Discovering Jazz

Latest Episodes:

Archives, Episode 76, Introduction to Jazz with Jan Randall. Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

According to Wikipedia, Jan Randall, a Canadian composer, pianist, and arranger, has made a career of composing soundtracks for films, theatre, radio, and television. He combines playing by ear with his formal classical and jazz training. And he teaches jazz appreciation courses through UVic and is a faculty member of the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

For this week’s program, Jan talks about a jazz appreciation course he has taught over the years. His objective is to help everybody expand their minds. And he expanded mine! Never before had I thought about jazz’s “Chopin roots”.

His audience? “People who are severely allergic to technical jargon”.

Enjoy Jan’s inspiring commentary, his positive energy, and some great music! From Louis Armstrong, through Art Tatum, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Pass & Herb Ellis, and up to The Yellow Jackets. Plus one very fine original Jan Randall composition, and he demonstrates his creative process in putting it together

Archives from 2019:Episode 63,Future of Jazz Part 1 Aug 10, 2021

Show notes

Shortly before I moved from Peterborough, Ontario to Victoria, B.C., I spoke with Peterborough jazz guitarist, Mike Graham. I asked him for his thoughts on the future of jazz. He had lots of interesting things to say….and on this episode I play part of that interview.

What is the future of jazz? Will everything change when the Miles Davis generation dies out? Who will replace them?

In this program, I discuss with Mike what jazz might look like in the future—-as well as what it won’t be. Of course, to predict the future, we need to know the past. What past areas of jazz will flourish and develop? What role will modern classical style compositions have? How about hip-hop and sampling? Bebop? Swing?

Just as important, who will be listening to jazz? Will it just be ‘students’? Or will it be so much ‘fun’ that it’s popularity grows and it’s listening base expands?

You’ll hear quite a variety of music today, some of which you might also hear tomorrow and the next day, and some you might never hear again, as it disappears into the ether. Some of it, too, is definitely NOT jazz. But the line between jazz and ‘not-jazz’ is expected to be blurred even more in the future

Archives,Episode 59 from 2019:Lesser Known Jazz Standards. Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

While many of those jazz tunes jazz artists like to play are from films or Broadway, many are written by jazz musicians. For this episode, from 2019, I feature seven tunes that have become ‘standards’. Two of them were written for films, and the other five specifically to be played by jazz ensembles.

I play tunes written by Horace Silver, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Bernie Miller (for Gerry Mulligan), and Wayne Shorter. And the two film tunes are from Alice in Wonderland and A Hole In The Head.

You’ll hear a couple renditions of some of them.

They’re all great tunes.

Archives, Episode 9: Newer Jazz Albums Recommended Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

This is a program originally aired on Trent Radio and placed on my podcast site in November, 2017.

Inspired by a jazz instruction blog & podcast , LearnJazzStandards.com, hosted by guitarist Brent Vaarstra, and his post called “92 Modern Jazz Albums You Need to Listen To”. ‘Modern’ was defined as being anything after the year 2000.

I went through the first few, and also found (elsewhere) a couple Canadian jazz albums……and decided to play a track from a few of them. Vaarstra recommended albums are by Anna Maria Jopek & Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Tarek Yamani, Larry Goldings and Peter Bernstein, Poncho Sanchez & Terence Blanchard, Bruce Forman, David Kikoski w. Christian McBride, John Abercrombie, and Eldar Djangirov.

Paul Novotny and Robi Botos, and trumpeter/singer Bria Skonberg are the two Canadian artists I discovered.

Archives: Episode 3, From Sept 2017 Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

I’ve truly learned a lot since I started putting together these podcasts four years ago. That’s why the program is “Discovering Jazz”. I keep discovering new things about jazz and about jazz compositions. That being said, a lot of my earlier programs are still pretty good.

While Episodes 1 and 2 seem to have a lot of listeners, for some reason Episode 3 hasn’t. I don’t know why. There’s some great music!

The last two tracks are by a well-known trumpet player from the 1930’s who saxophonist Flip Phillips once said was “probably the greatest alto saxophone player alive”. Guess who?

And speaking of saxes you’ll also hear a duet of Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan–including one where they switch saxes and Getz plays baritone and Mulligan tenor.

