones became a highly-regarded musician primarily here at home in Canada. Then he retired for a while, and was almost completely out of sight. That didn't last though, he came out of retirement a few years back, and has been going strong ever since.
Jones released a new recording last week, Second Time Around, his 12th for Justin Time, who are celebrating their 25th birthday. (Jones was actually the label's first signed artist.) Monday night on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear some music from Mr. Jones, I'm guessing from that new recording.
Also on the show, music from Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Campbell Ryga, Molly Johnson, Joe Williams among many others.
"Comes a rainstorm, put your rubbers on your feet
Comes a snowstorm, you can always find some heat
Comes love, nothing can be done..."
Lew Brown's Comes Love is a great song, isn't it. No wonder singers from Ella Fitzgerald to Joni Mitchell have sung it. And this evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) Tim presents three different versions and settings of the tune.
I'm guessing that one version might be from Canada's Polyjesters, who are featured on both Tonic and live in concert later on Canada Live (8 p.m.) today. So not to steal anyone's thunder or anything, but here's a bit of a home recorded video of the Polyj's acoustic cover of the song.
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was born on May 21, 1904, and became one of the most popular musicians ever. And why not, not only was he a consummate showman and stride piano player, he also wrote two tunes that I'll go out on a limb to say will never go away -- Honeysuckle Rose and Ain't Misbehavin'. (Also two of my favourite singing in the shower numbers, but that's neither here nor there.)
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) salutes the mighty Fats Waller, and this afternoon I salute him as well, with this film clip from 1935. Grainy and slightly politically incorrect in some places, and altogether delightful.
Well, she does have nice gams, I must say. Makes me wish I'd gotten beyond "shuffle off to Buffalo."
By the way, should you wish to see the entire "catalogue" of videos that have been posted on the blog, please go to Radio2Tube.
Kenny Dorham was kind of like the John Mcdonald of trumpet players -- just as Mcdonald is overshadowed by shortstops who might have more hitting power (and let us all take a moment to hope Johnny Mac's current ankle injury doesn't put him on the DL) Dorham was overshadowed by trumpeters who had more flash, or bigger personalities -- people like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.
But he was a great trumpet player, and tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie plays a live set Dorham recorded at the Cafe Bohemia in New York in 1956.
By the way, according to Keep Swinging, Dorham's daughter, Evette Dorham, is writing a book about her father. Hope that comes to pass.
Cole Porter's musical Can-Can opened on Broadway on this day in 1953. I guess the best known songs from it are It's All Right With Me ("...though your lips are tempting they're the wrong lips...") and I Love Paris ("...in the springtime, in the fall, when it drizzles sizzles..." etcetera).
So you assume it was a hit, right? Well, some critics have viewed the score as "second rate." According to one Porter biographer, William McBrien, the critic Kenneth Tynan wrote that it was Porter at "half-pressure, a frail trellis for a multitude of internal rhymes..."
To that I say, hey buddy, Porter's trellis beats most composers' arboretums. Take that. Yes there were other more successful Porter shows, but regardless, there were some great songs in Can-Can, and as it is the anniversary, on Wednesday evening Tonic (6 p.m.) will celebrate with music from the musical.
Ah, just thinking of being in Paris at this time of year is so sigh-inducing, isn't it, I do love Paris in the springtime.
And so does Doris Day.
Yes, a little too much Eiffel Tower, but still nice to see those images...
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie is featuring jazz from trombonist Steve Turre, the Glenn Hall Trio, and a live set from the Michel Petrucciani quintet, recorded in Metz, France in November, 1991.
And since we're talking jazz, you may be interested to know that Oliver Jones released a new recording today, Second Time Around, his 12th for Justin Time. The indie Canadian label celebrates its 25th birthday this year and Jones was actually the label's first signed artist, so it's fitting that he releases this recording for them -- a quarter century later.
As for the album title, Second Time Around, that's a little joke-- in 2000 Oliver Jones officially retired, but then released a recording last year called One More Time.
This all provides me with a good reason to put up a video of the Oliver Jones Trio doing Just A Closer Walk With Thee. Despite the annoying high frequency, it's still terrific -- and some great shots of Oliver Jones in performance.
A lot of great musicians have had mentors who are also great musicians, only stands to reason. That's one of the areas of music education Tonic (6 p.m.) explores tonight, as a reflection of Music Monday.
I'm sure most musically-inclined people remember someone, or someones, who changed our lives musically. A teacher, a friend, a parent. Because though obviously much of music education is about learning the mechanics, the techniques, the principles and the history, a lot of it is about learning how to listen, and having great music to listen to. Something I imagine the Marsalis kids grasped from a very young age...as this version of the family playing Struttin With Some BBQ shows.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on May 3, 2008 at 04:56 PM
Get sociable Saturday on Tonic with the great "cong-istador" (yes, I made that up and I quite like it) Poncho Sanchez, who'll bring us the Ultimate Dance Party!
Sociable host "Tim Tam" has new recordings from Vancouver's Cellar Live label, music from Sergio Mendes and some great duos. You'll also hear from Nancy Walker, Mike Allen and One Up One Down.
PS - technically the term for a conga player is "conguero".
Posted by Philly Markowitz on May 2, 2008 at 05:03 PM
Get your weekend off to a great start this evening with Tonic. You'll hear music from the films "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (yeah, baby!) and "The Postman Always Rings Twice."
Also, a set of tunes from the Deep Blue Organ Trio recorded live at the Green Mill in Chicago. Plus Brazilian funk from neo-bossa favourites Trio Mocoto, great vocals from Stacey Kent, and jazz guitar from Herb Ellis with the Oscar Peterson Trio.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on May 1, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Tonic will rock your Thursday evening with music from the funk band Down to the Bone. Katie will also have some new music from soul singer Estelle, samba from the Paulo Ramos Group and great neo-be-bop jazz from drummer Daniel Barnes.
Plus a set of tunes recorded almost 20 years ago in Glasgow by a quartet led by saxophonist Stan Getz, whose sweet and mellow tone has no doubt launched thousands of romances (including the one with my husband, many years ago). It's my guess that only Barry White can be credited with more!
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 30, 2008 at 04:35 PM
Katie has music from the Modern Jazz Quartet, singer Bobby McFerrin and the vocal jazz ensemble Take Six this evening on Tonic.
If you only know Bobby McFerrin's work through his relentlessly cheerful reggae-lite pop hit "Don't Worry, Be Happy", you might be surprised by the depth and richness of his artistry. McFerrin can coax music out of every part of his body, and if you've ever seen him in concert, you'll know he can coax it out of the audience, as well. Yes, I was one of those people who jumped up on to the stage at Roy Thompson Hall for a little 3-part harmony improv years ago. How could I resist? The man is magnetic.
Here's a personal favourite of mine (notice the mic placement):
You'll also hear from vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, singer Emilie-Claire Barlow, and saxophonist Coleman Hawkins in this special one-hour edition of Tonic starting at 6:00 (6:30 in NL).
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 30, 2008 at 09:05 AM
Here are 2 things you need to know for an optimal day of listening today:
1 - The two special edition Canada Live Podcasts recorded at the Junos and hosted by Jian Ghomeshi are only available for a limited time. If you'd like to give them a listen, you'd better download them soon: they'll only be available until the end of the day Friday May 2nd Monday 2 June. The shows feature music from Joel Plaskett, Jeremy Fisher, Serena Ryder, Alex Cuba, Tegan Quin, Jay Malinowski and Corb Lund.
2 - Our broadcast schedule will be adjusted again this evening for the special live-to-air edition of Canada Live from the Choral 2008 Finals. As a result, Tonic will run for one hour between 6:00 and 7:00 (you know the deal for NL). The Choral 2008 special begins at 7:00 (7:30 NL) and runs roughly 3 1/2 hours... which also means a late start for The Signal.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 29, 2008 at 04:23 PM
It's a special abridged edition of Tonic tonight, heard from 6:00 to 7:00 (6:30 to 7:30 NT). Katie is volunteering her second hour this and tomorrow evening to the live-to-air broadcasts of Choral 2008.
To get the evening of song started, Katie's got lots of great singing including songs from Regina Belle, Dr. John, Boyz II Men and Stephanie Laliberte. There'll also be music from Nicola Conte, the Chris Gale/Vanessa Rodrigues Group and from Brazilian singer Vitor Ramil.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 28, 2008 at 04:19 PM
Katie has a little musical inspiration from golden-voiced Sam Cooke tonight on Tonic. It's for all those students studying for exams right now (and I bet you can guess what song it's likely to be).
You'll also hear Latin jazz from Mongo Santamaria, soulful tunes from Jacksoul and Robin Thicke, and great classic jazz from Billie Holiday, John Coltrane and more.
Plus there's a set of tunes from guitarist Oliver Gannon and his quartet, recorded live at The Cellar in Vancouver.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 26, 2008 at 12:22 PM
But make sure you've got your radio on.
Tim Tamashiro invites you to hit the road with him this Saturday evening on Tonic. He'll have great travel tunes from Dianne Reeves and the Steve Koven Trio.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 25, 2008 at 04:34 PM
The accent's on soul this evening on Tonic -- or perhaps I should say soul food.
Why? Because Katie will have a tune from the great Booker T and the MGs (one of my all-time faves). Have you ever noticed how many of Booker's tunes are named for foods? There's his massive hit "Green Onions" from 1962, of course, but there are many, many more food tunes including: "Mo' Onions", Jellybread", "Plum Nellie", "My Sweet Potato", "One Mint Julep" and "Soul Jam". And those are just from his first 4 LPs!
The way to Booker T's heart is obviously through his stomach, but he can always reach my heart through my ears. That Hammond B3 - oh my! What a sound.
If you love the B3, you might want to have a look at this video I discovered following the unexpected death of the great Doug "Dr. Music" Riley last August. It features 3 of the world's best B3 jazz players on the stage at the same time: Doug Riley, Joey DeFrancesco, and Dr. Lonnie Smith with (an overly-ebullient) host Paul Shaffer. Admittedly, Shaffer was being inducted in Canada's Walk of Fame that evening, so I can see why he was excited.
If the late Jimmy Smith had been there it would have been sheer B3 heaven -- although you have to admit this confluence of B3 greats gets pretty darned close.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 23, 2008 at 05:04 PM
This evening on Tonic you'll hear Latin sounds from the Caribbean Jazz Project. The group was created by vibraphonist and marimba-player Dave Samuels in 1993 and has since carved a niche for itself as a premiere pan-Caribbean ensemble. With stellar turns from pioneering jazz pan-steel drummer Andy Narell and Cuban-born saxophonist Paquito d'Rivera, the band creates cool new sounds inspired by hot climes.
Also on Tonic tonight, some nu-soul from Omar and a jazz treatment of a theme by Rachmaninov from the Classical Jazz Quartet. There'll be music from Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra, plus a couple of tunes from the Paul Desmond Quartet recorded live at the 1976 Edmonton Jazz Festival.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 22, 2008 at 05:30 PM
Tune in to TONIC this evening for great jazz from the Ignasi Terraza Trio, pianists Oliver Jones and Michael Kaeshammer, and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.
There'll be latin jazz from Poncho Sanchez and guitarist Irio de Paula as well as soul music from DB Clifford, Lucy Pearl and the fabulous Ms. Jully (that's pronouced "Joo-lee") Black.
Ms. Black was recently blogged about by Hollywood gossip-monger, Perez Hilton. Hilton ranks Ms. Black's talents above those of the newest soul sensation from the UK, wannabe Amy Winehouse usurper, Duffy.
While you're poking around online, be sure to visit Jully's site, too. Every time I check in, Jully has something fun to report about hanging out with her mom or watching a movie with her nieces and nephews in between network TV appearances and magazine cover shoots. Jully signs off most of her blog posts with "big smooches". How can a person resist?
Hollywood may love Jully Black as a superstar (as well they should), but Jully's got her head on straight and her priorities right, as far as this music-loving Canadian mom is concerned.
Posted by Philly Markowitz on April 21, 2008 at 04:53 PM
Did you know that New York City designated last week (April 14-20) as "Tito Puente Week"? To honour what would have been the gifted percussionist's 85th birthday, one of his long-time collaborators, singer Yolanda Duke, prepared an entire week of musical celebrations. Then she went to her local Congressmen, Senators and Councillors and encouraged them to make the celebrations official.
I'm sure it didn't require a lot of arm-twisting. The entertaining and talented mambo-king and big band leader was a cornerstone in New York's music scene for 5 decades, and his legacy lives on to this day in NYC's thriving Latin-jazz and salsa communities (not to mention in endless re-runs of The Simpsons, on which he was a musical guest.)
I like to think that Tito Puente Week is a fitting "Nu-Yor-Rican" response to the Jazz Appreciation Month celebrations taking place throughout April at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C..
Tonight on Tonic, Katie Malloch will bring us some of Tito's music, and a whole lot more including David "Fathead" Newman, recorded live at the Village Vanguard in New York City nearly twenty years ago.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 19, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Jazz musicians don't seem to have done the job the way the poets have when it comes to April. Yes, it's both National Poetry Month and Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). And while I have heard some publicity for the former, I'm afraid the latter is all but invisible. Although to be fair, that may be because "JAM" is an initiative of the Smithsonian in the U.S., and just hasn't spread to Canada yet.
Yes, they're busy south of the border with all kinds of jazz-awareness-raising initiatives, including issuing a free poster of Ella Fitzgerald. But thanks to Tonic (6 p.m.), JAM is getting some airplay, as it were, in Canada too. The weekend Tonicians celebrate Ms. Fitzgerald, leading lady of the JAM campaign, by featuring her music this evening, as well as the music of other great jazz artists.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 18, 2008 at 05:00 PM
This evening's Tonic highlights include vintage soul from The O'Jays, latin rhythms from Poncho Sanchez, vocals from Canadians Michael Kaeshammer, Dione Taylor and Melody Diachun, and jazz from drummer Jimmy Cobb.
And as per usual there is a live set, tonight featuring the latin jazz ensemble Saudade, with the Quebec Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble directed by trombonist Jacques Bourget. It's taken from an "archival" show, recorded live in Montreal in October, 1998.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 17, 2008 at 05:05 PM
"Kenny Burrell, that's the sound I'm looking for." This quote has been attributed to Jimi Hendrix, and I have no reason to dispute it. And interesting to consider, for Hendrix fans.
Anyway, Kenny Burrell is a monster guitar player, although as far as I know, also a nice man. (Just so you don't take monster the wrong way.) And tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a live set from the 75th birthday bash held for Burrell, recorded live at Yoshi's in Oakland, California two years ago.
Right here you can hear him with Bill Evans and a pretty zippy little version of Take The A Train.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 16, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Don't know what it is? You can find out today on Tonic (6 p.m.), when Katie plays some, from the Budos Band. But not just retro-funk, she also plays New Orleans gris-gris music, courtesy of Dr. John. (I wonder if anyone has tried a hybrid, retro-funk gris gris?)
And speaking of Dr. John, who is always a marvel to behold and hear, here he is. As one person commented after listening to this: "Dr John truly knows how to lay down that good gris gris chatter ... barks with the best of 'em."
Posted by Li Robbins on April 15, 2008 at 01:30 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) salutes the unforgettable Billie Holiday this evening, with covers done by DK Ibomeka and Ranee Lee, and we salute her here on the blog as well.
Did you know that April, as well as being the cruelest month and National Poetry month, is also Jazz Appreciation month in the U.S.? (Designated as such by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, apparently in part because many significant jazz musicians were born in April. Count back nine months, summertime, and the living is easy.)
Anyway, NPR has a nice set of small tributes to jazz musicians as a result, including one to Billie Holiday called A Lady Day Primer.
And here she is with an amazing lineup including Roy Eldridge, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and many others, with Fine And Mellow, from 1957.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 14, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Katie has jazz from pianist Gene Harris, saxophonist Scott Hamilton and drummer Carl Allen tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), plus what has been described as "a vintage set from 1999 from saxophonist Mike Murley." Seems funny to think of 1999 as vintage, but given how active Murley continues to be on the scene it's not a bad way to describe it!
Some of the other highlights on this evening's show include music from the Bernard Primeau Jazz Ensemble, Alberta’s Tanga, and Canadian vocalist Melissa Stylianou.
Canadian, yes, but making a name for herself Stateside, as they used to say. Here she is in performance at the club, Jazz Standard, in New York City.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 13, 2008 at 05:00 PM
A wee Tonic (6 p.m.) bulletin -- tonight on the show you can hear music by Ella Fitzgerald, Randy Napoleon and Sillan & Young. Plus some Cuban-influenced music from Hilario Duran and Alexis Baro, and music from Juno award winning bass player, Brandi Disterheft.
Speaking of, in the wake of both Junos and National Jazz Awards, some are suggesting that the west has the jazz scene won. For example this article in the Vancouver Sun, B.C. Jazz Hits The Right Note says:
"Even the winners of this year's jazz Junos (Chris Tarry, in New York, and Brandi Disterheft, in New York and Toronto) are transplanted Vancouverites. But the National Jazz Awards, presented Tuesday, suggest B.C. is becoming a hotbed of cool."
Posted by Li Robbins on April 12, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) is brought to you by the letter 'Q' (I wonder if Jian Ghomeshi knows this?) today, with music by Quincy Jones, Queen Latifah and Ike Quebec. Also, Poncho Sanchez plays Bodacious Q from his Ultimate Dance Party recording.
But then it's an ABC -- as Tim puts the spotlight on CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award winner Chris Andrew and some great B3 organ. (Get it? Andrew, B3, Chris? What, you think that's a stretch?) Anyway, Chris Andrew is an Edmonton-based pianist, composer and arranger, and if you'd like more info on his Galaxie honour, go to Chronograph Records.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 11, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Who doesn't need it? We need it, Soul Power, we need some, come on and get some...
Ah, the marvels of James Brown, you can probably hear him in your head just reading the above paraphrase of the lyrics, if you know the song, Soul Power. And if not, one window into the Godfather of Soul is presented this eve on Tonic (6 p.m.), with a "Jungle Funk Remix" of the song.
I'm telling you, ya gotta get down down down.
OK, no longer channeling Soul Power, and moving on to some other highlights on the show: you can also hear music from the trio of pianist Lorraine Desmarais and from the quintet of guitarist Jeremy Hepner, as well as a set of tunes from platinum-selling and Grammy Award-winning Jill Scott, recorded live in Paris.
Posted by Li Robbins on April 10, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Tonight the live set on Tonic (6 p.m.) is from the Keith Jarrett Trio, performing in Juan-les-Pins, France in July, 2002. Jarrett, (who appears not to have an official website, btw) is notoriously particular about how audiences and stage crew should themselves perform (or not) during his concerts, over matters including photos, sound, stage lights etc. etc. It's an attitude which was recently written about following a concert in San Francisco, by reviewer Jim Harrington.
"The three musicians then came into view and kicked things off with, not a song, but a complaint. It seemed that the stage lights were too bright for the band leader. Then the lights were too dim. That led to a fairly lengthy monologue about one memorable concert where the stage lighting was really bad. (I'll spare you the details since the rant was exactly as interesting as it sounds.)"
Some view him as unnecessarily obsessive, others as a perfectionist, still others as simply knowing what he needs to play music well. Regardless, some of Jarrett's best performances are live, as anyone who has ever listened to the Köln concerts knows. And in fact the above review, which featured the trio, went on to say:
"I had a hard time recalling any instance when I'd seen three players perform so naturally together. Their playing is so exceptionally intuitive, even by jazz standards , to the point where one might charge them with being telepathic."
p.s. Guess the audience for the concert Jarrett played in Venice a couple of years ago was on best behavior, since clearly Jarrett is showing his appreciation of his fans in this photo!
Just a quick note, apropos of jazz, (see last post), this evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear music tonight from the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Geoff Lapp Trio, saxophonist Mike Murley, James Brown, Roy Hargrove's RH Factor and Stevie Wonder. What a nice mix...Isn't Katie lovely...
South Pacific opened on Broadway on this day in 1949 -- the Rogers & Hammerstein musical included such unforgettable tunes as Some Enchanted Evening and the washing men out of hair song.
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear music in honour of the anniversary, with tunes from the musical performed by vocalist Nancy Wilson, pianists Oscar Peterson and Miles Black, bassist Dave Young, saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. Speaking of Nancy Wilson, I do hope that she is OK, reports last week were that she had been taken to hospital -- and I've seen no updates as to the state of her health.
As for South Pacific, if you are a Sunday New York Times reader (and there are few greater pleasures, of a Sunday) you'll know that the new star of the much-buzzed-about revival of the musical is Brazilian Paulo Szot. (Yesterday's article, with a great opening by Jesse Green, is called You May See A Stranger.) Szot is an opera singer, and many who are fans of Broadway know not of him, and so I humbly submit a video, below, showcasing his considerable talents. (Not with material from South Pacific, but I'll keep my eye out for that too...)
Also on the South Pacific front -- Will Friewald, writing in the NYSun has a small but interesting piece on the vast catalogue of jazz interpretations of the music of South P., an article headlined South Pacific Lives On In Jazz.
Just a quick note to let you know that Tonic (6 p.m.) celebrates the Junos this evening. Tim will be playing tunes from this year’s nominees, including opera star Measha Brueggergosman singing with the Jive Kings, plus great vocal jazz from Michael Kaeshammer, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Deborah Cox.
The folks at Tonic (6 p.m.) are promising vintage Philly soul from The O'Jays to get your weekend off to a good start tonight. (Think Love Train. I don' t know if that's what they're playing, but it sure would fit the bill of good weekend-jump start music.)
Also on the show today, a live set from John Legend recorded at S.O.B.'s in New York City. Legend, as you probably know is a pianist/R&B singer who is very successful -- five Grammys to his name, among other accolades. I've heard some pretty fine music from that S.O.B.'s recording, btw.
And a few more musicians you may want to catch: jazz guitar from Jason Crawford, and classic vocals from Mel Torme. Not to forget excellent Canadian musicians though -- you can hear Toronto drummer Barry Elmes, and music from singer/songwriter Shirley Eickhard's latest CD too.
A quick note about some of the music you can hear tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) -- Katie will be playing Dinah Washington, guitarists Mark Whitfield and Ronny Jordan and drummer Jay Boehmer. Also, some soul from Stevie Wonder, Remy Shand, and the British duo Rae & Christian.
The live set is from the John Pizzarelli Trio, recorded live at Birdland in New York City in September, 2002. I hope Katie plays him doing Frim Fram Sauce, which I believe he recorded at Birdland. Love that song. And what's not to love with lyrics like these?
"I don't want fish cakes and rye bread,
you heard what I said.
Waiter, please serve mine fried.
I want the frim-fram sauce with the ausen fay.
With chafafah on the side."
The history of CBC's involvement with jazz goes way back -- and a few choice bits of that history are available online, through CBC Archives -- for example this multi-media timeline of Oscar Peterson, or this clip with Dave Brubeck.
But it's a living history too, as you can hear on Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight, when Katie features highlights from the CBC Records release Live Jazz Legends, which was recorded (live, no surprise) in Montreal and Vancouver. The CD features great music from five of Canada's jazz veterans: saxophonist PJ Perry, trombonist Ian McDougall, pianist Oliver Jones, bassist Michel Donato and drummer Terry Clarke.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 31, 2008 at 05:10 PM
Two very different pianists, right? But you can hear both tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.).
Omar Sosa is one of the many jazz musicians these days developing a different kind of jazz -- one where elements of the performer's own cultural background (in his case Cuban) are fused with jazz in a way that is more integrated, less self conscious than some of the music in this vein from previous eras. (In Sosa's case also not what you would consider Latin jazz.) If you're interested in this direction in jazz, you may want to read Nate Chinen's recent piece in the NYTimes, A Hybridist Jamming With the World.
And then Gene DiNovi, who for many years graced Toronto's classiest piano bars, when there were such things. The live set you'll hear tonight was recorded at a jazz club though, the (now defunct) Montreal Bistro in 1993.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 29, 2008 at 03:07 PM
Some funny kind of coincidence, or is there a similar creative spark fueling some of R2's producers and hosts this weekend?
Tomorrow on In The Key Of Charles, (Sunday 10:00 a.m. on R2, 9:00 a.m./10 a.m. Atlantic on R1) Gregory Charles' theme is fire-related; today on Tonic (6 p.m.) Tim features “fire” tunes, along with music from Andrew Glover, Dianne Schuur and Metalwood.
And speaking of fire...yes, I know I've put this up before, but it's SO great, and blogs being what they are, it's easy to miss posts... so once again, here's Leonard Cohen with Sonny Rollins doing whatever the tenor sax equivalent of shattering glasses is, on Cohen's Who By Fire.
Sonny Rollins, just incredible.
By the way, if you want to see any of the videos that have been posted on the blog, please go to Radio2Tube.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 28, 2008 at 05:00 PM
I've always liked Cannonball Adderley, his eloquent solos, that soulful way he had about him. And the name, Cannonball, which reportedly was because he had a big appetite as a kid (and as a man, judging from pictures), resulting in the nickname "Cannibal," which devolved to "Cannonball."
So nice work on the Tonic (6 p.m.) front that tonight they have something of tribute to the alto sax player, with music from Campbell Ryga, Terence Blanchard, and Nancy Wilson.
On the non-Adderley front, you can also hear music from Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Marcos Valle, vocalist Sabrina Malheiros and the Alberta group Bomba, plus, neo-soul from the Platinum Pied Pipers.
