For all you jazz fans along the Amtrak Northeast Corridor, I just learned that the 21st annual Dupont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is scheduled to happen in Wilmington, DE next week (June 15-21.) The brilliant, precocious jazz trumpeter and composer Clifford Brown, whose career tragically ended in a fatal car crash when he was only 25, was born in Wilmington in 1930.
If you listen to KCSM, you know that Clifford's son, Clifford Brown Jr., is one of their volunteer announcers. He hosts Mid-Day Jazz from 10-2 (Pacific time) every Tuesday and Thursday, and the music he selects and plays is truly an tribute to his Dad's memory--every single program. Clifford is also a friend of mine on Facebook--and one of the nicest guys I've ever met on the Web.
So--if you live here on the Atlantic coast and have some vacation time next week, take the train to Wilmington and enjoy live jazz at Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington. Jazz Notes and Phrases salutes the City of Wilmington and Dupont for continuing to sponsor the festival. There's nothing like hearing great jazz performed live--and all the events at the festival are free! More information at 1-800-489-6664 or go to VisitWilmingtonDE.com on your browser.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Now We Getting TO It!
Oh, did I mis-speak earlier!!! Kathleen Lawton wasn't into "Crazy 'Bout the Blues;" or not yet. She was just getting her groove on with "Jazz Oasis!"
Now she is down with the blues--and it's smokin' in here!!! Opening with a tribute to the great GREAT blues singer Koko Taylor, who just passed. "Wang Dang Doodle." You gotta love it. Good night from Baltimore!!
Now she is down with the blues--and it's smokin' in here!!! Opening with a tribute to the great GREAT blues singer Koko Taylor, who just passed. "Wang Dang Doodle." You gotta love it. Good night from Baltimore!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
More Latin Jazz--and Haden
Once again, Charlie Haden plays Latin jazz on Kathleen's "Crazy 'Bout The Blues" on KCSM. "Noche de Ronda." Can we ever get enough of Charlie? And the great collaborations--Pat Metheney, Quartet West with Harris, Broadbent, Higgins and Marable. What music!! What a jazz musician!!!
The "Other" Jazz Ambassdors
We really need to acknowledge, right out front, that the Kansas City jazz community coined the phrase "Jazz Ambassadors"--and put it right in the label of their great magazine about Kansas City jazz and the vibrant live jazz scene there. So--hats off to KC and all the great musicians there!! Join us in the online jazz community at KCSM Jazz 91, between live gigs at 18th and Vine and Jardine's! We love what you do.
More on Jazz History
This blog will shy away from "Shameless Commerce," as Click and Clack call it. Yet, listening to the priceless collectors' items that KCSM has in its vast archive of jazz, I feel a need to plug a local business, Daedalus Books and Records, that has a whole lot of great jazz on sale at a very reasonable price. Yes, a lot of it's repackaged but for the price they charge I'm satisfied. The recession has hurt Daedalus and they don't deserve it at all! I'm going to go out of my way to get them into a marketing arrangement with KCSM; that'll bring their revenues up to snuff!!!
Jazz History All Day and Every Day
Now Kathleen is playing a cut from a Lionel Hampton reissue named "Mostly Ballads." The beautiful French song "Autumn Leaves."
Who knows when "Hamp" recorded this? Amazon can't help you out--it's a reissue. But the KCSM announcers know the music they play and where it came from and who created it--and they can tell you all about it if you're interested. And I believe a lot of jazz educators as well as just we jazz lovers need to keep them on the air and on the web so they can preserve the history of jazz just for us!
Who knows when "Hamp" recorded this? Amazon can't help you out--it's a reissue. But the KCSM announcers know the music they play and where it came from and who created it--and they can tell you all about it if you're interested. And I believe a lot of jazz educators as well as just we jazz lovers need to keep them on the air and on the web so they can preserve the history of jazz just for us!
What lovely lovely evening music on KCSM!
Kathleen Lawton is just one of the highly individual announcers on KCSM in San Mateo. Already this evening I've heard two lovely versions of "Solamente Una Vez," one by Charlie Haden and another by Raquel Bitton!
My late brother-in-law introduced me to Latin jazz, and it was one of my first experiences of this universal musical form--so of course I love it!! But...now Kathleen has segued (effortlessly and smoothly) to Shelley Berg's fantastic piano solo of "My One and Only Love."
Where else in the whole wide world can anyone hear such wonderful sounds, all within a few minutes of one another, and all free of commercial noise? Nowhere. NO-where else.
Join me--enjoy a never-repeated Lawton experience--and keep tuning in to KCSM wherever you are! (The stream works on your mobile devices too--forget iTunes and let the experts do the work for you!!)
My late brother-in-law introduced me to Latin jazz, and it was one of my first experiences of this universal musical form--so of course I love it!! But...now Kathleen has segued (effortlessly and smoothly) to Shelley Berg's fantastic piano solo of "My One and Only Love."
Where else in the whole wide world can anyone hear such wonderful sounds, all within a few minutes of one another, and all free of commercial noise? Nowhere. NO-where else.
Join me--enjoy a never-repeated Lawton experience--and keep tuning in to KCSM wherever you are! (The stream works on your mobile devices too--forget iTunes and let the experts do the work for you!!)
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