Skip to main content

Al compas del mundo - programa #75 - Jazz

 

Kamasi Washington - The Epic

Curmudgeons like myself need to admit that jazz exists beyond the all-time greats like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Max Roach, etc., etc., etc. Several of those old lions are included in this week’s playlist: Yusuf Lateef, Bobby Hutcherson, and Sonny Stitt. But a sizable portion of programa #75 brings more recent talent to the airwaves. Artists known to folks in contemporary jazz circles but, admittedly, not so much by yours truly. The Art Ensemble is one exception and then there’s the ringer I’ve always wanted to play, Harvey Mandel’s Cristo Redemtor. The latter such an anomaly when it came out in 1968, the hippies didn’t know what to make of it. I’ve looked up the lead vocalist (shades of Minnie Ripperton, she of the five-octave singing range) and it’s a name new to me, but my goodness – what a voice! I think Mandel fits perfectly in a seque with Kamasi Washington, a big man, with a big horn, and a big sound. His debut solo recording was released in 2015, so he’s taken on a commanding presence early on in what promises to be a bountiful career. Snorre Kirk, Tia Fuller, Damon Locks, Ulysses Owens are all contemporary voices I’ve only recently met. I hope to further the relationship and you can expect to hear them again in future jazz programming on Al compas del mundo. 

Play list for Al compas del mundo - programa #75, Jazz

First broadcast 5-4-2023

01 Tia Fuller - My Human Condition

02 Damon Locks - Black Monument Ensemble - NOW (Forever Momentary Space)

03 Yusuf Lateef - Like It Is

04 Ulysses Owens Jr Big Band - Human Nature

05 Snorre Kirk - Blues Arabesque

06 Harvey Mandel - Cristo Redentor

07 Kamasi Washington - Show Us the Way

08 Art Ensemble of Chicago – Proverbes

09 Bobby Hutcherson - (Se Acabó) La Malanga

10 Sonny Stitt - Slave Maidens

 

Harvey Mandala

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Al compas del mundo, programa #92 - Japan

The Japanese historically have been a most creative people, excelling in aesthetic conventions like architecture, painting, culinary arts, theatre, music, and more. A craftsman’s care and an artist’s flair have come to define everyday household objects such as articles of clothing and kitchen ware, designed with a sensibility that imbues them with import and elevated status. After WWII in the United States however, an item inscribed “made in Japan” usually indicated a tchotchke of mediocre quality. A perfect example is the large number of Northwest Coast Native American-style bone totem poles made for the tourist shops in the Northwest. There is a distinctive difference in these “artifacts” from the real, home-made variety that illustrates someone from another culture tackling aesthetics they don’t fully comprehend. And that leads us to some of this week’s musical choices. Imitating Western pop, rock and jazz, Japanese artists have recorded many forgettable efforts – not unlike those o...

British blues of the 60s y 70s

  This has to be one of my favorite programs. The British blues scene gave us a healthy dose of reverential and, admittedly, imitative music that awakened a youthful audience suffering from pop fatigue on both sides of the ocean. Of course, the blues, as interpreted by young white musicians who couldn’t have been much further from the Mississippi Delta or the South side of Chicago, can be considered as cultural appropriation. At the same time, those involved in the scene have reminisced that playing the blues was largely a visceral reaction to a compelling combination of rhythm, lyrics and energy that was distinct from the British music scene up to that point. I don’t believe anyone at the time felt guilty playing the songs of their Southern US heroes. Does it make a difference that a number of these groups went on to earn far more money than the originators ever dreamed of? Probably, though many of the greats – Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and others – profi...

Nuyorican boogaloo cha-cha-cha

 I’m labelling this week’s playlist as “Nuyorican” music, the lion’s share of the players from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican ancestry.  Two notable exceptions are Joe Bataan, a Filipino-African American, and Mongo Santamaria born in Cuba. What they all have in common, however, was centered around the music scene of New York City where African American and Latino musicians forged a common ground in creating “boogaloo” dance music, mixing elements of R&B, Soul, and Latin dance rhythms. The boogaloo genre was fairly short-lived, enjoying popularity during the 1960’s before giving way to salsa, in what was largely an East Coast and Caribbean impulse. “Watermelon Man” and ”El Watusi” were early and major boogaloo hits, but truly, most of the titles included in the program were popular recordings in their day, whether cha-cha-chas like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, or GFyEN’s guajira. I’ve gathered them here for an hour’s worth of revelation for those too young to have heard thi...