I thought you might look twice at that. The Platinum Pied Pipers are a hip hop/soul/R&B duo, who among other things do a cover of Paul Simon's Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 27, 2008 at 04:17 PM
There's some great jazz piano from Bill Charlap, Hank Jones and Bill King tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) And if you are a fan of jazz, you may be interested in having a look at Jazz Video Guy, a YouTube channel devoted to jazz related videos. It's a collection of some good videos either about jazz, or featuring concert footage, or interviews with jazz musicians, as is the case with the video below. It's an interview with another, great pianist -- Bill Evans, talking about his approach to playing jazz.
And as always, all the videos posted on the blog are in one place, at Radio2Tube.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 25, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Much saxophone playing tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) with tunes from Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Canadian tenorman, Ryan Oliver.
As always, where there's an instrument there are passionate advocates, and for those with a passion for the sax, you may be interested to know about the North American Saxophone Alliance. Their biennial conference is coming up, so if you're truly dedicated you might even want to head to the U. of South Carolina to take it in, from April 16 - 19. Or you may just want to listen to Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Ryan Oliver.
Posted by Peter Cook on March 24, 2008 at 03:57 PM
On Tonic this evening (6:00 PM, 6:30 NT), there'll be latin music from percussionist Ray Mantilla and guitarist/vocalist Vinicius Cantuaria. You'll hear jazz vocals from Dee Dee Bridgewater and from Lambert, Henricks & Ross.
Trekkies take note: there will also be music inspired by StarTrek from bassist Christian McBride. Plus, a set of tunes from the trio of pianist Oliver Jones recorded live at Sweet Basil's in New York in 1987.
Posted by Peter Cook on March 23, 2008 at 04:53 PM
Countdown with us! TONIC has Naturally 7, Take 6 and neo-bossa group Tape 5 on Sunday evening. We'll feature some impressive vocal crossover artists like Jully Black and Deborah Cox and some great Canadian Orchestras.
We'll also play some music from the jazzy newlyweds Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap. And you'll hear from The Yellowjackets, Shirley Horn and Hamilton's Afternoons in Stereo.
Posted by Peter Cook on March 22, 2008 at 04:43 PM
Tonic begins a half hour later than usual today: 6:30 pm (7:00 NT)
There's music for your jazz sweet tooth on Saturday's edition of TONIC with 'White Chocolate' from Julie Lamontagne and Queen Latifah's 'I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl'.
You'll hear from Ed Bickert, Buddy Guy and Wes Montgomery.
And Tim's got three Lang's on deck: Jake Langley, K.D. Lang and Jonny Lang -- in two different duos.
Now if Lang Lang took up jazz we could have a royal flush!
Posted by Peter Cook on March 21, 2008 at 05:03 PM
TONIC slides into the holiday weekend - for those of us who haven't started already - with elegant jazz from guitarists Ed Bickert, Russell Malone and Tal Farlow, bassist Jodi Proznick and saxophonist John Coltrane.
There'll be tunes of a spiritual nature from Ray Charles and Mavis Staples, as well as some smooth jazz from drummer Jay Boehmer. Plus, a concert set from the trio of pianist Gene Harris recorded live at the Otter Crest Inn in Oregon in 1981.
Posted by Peter Cook on March 20, 2008 at 04:58 PM
Tune in to Tonic this evening to hear singers Freddie Cole, Sophie Milman, Queen Latifah, Curtis Stigers and Gail Wynters. There'll be some vintage soul from Donny Hathaway and some nu-soul from Jill Scott, plus a concert tribute to Ray Charles from saxophonist Maceo Parker.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 19, 2008 at 05:06 PM
Having it drawn to my attention earlier today that the President of the United States sent a letter to the Governor of Wisconsin, praising the (originally) Canadian group The Nylons, on the event of a Nylons 25th anniversary concert, it seems an odd coincidence upon looking at a website devoted to Lionel Hampton to see that the previous President Bush should have sung Hamp's praises. But it is so.
Regarding the Nylons (who are performing at the Overture Centrer For The Arts as the mayor of Madison proclaims "Nylons Day" on Friday) the current President Bush said: "I send greetings to those gathered for the 25th Anniversary of the Nylons performing in Madison, WI. This event provides an opportunity to celebrate musical traditions that bring joy to people and speak to every heart. Your efforts reflect the creativity of the human spirit and celebrate the unifying power of music. Laura and I send our best wishes."
Regarding the late great Lionel Hampton, Bush Senior said: ""Lionel was a dear friend of Barbara's and mine for over 40 years. Lionel Hampton was a national treasure. His career represents the very heart and soul of America's music, jazz."
He got that right. But Bush wasn't the only President to admire Hampton -- and even play with him -- yes, that is indeed Bill Clinton on sax in that photo, during Hampton's 90th birthday celebration at the White House in 1998. Mr. Hampton passed away four years later, but left a huge legacy of music, some of which you can hear tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) -- a set of tunes from the vibraphonist recorded live at the Blue Note in New York City. I don't think Bill was sitting in that time though.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 18, 2008 at 05:00 PM
I once met Ray Brown, the bass player so associated with the famous Oscar Peterson trio. I was doing a newspaper interview with him, and let me tell you, he took no prisoners. He clearly expected that anyone coming to talk to him about jazz had better know their stuff. Somehow, based on this meeting, I find it difficult to imagine him playing amidst the lattés and laptops, but maybe the Seattle Starbucks had a real concert stage or something? Because that's where he was when he recorded the set of tunes you'll hear tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) -- Ray Brown, live at Starbucks, in Seattle in 1999.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 17, 2008 at 05:18 PM
OK, that was a little cheap, since Tonic (6 p.m.) is not suddenly playing music to accompany go go dancers. No, it's a live set from Cafe au Go-Go in New York City that you can hear on the show tonight, with a performance from Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto. And on the jazz front -- highlights include music from guitarists Jim Hall and Richard Ring, and trumpeters Kevin Dean and Chase Sandborn. The blues? Tunes from Skip McDonald and Michael Kaeshammer.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 16, 2008 at 03:33 PM
A bit of a "strings" theme on Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight, with music from Sultans of String, Zubot & Dawson and Marc Atkinson's String Bustin' Rag.
On a vaguely related note (hey, it's a blog, free association allowed on occasion) if you've been hearing a lot about Canadian singer Basia Bulat lately, as her career seems to really be taking off (enabled in part by kudos from NPR), and you happen to like interesting arrangements with strings, you might want to listen to a song at Bulat's MySpace site, Someday . It's a rehearsal take featuring lovely pizzicato strings. Nothing mind-blowing, but sweet, and little window into her creative process.
But back to Tonic, because there's more than just strings on tonight's show -- other highlights include tunes from Nat King Cole and Nat Adderley, and a spotlight on trumpeter Kevin Turcotte, as well as music from Kathleen Grace, Chris Gale and The Puppini Sisters.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 15, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Few things are as infectious and driving as boogie woogie, it's music designed to clear the cobwebs out. Tonight you can hear a bit of a boogie focus on Tonic (6 p.m.), with Dirty Boogie from swing king Brian Setzer, and some boogie from the late boogie master, Doug Riley.
And speaking of boogie and "driving," I've always thought that Mondrian painting, Broadway Boogie Woogie is a neat visual representation of both the music and of New York. Wish I had the rights to reproduce an image of it for you, but as I don't, I'll direct you boogie-woogie/art curious types to Dark Matter Magazine.
What I can do right here though, is share a little Boogie Woogie Dream, with Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson. Love those eyebrows! Not to mention the wonderful music...
Posted by Li Robbins on March 13, 2008 at 04:40 PM
Tonight the "live" set on Tonic (6 p.m.) comes from 1958, a set of tunes from Ella Fitzgerald recorded live at Mister Kelly's in Chicago.
Until then, here's something to glue you to your computer screen.
As is often the case with these things, you have to ignore the slight out of sync-ness, but if you can get past that -- wowwwww. And that Hard Day's Night thing! You know, even if Ella is not your favourite jazz singer, you just can't help but be boggled at such a performance. Well and truly boggled.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 12, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Yes, tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear Latin/Brazilian music galore from Tito Puente, Trio Mocoto, Marisa Monte and the Bernard Primeau Jazz Ensemble. Thinking on this made me realize that I don't think I've ever linked to any of the excellent Latin music blogs that are busily documenting the prodigious output of Latin musicians.
So here's one small step to start righting that wrong, with La Onda Tropical, an MP3 blog about "good latin music," which includes "culture-defining or eclectic, mainstream or alternative, tropical or popular, but always interesting and exotic." Well, I don't know about the "exotic" part of it, but I'm not going to quibble over wording, no indeedy, not when the musical content is so entertaining.
Posted by Li Robbins on March 11, 2008 at 04:28 PM
This evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) there'll be tunes from vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves, Natalie Cole, Andy Bey and DK Ibomek.
And there will also be a feature on music from Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, recorded in 1959 and still considered by many (including moi) to be one of the best jazz recordings to date. (Also apparently still the best selling jazz recording ever, according to a piece at NPR the recording still sells an average of 5,000 copies a week!) And speaking of NPR, I wanted to point you to the profile they have about Kind Of Blue, where you can hear interview clips from Bill Evans and others about the making and significance of the recording. But ya'll come back to Tonic after that, y'hear?
Posted by Li Robbins on March 10, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Let's see, the Golden Globes, the Oscars, The ECMAs, the Indies...award season is swiftly moving towards its conclusion, nicely timed to coincide with springtime (which I know will be a source of relief for those who feel this winter has been a tad burdensome in the snow department).
Of course Canada's biggest music awards, the Junos, are yet to come, slated for Sunday, April 6th. And a number of shows are starting to showcase some of the nominees, including Tonic (6 p.m.), tonight they play music from Jully Black and Richard Underhill. Black, by the way, is also performing on the Junos show itself.
Tonight's Tonic (6 p.m.) includes much good music, for example:
Joshua Redman performing Charlie Parker
Mark Eisenman with a composition presumably for Bird, called Parker 102
Music from Maceo Parker
So yes, a bit of a "various Parkers" theme on the show.
And, thinking of Charlie, I thought I'd post this for your pre-Tonic enjoyment, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, with Hot House, complete with Japanese subtitles, from 1951 or '52
After that slightly awkward Downbeat presentation it's pretty amazing, isn't it?
You may have heard of Song For My Father, or A Child Is Born, or Waltz For Debby, but on Saturday's Tonic (6 p.m.) it's all about jazz for brothers. Starting with Four Brothers from trombonist Russ Little and music from the Brubeck Brothers.
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a set of tunes from the late Oscar Peterson, recorded live in Munich in 1998.
You know, when writing about the Oscar Peterson tribute that took place in January, following his death in December, I tried to include as many "reviews," and online tributes as possible during that time. But I missed this very nice piece about that event, written by Laila Boulos. So here it is now, describing what it was like to attend that tribute, written for The Live Music Report, and called Oscar Peterson -- Simply The Best. And speaking of that memorable occasion, you can also still hear the performances and speeches on CBC R2's website, at Concerts On Demand: Oscar Peterson Tribute -- Simply The Best.
Tonic (6 p.m.) takes to Brazilian music tonight, with tunes from Rosa Passos, Orlandivo, Tania Maria and Caetano Veloso.
In related news, I don't know if you saw this the other day -- reports from the BBC and others that Carly Simon, who is the latest singer to sign to Starbucks Hear Music label, is releasing a recording on that label inspired by Brazilian music.
"You don't have to be singing bossa nova or samba to get the essence of Brazilian music," she told Billboard mag.
Hmm, what does this mean, exactly? The album is supposed to come out April 29, will have to wait and see.
Also in Brazilian music related news -- though from a decidedly different kind of musician, Eugene Hutz, leader of Gogol Bordello -- apparently he's thinking of incorporating some Brazilian influences into his music too, after spending much time there -- he told Boise Weekly that he'd be using more Brazilian style percussion and horns. Not a surprise, really, given that Gogol Bordello is kind of like a carnival unto itself!
This evening Tonic (6 p.m.) brings you soulful music from John Legend, the Staples Singers and Anita Baker, music by Billy Joel played by the trio of pianist Brian Browne, as well as a Leonard Cohen tune sung by Madeleine Peyroux. (And if it's Blue Alert, I've said it before and I'll say it again...it's a wonderful version...)
Plus, great Canadian jazz from pianist Oliver Jones, bassist Curtis Counce, saxophonist Mike Murley and guitarist Russell Malone.
No, that's not PJ Perry playing latin jazz and vintage soul, but you can hear a live set of music from the Canadian sax player, recorded live at The Cellar in Vancouver, tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.)
The Latin jazz comes from percussionist Poncho Sanchez, pianist Arturo O'Farrill, and vibraphonist Cal Tjader, and the vintage soul comes from from The Sweet Inspirations, or "The Sweets," as Elvis called them.
Speaking of soul, of the many kinds of music blogs out there, the soul blogs are some of the best, in terms of the way they just keep digging deeper into the music, sharing information, not to mention posting great looking album covers. I'm thinking of blogs like Soul Sides. But there's one I used to look at and somehow foolishly deleted from the regulars in a fit of cyber housekeeping one day, and can no longer find, nor can I recall the title of the blog. So this is my little plea that if anyone know of the blog I speak -- guy posted regularly, great info about old and new soul music, was based in Britain, please do pass along my way.
It's not an easy thing to bring fresh life to jazz standards. There's a reason they're called standards, after all, they've been played and sung umpteen times. I think it's especially difficult for singers to bring something new to standards -- or to simply sing them in a way that has real impact.
One singer who is, to my mind, a real exception to the "another singer doing standards, groan" trap, is Tierney Sutton, and tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear her in a live set with a great band, recorded at Birdland in 2005.
(Photo note: Sutton looking glam at something called the Snowflake Ball, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on November 28, 2005 in New York City.)
Just so you faithful Tonic-ites know, the second hour of the programme this evening is pre-empted today by CBC Radio 2's broadcast of the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Though you can hear the full Tonic on Radio 1 at 11.)
And in a related note, there's music in the first hour of R2's Tonic broadcast (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.) from one of the songwriter's honoured in the gala, Paul Anka. For more about Anka, do check out Paul Anka: Canadian Songwriter's Hall Of Fame.
Sometimes the tyranny of caffeine is wearying. You wake up, you must procure it, and then within hours it is needed again. Or maybe you're a wiser sort, and have sworn off it in both coffee and tea forms, and smugly sip your Rooibos. (Feh, I say. Who needs such wisdom.)
Caffeine of course has also been the subject of musical exploration, and today Tonic (6 p.m.) takes a little listen to bean-inspired songs and band names, including Toronto's flamenco band Café Ole and Café Rumba from guitarist Kevin Laliberté.
And then there's using caffeine to disguise other, deeper addictions, as with the lyrics to Java Jive, sung here, (in a slightly surreal performance), by Manhattan Transfer.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 29, 2008 at 05:10 PM
As well as the usual unusual mix on Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight, (for example the Geoff Lapp Trio, singer Denzal Sinclaire, Italian trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso, D'Angelo, Sergio Mendes and Gilberto Gil), there's also a set of music from South African singing superstar Jonathan Butler, recorded live in Johannesburg. Butler, generally considered in the "smooth jazz" camp. (An unfortunate term, but there you are, it's widely accepted to mean something -- what that is would require much more than a blog post.)
Butler has an interesting background, which he's incorporated into a lot of his music -- he was born in Cape Town during apartheid. Reportedly one of his early singles was the first by a black artist to be played by white radio stations.
His latest album is a gospel recording called Brand New Day, came out last year, I confess I've not heard it, so I'll turn to a review on the website Gospel Flava, which says: "His urban, smooth jazz, and cultural influences are fused together with his faith to render what is virtual freshness in the sometimes-stale music climate today. "
Posted by Li Robbins on February 28, 2008 at 05:05 PM
The Tonic (6 p.m.) mix tonight includes some great Canadian jazz from drummer Sandro Dominelli, pianist Oscar Peterson, saxophonist Yannick Rieu, the Joel Haynes Trio and the Dave Turner Latin Sextet.
Also, tunes from Feist, Leela James, pianist Monty Alexander and the Quincy Jones Big Band. Plus, a contemporary take on gypsy jazz from the father-and-son guitar duo of Romane and Richard Manetti. It's interesting how popular "gypsy jazz," (a la Django Reinhardt, sometimes called "jazz manouche,") continues to be, considering what a specific sound and era of jazz it was. One resource you might want to check out if you'd like to explore the music is called, succinctly enough, Gypsy Jazz. You may also want to listen to Homage to Stéphane Grappelli -- a Concert On Demand featuring violinist Gilles Apap.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 27, 2008 at 03:00 PM
This evening on Tonic (6 p.m.), a set of tunes from saxophonist Dexter Gordon, recorded live in Copenhagen in 1967. Noting this made me recall having seen Dexter Gordon play on an occasion when he was not in the greatest of shape. And poking about to hopefully find some performances when things were going a little better for him, came a cross this mini (6:00 or so) "documentary" piece on Gordon...interesting, and some great snippets of music.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 26, 2008 at 04:15 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) will be playing a range of music including much jazz tonight, as per usual. In this evening's case with a featured set of tunes from the quartet of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond recorded live in November, 1975 at Bourbon Street in Toronto. Ah Bourbon Street, I remember it and its clusters of grapes. In fact once I was at Bourbon Street and saw Oscar Peterson walk in -- to listen, not to play -- and throughout the room you could hear excited whispers of "O.P. is here!" a moment I've never forgotten.
This weekend there will be a tribute to the late Oscar Peterson, at the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame, which will be broadcast this upcoming Sunday on CBC Radio, that's March 2nd from 7PM to 10PM.
The performers will include Dione Taylor, the Faith Chorale and Oliver Jones performing Peterson's Hymn To Freedom and Ellis and Branford Marsalis doing Wheatland, both from Canadiana Suite.
And here are some of the other performances you can expect to hear -- it's quite a lineup:
Posted by Li Robbins on February 25, 2008 at 02:15 PM
Coming up this afternoon and early evening, DiscDrive (3 p.m.) and Tonic (6 p.m.). And for those of you who like a sneak peek at the listening possibilities, here ye be:
On DiscDrive you can hear Tafelmusik with excerpts of Handel’s Water Music, music from Pat Metheney, Mariam Matossian singing of a Partridge, and David Wilkie joining The McDades on The Trail to Mexico. (As well as lots of other music...)
Posted by Li Robbins on February 24, 2008 at 04:49 PM
So says Tonic (6 p.m.), and you can hear Ray Charles' right hand man, David 'Fathead' Newman on the show as a result. And what the heck, why not a little preview right here.
Totally agree with the person watching on YouTube who said "There is no sweeter sound that David Newman's tenor!"
Posted by Li Robbins on February 23, 2008 at 03:36 PM
There's nothing like a good market. Where I am now, in Paris, markets are around every corner it seems, lurking to tempt unsuspecting appetites. Several small, neighbourhood markets have had such excellent produce and cheeses (oh, the cheeses), you can only walk away thinking you never, ever want to shop in a supermarket again.
But these little markets come and go, depending on day of week and local shopping habits. Some markets, like Toronto's Kensington, span many city blocks, and their feast is not moveable, it's there all day long.
Because of that there's music in the markets too, little bars and clubs and afterhours, and sometimes music on the street. Many's the time I've heard Richard Underhill playing there. Once, if memory serves me correct, from a rooftop with a bunch of other horns, during a solstice ceremony.
And today you can hear him on Tonic (6 p.m.), with music from his Juno-nominated Kensington Suite.
But just so as not to be too Toronto-centric, Vancouver sneaks into the show too, with Robson Strut, from Mike Allen.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 22, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Here's what's coming up tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.): music from Robin Thicke, taken from the soundtrack to the movie Step Up 2: The Streets, music from saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist Bill King, the Hutchinson Andrew Trio and vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway, Diane Nalini and Slim Williams. Plus, a set of tunes from Corinne Bailey Rae recorded live in 2006 at New York City's Webster Hall.
btw, on the subject of vocalists and of jazz...and yes, I know this is a Toronto only gig, but it strikes me as marvelous that it's happening at all -- the great Jon Hendricks of Lambert Hendricks and Ross, who is 86 years old, will be performing with Jane Bunnett, Don Thomson, Larry Cramer and others on March 5 at Hugh's Room. Just saw that news the other day and thought I'd share for those of you Ontariario way.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 21, 2008 at 03:45 PM
Salt Peanuts, as the Dizzy Gillespie classic, is one of those goofy kinds of novelty songs that's hard not to like. Salt Peanuts, as a club in New York City, was the site of an Etta James concert, with sax player Houston Pearson, that you can hear tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.)
Speaking of Etta James, you may have heard that Beyoncé Knowles is set to play James in an upcoming movie set in the 1950s, about blues, Chicago's Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, and stars like Etta James, Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon.
Some seem to be kicking off at the notion of Beyoncé playing James, but she wasn't half bad in Dreamgirls. (Although you have to wonder, why not, say, Jennifer Hudson? But maybe she's too busy, she's in both the upcoming Sex And The City movie, and Secret Life Of Bees, according to MTV.)
And that's all the celeb gossip for the day.
(In case you're wondering about the photo, that's Etta James performing during the 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.)
Posted by Li Robbins on February 20, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Laila Baili, as you may know from hearing her CBC recording, From Sea To Sky, is swiftly becoming one of Canada's young jazz/pop stars, so it's no surprise that she's slated to perform (along with the likes of Nikki Yanofsky) at April's National Jazz Awards.
Check her out for yourself -- tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a set of tunes from pianist/vocalist Laila Biali recorded live at the 2005 Vancouver Jazz Festival.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 19, 2008 at 04:44 PM
This evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie Malloch brings you her customary mix of jazz, soul, R&B and world music, plus a set of tunes from Brazilian music legend Marcos Valle recorded live in April, 2000 in Montreal.
Speaking of Brazilian music, on the weekend I was listening to the superlative Gilberto Gil solo recording, Luminoso, and I made a note to check and see how Gil, Brazil's culture minister, was doing in the wake of reports of health problems a few months back.
I'd missed some major news, as it happened -- at least for Gil fans. He now has his own Gilberto Gil YouTube channel. And, lo and behold, Gilberto Gil was in Montreal on the weekend, speaking at the closing of McGill University's conference on Canadian identity, called, in nice provocative fashion, Are We American? According to The Gazette, he told a packed room: "People are more engaged to participate in politics in new ways, and it's all outside the electoral system."
Much of Gil's work in politics relates to ideas of the creative commons approach to copyright, so it's no surprise that this seems to be what his speech focussed on. And good to know that he is well enough to be agitating, as always -- not to mention performing -- should you be in Brazil or England -- he's doing a series of shows in March.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 18, 2008 at 05:10 PM
Your daily Tonic (6 p.m.) tip -- tonight you can hear reggae from the French group Kana, some creole music courtesy of the Montreal-based ensemble Kalalou, and an Irving Berlin tune sung by Dr. John. Plus, music from trumpeter Donald Byrd and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, recorded live in 1960 at the Half Note Cafe in New York City.
Here's quite the quote about Adams, attributed to Mel Lewis:
"We called him 'The Knife' because when he'd get up to blow, his playing had almost a slashing effect on the rest of us. He'd slash, chop, and before he was through, cut everybody down to size."
Posted by Li Robbins on February 16, 2008 at 05:00 PM
"River: The Joni Letters by Herbie Hancock can be understood as a celebration of the academy’s more high-minded pop impulses." So said Ben Ratfliff in the New York Times, in the wake of Hancock's Grammy victory last week. I tend to agree with most of Ratliff's analysis of why this particular recording should win, as it is only the second jazz recording ever to have done so. Anyway, thought if you haven't read it, you might be interested. You can do so at NYT Arts, and as always, if you seem to be locked out, it's just a matter of signing up -- for free.
On a jazz related programming note -- tomorrow night Tim will play some Grammy winners on Tonic (6 p.m.) and tonight you can hear compositions by Duke Ellington, and Vancouver's Jodi Proznick with the bass slappin' Duke Of York. There's also a spotlight on Toronto's Neil Swainson, great jazz from Winnipeg and music from the UK, plus music from June Christy, Campbell Ryga and Michael Kaeshammer.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 15, 2008 at 05:00 PM
It's an interesting thing to listen to jazz radio from various broadcasters, and parts of the world -- I've been doing that a bit more than usual lately, given my current location in Paris. And I must say, Paris does have some good jazz radio. (Though some of it seems playlist oriented -- if you listen for a stretch you're bound to hear the same tunes -- felt like I heard Stacey Kent singing Ice Hotel about a dozen times over the course of a few days recently.)
But I've yet to hear a programme that is similar to Tonic, in terms of the kind of mix it plays. Case in point, tonight's show starts with tunes from saxophonist Maceo Parker, bassist Michel Donato and jazz singer Maureen Kennedy, shifts into music by Ibrahim Ferrer, the New Zealand group Fat Freddy's Drop, and the Duke Ellington Band, and then plays a set of tunes from the Juno Award-nominated CD Jazz Legends, featuring some of Canada's finest jazz talent.
And of course you can hear Tonic (6 p.m.) every day, weekdays with Katie Malloch, weekends with Tim Tamashiro.
(And yes, speaking of jazz in Paris and Mr. Ellington, there he is in Paris in 1969 getting a kiss from a showgirl at the Alcazar club -- looks like quite a seventieth birthday party!)
Posted by Li Robbins on February 14, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Legend has it that Duke Ellington once described Frank Sinatra as "total theatre," an excellent description of a man who by many accounts truly seemed to live each song as he sang them. That phrase "he inhabited the song," is one that frequently pops up in reference to Sinatra.
