Bob Stewart: Monday-Friday 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.
1) Metalwood – Twenty (Cellar Live
After a fourteen year hiatus, it was a great pleasure to see one of my favorite bands back together again in 2016. The Canadian quartet had been a going concern for five years when I discovered them in 2001 and took an instant liking to their neo jazz fusion. They picked right where the left off for the new disc, offering up stellar musicianship on a set of compelling compositions.
2) The Ted Nash Big Band – Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Motema)
3) The Tierney Sutton Band – The Sting Variations (BFM)
4) Matt Wilson’s Big Happy Family – Beginning of a Memory (Palmeetto)
5) Erroll Garner – Ready Take One (Octave/Legacy)
6) Harry Allen’s All Star New York Saxophone Band – The Candy Men (Arbors Jazz)
7) John Scofield n – Country For Old Men (Impulse!)
8) Charles Lloyd & the Marvels – I Long to See You (Blue Note)
9) Renee Rosnes – Written in the Rocks (Smoke Sessions)
10) Christopher’s Very Happy Band We Are Bathed in Sunlight (Realtown!)
Hollis Monroe: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
1) Allen Toussaint – American Tunes (Nonesuch)
2) Wayne Bergeron – Full Circle (Yamaha)
3) Brian Bromberg – Full Circle (Artistry)
4) Bill Evans – Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest (Resonance)
5) Jim Rotondi – Dark Blue (Smoke Sessions)
6) The Phil Norman Tentet – Then and Now: Classic Sounds and Variations of 12 Jazz Legends (Mama)
7) Kevin Mahogany – The Vienna Affair (Mahogany Jazz)
8) Stacey Kent – Tenderly (Okeh)
9) Stan Getz – Moments in Time (Resonance)
10) Rebecca Kilgore – Moonshadow Dance (Cherry Pie)
Gordon Paulsen: Monday-Friday 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
1) Jeff Coffin & Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band – The Inside of the Outside (Ear Up)
Wow – what a fun record from last February! The Inside of the Outside by Jeff Coffin & Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band features the 3 time Grammy winner Jeff Coffin, who we know from his years as a first-rate sax and flute player with Bela Fleck and Flecktones, leading his own Mu’tet, and more recently a member of the Dave Mathews Band. The award-winning Crescent Super Band from Utah has frequently been hailed as one of the best professional big bands in the world and, get this, is made up entirely of high school musicians whose ages range from fifteen to eighteen! Special guests on the CD include Randy Brecker, Branford Marsalis, and Trombone Shorty! Highlights for me are the tunes Intro . . . Move Your Rug (with a funky, Afro-Cuban groove), Bubble Up (with an awesome Trombone Shorty solo), Tall and Lanky (with a funky, New Orleans 2nd line flavor), and one of the prettiest ballads you’ll ever hear – As Light Through Leaves. Jeff also harnessed the arranging talents of two notable jazzmen with deep ties to Iowa – Bob Washut from the University of Northern Iowa and former Cedar Rapids area trombonist Bret Zvacek!
2) John Scofield – Country For Old Men (Impulse!)
3) Bill Frisell – When You Wish Upon a Star (Okeh)
4) Charles Lloyd – I Long to See You (Blue Note)
5) Snarky Puppy – Culcha Vulcha (GroundUp)
6) Rene Marie – Sound of Red (Motema)
7) Camila Meza – Traces (Sunnyside)
8) Gregory Porter – Take Me To the Alley (Blue Note)
9) Hot Club of San Francisco – John, Paul, George & Django (Hot Club)
10) Space Orphan – Shut Up About the Sun (Jon Wirtz)
Ward Grant: Saturday 8 – 10 a.m.
