WBGO Blog

  • JazzSet in October

    October 3, 2011. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Alternate Routes, Ben Williams, danilo perez, Green Mill, Jazz Alive, JazzSet, Kennedy Center Jazz, kenny werner, Masters, njpac, Poncho Sanchez, Randy Weston, roy hargrove, Toots Thielemans, village vanguard, Von Freeman, Yotam Silberstein

    JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater is celebrating ten years with Dee Dee as host, and nearing our 20th anniversary on the air with live music every week. You have two chances to catch this week's show on WBGO Jazz 88 - Sundays at 6pm, Wednesdays at 6:30. Miss a show? Listen on demand. We're in Surround Sound. Here's our early fall line-up:

    THIS WED, OCT 5, HEAR 2012 NEA Jazz Master Von Freeman, born October 3, 1923

    We knew Freeman was born and stayed in Chicago, but until earlier this year, everyone including the man himself thought his birth year was 1922. Howard Reich of The Chicago Tribune suspected it was 1923, and writes here about how he corrected Von Freeman history. On this JazzSet from New Year's Eve, 2010, at the Green Mill, he dukes it out in a mock battle with fellow tenor Ed Petersen .

    Freeman by Jimmy Katz
    Freeman by Jimmy Katz

    Yotam, courtesy of the artist
    Yotam courtesy of the artist

    SUN, OCT 9, AND WED, OCT 12, DISCOVER Ben Williams & Sound Effect and the Yotam Silberstein Quartet .. two new talents from the KC Jazz Club

    Williams from the DC area won the Thelonious Monk International Bass Competition; now he leads a fresh-sounding quintet with Marcus Strickland on sax and Christian Sands on piano, to name just two. Guitarist Yotam from Tel Aviv made a great first impression on Kennedy Center audiences in the sold-out Ella! concert (as broadcast on JazzSet), and in Yotam's quartet you'll hear his boyhood friend from Israel, Roy Assaf on piano.

    NEXT, WE REPRISE TWO ALTERNATE ROUTES CONCERTS FROM NJPAC:

    SUN, OCT 16, AND WED, OCT 19, NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston & African Rhythms
    For pianist Weston, jazz is not a genre. It's home, celebrated in music from the opening "African Rhythms" to his long-time theme, "Love, the Mystery Of."

    SUN, OCT 23, AND WED, OCT 26, Danilo Perez AND Poncho Sanchez, Back to Back
    Danilo from Panama plays emotional, colorful, storytelling music from his album Providencia. Poncho from southern California and his long-running Latin jazz band (two dozen albums, one a year) party with the Newark audience, including some of his own family.

    SUN, OCT 30, AND WED, NOV 2, NEA Jazz Master Toots Thielemans and Kenny Werner at the Kennedy Center - broadcast premiere of a concert from March, 2010
    Toots holds the harmonica to his lips, the mic to his harmonica, and the music seems to come straight from his heart, with Guggenheim Fellow Kenny Werner on piano. The music comes from Belgium, the US and Brazil.

    Toots Thielemans by Jos Knaepen
    Thielemans by Jos Knaepen

    Hargrove by John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com
    Hargrove by John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

    SUN, NOV 4, AND WED, NOV 7, The Second Set: Trumpeter Roy Hargrove Quintet at the Village Vanguard

    The first set aired Live from the Village Vanguard on WBGO and NPR Music. Here's the second set - all music, not a word from the stage. At the end, the audience claps for three minutes straight for Justin Robinson, alto; Sullivan Fortner, piano; Ameen Saleem, bass; Montez Coleman, drums; and Roy Hargrove. The sweetest tone in town.

    © 2011 WBGO

  • Listen to WBGO GOES TO DETROIT here

    September 7, 2010. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: danilo perez, Detroit Jazz Festival 2010, gary smulyan, Hot Club of Detroit, Jazz Alive, kenny barron, Mulgrew Miller, Pepper Adams, Tia Fuller

    Hour One - Danilo Perez Quartet with Rudresh Mahanthappa ... Gary Smulyan's tribute to Pepper Adams (1930-1986) with Barry Harris, "Hot Pepper"

    Hour Two - Hot Club of Detroit ... Tia Fuller Quartet ... Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Barron

    Hour Three - Mulgrew Miller and Wingspan

    Hour Four - Tia Fuller ... Danilo Perez ... Hot Club of Detroit

    CLICK TO --> THE RUNDOWN

    Read more

    © 2010 WBGO

  • Live Music Notes - Lee Konitz at Jazz Standard

    April 3, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: alto sax, bob haggart, bread crumbs, danilo perez, detriment, drums, funk groove, group improvisation, Jazz Alive, jazz blog, jazz repertory, jazz standard, lee konitz trio, matt wilson, melody, nod, Notes, rufus reid, sleep, stella by starlight, thelonious monk, tuesday evening, tuesday night, wbgo blog

    I've been going to see more and more music these days, much to the detriment of my need for sleep. Tuesday evening, I decided to check out the Lee Konitz Trio with very special guest, Danilo Perez. The early set, anyway. I know my limitations.

    Lee Konitz    , at 80, is still making some amazing music. And as much as I get tired of hearing jazz repertory, I never tire of hearing Konitz play standards. Four songs in one set, three of which I recognized. All of which I enjoyed. Konitz has this way of never really playing the melody outright. Instead, he basically smashed the loaf into bread crumbs, and sprinkles them over the course of a 15 minute group improvisation. It takes a while to find it. And by the time you DO find it, you realize that the treasure is not at the end of the trail. It was the crumbs!
    Kinda like that whole idea of jazz being more of a how than a what.

    Tuesday night, the group (Konitz on alto sax, Danilo on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums) played a strange, intermittent funk under "Stella by Starlight," then a less than foolish nod to people time - "I'll remember April." During the last song, I kept wondering if I was hearing a version of Thelonious Monk's "Bemsha Swing..." I wasn't. I was hearing the band play Bob Haggart's "What's New?"
    If you want to find the answer to that question - what's new? - follow the bread crumbs to Jazz Standard.  This band beats creative loafing any day.
    -Josh

    © 2008 WBGO