You can hear some evidence of that tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), as Katie plays a set of tunes recorded live at The Sands in Las Vegas. (The Sands being the site of the Rat Pack's infamous “Summit at the Sands” in 1960, shooting for the movie Ocean’s Eleven by day, playing the hotel and casino by night.)
But here the ring-a-ding-ding is all from Frank, and it's just one part of a V-Day show that also includes romantic tunes from singer Marilyn Monroe, pianist Richard Whiteman, saxophonist Fraser MacPherson, and "make-out music" from Johnny Gill, Anita Baker and Javier. Before 8pm no less!
Posted by Li Robbins on February 13, 2008 at 05:00 PM
If you go to pianist Horace Silver's website, you'll see what seems to be a motto for Mr. Silver, excerpted from his autobiography, Let's Get To The Nitty Gritty:
"I have been blessed to walk among and perform with some of the greatest geniuses in this music we so call lovingly call jazz -- I hope that I may inspire some of the youth of today as these musicians inspired and continue to inspire me."
I think he can rest easy, inspiring the next generation is in the bag. This is the guy who wrote tunes like Nica's Dream, Song For My Father, The Preacher, songs that are part of the jazz repertoire today, and have been sampled by musicians working outside of the jazz sphere as well. And even more than that, he helped create one of the fundamental jazz sounds, hard bop, which he then went on to funkify.
All this to say that tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a live set from Horace Silver's quintet, recorded at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
Oh, and one more quote -- this one I've seen attributed to Cecil Taylor: "I found Brubeck's work interesting until I heard Tatum, Horace Silver, and Oscar Peterson within a period of six weeks. But when I heard Horace, now that was a thing which turned me around and finally fixed my idea of piano playing."
Posted by Li Robbins on February 11, 2008 at 05:21 PM
"Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell. Thank you so much," is what Herbie Hancock said when River, his tribute album to Mitchell, won album of the year at last night's Grammy awards.
And then he went on to say: "It's been 43 years since the first and only time that a jazz artist got the Album of the Year award. I'd like to thank the academy for courageously breaking the mold this time and in doing so honoring the giants upon whose shoulders I stand." That first and only time was for the Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz collaboration, Getz/Gilberto, in 1964.
A proud moment for all those involved in jazz, and that includes Tonic (6 p.m.), hosted by someone with a deep knowledge of the music -- Katie Malloch. This evening on the show she has loads ' music as always, including tunes from Dizzy Gillespie, singer Freddy Cole with the Bill Charlap Trio, and singer Sophie Milman. Plus, a set of tunes from jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, recorded live at the Blue Note in New York City.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 9, 2008 at 03:55 PM
The weekend Tonicians suggest that February is the perfect time to travel -- and it is, unless like me you leave your hometown in the middle of a raging snow storm, as I did earlier this week. Anyway, I'm pretty sure they were also talking warm destinations, Cuba or Mexico and the like, not chilly Europe. (Not that I am complaining, believe you me.)
So Tonic (6 p.m.) is on a bit of a travel kick today, playing Shirley Horn singing Travelin' Light (a song that I can't separate from Billie Holiday, much as I loved Shirley Horn's singing) and they play music from Pat Metheny's new disc, Day Trip.
Plus, today a jazz label spotlight on artist-run independent label Cornerstone Records. I like the quote they have on their homepage:
"Canada is terra incognito for many American jazz fans. Too bad. Cornerstone Records has a chance to change that."
-Art Voice
And speaking of Canadian jazz -- have you seen the Juno nominees lists? If not, they're listed here. Towards the bottom, but don't let that put you off.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 5, 2008 at 05:00 PM
You know that saying, "it'd make a dead man get up and dance." If there's one kind of music that fits that description, it'd have to be zydeco.
And today being Mardis Gras, the final day of carnival, no better time for the music of Clifton Chenier -- played tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) That link will take you to a tribute page, to get a little taste of his music. Also, here's a nice little clip from a doc, the clip featuring Chenier playing live. (Yes, I know, it's a sales pitch for the documentary, but well worth viewing!) Happy Super Mardi Pancake etc. Tuesday, y'all.
Posted by Li Robbins on February 4, 2008 at 02:09 PM
A double header for you -- of highlights for the afternoon/early evening programming today. First, on DiscDrive (3 p.m.) music from Michael Kaeshammer, Don Ross, Mischa Maisky, Dave Brubeck, Renée Fleming, Joni Mitchell, Ben Heppner, the Kronos Quartet, and the CBC Radio Orchestra.
Then on Tonic (6 p.m.) music from John Coltrane, Toots Thielemans, Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker, Tom Waits, Michael McDonald, Angie Stone, Molly Johnson and China Forbes.
And if that's not enough music for you, you may want to check out these recently posted Concerts On Demand:
Posted by Li Robbins on February 2, 2008 at 03:05 PM
If you have a sweet tooth for jazz, the weekend Tonicians tell us that "our cravings are sure to be satisfied with tonight’s Tonic (6 p.m.)." What this means is music like White Chocolate from Julie Lamontagne, and Queen Latifah singing I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl.
Now, in a slight and yet connected digression, in looking ahead to a sojourn in Paris and what music I might hear there, I happened on this very sweet post from a young Canadian who heard her first jazz concert in France recently. She's Une Canadienne En France, and here's a quote:
"I love how jazz is so improvisational, with the members exchanging knowing glances and subtle, almost indiscernible, movements and cues. The solos are so natural and flowing and somehow the group always comes back together seamlessly. They build on one another’s playing, constantly synthesizing and answering back."
Posted by Li Robbins on February 1, 2008 at 03:37 PM
I don't know about you, but I have definitely been feeling sun-deprived, warmth-deprived, giddy-parties-on-the-street deprived. When I heard the Escola de Samba de Toronto (see Like The Jamaican Bob Sled Team) was heading to Brazil, I felt a distinct pang -- how great for them, but why can't I go too. But then, I can't play drums, so I would be somewhat disadvantaged.
I guess Katie Malloch is feeling a little S.A.D. too though, at least musically speaking, since tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) she launches Carnival season with music from Brazilian vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Max de Castro, the Hatian ensemble Tabou Combo, and pianist/vocalist Eliane Elias, among others.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 31, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), a plethora of singers including Denzal Sinclaire, Ivana Santilli, John Legend, Joe Williams, Madeleine Peyroux and the Iseley Brothers.
And a live set from the Kevin Dean organ band, recorded at Upstairs Bar & Grill in Montreal. And, crafty segue, it being Organ Thursday, here's your Online Organ Hit Of The Day: JazzWax on the Deep Blue Organ Trio.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 30, 2008 at 04:42 PM
Tonight's live set on Tonic (6 p.m.) is from the vocalist Andy Bey, recorded live at Birdland in New York City in May 1997. The Reader's Digest bio on Bey is that he was a child prodigy (early appearances included the Apollo Theater and sharing stages with performers of the Louis Jordan, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington stature -- before he was 18.) You may also know him from his work with his sisters, Salome and Geraldine -- as Andy & The Bey Sisters they played all over Europe in the 50s and 60s. And then he went on to work with too many to list -- but they included McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Thad Jones.
OK, slight jump cut here. On the weekend I was listening to About Oscar on Inside the Music on Sunday (which will continue this Sunday at noon), and though I'd heard it before, I was still stopped in my tracks by Oscar Peterson's vivid descriptions of the racism he experienced while on the Jazz at the Philharmonic tour.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 29, 2008 at 03:47 PM
This evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) a concert set recorded in 1999 of Ray Brown, at, of all places, a Starbucks in downtown Seattle. (I'm trying to view this in a positive light, not as an indication of the health of jazz venues in Seattle.) There is a recent indication of the healthy state of Canadian jazz though, with yesterday's announcement of the 2008 National Jazz Awards nominees. The theme of this year's awards is A Tribute To The Next Generation, and there certainly are lots of up and comers to celebrate.
The performers at this year's ceremony, held at the Palais Royale in Toronto on April 8th include the awards hosts -- Kellylee Evans and Michael Kaeshammer, as well as the Mike Ruby Quartet, the much talked about 13 year-old phenom, Nikki Yanofsky, the Brandi Disterheft Quintet, the Elizabeth Shepherd Trio, Laila Biali Trio, Alex Bellegarde, and October Trio.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 28, 2008 at 04:01 PM
Monday night's edition of Tonic (6 p.m.), includes a bunch of Brazilian music, from artists like Marisa Monte, Paulo Ramos, and the 90-year old Brazilian samba legend, Jamelao.
And speaking of things musical and Brazilian, some great news from a Canadian samba group --- the Escola de Samba de Toronto (pictured distantly here) has been invited to perform in Jundiaí, Sao Paulo for 5 nights Feb 1-5, and they'll be guests of honour in the city's street parade on the 2nd.
Escola director Alan "Canadense" Hetherington says, "To them, we're like the Jamaican bob sled team only in reverse. They appreciate that people in Canada are carrying on this tradition."
The Escola de S de T has a nice website too, promoting samba and related music in Canada, called Samba Toronto. And of course Brazilian music being as popular as it is, the online sources are multiple. Many are quite specific, such as The Brazilian Muse, which is specific to Brazilian music in New York City, or Choro Music, which focusses on that particular style, and Loronix, which concentrates on "forgotten music not commercially available."
Meantime, congratulations, Escola de Samba de Toronto!
Posted by Li Robbins on January 26, 2008 at 02:30 PM
Ah, this is what's needed on a chilly, late January Saturday, some gospel to get out of any winter funk. Today Tonic (6 p.m.) plays some gospel from Mavis Staples and Tangle Eye, and the first disc in three years from the Blind Boys of Alabama. (Though that recording leans more to the New Orleans jazz side -- but still so soulful...)
If there was an artist in that list you might not know, it was probably Tangle Eye, who remixed Alan Lomax's field Southern field recordings on Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed. Contributing contemporary musicians include Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., Galactic guitarist Jeff Raines, pianist Henry Butler, old-time fiddler Dirk Powell, bluesman Corey Harris, keyboard work from Davell Crawford, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and bluegrass Dobro virtuoso Rob Ickes, and the recording was generally quite well received when it came out a few years back.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 25, 2008 at 04:00 PM
The Cellar is a restaurant/jazz bar in Vancouver that's only been around for about five years, but has become one of Canada's established jazz venues -- and more power to 'em, long may they run.
This evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie plays a set of tunes recorded live at The Cellar, featuring two of Canada's best known sax players, Campbell Ryga and P.J. Perry, longtime friends and musical colleagues -- in fact their live recording is called Joined At The Hip. For more about that collaboration, you may want to check out a nice Q&A at Earshot. Or just listen. Or both!
Posted by Li Robbins on January 24, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) features a set of music from pianist Michel Camilos’ trio, recorded live at the Blue Note, in New York in March of 2003.
Camilo is one of those musicians who thrives on playing in front of an audience, and I love this story he tells of a performance a few years ago in a theatre in Malaga, Spain. (A rather nice smallish Spanish city where Picasso was born -- and home to a most interesting and fairly new Picasso museum, just as a travelogue aside...didn't hear any jazz on a recent visit there though...)
"In the middle of our show, with a thousand people in the audience, we suddenly lost power. Not just amplification, but all lights, air conditioning -- everything. We were truly 'Unplugged!'
With our eyes, we could not see each other on stage, we could not see our instruments, and we could not see the audience. But we could see all of these things with our hearts. So what did we do? What else could we do? We played. We played and played, sending notes into that warm Spanish night. And we listened, as the audience – mostly strangers to one another – came together as one."
Posted by Li Robbins on January 23, 2008 at 05:00 PM
You may know Gregory Charles best as a radio host, if you're a listener to CBC Radio 2 on Sunday mornings. His show, In The Key Of Charles, has gotten a very strong response from many listeners. But of course Monsieur Charles is also an accomplished musician with a thriving solo career, singing in both French and English, and you can hear an example of that tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.).
And vibes fans take note -- also featured on tonight's show, a concert set recorded live at the Blue Note in New York City in June, 1991, featuring the all-star band of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 22, 2008 at 05:00 PM
"Happy, talk, keep talkin' happy talk...you gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how are you gonna make your dream come true?"
Some days I think true wisdom lies within the lyrics of musicals. Even if you do sometimes have to put aside proper English and the real world to find it.
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) takes this route by accentuating the positive with some "happy" music to perk up those who need perking. (And in light of the economic horrors, not to mention the deprivation of sunlight, it does seem timely!)
So Katie is playing, among other artists, Nancy Wilson, (who just wailed during Simply The Best, the tribute to Oscar Peterson held recently), I assume singing Happy Talk from South Pacific. (As quoted at the beginning of this post, and as hugely reinvented in her version with Cannonball Adderley.)
Also on the happy front, tunes from Carol McCartney, guitarist Mike Rud, pianist Mark Eisenman and many others. C'mon, forget your troubles and just get happy! (Don't worry, I won't take the Pollyanna bit as far as "don't worry, be happy" though. Alternative Musical Reality aside, I'm more of the, "worry, but be happy" school.)
Posted by Li Robbins on January 21, 2008 at 04:00 PM
There are some musical partnerships that are so successful the artists' names are enough to evoke not just a sound you hear in your mind upon seeing the names, but also time and place. I think Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto qualify in that category -- you think bossa, the 1960s and martinis, (the first time around), right? Anyway, this evening on Tonic (6 p.m.), you can travel back in time to the Cafe au Go Go in New York City for a 1964 concert set with the pair.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 19, 2008 at 02:27 PM
You know how sometimes your ears are opened by one particular musician? And then it's like a doorway into a whole new world of music? For me, a singer who forever changed my idea of what jazz singing was all about was Carmen McRae, so decisive and unafraid, with that extraordinary phrasing, and somehow she was so mature. Her's was a very compelling way into a song.
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) gets going with Ms. McCrae singing Old Devil Moon. And then continues with a devilish theme, as Art Farmer performs That Old Devil Called Love (counteracted by Hilario Duran playing Angel Eyes).
But back to the magnificent McRae. Check out this performance of I'm Gonna Lock My Heart And Throw Away The Key. And when she tells you she's throwing away the key, boy, you'd better look out!
Posted by Li Robbins on January 18, 2008 at 02:33 PM
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) a set of tunes from the Miles Black Trio recorded live at The Cellar in Vancouver, vintage soul from The Marvelettes, some Canadian/Latin music from the group ¡Bomba!, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut channels "The King," Elvis Presley.
You know, for years I meant to read that Peter Guralnick two-book biography about Elvis, (The Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley/Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley and then recently I finally did. Huge volumes, it's like reading Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, or something, you could squash a small child with the things if you're not careful.
The first book provides an amazingly detailed account of Elvis' life pre-fame, but there's a certain level of detail that would really only interest complete-ists. But by the time you get to the second book, all of that preparation and detail is what makes the rest of the story of Elvis so much more understandable, and so much sadder. What an incredible talent. And so is Guralnick's. (Sorry about that link to a commercial purveyor of books, but oddly, can't seem to find a web page for the author.)
Anyway, good to know that a jazz piano great like Cyrus Chestnut gets that -- strikes me that to some Elvis became just a buffoon, and nothing could be farther from the truth. There's a little interview with Chestnut about this over at NPR. In it he says:
"I started listening and what I found out is that there are some similarities. Elvis loved blues and gospel. I love blues and gospel, so hence a connection. It was not my intention to re-create Elvis, just give an interpretation."
Posted by Li Robbins on January 17, 2008 at 05:04 PM
Just a quick note to say that tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) saxophonist Maceo Parker pays tribute to Ray Charles, in a concert recorded live on a 2007 European tour. From one musical giant to another...
Posted by Li Robbins on January 16, 2008 at 05:01 PM
No, not New Year's Day babies, but a bunch of new Canadian music tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.). Katie will be playing music from K.D. Lang's upcoming CD release, Watershed, which marks the 25th year of her career. There'll also be music from Canadian singer/pianist Fern Lindzon's latest recording. (Hey, a million years ago I played duets with Fern -- guess she kept practicing...) And you can also hear music from trumpet player Kevin Dean's most recent CD as well.
Of course Canadian jazz has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, as you undoubtedly know, because of the passing of Oscar Peterson. And just a reminder -- you can hear the tribute to O.P. as a Concert On Demand, by going to Oscar Peterson -- Simply The Best.
Also, despite my ongoing mentions of various matters IAJE, I neglected to note that on Sunday past there was a discussion at the conference about jazz blogging, which included Cdn. journalist Carl Wilson, taking some time out of Celine de-Dionifying. He has some good links regarding that discussion (the jazz blogging one, I mean) over on his blog, Zoilus. Was also pleased that the excellent music of Darcy James Argue (Canadian in NY) was so well received...
Posted by Li Robbins on January 15, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Last week I heard Oliver Jones on Q, over on Radio 1, talking about his friend and mentor, Oscar Peterson, in advance of the tribute, Oscar Peterson -- Simply The Best. He didn't say too much -- with words. What he really said was in the music he played -- even through my office stereo, broadcast from a little radio studio, live, it was beautiful and expressive.
I think there is a sense now that Jones is carrying the torch, in terms of the founding history of jazz and pianists in this country. Nice that on Tonic (6 p.m.) that torch continues to be carried on the air -- you can hear Oliver Jones tonight playing some Jerome Kern.
Lots of other music on the show too, of course, including jazz French horn (!) played by James Macdonald, and some blues played on the Hammond B-3 by Jack McDuff, sung by Terry Morrison.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 14, 2008 at 04:30 PM
On Monday, Tonic (6 p.m.) features a concert set from the Dave Brubeck Quartet, recorded live at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Now the University of the Pacific, Brubeck's alma mater, is home to the Brubeck Institute, which was established there in 2000.
And in the wake of the International Association for Jazz Education conference, held in Canada the past few days, I thought it might be interesting to get Brubeck's take (and oh, am I resisting a bad pun involving the word "five" here) on formalized, institutionalized jazz education.
"Back in the ‘40s, the thought of a jazz studies program at the Conservatory of Music was inconceivable," says Brubeck. "We weren’t even allowed to play jazz in the practice rooms. Although I was enrolled in the Conservatory as a music major, I was also engaged in an unauthorized course of study, playing jazz piano in nightclubs and dance halls, gaining real life experience as a musician and performer. This was my internship and initiation into the world of music making. Now, such performance opportunities are created in the Fellowship program that allows talented students to focus on practice and performance while learning from professional musicians and visiting jazz masters."
Posted by Li Robbins on January 12, 2008 at 03:00 PM
I know I've written a lot in the past week about both the About Oscar documentary (originally broadcast on Tonic, re-broadcast starting tomorrow on Inside The Music) and the tribute concert taking place today, Oscar Peterson-- Simply The Best. It's been a funny kind of comfort to do so. I guess when you care about the music someone made, and they're no longer around to make it, there's something about keeping their name, their music, in the eyes and ears of the public that helps relieve the sadness over the loss.
Maybe it's a way of saying goodbye. Not that Oscar Peterson was a personal friend of mine, but boy, his music sure has had an impact on my life. The beauty of his touch on the piano, his fantastic chops, the majesty of both his playing and presence. And even though today's concert marks an end to a certain period of time following Oscar Peterson's death, fortunately his stature is such that I 'm sure his music will be played for years and years to come.
Today you can hear the tribute concert on Radio 2 at 8:05, in place of the usual Canada Live broadcast. As well, you can listen live at 4:05 on Radio 1. And at some point this evening, Oscar Peterson -- Simply The Best Concert On Demand will have the audio from the Roy Thomson Hall tribute online, for those of you who can't tune in for the broadcasts, but would like to hear how people like Nancy Wilson, Gregory Charles, Herbie Hancock, Monty Alexander, Bob Rae, and many others, celebrated the memory of Oscar Peterson.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 11, 2008 at 12:30 PM
The final segment of the documentary, About Oscar, will be broadcast Friday evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) Fittingly, it looks at both his later years and at his legacy.
That legacy, and Peterson's importance as a musician and a person is being celebrated Saturday, at the tribute concert you've probably been reading and hearing about all week: Oscar Peterson -- Simply The Best.
Musicians including Nancy Wilson, Phil Nimmons and Monty Alexander, among many others, will be there to perform or speak about Peterson. Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, will speak at the event, as will Oscar Peterson's youngest daughter, Celine Peterson. And the concert finale will feature Peterson’s Hymn To Freedom, sung by Measha Brueggergosman with Faith Chorale, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and the University of Toronto Gospel Choir, under the direction of Andrew Craig.
CBC Broadcast times are as follows:
Radio 1 4:05pm – 6:00pm/Sirius 137 (4:05pm ET - 6:00pm.)
Radio 2/Espace Musique 8:05pm – 10:00pm
While there have been many tributes and obituaries written, as well as a certain amount of scrutiny over the seemingly never ending debate as to whether Peterson's formidable technique overshadowed the emotional quality of his playing (most recently in an article by Paul Wells in MacLeans, Death Of A Working-Class Virtuoso), it's been an unexpected pleasure to stumble on other kinds of observations about Peterson's importance, for instance this piece about the particular loss trumpet players might be feeling, written by Matt Collar, called Oscar Peterson and the Angel Gabriel -- Duets with Trumpets.
And of course, as always, it's most satisfying to turn to the music. For instance this version, recorded live at Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977, of You Look Good To Me.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 10, 2008 at 03:45 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) continues its salute to Oscar Peterson this evening with Part Seven of the documentary series, About Oscar.
Tonight's Tonic episode is The Price of Fame, which takes a look back at Peterson's family history, and the pressures a life on the road can exert on a family. This is something Oscar Peterson reflected a lot on, particularly later in life, and is also explored in the NFB documentary his niece, documentarist Sylvia Sweeney, made about her famous uncle, In The Key Of Oscar.
Tonight's episode also looks at Peterson's later work, including some of the music he did on keyboards other than the acoustic piano, and it touches on the reunion of his famous trio.
And though I've steadily been blogging about the upcoming weekend's concert celebration, in case you've missed it, we now have much relevant info up on the site about Oscar, and the concert, called Simply The Best. Note that Oscar Peterson: Simply The Best, Concert On Demand will be available sometime on Saturday night.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 9, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Last night two more additions to this Saturday's tribute to Oscar Peterson were announced -- legendary singer Nancy Wilson (that album she did with Cannonball Adderly still sends shivers), and Quebec singing star (and host of Radio 2's own In The Key Of Charles), Gregory Charles. Many other great musicians are also involved (Monty Alexander! Quincy Jones!) and full details are further along in this post.
The concert, held at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, is free, no advance tickets -- I predict they'll be lining up for hours. But if you can't actually be at the concert, CBC is providing the next best thing, with the following broadcasts:
Radio 2 and SRC Espace Musique at 8:05pm – 10:00pm. Also, as I've mentioned, it WILL be available as a Concert On Demand as well, likely sometime on the weekend.
Meantime, tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), don't forget that you can hear Part Six of the documentary series About Oscar, this episode called About Canada, where Peterson talks about his sense of Canada, his major work dedicated to the country, the Canadiana Suite, his fight to promote ethnic diversity in Canadian advertising, and some of his frustrations with the country as well.
Now here is the full scoop on Saturday's tribute concert, via the official press release:
Posted by Li Robbins on January 7, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) part four of the documentary, About Oscar.
This episode recounts the celebrated Oscar Peterson Trio, which existed from 1953-1958. (Was it really only that long? So much great music for five years.) And in the episode Peterson recalls the highs of this glorious musical period -- but also laments the loss of some of the great jazz talents of the era to drugs and alcohol.
And for those who find the ongoing discussions about the late Mr. Peterson's music of interest, there is more to be read and thought about over at Jazz Beyond Jazz....
Posted by Li Robbins on January 6, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Sometimes when the Tonicians send me info about the highlights on Tonic (6 p.m.) I check the list and think, "uhuh, yup, heard that, like it, don't know that one, oh yes that's a nice choice," etc. But every now and then they catch me totally off guard, and tonight there is one item that falls into that category -- "Ella singing about farm animals."
OK, unless they have some version of the Tisket Tasket song I don't know involving chickens in that little basket or something, I have no idea which song they're referring to. Curiouser and curiouser. I shall listen and if I miss it, check the full playlist to educate myself.
I should mention that there is also a feature tonight on the influential Toronto independent record label Arts & Crafts, (can you say "Feist," anyone?) and on Canadian bassist Chris Tarry. (He's New York based now, but I think we can still claim him!)
Posted by Li Robbins on January 5, 2008 at 03:08 PM
You can hear a bit of a feature on Mel Tormé with the Boss Brass this Saturday on Tonic (6 p.m.)
Speaking of "The Velvet Fog," as Tormé is sometimes called -- I was recently charmed by a very young Tormé doing April Showers. As you'll hear, the nickname really does capture something of his vocal quality.
But did you know that Tormé apparently hated it, at least for much of his career? The moniker was a holdover from his earlier years of pop, before he gravitated more towards jazz. Though according to an appreciation of the singer in Salon, following his death in 1999, later Tormé somewhat embraced it -- at least, he had vanity plates saying "Le Fog." Maybe a case of "can't beat 'em, join 'em?"
Posted by Li Robbins on January 4, 2008 at 05:00 PM
About Oscar, the award-winning documentary series produced and narrated by Chris Brookes continues on Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight. The series looks at the life and music of the late Mr. Peterson, and is presented by Tonic host Katie Malloch. Today is Part Three, and the series will pick up again on Monday, continuing until January 11th.
btw, if you are interested in reading more of the online coverage, tributes and so on to Oscar Peterson, you may want to go to The Omniscient Mussel for Ms. Mussel's list, and a beautiful picture of Oscar too.
Posted by Li Robbins on January 3, 2008 at 02:28 PM
Part Two of About Oscar, the eight-part documentary series about the late Oscar Peterson continues tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), presented by host Katie Malloch.
