Episode Transcript
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0:02
Welcome, friends, to this week's edition
0:04
of In the Groove, Jazz and
0:06
Beyond. My name's Ken Laster. We're
0:08
going to start today's show by paying
0:10
tribute to Les McCann. I
0:12
learned over the past few days that
0:15
he had passed away on December
0:17
28th of last year at
0:20
age 88. I've always
0:22
enjoyed Les McCann's music.
0:25
There were two albums in particular that have
0:27
been part of my music
0:29
library that I have listened
0:32
to repeatedly throughout
0:34
the years. One is of course, Swiss
0:37
Movement, which is Les McCann
0:39
and Eddie Harris, the great
0:42
tenor saxophone player, recorded in
0:45
1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival,
0:47
Montreux, Switzerland. I
0:49
also enjoyed the album Invitation to
0:52
Openness. They are both quite different
0:54
albums. So we are going to
0:57
hear examples from both of them,
0:59
beginning with Swiss Movement.
1:01
We're going to hear a
1:03
track called Cold Duck Time.
1:06
All right, we're going to try a
1:08
new song. This is a song written by Eddie Harris.
1:11
Today was the first time we ever saw it. So
1:15
with your help, we
1:17
might do it. This is called Cold
1:19
Duck Time. This
1:52
is called Cold Duck
1:56
Time. $100
6:32
per year, extra
6:37
$200 per month
6:40
perHowever, during the
6:48
spectral eight
8:04
will you
17:00
you is
17:38
the then
17:56
the You
20:35
Our tribute to Les McCann, we heard
20:38
a couple great examples of his music.
20:41
The last thing you heard from the
20:43
album Invitation to Openness, a 1971 release,
20:45
we heard Buh-bye
20:49
Magoochie and his friends.
20:52
And that features not only Les
20:54
McCann on piano and electric keyboards,
20:56
but also Yossef Latif on tenor
20:59
saxophone, oboe and flute, and
21:02
many others as well. And
21:04
before that, we heard from his
21:06
most famous album, Les
21:08
McCann and Eddie Harris,
21:10
Swiss Movement, recorded live
21:12
at Montreux. We
21:15
heard the Eddie Harris composition, Cold
21:17
Duck Time. Speaking
21:20
of the album Swiss
21:22
Movement, it was a
21:24
certified gold album and perhaps
21:26
its biggest hit was
21:29
Compared to What? And
21:31
there's another cover
21:34
of that tune by
21:36
Roberta Flack. I'd always thought that Les
21:38
McCann and Eddie Harris' tune was the
21:40
original one and that it was written
21:42
by one of them, but a
21:44
little research. And I learned
21:46
that it was written by
21:48
Gene McDaniels, a singer-songwriter. And
21:51
it was recorded first by
21:53
Roberta Flack in February of
21:55
1969. And
21:58
it would be recorded a few months
22:00
later. later in June of that same
22:02
year by Les McCann and
22:04
Eddie Harris. I wanted
22:06
to play the Roberta Flack version of
22:08
this tune. I really like it. And
22:10
I once read that the great bass
22:13
player Ron Carter considered this one
22:15
of his favorite recordings that he is
22:17
on. So that is saying a
22:20
lot from Roberta Flack's
22:22
first take. Let's hear her
22:25
version of, compared to what with
22:27
a great bass line from Ron
22:30
Carter. Oh
22:58
damn nation. who
24:06
can flip your Examples Is
26:02
Forum Is
26:11
Is Is
26:28
Is Is
26:35
Is Is
26:42
Is Is
26:48
Is Is
26:57
Is Is
27:27
Is Is
27:38
Is Is
27:51
Is Is Is
28:00
you you
29:01
oh ah
29:41
eh hm
29:47
uh good
29:59
you music
31:05
music music
31:15
music music
31:27
music music
31:35
music music
31:45
music music
31:56
music Oh
33:35
yeah.... you
37:00
oh uh
37:12
oh e
37:35
um me
40:30
I don't know. I
40:36
don't know. I
40:41
don't know. She's
40:43
gonna be like, I don't know.
40:48
I don't
40:51
know. I
40:54
don't know. Last
41:14
two tracks in that set were from
41:17
great players out of the
41:19
Hartford, Connecticut area where I
41:21
resided for 40 plus
41:23
years and was part of the jazz scene there.
