Cycling through jazz - a Sisyphean Romp!

Hey Joe Henderson! What we got here: Moving through the cycle, starting with early, hot jazz from Illinois Jacquet; a brisk blues from the Duke and his orchestra (Paul Gonsalves’ tenor sax goes all tough and bluesy); to the chillest Miles Davis trumpet and funereal accompaniment from the soundtrack ‘Elevator to the Gallows’: he meets the occasion. What you hear next is a lengthy cut by Keith Jarrett, hypnotic in its repeated bass line and vivacious clean living on the keyboard. A couple of tempo changes serve to highlight a sax entry and the rhythm section once more – all in all, 12 minutes well spent. And then there’s even more... not that the other major talents in this week’s playlist don’t merit their own brief but succinct (?) evaluation from yours truly.

Alas, it’s just that I’m suddenly thinking that an attempt to define a jazz tune and translate its meaning into words. It's a Sisyphean task! When at the SF Museum of Modern Art, I read the descriptive cards alongside works of art that. To my way of thinking, these are often little more than inscrutable justifications for some critic’s PhD thesis. The psychological underpinnings that inspire the creation of a painting, sculpture, and yes, music, seem a little too subjective for me to go there. Adjectives are fun to fling but really, I want the musicians themselves, in this case, to tell us what just transpired and why. And they do! All you’ve got to do is listen. No matter what anyone says, interpretation is all your own.

Al compás del mundo - programa listo #182, 5-29-25 – jazz

01 Illinois Jacquet - South Street Special

02 Duke Ellington - More Blues

03 Miles Davis - Générique (soundtrack from the French film ‘Elevator to the Gallows’)

04 Keith Jarrett - De Drums

05 Joe Henderson - A Shade of Jade

06 Larry Young – If

07 Eddie Harris - I Don't Want No One but You

08 Mose Allison - Gimcracks and Gewgaws

09 Yusef Lateef - Ching Miau

10 Roy Hargrove - O My Seh Yeh

11 Gerry Mulligan - What's the Rush

Colleague Jack links here to a write-up on Moon Traveller on Mose.

Comments

Guitarras del mundo

Choosing music and writing about “the guitar” opens many doors. I could have gone off in any number of directions and with a singular narrow focus - but I didn’t. Instead, I threw a whole bunch of varied tunes against a wall to see which ones stuck. Sometimes there’s a continuity and other times none: just two aesthetically pleasing pieces that worked well in tandem and, hopefully, were preceded and followed with similar morsels. Usually, that is how these programs come together. I receive a divinely inspired revelation for a certain theme, region, or style of music and build it from there. Baden Powell, Brazilian beatnik poet and guitar master, seemed to me an obvious choice to begin the program. From there (as you can well see) we stick around Latin America a bit; segue into Spain, notorious as a guitar hotbed; head South to North Africa for the venerable Bombino (yes, again!) and more of that desert blues ilk; logically morph into a short blues set and settle at the bottom sid...

Electric Chicago blues

Al compás del mundo Run List #172, 3-20-25 - electric Chicago blues 01 James Cotton - Love Me or Leave Me 02 Sonny Boy Williamson - Wake Up Baby 03 Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers - Wild About You, Baby 04 Howlin Wolf - You'll Be Mine 05 John Lee Hooker – Louise 06 Junior Wells - Snatch It Back and Hold It 07 Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle 08 Little Walter - I Don't Play 09 Jimmy Rogers - Walking by Myself 10 J.B. Lenoir - Don't Dog Your Woman 11 Otis Rush - Keep on Loving Me Baby 12 Muddy Waters - I Can't Be Satisfied 13 Sunnyland Slim - Shake It 14 Walter Horton - It's Alright 15 Buddy Guy - When My Left Eye Jumps 16 Magic Sam - She Belongs to Me 17 Johnny Young - Cross-Cut Saw 18 Eddie Boyd - Third Degree 19 Willie Dixon and Friends - I Cry for You Got to feature the blues from time to time on Al compás del mundo as there seems to be a shortage of such on Mexican radio. Although RadioactivaTX.org, the ...

Experimental Music: Squeak, Squawk, and Skrunk

Leon Theremin and the Orchestra I’m showing my age with today’s Al compás del mundo playlist. Most all the music represented here is from 20-50 years ago. A couple exceptions are Iranian-Canadian Sina Bathaie and Chile’s Föllakzoid, both a nod towards rave culture…which has its origins in the mid -1980s, an old school trip out which lingers on to this day. Experimental music has been around for who knows how long. Rebels always come out of the woodwork when popular taste imposes limitations. And electronics have influenced and become the medium as far back as the theremin, invented circa 1918. There’s one more ringer in this group (experimental yes, electronic, no) and that’s Steve Reich’s piece, an excerpt from “Pulse.” The chorus and instruments are organic and live – no recorded sounds and no overdubs. That this sort of music has drawn devotees in great numbers and from all parts of the world would make a case for a commonality in human artistic perception and acceptance. Who s...

Search This Blog