And a major update to yesterday's post mentioning the Oscar Peterson tribute concert being held at Roy Thomson Hall on January 12th. This concert will be broadcast on Radio 2 at 8 p.m. that same day. (And 4 p.m. on Radio 1 as well.)
I also wanted to steer you towards a very interesting response to attitudes towards Mr. Peterson's phenomenal piano technique -- attitudes which were not always positive, the suggestion being that emotion or feeling was sacrificed for speed. It was a subtext to much of the writing about his playing over the years, and in the wake of his death. The insightful Matthew Guerrieri, keeper of Soho The Dog, takes a thoughtful look at what he frames as "the reflexive mistrust of virtuosity."
I also like the way he describes Peterson's lightening speed. "Lots of pianists play fast; some of them play extremely fast. But Peterson played extremely fast and swung very hard, which is kind of a violation of piano physics."
Guerrieri's perspective is really very interesting -- you should go read the whole thing if you have time, but for now here's another quick quote: "I never thought that Peterson was letting his technique go on autopilot; rather, he was always putting his technique at the service of the rhythm."
Posted by Li Robbins on January 2, 2008 at 04:00 PM
A reminder that starting tonight, and running on the following dates (Jan 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) in the first hour of Tonic (6 p.m.), you can hear About Oscar, an award-winning documentary series produced and narrated by Chris Brookes. The series looks at the life and music of the late Mr. Peterson, and will be presented by Tonic host Katie Malloch.
Now that the new year has begun, the tributes to Oscar Peterson are beginning too, including the recently announced free tribute concert January 12th at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto called "Oscar Peterson - Simply the Best: A Concert Memorial Tribute to a Great Artist". Also, the Oscar Peterson tribute that was already scheduled for January 11ths IAJE conference will of course still be presented; apparently members of Mr. Peterson's family will attend -- here are the details.
And as always, there is simply listening to Oscar Peterson's music -- which you can do for the next eight weeknight broadcasts of Tonic (6 p.m.).
Posted by Li Robbins on January 2, 2008 at 12:01 AM
When Oscar Peterson died on December 23, 2007, and the news became public the following day, it wasn't a surprise to many -- since it was well known he'd not been in the best of health for some time. But still, it was a shock. A shock because of the passing of greatness -- the greatness of Peterson as a musician, as an outspoken voice against racism, and as a kind of emissary for Canada -- former Prime Minister Jean Chretien called him "the most famous Canadian in the world.''
Starting tonight, and running on the following dates (Jan 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) in the first hour of Tonic (6 p.m.), you can hear About Oscar, an award-winning documentary series produced and narrated by Chris Brookes. The series looks at the life and music of Mr. Peterson, and will be presented by Tonic host Katie Malloch.
So much has been written in the days following Peterson's death about his tremendous musical ability, but I'm finding the personal anecdotes more interesting, the way he had an impact on peoples' lives, and the stories that reveal the kind of man he was.
So there's a Montrealer who recalls how Peterson almost got her expelled from McGill University in 1944, as she wrote to the Gazette. And the story Peter Goddard tells, writing in the Toronto Star, about how Peterson, at his church in Mississauga, was asked on one occasion by the very nervous organist what piece Peterson might want to hear the organist play. Likely to put the man at ease, and also out of his own characteristic humour, Peterson suggested "How about,`Who Let The Dogs Out?'"
Posted by Li Robbins on January 1, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Tonic (6 p.m.) promises "soothing music for the day after the night" on Tuesday evening. Katie casts a little spotlight on vibraphonist Milt Jackson, who would have celebrated his 85th birthday on this day. She’ll also have music from Canadian pianist Bryn Roberts, vocalists Dione Taylor (who you can also hear in concert later tonight on Canada Live at 8 p.m.), Bobby McFerrin, and the vintage soul group Jerry Butler and the Impressions. Plus she'll have highlights from a concert recorded at the 1997 Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring the Brazilian-Canadian group of guitarist Paulo Ramos.
And a note about the documentary About Oscar, an eight part series by Chris Brookes about the late, and truly great Oscar Peterson -- the first part will be broadcast Wednesday night, January 2 on Tonic, so do make sure to tune in for that as well.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 31, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Actually, that subject heading is a tad misleading, since tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear a range of music, from romance, with vocalist Chiaro Civello, to mambo from DePhazz, jazz from the Canadian trio Coldfront, and a set of tunes recorded live at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen featuring Brazilian singing star Tania Maria -- a nice pre-party party mix. So just forget about that disco nap!
Posted by Li Robbins on December 30, 2007 at 04:00 PM
This eve on Tonic (6 p.m.) Tim Tamashiro presents his Top Five Tunes of 2007. Now there's a brave man, going for five -- really concentrates the mind. I bet one of them is from Laila Bialli, at least, if his pick for Musical Gifts From The Radio 2 Hosts is any indication.
Also on the show, profiles of two very different artists - producer Phil Ramone and Cuban-Canadian guitarist Alexis Puentes, a.k.a "the pride of Smither's B.C.," that hotbed of Cuban music.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 29, 2007 at 05:03 PM
One of the marvelous things about jazz, (and something I don't think you hear as much in other kinds of music), that has a long history, is taking any kind of melody or song and playing with it, literally, turning it into something new. So in jazz it's a habit of turning something seemingly un-jazzlike into jazz.
A couple of examples of that on Tonic tonight, including the Nat King Cole Trio's rendition of Three Blind Mice, and an interpretation of Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 28, 2007 at 03:22 PM
On this day, back in 1944, the musical On The Town premiered on Broadway.
If you're thinking, "huh? what songs come from On The Town?" being told that I Can Cook Too is among them probably won't help. But the Bernstein/Comden/Green collaboration also contained such songs as Some Other Time and New York, New York. (Played at the end of every game in Yankee stadium, just to rub it in for the out of towners. Unless, of course, the Jays win. But I get ahead of myself, spring training isn't even around the corner yet, sigh.)
Anyway, back to On The Town -- tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie has a bit of a salute to the musical. As well, Tommy Flanagan fans take note -- this evening you can hear a live trio set from the Village Vanguard -- the trio eminent jazz writer Garry Giddins once said was "the standard by which piano trios are measured."
Posted by Li Robbins on December 26, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Guys and Dolls is a musical that pretty much passed me by, until about two years ago. I think it was the title, so, well guy and dollish. But then, under fierce prodding from family members who love G&D, I went to a performance in London that was truly awesome. An amazing production, with great singing and dancing, and they even served ice cream in little dixie cups in the interval.
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) plays some music from Guys And Dolls, which songs I don't know, but I'm hoping If I Were A Bell, a standard I've always loved but confess I hadn't realized was from the musical, before going to see the production. (I know, for shame.)
Plus, there's a set of tunes from singer/pianist/comedian Dave Frishberg recorded live at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, which should be lots of fun -- Frishberg is the guy (not the doll) who wrote such gems as My Attorney Bernie and I'm Hip.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 23, 2007 at 03:25 PM
You know, I totally understand why people get sick of Christmas music, but I have to admit, other than a couple of specifics (pa rum pum pum pum), and a few approaches to Christmas music, shrill voices belonging to either children or anthropomorphized animals), I actually really like a lot of it.
And jazz has the leading edge, in my books, when it comes to Christmas music. At least, depending on the kind of Christmas music it is -- choirs still have carols covered. But the popular Christmas song? Give it to jazz. Things like Joe Williams doing Let It Snow, or Emilie Claire Barlow doing that funny Little Jack Frostsong, Vince Guarldi's music for Charlie Brown etc. etc.
Tonic (6 p.m.) is reveling in this these days, and tonight's show is no exception. Not actually playing all of the above pieces on this show, but you can hear Charlie Brown from Vince Guaraldi and gospel takes on Christmas songs among other Christmas choices -- though tomorrow, Christmas Eve, is when the show really goes to town and celebrates the genre.
But back to the whole love/hate thing over Christmas music. Even I, a fan of much Christmas music, cannot imagine the task that this man undertook -- he CHOSE to spend 18 hours in a car listening to Christmas music, all in the name of journalism. Later, he called it his "Holiday Hellride."
Posted by Li Robbins on December 22, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Just a quick note about some Tonic (6 p.m.) highlights this Saturday evening...
Some "career driven" music with two versions of Work Song, and a few tunes from An Album of Under-Appreciated Job Songs by the Barmitzvah Brothers. There's new music from Manitoba and from saxophonist Joel Miller, and some tunes from Alex Pangman, Megan Fanning and Herb Alpert.
OK, I can't just let Barmitzvah Brothers go by without a little elaboration.
They're a band from Guelph, I don't think they're brothers, and I can't attest to whether or not they've ever been bar mitzvah'd.Certainly the female singer is not a brother, nor is she likely to have had a bar mitzvah. They are quite a fun band though, in a peppy and odd indie pop music kind of way. And yes, that's meant as a positive.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 21, 2007 at 04:00 PM
An anniversary I'm sure is in your date book, but in case you've been too busy to celebrate, remember, today is the 70th anniversary of the premiere of the Walt Disney film Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (70th!).
Tonic (6 p.m.) is celebrating in the best possible way tonight, through music from the film, performed by Canadian pianist Mark Eisenman and Brazilian vocalist Moreno Veloso (Caetano's son). Also on the guaranteed-to-please-the-inner-kid front, Dr. Seuss as channeled by Canadian vocalist Rita di Ghent.
And Robert Mr. Tonic-Producer tells me that as well there will be a nod to Frank Zappa, which might, come to think of it, please the kids too, outer or inner. I've often thought kids would like Zappa. Think of it, by title alone, Frogs With Dirty Little Lips, Shut Up N' Play Your Guitar, Lumpy Gravy...though I don't speak from experience, either from a childhood where I was played Zappa instead of lullabies, or as an adult, playing Zappa for children. (Actually, that's not a bad title unto itself: Frank Zappa For Children.)
But I digress. Happy Birthday Snow White! Some day your Prince will come.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 20, 2007 at 05:00 PM
It's Anita Baker's 50th today, the soul/R&B/blues singer who has eight Grammys to her name, and on Tonic (6 p.m.) Katie celebrates with a Baker singing Rogers and Hammerstein's My Favorite Things.
She's a singer who has a voice, as one fan says, that "drips with love." And of course the song itself seems to be pretty timeless, at least without the lyrics, mittens kittens and whatnot. Here's a version that's not really dripping with love, but certainly is dripping with invention, from John Coltrane.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 19, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Jazz musician Frank Morgan died on Friday, and this evening Tonic (6 p.m.) remembers him, playing music by the alto sax player.
I think it's fair to say that Morgan had a tough life! He was a Charlie Parker disciple, and sadly also had Parker's heroin addiction. Only in his case, he ended up spending a fair bit of time in jail, since his habit lead to theft.
This didn't mean he stopped playing music though. In fact, he once said that: "The greatest big band I ever played with was in San Quentin. Art Pepper and I were proud of that band. We had Jimmy Bunn and Frank Butler, and some other musicians who were known and some who weren't, but they could play. We played every Saturday night for what they called a Warden's Tour, which showed paying visitors only the cleanest cell blocks and exercise yards. But people would take that tour just to hear the band."
I'm sure Katie will have more stories (and of course music) on the show tonight. And I should say -- Morgan did resume a career on the outside, as it were, in the 1980s and 90s, even winning the Downbeat Critics Poll for Best Alto Saxophonist in 1991.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 18, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Tonic (6 p.m.) is in a singing mood Tuesday night, with a lot of vocal music from a diverse array of singers including Mario Biondi, Diana Krall, Angie Stone, Aaron Neville, Carol Sloane, Ivan Lins and Dinah Washington.
You know, sometimes I forget how young Dinah Washington was when she died -- only 39, on December 14, 1963. When you listen to her later recordings they could be a woman in her late forties or fifties singing, still in amazing voice, but with all that life experience. Anyway, glad that she did record so much -- and that Tonic keeps on playing her!
Posted by Li Robbins on December 17, 2007 at 05:35 PM
Katie Malloch returns to the host's chair on Tonic (6 p.m.) this Monday evening with tunes from pianist/vocalist Diana Krall, pianist McCoy Tyner, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet -- plus seasonal music from R&B singer William Bell, Manhattan Transfer and from the new Andrew Craig Gospel Christmas Project on CBC Records.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 16, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) broadcasts music from "the doctors" tonight, featuring the late Doug Riley ("Doctor Music"), Dr. John, and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
Speaking of, if you haven't already seen this you might enjoy -- Doug Riley with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Paul Shaffer and Joey DeFrancesco, posted at JazzTVCorner.
P.S. If you admire the Tonic theme music, tune into tonight to hear a little feature on the man who plays it -- Jake Langley. (And in the coincidence department, or maybe just the small world nature of jazz department, Langley plays on the Joey Defrancesco release Authorized Bootleg.)
Posted by Li Robbins on December 15, 2007 at 04:33 PM
This evening, (among a wealth of music), there's a celebration of Billy Joel's tunes on Tonic (6 p.m.), performed by Ottawa’s Brian Browne, and by Curtis Stigers.
btw, in case you missed it, Joel was in the news a few weeks ago for penning an anti-war song, Christmas In Fallujah. But he doesn't actually sing it, since he felt it should be sung by someone younger, "about a soldier's age." So it's performed by a young singer named Cass Dillon, if you're wondering, and you can hear him performing it here. Not a jolly Christmas song, that's for sure.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 14, 2007 at 03:30 PM
A bit of a Louis fest on Tonic (6 p.m.) Friday night, with music from Louis Armstrong, St Louis Blues (performed by Doc Severinson) and Louis Prima.
I've always like both Louis (and the song is fine, though not necc. one of my own favorites), but realized when I sat down to write this that I really only know Prima from the music -- I don't have a visual image the way I do of Armstrong. So I set about to correct this situation, and in so doing was amused to find something that would appear to be a bit of a tribute from one Louis (Prima) to another (Armstrong). At least for the first half of the medley....
Posted by Li Robbins on December 13, 2007 at 04:23 PM
Tonight's Tonic (6 p.m.) has a spotlight on a label, Chronograph Records (devoted to western Canadian musicians) and on Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee.
I've never met Peggy Lee, but I've often wondered if she gets tired of being jokingly asked to sing Fever, or get tricked out in elbow length gloves. (Difficult to play the cello wearing them, I should think.)
I'm sure, on the other hand, that she does not tire of accolades such as this:
"With her deeply sonorous instrument in hand, Lee has more-than-shared the stage with creative improvisors from all over the world: Joelle Leandre, Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Susie Ibarra, and Barre Phillips to name but a few. Her playing blends grace and precision, yet when the music demands it she can be equally challenging and vibrant."
-Jon Morgan, Signal to Noise
Posted by Li Robbins on December 12, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Today marks the birthdays of both Frank Sinatra and Joe Williams, and Tonic (6 p.m.) celebrates with music from both singers.
Sinatra would have been 92 today, and, as you may have heard last week, is going to be honoured this spring by the U.S. Postal Service with a stamp,.
Dave Failor, executive director of "Stamp Services," (now there's a nice title to trot out at cocktail parties) told CBS News that they'd had "a lot of requests for a Frank Sinatra stamp." Featuring Sinatra on a stamp, he said, was going to be a "big thrill."
I guess. I've never really understood the stamp thing. I mean, they're tiny. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a national Frank Sinatra day or something? When people could slope aroiund saying things like "The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything."
Posted by Li Robbins on December 11, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Weekend Tonic (6 p.m.) host, Tim Tamashiro, takes over from Katie Malloch this week...tonight with a typically diverse Tonic grab bag of tunes, from Moving Nicely from the Savoy Remixes to Ray Charles' I'm Movin' On, to Stacey Kent's take on a Dixie Chicks tune and a whole lot more, including some Leonard Cohen.
And of course, any mention of Leonard Cohen in a jazz context makes me think of that amazing Cohen/Sonny Rollins collaboration on Cohen's Who By Fire. So thanks Tim, for providing me with the perfect excuse to link to that!
Posted by Li Robbins on December 10, 2007 at 03:30 PM
People's radio listening habits are very idiosyncratic, no doubt more-so than ever in this age of multiple listening possibilities. So I wonder how many fans of Tonic (6 p.m.) and The Signal listen to both weekday and weekend editions. Well, if you're a Monday to Friday Tonic-ite, this week it's your chance to check out what the weekend Tonic-ites tune in for, as weekend host Tim Tamashiro (who is both a singer and a broadcaster) takes over for Katie Malloch this week.
Tonight some of the highlights on the show include The New Radicals, Kenny Burrell, Verve remixes and a spotlight on Toronto pianist David Braid.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 8, 2007 at 04:30 PM
Some highlights for Tonic both today and tomorrow, just so you can hunker down and get ready for your jazz fix:
Tonight "the good the bad the ugly and the musical," with Clint Eastwood's After Hours Live at Carnegie Hall recording. Clint's son Kyle teams up with Jamie Cullum's brother Ben on a track and then Jamie covers a Radiohead tune. Also game show music, yes, game show music, from Elizabeth Shepherd and Joshua Redman as well. Plus tunes from Don Thompson, Leah State and Billie Holiday.
Then on Sunday's Tonic, Mozart meets Cuba with Klazz Brothers and Cuban percussion. Plus some jazzgrass, with music from The Creaking Tree String Quartet. (Did I just coin that term, "jazzgrass?" I hope so.) Also, a spotlight on Toronto bassist Kieran Overs and music from David 'Fathead' Newman, Shirley Horn and Sophie Milman. Speaking of, nice to see a feature on Milman in the Globe, earlier this week...
Posted by Li Robbins on December 6, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) you can hear music from Pink Martini, who Tonicians describe as "the thinking person's lounge band."
Well, considering the band was founded by a Harvard graduate and classically trained pianist to play political fundraisers focussing on things like civil rights, the environment, affordable housing and -- get this -- public broadcasting -- that's probably as good a description as any. You can check out their music at Pink Martini's MySpace site, or, of course on Tonic, as well as loads of other tunes on tonight's show.
Can't resist sending you to one more place though -- this very charming and funny video from their debut Sympathique. (Also very useful for anyone trying to improve her or his wretched high school French!)
Posted by Li Robbins on December 5, 2007 at 12:00 AM
A fine array of Canadian talent on Wednesday night's Tonic (6 p.m.). from pianists Oscar Peterson, Richard
Whiteman and Mark Eisenman, plus the Doxas Brothers quintet, and vocalists Divine Brown and Kiran Singh.
Canadian jazz has its ups and downs, and certainly as oft' reported the club scene is precarious at best, non-existent (in some places) at worst. So I'd like to give a few plugs to some sources for Canadian jazz, for instance the blog Jazz Elements, ("jazz & blues music blog with news, reviews, concerts and downloads, with a Canadian Focus"), and Vancouver Jazz ("website of the Vancouver Jazz Society...a compendious guide to jazz culture around Vancouver).
There's also IAJE Canada (the annual conference of this U.S. based jazz education organization happens in Toronto January 9-12), and Jazz Festivals Canada. And of course, for historical info, any jazz book by Mark Miller... so there's a starting point, at least, but feel free to tell me about some significant sites/blogs I might be overlooking...
Posted by Li Robbins on December 4, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Tuesday evening's Tonic (6 p.m.) broadcast has a little feature on jazz guitar, with music from Duane Andrews, (a Newfoundlander inspired by Django Reinhardt), Nelson Symonds (a legendary figure on the Canadian jazz scene, in the Charlie Christian vein) and Russell Malone, a very talented player who's worked with a wide range of people from Jimmy Smith to Harry Connick Jr. to Diana Krall.
If you are reading this because the subject heading caught your eye and you have an interest in jazz guitar, (and are on the verge of getting into nitty gritty chattering and nattering about this very subject), you might want to visit the discussion forums at playjazzguitar.com. Hours of fun ahead...
Posted by Li Robbins on December 3, 2007 at 05:01 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) marks the anniversary of two Broadway shows today, Camelot and Kismet, with music from pianists Oscar Peterson and Don Grolnick, bassist Curtis Counce and saxophonist Stan Getz.
btw, if you're ever looking for a list of Broadway shows (and movie scores) interpreted by jazz artists -- you should check out this one compiled by Will Friedwald and others -- no doubt there are more up-to-date lists, but it's a nice start.
Posted by Li Robbins on December 2, 2007 at 04:00 PM
There's Scandinavian jazz from Sweden and Denmark on Tonic (6 p.m.) today -- and of course there's lots to choose from, as the jazz scene in both countries is strong -- particularly in Sweden, I believe. Although Danes feel free to disagree.
I came across an interesting piece of writing on that very subject recently, by the author of Music In Sweden, Lars Westin, who asks "what makes Swedish jazz so Swedish?":
"What does [Swedish jazz] have that Belgian, French, English ... or American jazz lacks?" he asks. But it's a tough question to answer -- so first he tries by example.
"One musician who immediately springs to mind, of course, is baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin (1928-76), whose folkloristic and romantic music definitely fits the description; during the 1950s disparaging voices even referred to it as "fäbodjazz" (goatherd’s jazz). However, Gullin’s music is more a reflection of his own personality and of the scope that jazz allows for individualism in general, rather than a typical expression of the specific qualities that characterise Swedish jazz."
But then he goes a little deeper:
"Nevertheless, the music is sometimes said to have a character of its own which non-Swedish musicians and critics from time to time have tried to define: a sparse, lyrical quality, often in combination with a typically Nordic melancholy that is sometimes thought to be an expression of our climate - the dark, cold winters and the long, light summer evenings - and of the Swedish scenery, with its deep forests and high mountains..."
Interesting, I think we all have a tendency to believe, however unscientific that belief may be, that music is informed by landscape and climate. But is it?
Posted by Li Robbins on December 1, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Tonic (6 p.m.) gets rhythm when you get the blues, or even when you don't. Either way, you can hear Mel Tormé sing Fascinating Rhythm' on Saturday's show, as well as Rockin' Rhythm performed by Ray Brown, AND a tune from The Shimmering Rhythm Ensemble. (I'm assuming that's Ron Davis, since he had an album of that name a couple years back -- unless there are two groups shimmering and rhythmning their way around the world.)
Speaking of rhythm, the blog In Dangerous Rhythm is a good one for lovers of soul, funk, jazz and related...nice name, too.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 29, 2007 at 03:01 PM
This evening on Tonic, Katie Malloch is playing some great guitar music from Ed Bickert and Peter Leitch, two Canadian jazz heroes. I don't think "hero" is overstating it -- Bickert even has a fan appreciation site, as well as that myspace site previously linked to -- and created by a fan...
Posted by Li Robbins on November 28, 2007 at 05:05 PM
When I first started listening to Brazilian music, way back when, (it was that legendary Milton Nascimento/Wayne Shorter Native Dancer LP that first led me in), I thought if ever there was music not from North America that should be heard everywhere -- in the bars, the hockey rinks, whatever -- it was Brazilian music. Obviously this hasn't totally happened (though actually, how do I know, maybe they play samba as they fire pucks at the net as a warmup or something), but there sure is a lot more Brazilian music around, even on the airwaves.
On Tonic, for example, they regularly play Brazilian cuts (yayyyy, Tonic!), and tonight is no exception, with Brazilian-inspired music from singer Coral Egan and the ensemble Kalalou.
btw, you can also hear the up 'n' coming Coral Egan on a Concert on Demand, Coral Egan In Montreal.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 27, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Tuesday night on Tonic (6 p.m.) host Katie Malloch plays her usual melange of jazz and R&B and Latin music -- with one highlight being some trumpet tracks from both Miles Davis and Chase Sanborn.
Recently I read an Macleans magazine interview with Wynton Marsalis (forgive me, that's what I like to euphemistically call the "lateral thinking" kicking in, rather than just some sort of far more trivial word association joint in my mind) that was quite revealing, about both interviewee and interviewer, none other than Kenneth Whyte. Anyway, somehow I'd missed that Marsalis had had an operation on his lip in the last year or so -- which was quite a terrifying thing for a trumpet player, understandably. As it was he was fortunate, even though he says he felt it was almost like starting from scratch after the surgery, in terms of his embouchure.
And then, in a completely weird coincidence, just before sitting down to blog a little blog, I happened to read in Rifftides about a TV special back in the mid-1970s starring Dizzy Gillespie -- called Dizzy's Bebop Reunion. Predates my jazz days, so I don't remember. But apparently Dizzy had terrible lip problem one night of the taping.
That really was quite a slim pretext to lead you to both the Macleans magazine interview, and to Rifftides, and to this video of Dizzy Gillespie with Al Haig and others, from the aforementioned TV show.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 26, 2007 at 02:00 PM
DiscDrive and Tonic are what are called in the biz, "disc shows," which always seems to me to somehow seem dismissive, oh, "just discs," is that all? But of course the truth is discs are the backbone, as it were, of music programming on radio the world over. (Whatever the literal format.) And here are a few highlights of today's very fine disc shows:
Posted by Li Robbins on November 25, 2007 at 04:00 PM
There's a bit of an Aretha fest on Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight, with music from Rare & Unreleased Aretha Franklin, and Mary J Blige doing an Aretha cover. Can't have too much Aretha in the world, I always say.
Not coincidentally, the other day on a show over on Radio 1, Canada Writes, I heard Dione Taylor (who was a judge in this writing contest) doing a magnificent in-studio version of You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman). Then I noticed (late, too late!) she actually did a tribute show of her own to Aretha on Friday, called A Little Respect, at the Glenn Gould here at CBC Toronto. Well, I bet she'll reprise it since it was sold out. And I'll have to see snoop around to see if there's any chance of broadcast for that show...
