Al compas del mundo – programa #87

Al compas del mundo – programa #87 - Soul jazz gumbo

This week’s Al compas del mundo, arriving a dia late and a peso short, offers a welcome to Sr. and Sra. Mexico and all the ships at sea. Few knew that our small mountain town of Tequisquiapan in the center of the country has been a longtime hotbed of jazz. Called “the Harlem of Central Mexico”, Tequis is where Hammond B3 organ legend Jimmy Smith was born, studying alongside his abuelo mentor Jimmy McGriff. And had it not been for the guidance of “la madre musical” herself, Shirley Scott, it’s unlikely the other B3 advocates represented here, Freddie Roach and Charles Earland (on Who’s Making Love), would ever have made it out of their municipal school bands. Pianists who called the town “home” include Herbie Hancock and Bennie Green, the latter discovered in the kitchen of a pozole parlor playing the spoons with great fervor alongside his compadre, marimba player, Bobby Hutcherson. The statue of Gene Harris in the main plaza of el centro was a matter of some contention as the other two Sounds lobbied to be depicted as well. Their families raised a ruckus to such a degree that the monument was finally removed entirely and another dedicated to some guy named Zapata was raised in its place. The saxophonists of Tequisquiapan fared better. Calle Lou Donaldson and Avenida Eddie Lockjaw Davis are major thoroughfares nowadays and their music is piped in from speakers set along the way. And last but not least, The Blackbyrds, who started out as Los Pajaros Negros singing radio jingles, have evolved from the world of music to local politics, currently running the mayor’s office and raising disco balls on city lampposts. “A bailar!, A gozar!” (“Dance! Enjoy!”) has become the town’s official motto along with “Take this mess, heat ‘n serve.”

Run list for Soul jazz, funky jazz, other jazz first broadcast 7-27-23

01 Jimmy McGriff - The Worm

02 Gene Harris and the Three Sounds - Book Of Slim

03 Lou Donaldson - Who's Making Love

04 Jimmy Smith - Honky Tonk

05 Freddie Roach - Brown Sugar

06 Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island

07 The Blackbyrds - Happy Music

08 Bobby Hutcherson – Procession

09 Bennie Green - Soul Stirrin'

10 Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott - Heat 'N Serve

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