I also play some more modern tracks by Sweden’s Linda Svantesson, Toronto’s Robi Botos, Havana’s Interactivo, Peterborough’s Sean Hully, and Vancouver’s Jennifer Scott.

Rounding it all out are selections by Frank Sinatra (where Daniel Levitin raves about his phrasing), and Bill Evans & Jim Hall.

Episode 158: Contemporary Canadian Jazz–the 2021 Juno’s. Jul 13, 2021

Show notes

Some great music here!

I’ve listened to a track or two from each of the albums nominated in the jazz and world music categories for this year’s Junos. I’m playing something from the winner in four categories, plus a handful of jazz nominees.

This is the last podcast of the season as I take a short summer break. But don’t despair! You’ll get some summer ‘reruns’—some of my favourite podcasts from the archives. So still lots of great music to be heard.

Episode 157: Bellwethers in Jazz, Part 2 Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Last week I spoke about how Miles Davis could be considered to be the most predominant jazz ‘bellwether’. This was related to his role in contributing to particular tunes becoming ‘standards’, even influencing how other musicians played them.

This week I advance that ‘thesis’ even further. I show how changes he made to a Dave Brubeck composition then became the way future musicians played the tune. I also talk about his contribution to what has been called ‘third stream music’, as well as the role that trombonist JJ Johnson played.

There are other nominees for bellwether too. For example, Ahmad Jamal very much influenced Miles in terms of song choice and arrangement. Argument could also be made to support Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong for their bellwether role.

A bellwether is the sheep in the flock who has the greatest influence on when and how the flock moves. And it isn’t always the sheep who goes first. The inspiration here came from science fiction writer, Connie Willis, and her book “Bellwether” where a social scientist is solving the mystery of how certain fads became so popular.

I play some great music on this program by Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, JJ Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Phil Woods Quartet, Renee Rosnes, Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, and even a bit of folk singer Ed McCurdy.

Episode 156, Miles Davis as Bellwether Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

This was inspired by a book by my favourite science fiction writer: Connie Willis, called “Bellwether”. In a flock of sheep, there is one sheep that, for some unexplained reason, influences all the others in terms of when and where they move. That sheep is referred to as a bellwether. The bellwether isn’t necessarily the first to take action….and it can be a challenge trying to discover what sheep is actually the ‘bellwether.

My interest here is why certain tunes get selected by jazz musicians to become jazz ‘standards’, while others are ignored. Might it be that there is a bellwether who has a role to play here?

Often they become standards because a particular musician just happened to start playing it….and others followed. Many of the most recorded tunes in jazz were at one time recorded by Miles Davis.

The podcast starts off with Dear Old Stockholm, and how this Swedish folksong ended up becoming a jazz standard.

I also talk about and play a version of All of You, So What, I Loves You Porgy (mentioning the very important Gil Evans connection), Solar, and two versions of Well You Needn’t. As well, I talk about and play a Cyndi Lauper tune that Miles Davis transformed from a run of the mill pop tune and to something that jazz people now play.

Episode 155: Jazz Chords–what are they? Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

This episode was inspired by somebody, when I played and sang “How Deep Is The Ocean?” asking me if I was playing ‘jazz chords’. So this episode tries to discover, using the same Socratic method as in the lyrics to that tune, what exactly is a ‘jazz chord’. I play some great music, as usual.

You’ll hear recordings ranging from Les Paul and Mary Ford all the way to the amazing piano intricacies of Adam Makowicz. And between that….Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Jennifer Scott & Miles Black, Peggy Lee, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Carol Welsman, and ending with a very jazzy British rock group from the mid 1960’s.

Oh! We can’t forget the jazz version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Episode 154:More Familiar Favourites From My LP Collection. Jun 15, 2021

Show notes

This week I dig into my record collection again and pull out a few favourites. You’ll hear tracks from:

-Toronto’s Archie Alleyne with the Frank Wright Quartet,

-Lalo Schifrin,

-Zoot Sims w. Jimmy Rowles,

-Shelly Manne,

-Lenny Breau,

-Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd,

-Milt Bernhart Brass Ensemble,

Julie London,