And while we're on the topic, you might want to check out Joe Queenan's take on why the song Respect oughta get more...in a piece he wrote called Put A Sock In It. Let's just say if he's at your karaoke night and you sing it, he will not be coming to your next soiree.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 24, 2007 at 04:19 PM
It’s time for taking care of business on Tonic, (6p.m.) with Dizzy's Business played by Cannonball Adderley, and Nina Simone singing Take Care of Business. For some reason Take Care of Business isn't a song I know well, so I decided to see if I could find some audio on line, and lo and behold, found this small tribute to Ms. Simone, singing that very song.
P.S. The other day I was bemoaning the loss of yet another Canadian jazz club, The Courthouse in Toronto, so am pleased to say that tonight Tonic celebrates some of the clubs that are still extant, (or at least bars that regularly feature jazz), from Stayner's Wharf in Halifax to The Cellar in Vancouver.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 23, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Did you notice that the moon is very close to being full? Are people acting more snakey than usual? Or no, maybe that isn't because of the moon, that might just be football fans distressed because a few centimeters of snow sent all the parties indoors.
I have to say, even though in my life the Grey Cup mostly means too much chili and a great deal of intensity on behalf of certain family members, even I think of it as an outdoor sort of thing. Surely people should be outside, clutching their thermoses and howling Arrrr-goooos (well, the appropriate equivalent) and otherwise ignoring cross-border shopping opportunities.
But musically speaking the moon, full and otherwise, is always a source of inspiration -- particularly in jazz, what with That Old Devil, and How High, and Destination Moon, performed on Tonic this evening by vocalist Deborah Cox. You might know her best from her work in R&B, but she also sings jazz, and Destination Moon (also the name of her most recent album) is a tribute to Dinah Washington.
But before I take my leave of this post, another Tonic note: Katie will be playing some of what has been described as "a very elegant concert," held in November 1974 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, featuring the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 22, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Jazz drummer Kenny Washington has been quoted as saying that "Donald Byrd is practically a household name." Even with all his work in jazz and funk and soul and R&B, that still seems to be wishful thinking, but it's also an indication of Mr. Washington's huge admiration for the trumpet player. (That quote continues thusly: "He possesses a big tone and plays from the heart. He is an Afro-American history scholar and connoisseur of African Art. He's truly an amazing man.")
Tonight Tonic (6 p.m.) plays some music from the soulful sixties era of Donald Byrd, and if you want a preview of slightly later Byrd, here's Street Lady. (Interesting approach to posting music on a video site too...)
Posted by Li Robbins on November 21, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Vanessa Rodrigues is a Canadian jazz and funk Hammond B-3 organist. And let's face it, there aren't a ton of women who can claim that. (For that matter, it's not like male Hammond B-3 players are a dime a dozen either.)
Anyway, Rodrigues, who you can hear on Tonic today, got serious about the organ at quite a young age, (she still looks like she's about 15 in some pictures) studying with jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and going on to perform at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, among other prestigious gigs.
You really should take a look at Lonnie Smith's site, btw, the home page features the turbaned "Doctor" playing some very funky stuff, and scatting, after a fashion.
But back to his student, Ms. Rodrigues. Tonight you can hear a recording she did with saxophonist Chris Gale, recorded live at The Rex Jazz & Blues Bar in Toronto. And heaven knows in the wake of the closure of Toronto's short-lived venue, The Courthouse, we need to talk up the Rex -- one of the few remaining steadfast jazz venues in the country.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 20, 2007 at 12:00 AM
There are no shortage of love songs in the jazz standards repertoire, many about the failure to find it. Just a few examples: Lover Man ("oh where can you be"), But Not For Me ("They're writing songs of love, but not..."). Or they're about being crushed by it -- "just who can solve its mystery, why should it make a fool of me?" and so on. (The last from This Thing Called Love, of course.)
But tonight when Tonic plays "music for lovers," they include some rare, happy lyrics too, like the Rogers & Hammerstein classic People Will Say We're in Love, sung in this instance by Canada's Sophie Milman. Even then the song is all about how to avoid having people recognize one's state of being in love though. Guess it's true there really isn't much mileage in writing about happiness.
Of course, one way around all of this, jazz-wise that is, is just to listen to instrumental versions. And one really weird way to do that, in the case of the above song, is off a jukebox...sort of.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 19, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Lydecker: “Would you mind turning that off?”
McPherson: “Why, don’t you like it?”
Carpenter: “It was one of Laura’s favorites, not exactly classical, but sweet.”
Love it when characters in a movie refer to music that is actually the signature tune in the movie's soundtrack...but I don't know if I'd call Laura "sweet." Though maybe that's just because I so associate it with the movie -- and how could you not, it's pretty much all-Laura-all-the-time. That's OK, it's a good tune, and one that you can hear tonight on Tonic, performed by the Jazz at the Movies Band.
Speaking of things noir and jazz, re-watched Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows) on the weekend. Don't know if you've ever seen it, but if you have you'll know that it features a very insistent kind of soundtrack by Miles Davis. Anyway, got me thinking how well suited jazz is to noir, at least that kind of highly stylized 1950s take on the genre.
Legend has it that Miles recorded the music overnight, sipping champagne with (spectacularly beautiful) star, Jeanne Moreau, and director Louis Malle. I hope legend has it right.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 18, 2007 at 12:00 AM
To the shock horror of some trad jazz fans, and the delight of those of us who like both tradition and creative departure from tradition, the lines between pop and jazz have blurred more and more in the past years. (Possibly harkening back to Miles' (in)famous cover of Time After Time, although some might say jazz doing pop is really how jazz began -- think of Minstrelsy, think of Tin Pan Alley, think of Broadway show tunes...) Anyway, on Tonic tonight they celebrate the jazzification of songs from the other side, with covers of songs by Dylan, Radiohead and Rufus Wainwright.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 16, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Kind of amazing when a mere phrase can make you immediately conjure up an entire universe, in this case one where Julie Andrews endlessly twirls while wearing some odd pinafore, in an impossibly perfect alpine meadow.
But it's also the anniversary of the Broadway premiere of The Sound of Music today, wayyyy back on November 16th, 1959. Today it's honoured, musically, on Tonic at 6 p.m..
There are any number of reasons I sometimes wish I could live in the U.K., but among them is How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, where people competed to be the best Maria. Now that was reality TV, never mind this gospel idol stuff.
And of course, how can I even mention the Sound of Music without sending you to Gwen Stefani doing Wind It Up, which samples The Lonely Goatherd. Really.
Posted by Ian Cauthery on November 15, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Tonic suggests that we "take a trip back to the Café Montmartre in Copenhagen for a March, 1991 concert date with saxophonist Stan Getz and pianist Kenny Barron."
Hey, I don't have a problem with that. I could be at the Café Montmartre, enjoying Barron and Getz playing standards like Cole Porter's Night and Day. Particularly since I can now easily write the word café, having finally figured out how to make my computer speak with accents in the correct places.
This may be second nature for you, but it's the sort of computer thing I am lazy about figuring out. Which is better than the sort of computer thing that makes all of us crazy -- when things don't work. In fact, I am in the throes of such computer thing right now, which is why I currently am posting on the blog as Ian. (Just in case you had eagle eyes and noticed that oddity.)
Li
p.s. "é"
Posted by Li Robbins on November 14, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Tonight on Tonic Katie Malloch spins a new disc called Two Caballeros (Shouldn't that be Dos Caballeros? Or maybe not, could be a bilingual band) from trumpeter Kevin Dean and guitarist Heiner Franz. It's described by the folks at Tonic as "jazz with a south-western cowboy vibe."
Of course notions of combining country music with jazz has a venerable history through western swing, going back to bands like The Light Crust Doughboys, of which Bob Wills was a member. And western swing is still on the front burner for some, like the purveyors of the Western Swing Journal, who claim to be the "only publication in the world that covers western swing in depth," and I have no reason to disbelieve them.
I wish I could tell you more about the Kevin Dean/Heiner Franz collaboration though, but cannot find more info -- if you happen to know more about the music, please let me know...
Posted by Li Robbins on November 13, 2007 at 12:00 AM
CBC's history with jazz goes back a long way. Some of that history is available online, at CBC Archives -- for example this multi-media timeline of Oscar Peterson.
But it's a living history too, as Tuesday night's broadcast of Tonic shows -- when they feature highlights from the new CBC Records release Live Jazz Legends, which was recorded (live, no surprise) in Montreal and Vancouver. The CD features great music from five of Canada's jazz veterans: saxophonist PJ Perry, trombonist Ian McDougall, pianist Oliver Jones, bassist Michel Donato and drummer Terry Clarke.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 12, 2007 at 06:00 PM
The Tonic menu tonight includes some solo piano from Hank Jones, Latin jazz from Eddie Palmieri, a cover version of the Rolling Stones' Miss You from Musiq, and some nu-soul from DJ Spinna, plus music from Sarah Vaughan, Zap Mama, Bebel Gilberto and Richard Whiteman.
I share this more extensive menu with you because I admit sometimes I'm guilty of merely mentioning one selection on Tonic, and then meandering sideways into some other aspect of jazz. So once in a while, as on a rainy Monday afternoon when all anyone wants to do is stay inside with the radio on, you get more of the menu, not just an appetizer. Enjoy!
Posted by Li Robbins on November 11, 2007 at 05:00 PM
On weekends Tonic comes from Calgary, whereas Gregory Charles' show, In The Key Of Charles comes from Montreal. (Don't worry, there will be a point here, eventually.) So last week, out east, Gregory Charles languished in the sun, which inspired Tonic, out west, to turn to moon music this week. (Admittedly a long haul to get to the joke in the title of this post, but there you be.)
The Tonicians did not tell me what tunes they'll be playing, but I'm going to go out on a limb and bet that there will be versions of How High The Moon and That Old Devil Moon, two supurb moon-related jazz songs. But who knows what else they may come up with, guided by the light of the moon...
Posted by Li Robbins on November 9, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Tonic has some bossa with Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim tonight, and this made me think about how Brazilian music has become so much more present in North American culture in the past couple of decades, which is a very satisfying thing.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 8, 2007 at 05:00 PM
The Tonicians tell me that they're "indulging their weakness for the songs of Burt Bacharach" tonight on Tonic.
I must protest, this is no indulgence, this is necessary! So many great songs. Plus he's an honourary Canadian, even. Why? 'Cause he went to McGill, and because of this terrific performance with Rufus Wainwright, performing Kentucky Bluebird (Send A Message To Martha). (So it's a stretch, but a fun one.)
And on Tonic (6pm) you can hear a reggae version of an all-time Bacharach fav. Walk On By.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 7, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Tonic is playing some duets on the show tonight -- singer Carol Sloane and singer/trumpeter Clark Terry team up for the classic Stompin' at the Savoy. Cole Porter's Night and Day is played by pianist Joe Sealy and bassist Paul Novotny. And in honour of Joni Mitchell’s birthday, pianist Monty Alexander and steel pan player Otherllo Molineaus perform Big Yellow Taxi.
Speaking of Joni, earlier today in a post called The Folk Revival I talked about an Annie Liebovitz photo essay focused on "folk" luminaries, some young, and some less than young. Joni is among the latter, (cigarette in hand, naturally), and in case you missed the link -- there is a "behind-the-scenes" video that has a few shots of her. Oddly dull, dare I say insipid music accompanies that video, considering the subject matter, but there you are.
Also, you'll have to get past Devendra Banhart nearly naked, in a shaky "tree" pose. Your call.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 6, 2007 at 04:30 PM
Scrambled is the name of a tune you can hear Tuesday night on Tonic, played by the Oliver Jones Trio. (It's also something of a reflection of my own state, having been battling with computer technology for a solid three days now -- tell me, is there anything more frustrating? If so I hope never to encounter it.)
But I digress.
Pianist Oliver Theophilus Jones is more than just a great jazz musician. He's also a been something of a philanthropist, as I've mentioned in the past, but who knows if you saw that, so here's the nutshell:
He was very involved with a benefit concert that was largely responsible for funding a business plan to re-open a boarded up community centre (once called "The Negro Community Centre") in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighborhood.
Little Burgundy was home to the majority of the city's black community, beginning in the late 19th century. Jones, Oscar Peterson and others grew up in Little Burgundy. Now the community centre is scheduled to re-open sometime next year. Yay, Oliver!
Oliver Theophilus Jones, pianist, philanthropist...
Posted by Li Robbins on November 5, 2007 at 05:00 PM
This evening Tonic is playing Ella Fitzgerald singing Drop Me Off In Harlem.
It's just one of the many songs from way back when to reference Harlem, presumably because at one point, back in the 20's and 30s, that's where the jazz clubs were. Songs like Harlem Air Shaft, Harlem Nocturne, or even references to Harlem in songs like Take The A Train all seem from a time long past.
Since that era I think people tend not to think of Harlem as the place to go, but I like what this site, bigapplejazz, has to say about the neighborhood. (Also they include details of current jazz clubs there, as well as some of the historic landmarks): "A note about Harlem: If you're not hesitant regarding New York City in general, you need not be hesitant about Harlem."
And since I'm rambling about things jazz and Harlem -- if you are going to NYC, and are interested in the history of jazz, you may want to check out the National Jazz Museum In Harlem.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 4, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Some new releases on Tonic (heard at 6pm today), from Share, Ron Davis, and Mr. Something Something. I've heard the new Mr. Something Something, and it's really a showcase for the massively deep-voiced poet, Ikwunga.
If you don't know the Somethings, they're a Canadian Afrobeat band, in the tradition of the great Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti, but with lots of their own original style. Ikwunga is sometimes called "the first Afrobeat poet," and his voice is really quite compelling. The songs are v. political, but not earnest, thankfully, nor do they browbeat. But they also don't pussyfoot around -- it's strong stuff.
Here's a little video teaser for the new CD, Deep Sleep, but you may also want to check out this video version of Ikwunga performing Di Bombs, a hard hitting piece that also appears on Deep Sleep.
Tonic takes some time out for Joni today, understandably, as she's not only the amazing songwriter she is, she's also been much in the news this fall with both her release, Shine, and the Herbie Hancock tribute, River: The Joni Letters, which she also sings on.
Today you can hear remixes of Joni tunes, from Ian Shaw, K.D. Lang and the aforementioned Herbie Hancock.
btw, there is another tribute CD in the works, from a Canadian, singer Leora Cashe, called Another Side Now, which will apparently focus on Joni's early work in the late 60s early 70s.
San Fransisco's Los Mocosos are a kind of fun party band, but they draw on a pretty big range of music -- Latin styles, of course, but also reggae, ska, funk, rock...and they don't take themselves too seriously. People do, you know, whether they're musicians or not, and how irritating it can be. But none of that here. Los Mocosos, (loosely "the mischievous kids," though I think there is also some other, more salacious translation) are pretty much about good times, in a melting pot-American kind of way.
Let's see, what else can I tell you about them. They've toured with Los Lobos, played Washingon's Kennedy Center and New York's Central Park. They won a San Francisco Wammy Award (for Best International Band, despite the fact that they're American) a California Music Award (for Outstanding Latin Album), and they've also toured with Santana.
And you can hear them tonight on Tonic, with a track called Mi Barrio Loco (There Goes the Neighbourhood).
That's because most people are too busy with their own "issues." (When did problems become "issues," anyway? What's wrong with good old fashioned problems?) Anyway, music can acknowledge the common problems of life, in a reassuring, "you're not alone in your misery" way, and this is the focus of Tonic this evening.
Trombonist William Carn performs Time Flies, Jon Hendricks sings Good Ol' Lady, Too Young to Go Steady is sung by Karrin Allyson, An Older Man Is Like An Elegant Wine by Nancy Wilson. By titles alone you might not recognize what laments lie within, but Katie explains all...
...has Tonic in its spell. The Halloween edition of the show features Frank Sinatra’s rendition of Witchcraft, and from her brand new CD, Queen Latifah with Trav'lin' Light, plus the original Classics IV version of Spooky.
I somehow missed the fact that Queen Latifah released this recording -- taking as its name the song so associated with Billie Holiday -- but the excerpts I've heard online at the various commercial excerpting sites sound pretty good. Although I think that the blog Black Radio Is Back raises an interesting point when they say: "We know she can actually sing without studio magic (check the song about her brother on the Black Reign LP - it's pretty serious) but jazz is a whole different thing to get down proper - having the on point blend of technical vocal chops, improvisation AND feeling."
Also missed the fact that Queen Latifah threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Major League Baseball playoff game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians. "This is pretty close to the Super Bowl for me," said Latifah.
OK. It turned into a total debacle anyway, though, so why should we, depressed baseball fans, take umbrage?
If anyone still has any doubts that part of the existence of a TV programme like American Idol is to try and revive a failing music industry -- proof lies in performers like the marvelously named Fantasia Barrino . The third season winner of American Idol, her debut single, I Believe debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, some kind of record, and she's gone onto a seriously successful career -- latest is she's nominated for an American Music Award for favorite female artist soul/R&B, the awards are coming up in November.
Tonight on Tonic Vancouver-based pianist Chris Sigerson's trio performs a lively tune called Little Boys that they recorded in an exclusive CBC studio session.
Then, it’s the unusual and classic soul recording of Be Thankful For What You Got by R&B singer William deVaughn.
And a final highlight from the good folks at Tonic, "cutey pie Stacey Kent sings a Brazilian tune in French."
"How continental," they say, and they are right. And how retro! Cutey pie indeed. Right up there with "doll-face," another much neglected term of affection.
I must say I didn't realize that there was any Halloween jazz, but Tonic has unearthed some (heh heh, pun intended) with jazz from the vintage recording Halloween Stomp. So on tonight's show you can hear The Headless Horseman from Kay Starr, and Skeletons In The Closet from Nat Gonella and his Georgians, among other tracks.
And if you find any of those little molasses kisses, the kind in the orange wrappers, and they aren't rock hard, can you please let me know? I've been looking for them for the past five years -- and am starting to think they've gone the way of dressing up like a ghost by wearing a sheet. (Something I've never found fault with, who needs all these fancy schmancy costumes when there are old sheets, after all.)
I had a note from Tonic saying that this Saturday they're celebrating "jazz for fools." They're playing Don Thompson performing My Foolish Heart and Dee Daniels doing What a Fool Believes.
They could have gone on, of course, with I'm A Fool To Want You, or These Foolish Things, or Fools Rush In -- jazz seems to lend itself to people feeling foolish (at least the lyrics to standards do). You know, to feeling like a guy standing on a station platform in the rain with a comical look on his face because his insides have been kicked out. That kind of thing.
Of course there's also lots of escapist fantasy in jazz too, in fact tonight the show also plays music from Alice In Wonderland. (As opposed to playing, say, Mickey Mouse and Horace Horsecollar. How I wish I could find a freebie video for that, but alas, Disney is wise to our ways...)
The last time Tonic played Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5 I recall a listener posting a comment saying that she and her child had a dance party while it was on the radio. So here's a heads up, if you want to mambo about your house to that absurdly catchy tune, you can do so again tonight as Tonic has a reprise of that show.
The absurd catchiness is not because of Lou Bega's listing of all the "ladies" in his life, (or at least all the little bits of ladies he'd like in his life), but of the swaggering Perez Prado tune (from 1952) that underlies the 1999 hit.
Tonight Tonic celebrates the 50th anniversary of the movie version of the musical Pal Joey, starring Rita Hayworth as the rich widow (is there any other kind in Hollywood?), Frank Sinatra as a charming heel, and Kim Novak, the mousey but gorgeous young thing. In other words, Love Triangle.
But the thing was, it had a great score by Rodgers and Hart, including songs like Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, My Funny Valentine and The Lady Is A Tramp.
Now, you may have wondered from time to time why The Lady Is A Tramp became something of a jazz standard, certainly for singers. And if you haven't, no time like the present.
I was listening to Tonic the other night and was struck afresh by the interesting range of music they play on the show. There was jazz, soul and some beautiful music from Mali, from the singer Issa Bagayogo. All in a day's Tonic, really, and tonight is no different -- here are just a few of the highlights:
From Fat Tuesday's in New York City, a live set with Hammond B3 organist Jimmy Smith, guitarist Kenny Burrell and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.
Latin funk group Speedometer, with music from their recent recording, Diggin Deeper.
-Winnipeg collective Moses Mayes , who recently won the Instrumental Album of the Year Award at the West Coast Music Awards.
And even as we speak the producers and Katie are feverishly adding music to that line-up -- all in a day's radio show.
The year was 1953; the place was the Theatre de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland. I was wearing the little Dior suit, the one with the matching bag, remember? And one of those hats that could double as a weapon, all those hat pins.
On stage, Oscar introduces the fellas -- what a band, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and J.C. Heard. The crowd goes wild.
But back to the 21st century. You can hear music from this 1953 concert on Tonic tonight, and it is fabulous. (Kind of like my imaginary suit, the one I wore before I was born.)
Bets are if you think of Cape Verdean music your first thought isn't jazz. More likely it's singers like Cesaria Evora, Lura etc.
But back in 1965 pianist Horace Silver recorded an album called The Cape Verdean Blues in honour of his father, who was born on the island, and you can hear some of that recording tonight on Tonic.
Obviously his dad was a big influence on Horace -- one of his most famous compositions is Song For My Father. As Leonard Feather put it in the liner notes to the Cape Verdean Blues recording (revealing his pre-conceptions of Silver's audience):
"Followers of the Silver trail may not be aware of it, since they do not read the trade papers, but Song For My Father was a remarkable commercial hit. Not only did the album remain on the best seller charts for many weeks, but the single sold unusually well for a jazz single, and the album was also named by Down Beat readers among the five top LPs of the year."
Tonight Tonic presents three, unrelated Petersons on the same show -- Oscar, Noah and Gilles Peterson. OK, I'm confessin,' I don't know Noah. Gilles the DJ I know of, and Oscar, of course. But Noah? If my sources are correct, Noah Peterson is a sax player from Portland Oregon.
Tonic plays a couple of versions of Mack The Knife tonight -- from Michael Bublé and Ella Fitgerald -- her famous lyric slip up when she performed it in Berlin.
There's an expression in jazz I've always loved, "wrong but strong." Ella made a virtue out of any "mistake" she made -- just one of the many reasons she was such a great jazz singer.
Anyway, just in case you want a little preview of Ella n' Mack-- here you go -- and make sure you get as far as the scatting! Wow.
Nu-soul sounds tonight on Tonic, from the Souljazz Orchestra (who describe their sound as a combination of "blaring majestic horns, dusty retro keyboards, and fierce earthquaking rhythms") and from Cooly's Hot Box, a couple of musicians who met at the liberal arts college, S.U.N.Y., and shared a penchant for R&B and 70's music.
And then some old jazz, well, older style jazz that is -- a set of tunes from the Benny Green Trio. For clarification's sake -- Benny himself is in his forties, but a "monster," as the jazzers would have it, in the hard bop style.
And a Canadian connection -- when Oscar Peterson received the Glenn Gould Prize in 1993 he designated Green as the recipient of the accompanying Protege Prize. (Forgive me the lack of accents, I know I should teach my computer to speak French, but haven't taken up the task yet.)
I'm not sure that it's a good thing that the name Maria Muldaur always makes me think of camels and thighs, but there you are. However, tonight on Tonic you can hear her in duet with longtime collaborator Dr. John, presumably not singing either of the songs that sends me down that mental path, more likely something from their recording Sweet & Slow, a collection of jazz and blues, tunes by the likes of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Sippie Wallace.
Sippie Wallace, now there's a good blues name. I'd like a Blues Name. I already know my Soap Opera name. (You get that by taking the name of your first pet and first street you lived on as a kid. In my case it's Muffin Spruell.) I think someone should invent a similar formula to create Blues Names.
Let's see. Maybe you take the name of your favourite boozy beverage, (it's blues, after all), and for the surname, the last name of one of your favourite ballplayers. (In my case that would mean my Blues Name is Bourbon Hill. Not bad. And better than Bourbon Jeter or Bourbon Bonds.)
Tonic asks us to close our eyes, and imagine ourselves in a glamorous supper club, sipping champagne and listening to vocalist Champian Fulton and the Sultans of Swing performing Jerome Kerns' They Didn't Believe Me.
I can do that. I assume we're talking something decent, the Widow, or at the very least Prosecco?
btw, don't know if you've hear Champian Fuller yet -- not a huge voice, but an interesting one. And despite the fact that she looks like she's about fifteen, (and she is only in her early twenties) on some tracks of her eponymous CD she swings like the devil. Yes, the devil.
And another Tonic programme note -- they also suggest that later in the show we enjoy a set with pianist Tilden Web with guest saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman from Vancouver’s Cellar Jazz Club.
Zap Mama was originally the name of a (mostly) a cappella vocal ensemble, but when the group broke up lead singer Marie Daulne kept the name for herself. Understandably -- which name are people going to remember?
Anyway, Daulne has a new CD, called Supermoon, which is a combination of hip-hop, funk, jazz and r&b, that you can hear on Tonic this Tuesday evening.
I think Daulne, who in the early days of Zap Mama focussed on a bi-cultural music rooted in her Congo/Belgium heritage, may have even coined the term "afro-european," which became Afropean. So maybe now, given her current musical leanings, she's doing Urban Afropean. (UrbAfroPean?)
Is autumn "the season of nostalgia and reflection?" That's what the folks at Tonic think, and tonight they play some torch songs (from singers Roberta Gambarini, George Evans and Nancy King) that reflect that sentiment.