1)1. Bill Frisell – Reflections of Brownie (Razor Edge)
It’s always tough to choose your fave when you’re in to music. And despite coming in #9 on my list (from most to least played), I’ve really gotta give a shout out to drummer Rayford Griffin’s “Reflections of Brownie;” a tribute to his uncle, trumpeter Clifford Brown. From the absolutely cool opening measures of “Daaoud” to the brilliantly laid-back re-imagining of “Joy Spring” and “Willow Weep for Me,” Griffin and his all-star line up of Phillpe Saisse and the late George Duke (keybrds), Everette Harp and Doug Webb (saxes), trumpeters Rick Braun, Michael “Patches” Stewart, Nicolas Peyton and Roy Hargrove give a few of Brown’s most-loved compositions a smoothly modern flare – revisiting the genre’s development while losing none of Brown’s bop/hard-bop innovation and originality. In fact, I predict, at the least, a Jazz Album of the Year Grammy nomination.
1) Abassi, Rez – Guitar in the Space Age
2) Jacky Terresson – Take This
3) The Funk Ark – Man Is A Monster
4) Jason Miles & Ingrid Jensen – Kind of New
5) Kenny Barron & Dave Holland – The Art of Conversation
6) Miho Hazama – Time River
7) Eric Essix’s Move – Trio
8) Terrence Blanchard – Breathless
9) Rayford Griffin – Reflections of Brownie
10) Allan Harris Black Bar Jukebox
Bob Naujoks: Sundays: 7 a.m. – 10 a.m. (Gentle Jazz)
1) Catherine Russell – Harlem On My Mind (Jazz Village)
These selections are not world beaters, but all contained music that suited my Gentle Jazz program nicely. The Catherine Russell is top drawer and she has grown so much. It is always nice to have a little more Abbey Lincoln; and the offbeat, throaty June Bisantz is a wonderful addition to her first one from almost a decade ago. The veterans Person and Carter are always welcome; and it is always a joy to have more Erroll Garner, even on the heels of the Complete Concert By the Sea.
2) June Bisantz – It’s Always You (Bisantz)
3) Abbey Lincoln – Love Having You Around (High Note)
4) Stacey Kent – Tenderly (Okeh)
5) John Pizzarelli – Midnight McCartney (Concord)
6) Jane Ira Bloom – Early Americans (Outline)
7) Erroll Garner – Ready Take One (Octave Legacy)
8) Houston Person/Ron Carter – Chemistry (High Note)
9) Fred Hersch – Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Palmetto)
10) Cory Weeds – It’s Easy to Remember (Cellar Live)
Ron Adkins: Sunday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Gentle Jazz)
1) Will Downing – Black Pearls (Shanachie)
Comparisons to the late, great Luther Vandross are rightly placed. The similarity of Will Downing’s velvety tenor is downright spooky. That’s not to say, however, that Downing’s Shanachie debut can’t stand apart from comparison. Each track is a polished smooth jazz gem.
2) Yellowjackets – Cohearence (Mack Avenue)
3) Snarky Puppy – Culcha Vulcha (GroundUp)
4) 3rd Force – Global Force (Higher Octave)
5) Fourplay – Silver (Heads Up)
6) Four80East – Positraction (Boomtang)
7) Pat Metheny – The Unity Sessions (Nonesuch)
8) Metheny/Garbarek/Burton – Hommage a Eberhard Weber (Okeh)
9) Bob Mintzer – All L.A. Band (Fuzzy Music)
10) Jane Ira Bloom – Early Americans (Outline)
Bob DeForest: Saturday 6 – 10 p.m. (Da Blues)
1) Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat (Alligator)
2) Joanna Connor Band – Six String Stories (MC)
3) Moreland & Arbuckle – Promised Land-or Bust (Alligator)
4) Toronzo Cannon – The Chicago Way (Alligator)
5) The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (Interscope)
6) The Rides – Pierced Arrow (429)
7) Lil’ Ed & the Blue Imperials – The Big Sound of Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials (Alligator)
8) Albert Castiglia – Big Dog (Ruf)
9) Curtis Salgado – The Beautiful Lowdown (Alligator)
10) Danielle Nicole – Wolf Den (Concord)
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