Nov 29, 2013
If age and experience set pianist Fred Hersch and guitarist Julian Lage apart, superior musicianship and mutual respect bind them together. On their live duet recording, Free Flying, Hersch, a seasoned player and composer recognized as one of the most creative jazz personalities of his generation, finds common ground...
Nov 12, 2013
One of the most riveting jazz performance experiences I have ever had came when watching singer René Marie a few years back. Her set was moving along quite well, but then she paused to tell about her musical upbringing, how she learned to appreciate a variety of styles listening to her parent’s record collection....
Nov 7, 2013
Podcast 391 is re-arranged and re-edited from BigO's posting this summer:
These tracks come from a radio webcast featuring highlights from two concerts that were part of this year’s Luminato Festival. These concerts celebrated the career of Joni Mitchell and pre-empted her 70th birthday which will be in November....
Nov 6, 2013
Listening to the music of Joni Mitchell in the late 1970’s was one of my gateways to enjoying jazz. The first Joni album I ever bought was Court and Spark, one of the first times she used a full band to flesh out her increasingly complex compositions. Included on that classic album was a cover of the song...
Nov 5, 2013
"Jazz is supposed to be open, on the road to discovery. That's what Joni is talking about." – Wayne Shorter
This week marks the 70th birthday of one of my musical heroes (heroines?), Joni Mitchell. From her folkie days in the late 1960’s, through her commercial success in the 1970’s and her decisions to turn...