Funny, usually I find autumn quite lovely and nostalgia-free, in fact it's spring that can really hang me up the most. But thinking about this got me wondering, which season comes with the most reflective songs? A tersely worded search: "songs nostalgia" reveals no answers, instead unearthing lists like "ultimate nostalgia songs," including ditties of the Second Hand Rose and Toot, Toot, Tootsie ilk.
Though I suppose you could make a case for the latter, as it implies a future where there may well be a certain type of nostalgia, depending on how things in the song turn out. (I'll never fail, if you don't get a letter then you'll know I'm in jail. Toot, Toot, Tootsie don't cry, Toot, Toot, Tootsie goodbye!)
Still, not exactly what I had in mind. Then, swiftly changing my approach to "autumn songs" I came across this list from Guardian Readers. And, gentle blogreader, after looking at it I must say I am starting to wonder if I am in the minority, if really it is autumn that can hang you up the most.
As the introduction to the list says: "If you see autumn as one long, encroaching dusk, then it's no surprise that this week's recommendations tend towards the wistful. More introspective genres come to the fore, which is good news for sorrowful souls with acoustic guitars."
Nothing like a good horn section to make a band really soar -- and tonight Tonic celebrates mighty brass in a few ways -- with Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, The Boss Brass and Tower of Power.
In a related note, I was amused to read this review on Spinner of a recent concert by Zac Condon's band, Beirut -- it talks about how concert-going hipster practice (which you will know well if you go out to certain kinds of shows) means people rarely, if ever dance. But Condon, with his kicking brass section, got 'em up and dancing at the end of the evening, despite themselves. (This was also true of the Beirut concert I attended a couple of weeks ago, you could feel people itching to dance, but not dancing, til the very end when they just gave in.)
And, (note nifty segue), tonight Tonic will also reveal the musical results of an attempt by Ryerson University students to break the record for the largest dance class ever. Which artist made the kids twist and shout? (Well, shuffle from foot to foot, anyway.) Tim will tell all.
Posted by Li Robbins on October 12, 2007 at 03:30 PM
What's in a name? A lot, sometimes. Particularly in music, when a name can make you pick up a CD, read a magazine article, look at a website. When I saw that Tonic would be playing an Israeli group called Moshav Band playing a tune called Bereshit, I admit I was intrigued by name of group and song. Never did find a thing out about the tune, but remedied some considerable ignorance on the Moshav front.
A moshav is something like a kibbutz, I gather, but somewhat less communal. (Feel free to correct me if I haven't got this quite right.) Anyway, Moshav, the band, comes from Moshav Meor Modi'im, reputedly a musical village (located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv). That's where the member of this band grew up, listened to music together, and eventually starting to play music themselves.
From what I've listened to on Moshav's MySpace site, on some tracks they sound pretty much an indie-rock band that could come from anywhere in the world, but with occasional allusions and connections to the Israel, both musically and in terms of the lyrics. Apparently they also sing in Hebrew though -- which obviously would be a different kettle of fish altogether. (Or, harking to my own roots, a different kettle of pickled herring.)
Posted by Li Robbins on October 11, 2007 at 03:00 PM
A while ago I blogged about the experience of having Betty Carter once smile at me. A moment that has stayed with me to this day.
But I don't think I mentioned the time someone I knew took a picture of Betty Carter taking her garbage out. He was a very young and talented jazz piano player, he was wandering around in whatever neighborhood Betty lived in, not stalking or anything, just happened to be there and suddenly he saw her, taking her garbage out. He had a camera. He got excited and took her picture. She was not thrilled.
I imagine that incident has stayed in his mind too, the moment when Betty gave him the gears for being invasive and foolish and for catching her when she was probably not at her best.
All this said, I am quite sure neither of us thinks for more than a second or two about either incident when we hear the late great Miss Betty Carter sing. Which you can do for yourself tonight, as Tonic plays something from what they describe as her "soul" side. (Frankly, she could have sung the phonebook and it would have had soul, but I know what they mean.)
Posted by Li Robbins on October 10, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Guitarist Pat Metheney wrote a beautiful song called Always And Forever just for his parents, and Tonic plays that song tonight.
Which made me think about the whole notion of writing songs as tributes to other people. There's the obvious, naming your song after the subject, like Diana (as in "please stay" with him, Diana) or Windy (as in "everyone knows it's") or even Roxanne, with her red light. (Wonder if that song was one of the reasons Sting got slapped with the dubious honour of topping the worst lyrics list in a recent survey conducted by Blender mag?)
But I'm thinking more about what you could call the impressionistic sense of writing music about or for someone. How do you decide what best conveys that person, musically? Or is it really more about the composer's feelings?
Which isn't to say that tributes with lyrics can't be moving too of course. I remember being at a Peter Gabriel show where he played a song he'd written for his father, actually it wasn't a concert, it was part of a celebration of genius or some such that was held a few years back. Anyway, Gabriel played this song solo at the piano, for just the few hundred people assembled. At the conclusion of the song ("with my dad by my side, got my dad by my side") there weren't too many dry eyes left in that house, let me tell you.
Posted by Marty Flanagan on October 9, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Tonic starts off tonight's show with a duet from pianist Hank Jones and Diana Krall, performing Dream A Little Dream Of Me.
Krall is of course an excellent pianist herself -- but it must have been a thrill for her to play with Jones -- she's always quick to acknowledge her heroes.
That modesty, and tendency to a kind of awkwardness at times with the media, has sometimes led people to believe she's humourless. She's not. Here's a quote from a feature that ran yesterday in the Dallas News about Krall:
"So, why has a shy 42-year-old from a seaport city in British Columbia been able to revel in worldwide recognition? 'Because of my legs,' she says without hesitating. 'I've got good legs.'"
Posted by Marty Flanagan on October 8, 2007 at 05:05 PM
Ray Charles joins Poncho Sanchez for a Latin-infused tune called Mary Ann, Thanksgiving Monday on Tonic. The gratitude continues with Bebe Winans' nineties soul anthem Thank You! and Rosemary Clooney’s touching rendition of Thanks For The Memories.
Certain members of the Tonic team also admit that they're most thankful for Rosemary's handsome (actually, they used the word "gorgeous") nephew, George...hey, aren't we all?
-Trumpeter Ray Vega with a high-voltage Latin take on the Gigi Gryce tune Social Call.
-The classic Alone Together from the trio of Canadian pianist Chris Sigerson, recorded in an exclusive CBC studio session.
-And Canadian soul singers Ivana Santilli and Glenn Lewis in a duet called If Ever I Fall.
Now here's a nice line-up of what Tonic is calling "great ladies," Dinah Washington, Madeleine Peyroux, Anita Baker and Nina Simone. Though of course I know what Tonic means, I'm not sure Nina Simone would have thought of herself as a lady!
I was reading this interview with her daughter Simone earlier today, also a singer, and this is one thing she had to say about her mom. If this (rather vivid!) description intrigues you, the whole interview is published at All About Jazz.
"She was a child prodigy, a chocolate brown little girl in the South in the ‘30s, '40s, and '50s, living on the other side of the railroad tracks. I think that has a lot to do with it. Watching what her own mother had to go through. Nina being told that she was ugly, her lips were too big, her skin was too dark, her nose was too wide. Why do you think she embraced the Civil Rights movement as much as she did? So I think there was a lot of anger, a lot of torment, a lot of insecurity. I think she carried that with her into her later years. I think there were a lot of unresolved issues. All this on top of the fact that she was a true genius. Most geniuses I’ve read about had some serious human relations issues."
On this day, in 1950, the cartoon strip Peanuts made its debut. I'm astonished it could have been that long ago, since naturally we all tend to assume that whatever happened in our own childhoods occured at the same time we did. (So really, Snoopy must have been invented at around the same time I learned to read, right? Not so.)
Tonic honours Peanuts musically tonight with the inimitable Vince Guaraldi themes from the animated adaptations of Peanuts. Anyone who watched the shows knows that music -- I'd bet that for some, the sound of Vince Guaraldi is the sound of Christmas. (Beats associating it with, say, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, any day.)
btw, Vince had a long musical career before he got near to Peanuts in the late 1960s, including writing a jazz arrangement for the choral Eucharist, performed at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral in 1965. (His piece was for jazz trio and a 68-voice choir.)
As his bio says, "Clearly, if Vince Guaraldi could write music for God, he could pen tunes for Charlie Brown."
Tonight Tonic opens up the latest Michael Kaeshammer disc to play his funky interpretation of Irving Berlin's Blue Skies.
(Never a truer word was spoke, at least in my neck of the woods -- hasn't rained much in days, nothing but blue skies, do I see.)
Following what you could call a journalistic hunch (though you probably wouldn't) I decided to see if Youtube was replete with versions of the song. And, no surprise, it is. But what was a surprise (to me, anyway) was that there were a couple of harmonica versions. Like this one, featuring a man I think of as Cold Harmonica Player." And this one, with Fidel Harmonica Player.
Am I forgetting something, like a famous Toots Thielman version? (Guess I should give into my journalistic hunch and check that possiblity out, but must run right now, will report back on that later.) Meantime, I think I can safely say you will probably enjoy the Kaeshammer version more than the pocket pianos.
If those four words made you immediately picture a certain man of Tin, we are, as Anne of Green Gables would say, "kindred spirits." Consequently you too may be intrigued to know that Tonic features some jazz versions of Over The Rainbow and If I Only Had A Brain this evening.
As I remember it, Queen Latifah as Matron "Mama" Morton in the movie version of Chicago, stole the show -- some people actually clapped when she did her opening number. (The whole notion of clapping in appreciation at a movie is so interesting, don't you think? Even though there is no one to receive the applause, it still feels right, after a powerhouse performance like that...)
Anyway, tonight Tonic gets your weekend off to a rockin' start with Weekend Love, a soulful hip-hop tune from the mighty Queen Latifah herself.
And in the "old favorites" category, Katie's playing a couple tracks from the legendary Alone Together, the recording Tony Bennett and Bill Evans made on this day in 1976.
Now, I am willing to bet there was some applause out in the control room at the end of that day.
If you've been curious about the new Herbie Hancock CD, The River: The Joni Letters, but aren't quite ready to shell out, tune into Tonic tonight -- Katie will be sampling the disc.
Still haven't seen tons of reviews of the CD, perhaps because there was quite a bit of advance press about it. (Not to mention it was only released two days ago.) Although the New York Times did call say, in their advance piece, that the album "delivers an intimate reinvention issuing from someplace deep inside the music." The tracks I've heard here and there online certainly bear this out...
It's been fifty years since Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story opened on Broadway. Time, she flies.
Tonight Tonic salutes West Side Story, the translation of Romeo and Juliet into the world of NYC gangs, with tunes like America, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere, Tonight and more.
Funny, Chita Rivera (the original Anita), told CBS news that she remembers looking at the script for the first time, and thinking that "a musical with a dead body being carried over the heads at the end...just can't work." Guess she's glad she was wrong!
I have a feeling Glenn Gould didn't entertain the notion of "guilty pleasures." There was pleasure, or not. Proof is that Gould declared, more than once, "I am a Streisand freak and make no bones about it. With the possible exception of Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, no vocalist has brought me greater pleasure or more insight into the interpreter's art."
This is wonderful to hear. I think more people should simply acknowledge what they love without apology, regardless of its fashionability or not. Not that I have much of a problem with that, long a fan of pop music critics poo-poo. And before it became fashionable to like the pop music that previous eras of critics would have poo-poo'd, were they still critics. If that seems a baffling notion, check out this explanation of Poptimism and Rockism, by Jody Rosen. (Not a new debate, but perhaps new to you, if you don't spend time perusing nerdy music stuff.)
But back to Gould. Today on Tonic it's all about setting the mood for Variations On Gould, as Katie spins Barbra Streisand singing I'm In The Mood For Love.
Jazz clubs they do come and go, much to the dismay of jazz lovers, not to mention musicians. Tonight on Tonic host Katie Malloch plays a set by pianist Kenny Barron that was recorded at the beloved and lamented New York City jazz club Bradley's.
Fortunately some clubs seem to endure, for instance the perennially candlelit and hushed Ronnie Scotts in London. Though apparently it had a controversial makeover this past summer, as noted by The Independent's jazz writer, Sholto Byrnes, in a piece about the legendary Ronnie's.
And Byrnes, writing about Barron's performance there last March, paid a lovely tribute to the pianist with the opening words of his review:
"Fame has taken a long time to attach itself to Kenny Barron. It's only in the past decade or so that this 62-year-old American has been recognised as the impeccable pianist that he is, and it's been 15 years since he last played at Ronnie Scott's. But during his apprenticeships as a sideman to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz, Barron was honing a style that makes him one of the foremost exponents of the modern mainstream."
John Coltrane would have been 81 today, were he still alive. And Tonic marks the day with some Trane tunes from The GRP All Star Big Band & Bill McBirnie.
Now, this post on The Bad Plus' blog, Do The Math, is from last year, but what a great list of stellar Coltrane moments it is.
Grab your goat, and get your cat...as some of us like to sing. Though I expect it will be the more traditional lyrics tonight on Tonic when New York vocalist Robin McKelle sings Sunny Side Of The Street. She's got a great throwback kind of sound, btw, real 40's big band swing style presentation...
My alternate Sunny Side Of lyrics remind me of something I wrote about a while back, (but never fails to amuse those of us amused by such things), the concept of "dummy lyrics," words that are temporary place-holders before the real words are written. My fav, and probably the most famous, are the dummy lyrics Ira Gershwin wrote for I Got Rhythm.
"Roly-poly
Eating solely
Ravioli
Better watch your diet or bust."
Then there's that other, related matter, the satirical lyric or title, for example, Duke Ellington's famous In A Semi-mental Mood. Know any more? Do tell.
When you think about it, there aren't that many bass players whose names have near-household recognition factor, but I'll go out on a limb and say that Jaco Pastorius is one.
His playing on the fretless was remarkable, his bass had such presence as a soloist, as a melodic voice.
Pastorius was also one of only four bass players to be inducted into Downbeat Magazine’s Hall of Fame, and of course he was part of the seminal jazz-fusion band Weather Report.
Pastorius died at the age of 36, 20 years ago today. And I'm very glad to say that tonight Tonic pays tribute to Jaco.
His influence was so wide reaching -- his impact so great. In 2000, guitarist Pat Metheny wrote about that in the liner notes to the reissue of Jaco's eponymous debut CD, curiously all in lower case, but the visual challenge aside, it's worth reading. Here's the opening:
A lot of buzz about Canadian jazz singer Diana Panton, who is also a French teacher in Hamilton, Ontario. (She has a masters degree in French literature, and also taught for a while at the University of Paris...)
Best of all is when the buzz comes from one who would know. Here's what the great Canadian multi-instrumentalist, Don Thompson, said about Panton when he first heard her -- when she was only nineteen:
"She really knocked me out that night. She was so young but she had a lot of depth and real feeling."
You can hear for yourself when Tonic plays Panton singing Sergio Mendes So Many Stars.
It's a curious thing, the use of "baby" in song lyrics. In real life, if a man calls a woman "baby," she may well laugh. Or perhaps look over her shoulder to see if there's someone in the room wearing diapers.
Or maybe she does recognize it as a term of endearment, but one ever so slightly tinged with irony. (Even further down that path would be the use of the always delightful "babycakes.")
Tonight on Tonic "baby" shows up in some tried and true guises, with the Quincy Jones Orchestra doing Comin' Home Baby, and Sarah Vaughan singing Cool Baby.
Yes, in music "baby" never seems to go out of style. At least, not in my books, babe.
If you thought jazz stopped evolving sometimes circa 1960 as a popular art-form, the emergence of nu-jazz in the 90s came along to contradict, or at least challenge that notion.
Not to be confused with smooth jazz, that oft reviled but also relatively recent development, nor nubuck, (so hard to listen to as it sits there placidly on your feet, becoming more and more difficult to clean as the days go by), no, nu-jazz is a an attempt to categorize the intersection of some aspects of jazz with dance/club/electronica.
You're not likely to hear too much nu-jazz in trad jazz clubs, but you'll certainly hear it elsewhere, in spades. (btw, that nu-jazz link will take you to a site featuring a music TV series, but has lots of nu-jazz info...)
...tonight on Tonic, as Katie plays tunes from Dionne Warwick, Blossom Dearie, Gerald Levert, Deborah Cox, Kevin Mahogany and Ray Charles.
I was sorry to have missed some fabulous singing at my new local on the weekend. When I walked in there on Sunday afternoon, for a last stab at sitting outside with a cider before the snows fall, I saw the entire bar was bedecked with boas and feathers, and all decorations frothy -- leftovers from the previous night's tribute to the singer Julie London.
Anyway, I'm told that there were many versions of Cry Me A River (though no one did my favourite, Dont'cha Go Away Mad), which led me to this scene from The Girl Can't Help It, where the ghostly Ms. London tells Tom Ewell just how much of a river he can cry over her...talk about fabulous!
You know, I was perusing the Online Trombone Journal earlier, during that special time of day that those of us who write for a living think of as "part of the writing process," because it sounds much better than "procrastination," and came across this comparison (written by David Wilken) between trombonists Miff Mole and Kid Ory.
He says that Miff was "perhaps stylistically the opposite of Kid..." And that although both played Dixieland, "Ory's style was boisterous and rough, Mole's was more technical with a brighter sound." Additionally, "Mole also avoided the glissandos and growls that Ory favored."
It made me think about how incredibly individual a person's sound on an instrument can be. If you hear someone play a lot you recognize them instantly, it's really no different from identifying a person from their speaking voice -- something we also easily do.
It also made me think about how different life might be if one was called "Miff," or "Kid."
Tonic tells me that it's Ladies Night this evening. For some reason I instantly picture inebriated men, possibly salivating, but no, they're billing the show as Ladies Night because Katie will spin the 1979 song of that name by Kool & the Gang. Also, a tune from Brazilian vocalist Ivan Lins all about his leading lady, Madalena.
Plus, continuing on the Fiddler On The Roof kick from yesterday, one of Canada's leading jazz ladies, Sophie Milman sings Matchmaker, Matchmaker from Fiddler On The Roof. (Was Yente a lady? That's not how I remember it.)
Tonic salutes the Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah – tonight with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley playing To Life, from Fiddler On The Roof.
Adderley, btw, didn't just interpret the one song from the musical -- in 1964 he released an entire LP of Jerry Bock's music, titled, appropriately enough, Cannonball Adderley's Fiddler On The Roof. (With, I might note, the late Joe Zawinul on piano.)
But it's not the only Fiddler spin-off worth noting. A few years ago bassist Eddie Gomez released Jazz Fiddler on the Roof .
Then there's Knitting On The Roof, from 1999, a compilation put out by Knitting Factory Records of covers of Fiddler songs by bands including The Residents, Negativland, and The Magnetic Fields.
And of course, Gwen Stefani's take on If I Were A Rich Man, If I Was A Rich Girl, which you can still hear all over the place.
Just to name a few. Great music inspires re-workings, good, bad, weird. Not to mention satire.
In the early 1970s, Mad Magazine published a parody called Antenna On The Roof, which speculated about the lives of Tevye's descendants living in 1960s suburban America.
P.S. For an interesting perspective on Fiddler's role in culture, check out this article from 2006 in The Jewish Daily Forward, called Tevye, Today, and Beyond.
Pianist Oliver Theophilus Jones (did you know this was his middle name? I didn't, until now) will be featured playing Swinging On A Star tonight on Tonic. Jones, who was born September 11, 1934 (happy birthday, Mr. Jones!) retired in 2000, then un-retired, at least partly, most recently releasing a recording called One More Time in 2006.
He also un-retired long enough to play a benefit concert which was largely responsible for funding a business plan to re-open a boarded up community centre (once called "The Negro Community Centre") in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighborhood. Little Burgundy was home to the majority of the city's black community, beginning in the late 19th century. Jones, Oscar Peterson and others grew up in Little Burgundy. Now the community centre is scheduled to re-open sometime next year.
"The kids need a place to go to," Jones told Hour magazine. "You need a place like I had when I was a kid. There are a lot of talented youngsters who just need that little push, that little incentive to let them know that someone cares."
Oliver Theophilus Jones, pianist, philanthropist...
On this day 51 years ago, Miles Davis and John Coltrane recorded the classic Round Midnight, by Thelonious Monk. Tonight Tonic salutes that event by playing that legendary recording.
I bet most of us, at this point in time, take for granted that tunes like Round Midnight (or Round About Midnight) are widely considered gorgeous pieces of music, accessible to all.
But a 1948 review from Downbeat (a mag typically not enthused about Monk in those days) is a reminder that it wasn't always so:
"The Monk is undoubtedly a man of considerable ability both technically and harmonically but his abstractions on these sides are just too too -- and I played them early in the morning and late at night. Needn't doesn't require a Juilliard diploma to understand, but Midnight is for the super hip alone."
btw, that review was printed in an excellent book about Monk, edited by Canadian scholar Rob van der Bliek, called The Thelonious Monk Reader -- all kinds of insight into the life and times and music of Monk can be found between its covers.
Tonic, I dare say, considers itself to be primarily a jazz show. Me too, but I consider it to also be an open minded take on related music as well.
Take tonight's programme, for example. Weekend host Tim Tamashiro plays Joss Stone, Robbie Williams, Mel Tormé with the Boss Brass, Alberta's Aaron Young, Sultans of String, Hip Pocket Quartet and Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. And of course, the proverbial more!
...35 years ago, Curtis Mayfield's legendary soundtrack to the blaxploitation classic Superfly went gold, the Bosox whupped the Yankees 10-4, and the Mankato Minnesota city council had an adjourned meeting (seven bids were received for a pumping station, interceptor sewer and forcemain).
But Tonic will restrain its celebrations to the first event, by playing Freddie's Dead, one of the top-selling singles from Superfly. (Which, according to some sources, is one of the only films ever to have been outgrossed by its soundtrack!)
Katie takes you to Montreal’s legendary Lion D’Or tonight on Tonic to hear a set by saxophonist Janis Steprans' Quintet.
I remember being in the club once when Katie was hosting an event there -- it's the kind of place, on the right occasion, where you feel perfectly at home in an ankle length backless black dress. (At least, if you're a woman you do.) Dating back to the 1930s, when it was a cabaret, the Lion D'Or was shut down in the 1970s, stayed empty until 1987 when the Petit Extra bistro took over. Art deco, and sumptuous.
And a perfect spot for a native Montrealer such as Mr. Steprans to perform...
It was 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote This Land Is Your Land, and Count Basie and his Orchestra, including legendary sax player Lester Young, recorded Lester Leaps In. You won't hear the former on Tonic tonight, but you will hear the latter.
Both musicians had tremendous influence in their spheres, Guthrie in terms of the entire subsequent history of the labour movement and folk music, Young in terms of the entire subsequent history of jazz sax.
Hard to say if this is a good thing or not, mind you. But regardless of canine tributes or lack thereof, Guthrie's career, posthumously speaking, is going strong as this recent article in the International Herald Tribune illustrates.
Back in the late 1960s Carlos Santana and his band had a huge hit with an album called Abraxas.
Back in the 1950's, Oye Como Va was a dance favourite of another kind, at the Palladium Ballroom on Broadway where its composer Tito Puente's latin big band packed the house.
Back in the 1980's the song was so established as part of the popular music canon that Tito Puente was asked to perform it with his Latin-jazz combo -- backed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra.
And there you have it. A capsule (and partial) version of the journey of a song.
Tonight on Tonic, you can hear the Santana leg of the trip, from Abraxa. And Katie also plays Tito Puente himself, with a slinky tune called Picadillo A Lo Puente.
Tonight Tonic celebrates Labour Day with songs about jobs: Work Song by Milt Jackson, played by the Oscar Peterson Trio, Workin' In A Coal Mine, sung by Lee Dorsey, and Car Wash by Rose Royce.
Now, I don't know about you, but I honestly never thought of Car Wash as a work song. Maybe because I can't picture it without imagining a disco ball twirling someplace nearby. Or maybe it's because apparently a car wash is a place where things are "always cool, and the boss don't mind sometimes if you act a fool." Personally I think that should be true of every work place though. Since everybody plays the fool, sometime.
Tonic celebrates hard bop pianist Horace Silver's 79th birthday today, with his compositions performed by PJ Perry and Amanda Tosoff.
And going back just a few years...here's Horace Silver playing Cool Eyes back in 1958, with a somewhat bemused looking audience, and a crackerjack lineup --trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Louis Hayes.
Tonic has jazz from Australia tonight, with Theaktet, and a version of Australia's unofficial national anthem, Waltzing Matilda. Also, jazz from Japan, with Hiromi.
It's no secret that jazz is big in Japan. But I don't know about Aussie jazz. When I was there, some eight years ago, it seemed blues was everywhere, and lots of indie rock bands, but I must have missed the jazz scene. A quick virtual walkabout to sites like Jazz Australia and Jazz Scene Magazine suggest the scene is not huge, but active.
Tonic plays a version by Joe Sample of Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder this eve, and notes that it sounds "incredibly funky."
I must say that the tune sounded incredibly funky in the hands of Lee Morgan too, which is probably why it was a hit on the pop charts in 1964. Even though in certain jazz quarters it was viewed as, in the words of one anonymous musician, "monotonous and a little silly."
Harsh. I would have said, "irresistible groove and a lot appealing."
Billboard has a good Lee Morgan bio, which includes this b.g. to The Sidewinder.
Just a quick note to say that Katie will also be opening the show tonight with a small tribute to Doug Riley, who passed away on Monday. Because Katie is currently suffering from laryngitis, most of tonight's episode of TONIC is a repeat of a favourite past show, but she felt she needed to come in to work today to honour Doug's passing.
