Jazz from soul and folk tonight. Soul jazz from the early 60’s: Hank Crawford * Gene Ammons * Lou Donaldson. Leadbelly songs by Clifford Jordan and Sandra Douglass. Then some early Pat Metheny, followed by 1990’s work: Eva Cassidy * Winston Walls & Brother Jack McDuff * Abbey Lincoln.
Davis Enterprise film critic Derrick Bang reviews Miles Ahead.
Coming up at 3 pm today, Gary Chew has some Miles on Third Streaming.
Jazz After Dark program featuring Miles Davis re-broadcasts Saturday at 9 pm, and Gary's show rebroadcasts immediately after.
Jazz After Dark archive. Just click and play!
Five-time All Star second baseman and two-time World Series Champion Steve Sax visits "Conrad's Corner" tomorrow afternoon for an inspirational interview recapping his illustrious career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. A Sacramento native, Steve is a member of the National Speakers Association and author of the book Shift: Change Your Mindset and You Change Your World.
In 1990, experimental avant-garde jazz saxaphonist John Zorn released the album Naked City, a fun, schizophrenic and noisy collaboration with Fred Frith, Joey Baron, Yamatsuka Eye, Bill Frisell, and Wayne Horvitz. Naked City (as the group became known) was about the most far out you could get, and Zorn’s exploration of what he “could come up with given the limitations of the simple sax, guitar, keyboard, bass, drums format” became the pinnacle of avant coolness. The result was a post-modern hybrid that cut up sequences as he saw fit and treated all genres equally: jazz, grindcore, country & western, and much more were allowed to coexist, even in the same song. The album has 26 cuts, several that clock in at under 30 seconds. Naked City is melodic and dischordant, familiar and unpredictable, sweet and explosive.
Miles Ahead, the new biographical movie about Miles Davis starring Don Cheadle in the title role, opens this week in theaters in Sacramento. A fitting time for Jazz After Dark to feature Miles Davis. Nine Grammy awards, 48 studio albums, 36 live albums: Miles Davis was one of the most influential and creative musicians of all time. We’ll hear selections from some of Miles’ work recorded 1951 – 1958: Bags' Groove * Miles: The New Miles Davis * Blue Moods * Dig * Porgy & Bess * Steamin' With The Miles Davis Quintet. Then work by others celebrating some of his signature pieces. Eddie Jefferson vocalizing So What, Al Jarreau on Heaven and Earth, and two by Shirley Horn: You Won’t Forget Me, with Miles in a rare performance as sideman, and then Shirley’s version of Summertime. Finally, Maids of Cadiz from the last Miles Davis album, Miles Davis and Quincy Jones Live at Montreux.
The Sacramento Bee's Jack Ohman won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for cartooning on Monday, April 18th. In January 2015, he appeared on Davisville for an interesting interview about subjects ranging from the deaths at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris (they had just happened), to his work as a writer and cartoonist, the role of a cartoonist, leaving his longtime home in Oregon for California, drawing Gov. Brown, his sense of Davis, and the humor in fly-fishing. Ohman has now earned a distinction shared by the likes of Garry Trudeau, Tom Toles and Pat Oliphant.
Groove! is the first studio album by Boulevards, following his self-titled debut EP released only last year. Boulevards (the stage name for singer/songwriter Jamil Rashad) is a funk artist that updates the classic sounds from legends like Rick James and Prince for a new generation. The production merges modern synths with old-school bass lines in a generation-spanning mix of sounds and styles, while the lyrics evoke images of romance on the dance floor, especially on the seductive "Tender." The aptly named Groove! is full of tracks designed to get people moving, from the energetic "Move & Shout" to the hypnotic "Got to Go," a holdover from Boulevards debut EP. In addition to funk, hip hop makes an appearance on "The Spot" as well as "Patience," an irrisestibly funky beat and defenitely the standout track on the album. Overall, while the album isn't groundbreaking, it feels fresh and fun, with enough contagious beats and delightful grooves to warrant a listen. For funk fans, Groove is a welcome callback to classic funk that updates the genre in interesting and exciting ways.
This week, Listening Lyrics takes a look back at the musical contributions of Merle Haggard, one of country music's most gifted and prolific songwriters. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Haggard had an amazing streak of 26 number-one country singles. Haggard's early hits – including "The Fugitive," "Mama Tried," and "Okie From Muskogee" – comprise what Rolling Stone executive editor Jason Fine, in a 2009 profile of Haggard, called "the backbone of one of the greatest repertoires in all of American music, plain-spoken songs populated by the kinds of working people Haggard grew up with: farmers, hobos, convicts, widows, musicians and drunks." Quoting Bob Dylan, "Merle Haggard has always been as deep as it gets...totally himself. Herculean. He definitely transcends the country genre."