...should you need one...is a 1954 recording the show is playing this evening of Art Tatum and Benny Carter doing Gershwin's A Foggy Day.
Oddly enough I was corresponding just minutes ago with someone in London who tells me it has been a "dreary cold" summer. I emailed back to say that here it has been endlessly sunny and hot -- except when I go on canoe trips. Sadly true.
But I digress. Art Tatum is in my top five, when it comes to jazz pianists. I know that some feel his playing was too much about pyrotechnics, (similar charges have been levied against Oscar Peterson for that matter), but for my money, the fleetness of fingerwork did not detract one bit from the incredible musicality.
Legend has it that when Art Tatum walked into a club where Fats Waller was playing, Waller announced, "I only play the piano, but tonight God is in the house".
Tonight on Tonic vibraphonist Gary Burton joins bassist Dave Young's trio for the Duke Ellington tune It Don't Mean a Thing. Of course free jazz went on to show it DOES mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, but that takes absolutely nothing away from the marvelous Ellington tune.
And speaking of the mighty Duke...it was 1943, Ray Nance picked up his violin, he and Taft Jordan shared vocals, Ben Webster soloed...and it meant a thing or two, alright...see for yourself, as The Duke Ellington Band plays It Don't Mean A Thing.
A plethora of great voices on early evening R2 this Sunday night. First, a woman who has performed for the Queen, Dione Taylor, and a man whose music is self-described as "Stevie Wonder playing a Beatles song with Jamiroquai," db Clifford. (OK, so he hasn't performed for the Queen...yet.) Individually they are soulful, jazzy performers -- and they perform together tonight on Fuse.
And Tonic features tracks by Sophie Milman, Norah Jones, and Shirley Horn. Always wonderful to hear the late Shirley Horn. New York Times music critic John Pareles once wrote that "songs are lucky when Shirley Horn chooses them," and I don't think I could put it better than that.
The folks at Tonic say that tonight host Tim Tamashiro features marches from Kevin Dean and Antonio Carlos Jobim. I wasn't aware that Jobim ever wrote marches, but then I started wondering if maybe they were having a little fun with the title of one of his most popular songs, in English The Waters Of March. (Then I thought no, I'm overthinking this, surely he must have had some marches up his sleeve I just don't know about?)
Anyway, it really led me down The Waters Of March path though, and next thing you knew I was listening to and watching this sublime version of Elis Regina and Jobim performing the piece -- with English subtitles for the lyrics! Kind of an opera surtitle approach I guess, and not sure it's needed. But totally worth it for Elis Regina's performance...
It might seem an unlikely duo - Little Richard and Tanya Tucker – but they did indeed team up, as you can hear on Tonic tonight, to sing a song called Somethin' Else. According to one interview with Mr. Richard:
"That song was very easy for me to do because it sounds just like one of my records, Keep A Knockin'. Plus I love Tanya Tucker and I love country music. I also like the banging piano--that old good-time piano."
And on the Little Richard trivia beat -- did you know that apparently originally his signature tune was supposed to go "tutti-fruity, good booty?" But that was considered too racy for the times. (I didn't actually realize that "booty" was not a more recent linguistic invention. Must do a little research when I have a minute as to its pedigree. Meantime, "Aw Rooty!")
Some Tonic tunes tonight include a funky remix of Junior Walker and the All-Stars Motown hit Shotgun, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald by Etta James with Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me. And Laila Biali sings a tune written by Canada’s Ruth Lowe Sandler - I'll Never Smile Again.
Musical Heritage Moment:
Ruth Lowe Sandler was a Toronto girl, (born in 1914) who began her career as "a songplugger," playing piano in Toronto music stores to sell sheet music -- while still in her teens. She went on to have a career as a musician, and a composer -- I'll Never Smile Again was her big hit. But she also had other successful songs, like Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day) used for years by Frank Sinatra as his closing song.
Some names seem like a perfect representation of the person carrying them, a sort of conceptual onomatopoeia. For instance, what else could Robinson Cano be but a baseball player, or Conway Twitty but a country singer?
I haven't thought much about Twitty lately, (or ever, I admit it) but I love the song that Tonic is playing tonight, Twitty's famous duet with Sam Moore, Rainy Night in Georgia. So I thought I should remedy my lack of Twitty lore, and here are just a few nuggets:
-The singer had 55 No. 1 singles!!!
-As a child he saved the life of another child who was pinned beneath a tombstone!
-He showed a natural inclination for music at the age of FOUR, after being given a guitar from Sears & Roebuck.
-He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies! But sadly did not get to play, because then he was drafted by "a much bigger team, the U.S. army."
-Originally called Harold Jenkins, he based his stage name on two cities -- Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas.
I'm so glad he did. Harold Jenkins doesn't make one think of anything other than...Harold Jenkins.
One of the singers featured tonight on Tonic is Fontella Bass – who you may recall from her sixties hit Rescue Me. What a voice. Since the 1970s she's been in and out of (musical) view, but a few years ago she re-emerged for a series of collaborations with England's Cinematic Orchestra. They must have thought they'd died and gone to heaven when they recorded All That You Give with Ms. Bass.
Tonic highlights tonight include Nigel Kennedy on the electric (violin) playing Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue; John Coltrane playing While My Lady Sleeps and the theme from the film A Touch of Evil, played by the Jazz-at-the-Movies Band.
There's so much great music in movies, guess it was only a matter of time before people began re-recording and remixing (for example, just the other day a CD called Cinematic: Classic Film Music Remixed slid across the transom). If you're interested in all things movies and music, you will want to check out the website Music From The Movies.
On it I learned that the orchestral score for the new movie, Skinwalkers, is by Canadian composer Andrew Lockington, who among other things has worked with the brilliant Canadian film composer Mychael Danna. (If ever I hear the score it will have to be on the soundtrack recording though -- can't get past the whole dripping fangs thing -- talk about a touch of evil!)
Iffen you're wondering what you might be able to hear late Sunday afternoon on R2, here are a few of the highlights:
Roots & Wings: French singer Camille is known for, among other things, having created an album with one drone note running throughout the entire work. R&W host Philly Markowitz describes the results as "stunning and playful," and I believe her.
Fuse: Today the musically welded are David Gogo, a master of old-school blues, and Elizabeth Shepherd, a hepcat these days on the jazz vocal scene. Both were nominated for Juno Awards this year, and Fuse nabbed them when they were in Saskatoon for the ceremony, put them into the studio together and voila, the results are on your radio today.
Tonic: The jazz ABCs today, with Jay Boehmer's A is for Adam and Oscar Peterson's C-Jam Blues. (Hey, no "b." Maybe they should have played the old Lambert Hendricks and Ross' The New ABC to cover the whole thing off.) But there's more than just spelling on the show, you can also hear Mississippi style blues from Phontaine, and what are billed as "intriguing covers of Jobim tunes." (The Boy from Ipanema?)
The passion for jazz in the Eastwood clan does not stop with Clint, who directed the biographical movie Bird, helped finance the Lester Young tribute 'Round Midnight, was Executive Producer for the Thelonious Monk doc Straight No Chaser etc.
Tonight on Tonic you can hear Clint's son, Kyle Eastwood, (who studied film but became a bass player) with Jamie Cullum's brother Ben, and other tracks from Eastwood After Hours, a two disc set taken from a 1996 concert at Carnegie Hall, honoring Clint Eastwood for what I guess you could call his jazz advocacy. (Play Misty For Me aside.)
Kyle, btw, is now in his late thirties -- and here's a Q&A with the bassist from The Guardian, asking, among other things, if he ever gets tired being asked about his dad....
Highlights tonight on Tonic include a mix of bossa nova and rock & roll, from Glambeats Corp with their version of You Could Be Mine. Also what has been described as a "heart-rending version" of My Cryin' Eyes, (and I should hope it would be, given it's not, like, My Laughin' Eyes, after all), from Divine Brown. And Montreal's Doxas brothers push back the boundaries with their take on Cole Porter's Night And Day.
Speaking of, I've always wondered about the "under the hide of me" line in Night And Day. "Deep in the heart," yes, but "under the hide?" Seems somehow, well, not so romantic.
Ring Lardner, who you may remember from his BASEBALL writing (it's been a while since I've been able to work baseball into the blog, thus the happy CAPS), apparently found the whole song amusing -- he did a number of parodies, including lines like: "Night and day, under the fleece of me / There’s an oh, such a flaming furneth burneth the grease of me."
Ah torch songs, those smouldering songs of "he/she's just not that into me." Funny to think that the phrase actually comes from the 19th century, when political followers showed support for a candidate by literally carrying a torch in campaign parades.
So when did it become associated with unrequited love? Not sure exactly, but it was at least as early as the 1933 Claudette Colbert movie, The Torch Singer. Guess it was only a hop skip and a sob before it became the vocalist's domain, deep in the land of "is that all there is?"
Tonight singers on Tonic including Sarah Vaughan, Mark Murphy and Doris Day carry the torch, specifically about the one that got away. (Although of course as any good torch singer knows, it's more likely the five or six or seven that got away...to truly give the emotion verisimilitude.)
Tonic, as you will have noticed if you are a regular listener, does not style itself strictly as a jazz show, in any purist sense you care to apply. They play jazz and jazz related music. For instance soul and funk -- tonight in the person of Canada's Shane Philips. And Latin-influenced music (this evening from that renaissance man, Gregory Charles), as well as music most anyone would call jazz.
Of course elements of jazz turn up in all kinds of music most NOT anyone, if that's not a grammatically hideous construction, would call jazz. Recently I read a list of examples of jazz solos in music most would consider pop -- a fascinating reminder that jazz is really everywhere, in some form or another:
Tonic goes south tonight, not as far as the previous post took us (eg. Venezuala) but to Georgia, with guitarist Russell Malone, and to Maryland (hey, they were split in the Civil War) with pianist Cyrus Chestnut, and finally to Alabama with Dinah Washington.
Speaking of jazz in the American south, there was a nice feature on trumpeter Terence Blanchard about going back to New Orleans in the New York Times on the weekend. And if you're interested in the rebuilding of New Orleans, culturally, you may want to check out the blog Culture Gulf.
Brave singers do Charlie Parker, and Emilie-Claire Barlow is definitely one. And she has the chops to back up the bravery! Hear her tonight on Tonic, with Parker's Billie's Bounce.
Keeping jazz venues and recording co.'s going in Canada is no mean feat. They come, they go. Sometimes they don't even come -- when's the last time you heard of a new label being started, for example?
But there are a handful that have tenaciously hung on, and really made a difference in the musical landscape of the country. It's great that Tonic is acknowledging two mainstays on the Canadian jazz scene tonight -- Montreal's Justin Time Records and Edmonton's premier jazz venue since 1957, Yardbird Suite.
I remember the year when Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5 came out. So unabashedly not politically correct, so musically annoying to some, sublime to others. (Like moi, I loved it.)
But regardless whether you loved or hated it, Mambo No. 5 was everywhere. And everywhere, I suspect, most people thought that Bega originated the music. But what really makes that song is down to one man, Perez Prado.
I can't fathom it, myself. No, really, not just a cheap pun, it just seems impossible to imagine.
You can understand then why Irving Berlin posed the question: How can I tell you what is in my heart/How can I measure each and every part/How can I tell you how much I love you/How can I measure just how much I do?
If what was in his heart twas going to be compared to the ocean depth. Really, you couldn't make a stronger declaration of love.
And you can hear Wynton Marsalis "discovery," the very lyrical pianist Eric Reed, plumb those depths musically, tonight on Tonic.
Ed Thigpen's Scrambled is a spirited, bop-ish tune in the Charlie Parker mode, and it's also been declared the Wednesday anthem for Tonic -- as played by Oliver Jones. Presumably in a version Thigpen plays on, like Jones' appropriately named Justin Time recording, A Class Act.
In an indirect leap -- here's something I found myself wondering about earlier this week, on the muggy holiday Monday at the ballpark. Is Curtis Thigpen (backup catcher for Gregg Zaun) related to Ed Thigpen? Couldn't be that common a name. Maybe Oliver Jones knows. Or maybe the heat has me scrambled. Or maybe the Jays homestand with the Yankees does, argh. Runs would be nice, but at least let's get a few more two bass hits. (Hey, if the pun was good enough for Dizzy Gillespie and John Lewis, it's good enough for me.)
Always interesting trying to find info on the Information Superhighway.
Case in point. Curious to find out more about drummer Sandro Dominelli's version of what I assume is the classical guitar student standby, Classical Gas, (much of my adolescence was spent listening to my brother obsessively practicing the tune), I was thwarted, finding only results such as these:
"Firefighters use duct tape to stop a gas leak in a Regina neighbourhood ...Sandro Dominelli, best jazz artist)"
So I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that however odd it seems, it is the same Classical Gas composition I grew to know so teeth- clenchingly well. I look forward to a refreshingly different take on the tune tonight on Tonic. (Arranged for drum kit?!?)
Tonight on Tonic you can hear Canadian jazz singer Dione Taylor singing Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U. A tune that has been well-covered, including Sinead O'Connor's hit with it (which apparently inspired Prince to resurrect the song in his shows).
The cover that really sends shivers for me is by Jimmy Scott. So intense it's almost hard to listen to. Can't seem to find any performance clip of it in the usual places, and I'm not prone to sending people to commercial sites, but if you want to hear a sample I will say you can do that at the place named for the big, big river.
p.s. Just went to Ms. Taylor's website and heard a bit of her version of Nothing Compares 2 U. All I can say is, nothing could persuade me to even begin to compare the two interpretations, they're truly musical apples and oranges. Each powerful in their own way.
Clint Eastwood's jazz side (he directing the biographical movie Bird, helped finance the Lester Young tribute 'Round Midnight, was Executive Producer for the Thelonious Monk doc Straight No Chaser etc.) is usually overshadowed by his own film work. But tonight Tonic celebrates some movie music associated with Mr. Eastwood.
Other highlights: a quick trip through the history of Ska music, a chance to meet the power force behind musicians like Jacksoul and Kobe James, and tracks from PJ Perry, the John Roney Trio and the Toasters.
Who's the worst pop band ever? You'd be hard pressed to answer that, I can think of more than a few contenders. But The Worst Pop Band Ever aren't shy about claiming the title. This is how they describe what they do:
"The Worst Pop Band Ever is an attempt to blend improvisation and pop music in an organic and painless manner. It works... sometimes."
So that means influences from Radiohead and Dave Douglas, Prince and Miles Davis...sometimes. In other words, they're not a pop band, they're an interesting improvising ensemble.
To hear The Worst Pop Band Ever you can tune into Tonic this evening.
Tonic seems to be on a bit of a disco, funk and soul kick -- earlier this week there was a little Average White Band, tonight disco meets funk when Robson Jorge and Lincoln Olivetti get together for a number called Aleluia.
Other highlights include Italian pianist Fabio Miano with a tribute to Duke Pearson. And what the Tonicians call "pure magic" when Rosa Passos picks up her guitar and sings Molambo. Beats impure magic, any day.
Paris has been a draw for North American jazz players for decades -- and why not, the French appreciation of jazz has certainly at times out-ranked the American. And besides, the brandy is better at night, the fresh croissants in the morning, well, they're actually fresh. Anyway, a result is that Paris has inspired many a jazzer.
Tonight Tonic celebrates music inspired by the City of Lights: Clifford Brown and Max Roach play Parisian Thoroughfare (love that busy tune) and Peter Cinotti sings I Love Paris.
Then a quick dip into Spain with No Way Out, a bluesy number from Barcelona diva Big Mama, and Mallorcan harmonica player Victor Uris. Big Mama and Mallorcan harmonica! Now I've heard everything.
And we're not talkin' bad moods among the bloomin' heather...no, this Scottish funk is from the Average White Band, in the shape of the hit, You Got It.
Yes, the always-eclectic Tonic gets funky tonight. And quirky playful big-band loungy, with China Forbes and Pink Martini. And of course, straight ahead jazzy too, with Anita O'Day and the Buddy Bregman Orchestra.
According to Team Tonic, tonight on the show "Sting tackles bossa nova." I hope Jobim is ready. But really, what an eclectic musician Sting is, what with his John Dowland excursion and all.
Other Tonic touchdowns include vocalist Diana Krall and pianist Hank Jones paying tribute to Ella Fitzgerald with Dream a Little Dream of Me. And Aaron Neville sings the Cole Porter classic In the Still of the Night.
Maybe you feel Everything Happens To Me, but not in a good way. Or perhaps you've been feeling low about how it's Funny How Time Slips Away. Well, what cannot be cured must be endured, Til the Clouds Roll By.
Really, if Tonic provided me with their entire line-up this could go on for days. Best they don't then, eh? Still, it's amazing how often Tonic broadcasts present a logical story, song title by song title.
And in case you're wondering, tonight on Tonic the above three songs are performed, respectively, by Wynton Marsalis, Al Green and Lyle Lovett, and Gene DiNovi.
A plethora of great sounds this evening on R2, starting the evening with Tonic -- and music from New Orleans, big bands, Brubecks, Molly Johnson, and Amy Winehouse.
Was glad to see Amy Winehouse on that list. I know that she's on the verge of being overplayed (at least, the great Rehab song is) in just about every public space these days. But I don't know as the jazz world is so keen to embrace her, since the pop world sure has. Jazz is definitely a component of her music though.
P.S. If that previous slightly out of sync vid to the original isn't enough for you, check out this version of Rehab live, it's interesting to hear her sing without all that production (much as I love those horns) -- this is just voice and guitar.
Talk show house bands are sometimes underrated, and almost always underheard, but not tonight on Tonic, where the talk show house band has its day.
On the talk show house band trivia beat: Did you know that Paul Schaffer's band from the Late Show with David Letterman was apaprently forced to give up its name, "The World's Most Dangerous Band," after Late Show broadcaster NBC claimed that name as their intellectual property? (Presumably after the show moved to CBS.) AND that Paul Shaffer grew up in Thunder Bay, where a street is named for him? ALSO that Paul Shaffer is working on his memoirs?
The things you learn when you are hoping to find out something more substantial about talk show house bands, eh...
The folks at Tonic have decided that a heatwave is something to be celebrated -- at least musically. So they've got a couple of versions of Gershwin's Summertime for you on the show, by Joni Mitchell, and by pianist Michel Petrucciani.
If you've ever been in Montreal during the jazz festival when there's a heat wave you'll know just how hot it can be, like swimming in heat. Pianist Oliver Jones knows the summers of Montreal very well -- and you can hear him tonight too, returning to the neighbourhood where he grew up in Lights of Burgundy.
We've got Can-Lit, why not Can-Sax? Given how many great Canadian sax players there are out there. And two of them pair up twice tonight, on both Tonic and Canada Live: saxophonist Tara Davidson and her teacher, saxophonist Mike Murley. In the former instance, it's with a rendition of No Regrets, featuring the Glenn Gould Studio Strings, in the latter it's part of a concert from Halifax's Atlantic Jazz Festival.
And if you need more proof that Tonic and Canada Live sometimes have freakishly astounding synchronicity, get this -- tonight on Canada Live you can also hear a band called the Tonic, recorded at the PEI Jazz Festival. Wow, man.
Strange when you hear that a musician you think of as being youngish is actually celebrating his 75th birthday. Guess that's the time warp thing -- the first recordings you heard were done when they were a certain age, and somehow they got stuck in your mind as not keeping pace with time passing.
In this instance, it's guitarist Kenny Burrell who's celebrating his 75th, and you can hear him on Tonic tonight (along with music from Dionne Warwick, Ronald Isley and Celso Machado).
Of course if you look at the facts it's true that Kenny Burrell's first major recording session was in 1951, with Dizzy Gillespie. So yeah, guess he'd have to be more than a lad now. Happy Birthday, Kenny Burrell!
A message from Tonic came in about tonight's show, saying that it would provide us listeners an excuse to "indulge our existential angst" as host Katie Malloch features saxophonists Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt with Why Was I Born?.
As one who never needs encouragement in the angsty direction, I thought maybe I should focus on something briskly everyday instead, say Karin Plato and Denzal Sinclaire performing Let's Take An Old-fashioned Walk, as they do on tonight's show.
Then I thought no, why exercise when you can lie around being broody? So much easier. Was relieved to find out that tonight's show will also facilitate this (lack of) course of action equally well, with Alice Russell and the Quantic Soul Orchestra's Take Your Time, Change Your Mind.
Hey, I'm all over that. At this rate I might never do a damn thing other than considering my options. But then, who says I was born to have to do anything? Where is it written? On the other hand, if it's true there's no goal, why WAS I born? Arghhhhh....
Nothing as enticing (in a song) as forbidden love, and tonight Tonic has some thoughts on that very subject from Canadian blues singer Divine Brown and singer/pianist John Legend.
Plus, if you didn’t get enough mambo on the weekend, (and who ever really gets enough mambo), you can hear more tonight from "the King of the Mambo," (or "El Rey del Mambo," as those of us with a vocabulary in Spanish entirely based on musicians' honorifics or foodstuffs would say), Perez Prado.
Another highlight -- Michael McDonald's take on the Motown classic Stop, Look, Listen. On the other hand, you could just Walk On By. (Sorry, just a little "in joke" for those faithfully reading the "what's coming up on Tonic" posts.)
Tim has an eclectic bunch of music on today's Tonic -- a tribute to the boogie-woogie with music from Doug Riley, Michael Kaeshammer and Fats Waller. Also tunes "inspired by childrens books and fast fingers from Hawaii."
Really. Very curious about that. Hard to imagine kid lit inspiring jazz. And I am a fan of the genre. Let's see, Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Aslan?
Fast Hawaiian fingers, on the other hand, that seems an easy enough source of inspiration. But whose fingers are/were they? Will have to tune in to find out.
Also on this eve's show: tunes from Blossom Dearie, Colleen Allen and Joe Sample.
A singer I haven't thought of in ages, Lorez Alexandria, is being played on Tonic tonight, singing Get Me To The Church On Time. I guess I stopped listening to her because I only have a couple of her LPs, and I'm very bad about playing my old vinyl. (This dates back to the era when rats ate my turntable, but that's another story.)
Anyway, Lorez, who passed away in 2001, was a gospel and church choir singer before she sang jazz, and I always loved that aspect of her singing. Glad to hear that Katie's playing her music.
Katie's also playing Brazilian-Canadian Paulo Ramos singing Rio Montreal, and Denzal Sinclaire with The Meaning Of The Blues. And you know what? Given the show is two hours long I'm pretty sure there'll be a few other tracks too.
Walk on by. Go ahead, just try and read that phrase without hearing the melody to the Burt Bacharach song, I dare you. See? Impossible. And now that you've probably got the song stuck in your cranium too, you could try listening to Tonic this evening to try and work through your "walk on by issues." Maybe that's a possible cure, just listen again and again. There's a theory.
Anyway, whether or not the theory has any validity to it, what is true is that tonight Katie plays the group Jazz Jamaica performing their version of the tune (I'm not going to name again in the hopes it will not continue to stay stuck all evening).
Other tracks Tonic will play on this evening's show: vocalist Jennifer Scott singing the Joel S. Herron tune I'm A Fool To Want You, and Etta James paying tribute to Billie Holiday with This Bitter Earth.
Pianist Eliane Elias with Cross Currents, Pink Martini with City of Night, and Montreal stalwart Oliver Jones on solo piano with Sweet Lorraine.
Now, since Tonic is a jazz show and since I don't have anything burning to say about any of the above artists at this point in time, I'll turn towards a continuation of the "respect to Trane" conversation, by pointing you to an interview with John Coltrane's son, Ravi, published this week to coincide with the 40th anniversary of John Coltrane's death. In it Ravi talks about his own music, and reflects on the passing of his mother, pianist and jazz harpist Alice Coltrane, earlier this year.
Tonic plays tracks from Puerto Rican singer Elvis Crespo this eve. (I wonder if Priscilla knows?) Crespo, if you're not familiar with the name, is a Latin pop singer. (As well as having been named after Mr. Presley.)
And another highlight tonight: Susannah McCorkle sings the Gershwins' They Can't Take That Away From Me.
Meantime, if you have a hankering for Fred Astaire singing the Gershwin classic from Shall We Dance, here you are. Go forth and be nostalgic, nuthin' wrong with that. And I got plenty of nuthin.' No wait a minute, that's another Gershwin link.
This evening on Tonic you can hear, among other songs, (including Polkadots and Moonbeams from drummer Jae Boehmer's latest CD) the Harold Arlen and Truman Capote classic, A Sleepin' Bee, performed by pianist André Previn's trio.
Now hold on a minute here. Truman Capote? How did I get this old without knowing that Capote wrote the lyrics to A Sleepin' Bee? (No, you don't have to answer that question.)
A Sleepin' Bee is one of those songs that just noodles into your head, and lies there, like a sleepin' bee, come to think of it, buzzing around your brain when it wakes up. My favorite version is by Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley, from their classic album of the same name.
(And yes, I know it's not an official Wilson/Adderley website, but it's such a nice shot of the album cover!)
Tonight on Tonic Basie meets Bond with a great version of From Russia With Love.
A movie that, if you believe the From Russia With Love Trivia page, was inextricably bound to President John F. Kennedy. Here goes with the salient Bond/JFK connections:
To Russia With Love was:
-chosen as the second 007 film after JFK listed the book among his top ten favorite novels of all time.
-the last motion picture JFK ever saw, on 20 November 1963, in the White House.
-its release was delayed due to the political climate after the JFK assassination.
Who knows. Anyway, the music certainly makes for a memorable Bond theme.
Also on tonight's show: Synthesizer genius Joe Zawinul makes an appearance in two groups, some Canadian spoken word beat poetry, and tracks from Doug Riley, Lori Cullen and Carlos Santana.
Feeling superstitious on this Friday the 13th? Tonic is. And so they showcase the Oscar Peterson Trio playing the Harold Arlen tune That Old Black Magic, Robert Palmer singing Witchcraft, and alto saxophonist David Sandborn playing a song called Spooky. Plus Queen Latifah with Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic, I Put A Spell On You.
If you want to see a musically amazing if culturally kind of shocking (one viewer calls it "deliciously eccentric,") performance of Screamin Jay doing his signature tune, check this video out.
A few weeks back I went to the Madeleine Peyroux concert at Massey Hall here in hogtown. I mostly know her from her last recording, Half The Perfect World, named for the Leonard Cohen song that Katie will play on Tonic tonight. Man, I love that album. Really gorgeous arrangements, and Peyroux can make a single word take on a world of meaning.
The concert was another matter though. Most of the time Peyroux was so "back in the weeds," as to almost be singing the song in another time zone from the band. And melody? Who needs the original, when you can dance around it all night long.
Despite that I would still say I'm a big fan. She's a wonderful singer, and she's clearly pushing her own boundaries, experimenting and testing both herself and the audience.
Think I'm not alone, either -- given that she'd played in town not all that long ago, clearly the audience is sticking with her -- the concert wasn't sold out, but it was decently attended.
p.s. Another highlight tonight from the Tonic folks: pianist Brian Brown's trio, doing Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are.
You have to love a song with a name like "Rumpwinder." Or at least want to hear it. And you can, tonight on Tonic. Katie plays saxophonist Karl Denson's tune "Rumpwinder” this eve, and suggests that it's the perfect tune to "give your pelvis a workout." (Goodness, and here I was thinking good clean family rumpus room type fun.)
Anyway, from rumpwinding to weeping -- the folks at Tonic also counsel us to have our hankies ready tonight for a torchsong trilogy from singers Betty Carter, Joe Williams and Shirley Horn.
Funny how no one ever seems to graduate from being "the bad boy of such and such" to being "the bad man." Take Nigel Kennedy, perpetual "bad boy of classical music," despite turning 50 last year. What, do we think that grown men can't be bad?
If that were the case then there wouldn't be movies with titles like A Touch of Evil, the theme song of which can be heard on tonight's Tonic, as performed by the Jazz-at-the-Movies band.
Speaking of film noir, as some of us were earlier today, the score to Touch Of is by Henry Mancini, and if I remember it accurately much of it is Mancini's take on Mexican pop music. Sort of mariachi meets big band jazz in a seedy saloon. All so that Janet Leigh can skitter about border-town streets making a bad situation worse.
Anyway, back to Bad Boy/Man Kennedy. You can also hear him on this evening's edition of Tonic playing Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue. Which isn't so bad at all.
The weekday edition of Tonic is hosted by Katie Malloch and comes out of Montréal.
The weekend edition is hosted by Tim Tamashiro and comes out of Calgary, where the Stampede is in full swing right now. And so is Tim's Tonic - with music from the Bebop Cowboys and Lyle Lovett.
There's Nu-Jazz from Canada as well as great nonsense music from Cake and Freddie Cole.
You'll also hear from Michael Kaeshammer, Jeff Healy and The Bad Plus.
This evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch, guitarist Russell Malone plays the theme from the TV show "The Odd Couple”. I actually blogged a short while ago about the death of Plas Johnson, who played the saxophone in that theme and also the sax part in the "Pink Panther" signature theme. We'll take this as a posthumous tribute.
Later, a beautiful ballad called "My Foolish Heart" from Guido Basso on flugelhorn and Doug Riley on Hammond B3 organ and if you love soul singers, check out Amp Fiddler's irresistible tune "Unconditional Eyes".
This evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch, a sexy tune called "Oh What a Night" from the late Gerald Levert's album "The G Spot" which, sadly, was not recorded live at Gräfenberg's in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Later, guitarist Mark Elf and vocalist Dinah Washington perform music from Frank Loesser's "Guys and Dolls”.
And in honour of many listeners south of the border, you'll hear pianist Bill Charlap's rendition of Leonard Bernstein's "America", which may or may not be in the key of "G".
Here are a couple of confessional lines spoken by Dr. Evil on the set of the Jerry Springer show in the second Austin Powers movie. They didn't make the final cut:
"I wrote 'It's Raining Men', or so the Christmas babies told me.
Oh yes, I also made a Marzipan voodoo effigy of The Fonze while I was in coma after smoking some Peruvian prayer hash, but who at the end of the day can honestly say they haven't done that?"
And who can't relate to Eartha Kitt when she sings, "I Want to be Evil”? You'll hear it this evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch.
Plus R&B, Funk and hip-hop meet in Zap Mama's tune "Miss Q. In." and a beautiful solo piano piece from Cedar Walton.
Did you know the story of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land"?
Woody borrowed the tune of the Baptist hymn "When the World's On Fire" as popularized by the Carter Family and wrote new lyrics in response to Kate Smith's ubiquitous rendering of the ponderous Irving Berlin classic "God Bless America". After multiple changes to the lyrics, he recorded the song in 1944. But, of course, Woody was persona non grata in certain circles in the U.S. and - in spite of great grass-roots popularity - he wasn't getting any airplay. That's when Pete Seeger shared the song with Canada's The Travellers, who rewrote the lyrics for Canadian radio where it became a massive hit. Smelling green, corporate radio in America changed their minds and the song became a huge hit there too. You'll hear Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' version of the song on this evening's edition of Tonic with Katie Malloch.
Also in a Canadian vein, excerpts from Oscar Peterson's Canadiana Suite.
Plus, Mario Biondi and the High Five Quintet have got the "Rio de Janeiro Blues."
88% Canadian content, that is. Otherwise, it's all heart.
On this evening's Canada Day edition of Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, Madeline Peyroux and Joe Pass are the interlopers but they're more than welcome.
The rest is homegrown, including a survey of the Latin Canadian Music, some up and comers to the Canadian jazz scene and the output of some great Canadian record labels.
There's a nod to to Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith and music from Susie Arioli, Diana Krall and the seemingly ubiquitous Michael Bublé.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 30, 2007 at 04:11 PM
This evening on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, a celebration of jazz dee's with Dee Daniels, DD Jackson and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Dee-lightful.
Later, Tim marks the 40th anniversary of the summer of love with music that topped the pop charts in the 60's. There's also jazz that made the billboard charts and some new tracks from Elizabeth Shepherd and Laila Biali.
Plus, music from Jamie Cullum, Ramsey Lewis and Dragon Fli Empire.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 29, 2007 at 04:16 PM
I don't even need to provide last names, do I?
Well, they'll both make appearances on this evening's edition of Tonic with Katie Malloch (sort of).
You'll hear a very funky version of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" from soul sensation Musiq (that's your Mick component) and Marilyn Monroe makes her appearance later in the show.
Also, the cool sounds of the Caribbean Jazz Project and their tune "Turnabout" - among other things.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 28, 2007 at 04:18 PM
This evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch, vocalist John Legend sings unabashedly about public displays of affection.
Later, pianist Oliver Jones and orchestra offer a lush rendition of the Fields & Kern classic "The Way You Look Tonight” and Gladys Knight pays tribute to Ella Fitzgerald with "Good Morning Heartache".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 27, 2007 at 04:16 PM
This evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch, Canadian jazz vocalist Melissa Stylianou sings Fats Waller's tune "Jitterbug Waltz.".
Then, the soulful (and oh-so-cute) Javier turns up the heat with a sexy song called "Once We Start” and Don Thompson summons a mystical and atmospheric treatment for his vibraphone version of "Blues for Jim San".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 25, 2007 at 04:11 PM
Once I was in Paris - in front of the Centre George Pompidou - and among the musicians and jugglers around the square was an old man with the most extraordinary craggy face. At first, it wasn't clear if he was just hanging around or some kind of busker. But as people walked by, he picked up a picture frame and put it around his face. If you put some money in his can, you could take a picture.
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, saxophonist Stan Getz and the Caribbean Jazz Project play a Dave Samuels tune called "Picture Frame".
Also, guitarist Jacques Labelle plays Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and a torchsong trilogy from vocalists Hazel Walker and Jimmy Scott.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 24, 2007 at 04:16 PM
On tonight's edition of Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, Ella Fitzgerald is covered, remixed and saluted. Apparently, it doesn't hurt.
There's a spotlight on Canadian percussionist Brian Barlow and there's a jazzier side to pop/r&b singer Deborah Cox.
Plus, you'll hear a track from Carol Welsman's not yet released recording and some great female blues artists as well as music from Russ Little, Christine Jensen and Macy Gray.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 22, 2007 at 04:16 PM
This evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch, an unlikely duo, Little Richard and Tanya Tucker, sing a joyful rock anthem called "Somethin' Else” . (Frankly, Little Richard is unlikely all by himself - a duo with Tanya Tucker doesn't really stretch it that much).
You'll also get music by Billie Holiday from guitarist Jake Langley, vocalist Jill Scott and tumpeter Chris Botti.
And Tito Puente injects a little "Guajira Soul" into your Friday evening mix.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 20, 2007 at 04:11 PM
This evening on Tonic with Katie Malloch, Sam Moore and Conway Twitty team up for a soulful version of "Rainy Night in Georgia” and "Hot Barbecue" from Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers.
Plus, "Remember When", a great jazz number from Toronto drummer Barry Elmes.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 16, 2007 at 04:16 PM
At least they do for a while on tonight's edition of Tonic with Tim Tamashiro. You'll hear from David Braid and Rik Emmett. Eric Clapton plays the blues and John Mayer plays Hendrix.
Plus, Joe Sample, Canefire, an ode to Sinatra and some jazzed up kids tunes.
And Tim'll pave the way for Canada Live with a little Eliana Cuevas.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 15, 2007 at 04:08 PM
You know what "reality" show I really like?
Iron Chef.
Its execution is arch - more hokey than Wrestling - with the dramatic lighting, music and Chairman Kaga's outlandish costumes. But the core activity of the show is brilliant and fascinating: a challenger chef faces off against an "Iron Chef" expert in either Japanese, Chinese, French or Italian cuisines (why Indian is not in there, I don't know - probably the time factor) in a culinary battle built around one key ingredient. The show becomes an exploration of themes of culture, flavour, texture, technique - with each of the competing chefs riffing as a jazz soloist would around a particular melodic theme (I'm thinking here of Coltrane's many versions of "These are a few of my favourite things").
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 14, 2007 at 04:15 PM
Among the offerings tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, singer Abbey Lincoln performs a song from the movie "The Wizard of Oz" and the late James Brown fronts the Louis Belson Orchestra with Sammy Cahn & Jules Styne's "It's Magic".
In my opinion, James Brown is the real wizard there.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 13, 2007 at 04:19 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, hip-hop trio Lucy Pearl teams up with Q-Tip and Snoop Dogg (which, I suppose makes it a quintet, doesn't it) for a smooth tune called "You".
You'll also hear a cut from pianist Joe Sealy and bassist Paul Novotny's terrific CD "Blue Jade" along with a whole lot of other stuff.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 12, 2007 at 04:16 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, a 1954 recording, of Gershwin's "A Foggy Day" with pianist Art Tatum and alto saxophonist Benny Carter.
And for all the commuters out there, a cut called "Go Train" from the brand new CD release of the not-so-brand-new group Manteca.
BTW, Katie's still running the Tonic Contest, which could land you at this year's edition of the always-outstanding Montréal Jazz Festival. Click the link to enter.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 11, 2007 at 04:12 PM
The Temptations had a big hit with "Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” and tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch you’ll hear David Elizond’s remix of that classic Motown song.
Then "The Girl of My Dreams" from Dizzy Gillespie and then vibraphonist Cal Tjader takes explores musical savannah with "Serengeti."
There's some jazz infused remixes of Charlie Parker and Curtis Fuller’s music. You'll find out who worked as a janitor after recording with Miles Davis…and what artist is a psychiatrist by day, pianist by night.
Plus music from Bill Mcbirnie, The Mike Allen Quartet and Lori Cullen.
Some kind of weird alternate universe has taken over today's edition of Tonic with Tim Tamashiro.
Apparently Barry Manilow will sing Sinatra and Sinatra will sing Manilow .
Also, cats and dogs get along and the water in the toilet will flush in the opposite direction.
Once that vortex collapses on itself, you'll hear six degrees of Sting with music from Herbie Hancock, Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis.
Plus numbers by Ed Bickert, Melissa Stylianou and Edmonton's premiere Latin jazz outfit, Bomba! (The exclamation point is part of the name - not a gratuitous exclamation from me - though I do like them).
Next week, Verve Records releases "We All Love Ella: Celebrating The First Lady Of Song" - a tribute album to Ella Fitzgerald produced by the legendary Phil Ramone (I like to think of him as the 5th Ramone ;->) and featuring a star studded cast. Among them are several Canadians including Michael Bublé, Diana Krall, k.d. lang and a 13 year old singing jazz prodigy from Quebec named Nikki Yanovsky. You'll hear her version of Ella's "Airmail Special" tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch.
Also on the show, the James Brown classic "Lickin' Stick" and The Caribbean Jazz Project gets into the weekend spirit with "Against the Law."
There’s plenty of soul on today's edition of Tonic with Katie Malloch, featuring performances by young American singer Leela James, and Canada’s own Joani Taylor.
Then hear tunes about angels from trumpet virtuoso Mike Herriot and singer Joe Coughlin.
And pianist Oliver Jones joins bassist Skip Bey for the classic tune "Old Folks".
It’s been recorded by many jazz greats from Ella Fitzgerald to Diana Krall, but tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch you'll hear Canadian jazz vocalist Dione Taylor’s rendition of "Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You?"
Then, vibraphonist Gary Burton joins bassist Dave Young's trio for the Duke Ellington tune "It Don't Mean a Thing." And then savor the beautiful ballad, "This Love," from the super-seductive Glenn Lewis.
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, pianist Oliver Jones gets us started in lively fashion with the Burke & Van Heusen tune "Swinging on a Star."
Then, vocalist Alice Russell joins the Quantic Soul Orchestra to up the happy ante with a tune called "Feeling Good."
And then transition to a smouldering Brazilian tune from the soundtrack of the Fernando Mereilles brilliant but less-than-happy-go-lucky film "City of God."
Ahhhh, soon even that language will be obsolete as we all dutifully buy our flat-screen televisions.
Tonic on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, music featured in commercials from iPod to VW from Wynton Marsalis to Gene Kelly.
[Speaking of which, I just want to give a big-up to Torontonians Lindy Vopnfjord and Todor Kobakov and their new band Major Maker, whose super-catchy pop-tune lights up the Maynard's Candies commercial.]
You'll hear three different sides of Canada's Leslie Feist and great music from CBC's Jazz å Espace Musique recordings. You'll also hear from Jake Wilkinson, Marc Atkinson and Alicia Keys.
Tonight on Tonic with Tom Tamashiro, you'll hear one version or another of the Gorillaz' "Clint Eastwood" AND you'll hear music from Clint Eastwood's son Kyle.
Tim'll celebrate Marvin Gaye's music with a nod to Motown and great jazz from the Occhipinti family as well as super soul from the marvelous Mavis Staples, Jacksoul and The Philosopher Kings.
Plus, the Mississippi Blues get a makeover with studio effects and live instruments from Tangle Eye.
Mix a gentle bossa nova with a jigger of hard rock & roll, and what do you get? Glambeats Corp.’s version of “You Could Be Mine.”
Then a heart-rending vocal of "My Cryin' Eyes," from Canadian soul songstress Divine Brown, and Montreal's Doxas brothers lead their quintet in an adventurous take on Cole Porter's "Night and Day."
Something special for spurned lovers tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch – a torch song trilogy featuring singers Sarah Vaughan, Mark Murphy and Doris Day all singing about the one that got away.
And if you should find that you’re suddenly feeling better, then give your hips a workout with Latin music from pianist Hilario Duran and Portugese diva Sara Tavares.
It all wraps up with vibraphonist Milt Jackson and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine's soulful version of "I Remember You."
"Exodus" by Bob Marley is one of those tracks I just want to go on and on every time I hear it. Robert Nesta Marley was a brilliant writer - whether it was the chugging reggae of "Exodus" or the sweet melodic sophistication of something like "No Woman, No Cry". Check out Charlie Hunter's eight-string guitar arrangement of that song some time.
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, a piano arrangement of Marley's "Running Away" by Monty Alexander & Company.
Continuing with covers, guitarist Bill Coon and singer Denzal Sinclaire join forces for a lovely version of Nat King Cole's hit, "Mona Lisa." And Coco Zhao, a surprising Chinese vocalist, sings a lush ballad called "Full Moon, Blooming Flowers."
I see that Cesaria Evora has a number of Canadian dates coming up in June. She really is something to see - relaxed beyond belief, barefooted, occasionally sitting to sip a beverage while her crack band carries on and her buttery voice continues to echo in your head - even when you're hours home from the show. There's just something about that Cape Verdean soul that seems to be the musical halfway point between Portuguese fado and Brazilian samba.
She'll hit the Royal in Victoria, the Winspear in Edmonton, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and the jazz festivals in Vancouver and Montréal. Until then, you can hear a tune by her countryman Horace Silver played by pianist Benny Green tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch.
Also on the show, a duet from Canada's Shane Philips and Dessy DiLoro and Latin influenced sounds from music's renaissance man, Gregory Charles.
Tonight, Tonic with Katie Malloch visits the the Deep South with tunes from guitarist Russell Malone, pianist Cyrus Chestnut and singer Dinah Washington.
Katie then comes back north to spotlight two new releases by Canadians: from Michael Buble's latest CD, Johnny Mercer's "Dream" and a tune from the brand new big band CD from Canadian trombonist Ian McDougall.
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, you'll hear homages to Joni Mitchell from Ian Shaw, Joshua Redman and Lori Cullen and a salute to the Blue Note label, with music from Renee Rosnes and Herbie Hancock.
But let's not get all formal about it, you can also just plain enjoy music from Daniel Barnes, The Ian McDougall Sextet and Art Farmer.
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, Jimi Henrix and Van Morrison get the jazz treatment - from whom I'm not exactly sure but I hear their skin looks fantastic.
Also, a nod to New York and some great tango and flamenco. As well, you'll encounter a different side of guitarist Sean Bray, along with a track from Jane Monheit's new disc.
That's for all the people gathered wherever this weekend to celebrate the birthday of the late great Miles Davis.
To follow his wildly evolutionary 50 year career is really to study the history of jazz. And in spite of some pretty awful outfits in his later years, he remains the ultimate image of 'cool'.
I remember seeing him blow just a few precious notes during a concert at the old Ontario Place Forum. The place must have confounded him. After all, his practice was to turn his back to the audience but there was no escape on that old revolving stage.http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs.html?TONIC_MTL
He was part of my musical firmament in the early '80's. His highly charged proto-rap jazz poetry was of a piece with The Clash, UB40, Black Uhuru and others who were confronting the Reagan-Thatcher politics of the day through music.
What I didn't know at the time was that Scott-Heron was already established as a poet and novelist since he was a teenager in the '60's. He re-emerged briefly in the mid-'90s with an album called "Spirit" that included a famously pointed message to the rappers of the day to stop the posturing. I'm not sure it worked.
For some, just those names "Getz Gilberto" conjures a whole era in music, when bossa and jazz first met and fell in love. Well, tonight you can travel back to that time, as Tonic (6 p.m.) takes you to the Cafe au Go Go in New York City, for a 1964 concert set by saxophonist 
Oscar Peterson once said of pianist and Hammond B-3 organ player 
Katie is featuring music from Latin jazz group 
Tonic (6 p.m.), plays some music by the 
Friday night Tonic (6 p.m.) moves into weekend mode with vintage soul from the O'Jays, latin funk from Marcos Valle, and loads of jazz -- from Art Pepper and Dave Brubeck among others. One of those others is a concert broadcast of 
As always, the Tonicians, a.k.a. Katie and her producer Robert, have sent me a note to let ya'll know about what some of the highlights of the show are. And one of those highlights is some music from a collaboration between trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and singer Willie Nelson. 
Katie will be featuring a set of tunes recorded live by 
As noted in an earlier post called 
Personally, I am liking (now there's an interesting phraseology) all of the highlights on today's edition of Tonic (6 p.m.):
Speaking of hounds (see previous post), not so long ago I came across a blog post that posed a question I'd never thought to ask: 
Katie Malloch has one of the most mellifluous voices on CBC radio, so I believe her when she says that tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) the music is designed to ease listeners into a mellow weekend mood. (Just listening to Katie is a guarantee of that, in my books.) 
Sounds like a soulful version of Tonic (6 p.m.) tonight, with Katie playing music from the Meters, Stevie Wonder and Remy Shand. 
As always the programming on Tonic (6 p.m.) includes some great Canadian musicians, tonight you can hear the Geoff Lapp Trio, saxophonist PJ Perry, trumpeter Kevin Dean and pianist Hilario Duran.
The 
Not long ago I stumbled on a blog called 
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Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), Bill Evans and his Trio at the Village Vanguard in New York, from recordings made almost half a century ago that remain on many desert island-type lists, as a survey by 
Tonic (6 p.m.) is gearing up for their fabulous 
To those of you who have been faithful to it in return...and to the Young in Heart...I dedicate Monday's version of Tonic (6 p.m.). And to those who are not faithful? Watch out for flying monkeys. 
Spooky coincidence! I happened to be listening to a new recording called Miles From India: A Celebration Of The Music Of Miles Davis, when I sat down to write about featured music coming up on Tonic (6 p.m.) this evening, only to see that Katie will be featuring music from the recording tonight. What can it mean?!? Absolutely nothing, but still. 
The other day, a nice rainy holiday Monday, the other person who inhabits my house (a.k.a. the husband) was thumbing through the old jazz LPs, looking for old trio recordings by 
Years ago I read 
"My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious and subconscious way I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often -- in fact mostly -- at the expense of everything else in my life."
It's a sign of remarkable fame when a nickname conjures up the person. And in the case of Old Blue Eyes it also seems remarkable that it's already been ten years since he died. No wonder Frank beat out the other 50,000 contestants and wound up on 
Jazz musicians don't seem to have done the job the way the poets have when it comes to April. Yes, it's both 
Who doesn't need it? We need it, Soul Power, we need some, come on and get some...
Tonight the live set on Tonic (6 p.m.) is from the Keith Jarrett Trio, performing in Juan-les-Pins, France in July, 2002. Jarrett, (who appears not to have an official website, btw) is notoriously particular about how audiences and stage crew should themselves perform (or not) during his concerts, over matters including photos, sound, stage lights etc. etc. It's an attitude which was .gif)
Much saxophone playing tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) with tunes from Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Canadian tenorman, Ryan Oliver. 
Having it drawn to my attention earlier today that the President of the United States sent a letter to the Governor of Wisconsin, praising the (originally) Canadian group 
This evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) there'll be tunes from vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves, Natalie Cole, Andy Bey and DK Ibomek. 
It's not an easy thing to bring fresh life to jazz standards. There's a reason they're called standards, after all, they've been played and sung umpteen times. I think it's especially difficult for singers to bring something new to standards -- or to simply sing them in a way that has real impact.
Salt Peanuts, as the Dizzy Gillespie classic, is one of those goofy kinds of novelty songs that's hard not to like. Salt Peanuts, as a club in New York City, was the site of an .jpg)
Laila Baili, as you may know from hearing her CBC recording, 
It's an interesting thing to listen to jazz radio from various broadcasters, and parts of the world -- I've been doing that a bit more than usual lately, given my current location in Paris. And I must say, Paris does have some good jazz radio. (Though some of it seems playlist oriented -- if you listen for a stretch you're bound to hear the same tunes -- felt like I heard Stacey Kent singing Ice Hotel about a dozen times over the course of a few days recently.)
You know that saying, "it'd make a dead man get up and dance." If there's one kind of music that fits that description, it'd have to be zydeco.
Ah, this is what's needed on a chilly, late January Saturday, some gospel to get out of any winter funk. Today Tonic (6 p.m.) plays some gospel from 
You know how sometimes your ears are opened by one particular musician? And then it's like a doorway into a whole new world of music? For me, a singer who forever changed my idea of what jazz singing was all about was 
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) a set of tunes from the Miles Black Trio recorded live at The Cellar in Vancouver, vintage soul from The Marvelettes, some Canadian/Latin music from the group ¡Bomba!, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut channels "The King," Elvis Presley.
No, not New Year's Day babies, but a bunch of new Canadian music tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.). Katie will be playing music from 
I know I've written a lot in the past week about both the About Oscar documentary (originally broadcast on Tonic, re-broadcast starting tomorrow on 
The final segment of the documentary, About Oscar, will be broadcast Friday evening on Tonic (6 p.m.) Fittingly, it looks at both his later years and at his legacy. 
Tonic (6 p.m.) continues its salute to Oscar Peterson this evening with Part Seven of the documentary series, About Oscar.
Tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.) part four of the documentary, About Oscar.
Part Two of About Oscar, the eight-part documentary series about the late Oscar Peterson continues tonight on Tonic (6 p.m.), presented by host Katie Malloch. 
A reminder that starting tonight, and running on the following dates (Jan 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) in the first hour of Tonic (6 p.m.), you can hear About Oscar, an award-winning documentary series produced and narrated by Chris Brookes. The series looks at the life and music of the late Mr. Peterson, and will be presented by Tonic host Katie Malloch.
An anniversary I'm sure is in your date book, but in case you've been too busy to celebrate, remember, today is the 70th anniversary of the premiere of the Walt Disney film Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (70th!). 