41:27
We heard from Matt Dwanzek from his album
41:29
A Year and a Day. That was a
41:31
2022 release. And
41:34
his version of the Mongo
41:36
Santamaria classic Afro Blue. And
41:40
that group has Matt Dwanzek
41:42
on bass, Andrew Renfro on
41:44
guitar, Chris Allen on saxophone,
41:46
Tabor Gable on Fender Rhodes,
41:48
Jonathan Barber on drums, and
41:51
some great vocal work by
41:53
Chanel Johns, all of them
41:55
who had attended the University
41:57
of Hartford, and Jackie McQueen.
42:00
Institute for Jazz. And before
42:02
that we heard from someone
42:04
who was mentored by Jackie
42:06
McLean himself in Hartford.
42:08
His name is Mike Derubo.
42:11
His new album, brand new
42:13
release, is entitled Inner Light.
42:15
And we heard The Muse
42:17
and that as Mike
42:20
Derubo on Outdo Sax, Brian
42:22
Charette on Hammond B3 Organ,
42:24
Andrew Renfro on Guitar, and
42:27
Jung Kok Kim, J.K.
42:29
Kim for short, on drums.
42:33
Now we're going to travel from
42:35
coast to coast from Hartford, Connecticut
42:37
to San Diego, California. And
42:39
we're going to hear from Matt
42:41
Hall, a fine trombone player. I
42:44
got to see this group last night
42:46
at the Jazz Lounge in San Diego.
42:48
He released an album in 2022 titled I
42:50
Hope to
42:53
Mine Never. It also features
42:55
Outdo Sax player Charlie Arboles who
42:58
wrote this tune we're going to
43:00
hear. Let's listen to
43:02
No Going Back from Matt Hall.
43:14
No Going Back from Matt Hall No
43:49
Going Back from Matt Hall. Never
45:17
have I have never
45:20
heard heard of. Call.
45:34
Heard of. At
45:37
hand. He.
46:27
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
46:32
ha That's
48:30
Matt Hall from the album I
48:33
Hope to Minever. We heard No
48:35
Going Back. Matt Hall there teamed
48:37
up with Charlie Arboles on alto
48:39
saxophone, who wrote that piece as
48:41
well. And that'll about do it
48:43
for today's show. You are listening
48:45
to In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond.
48:48
My name is Ken Laster. We are
48:50
a radio show over the airwaves at
48:53
WWUH 91.3 FM
48:56
out of West Hartford, Connecticut, as
48:58
well as on an internet
49:01
radio station, radiobobusa.com,
49:03
a great place
49:06
for spoken
49:08
word and music of
49:10
all genres. Check that
49:12
out. We're going to finish
49:14
out today with the SFJazz Collective.
49:16
This album made my favorites
49:19
list, my top ten list for 2023. The
49:23
album's entitled New Works and
49:25
Classics Reimagined. You're going
49:27
to hear a Chris Potter composition, Smokey,
49:30
from SFJazz Collective. oh
52:35
Thank you. Thank
53:05
you. Thank
53:34
you. You
55:00
You You
57:30
Al hugging demons horse
57:52
Christian
58:54
Hi, this is Ken Laster and I would
58:56
like to thank you for listening to In
58:58
The Groove Jazz & Beyond. I've
59:00
published this weekly podcast for
59:02
over 12 years with more
59:04
than 7 million downloads worldwide.
59:07
It takes an extraordinary amount of
59:09
time and expense to produce this
59:12
show. Why do I do
59:14
this? I hope you can tell that
59:16
it is a labor of love to
59:18
promote this art form to you and
59:20
others around the globe. Now I'd like
59:22
to ask you for your support to
59:24
continue this musical journey. If
59:26
you go to my website,
59:28
jazzandbeyond.com, you will find
59:31
a donate link in the top
59:33
menu where you can donate via
59:35
PayPal or Venmo. Or
59:38
search for me by name, Ken
59:40
Laster, on either platform. Surely
59:42
just one listen of this podcast
59:45
equals the value of a single
59:47
CD. If you have been
59:49
a regular listener for a period of time,
59:51
perhaps the value to you is even more.
59:54
Whatever amount you contribute, you can join
59:56
me in the tradition of sharing the
59:58
legacy of the world. of this music
1:00:01
to others around the world. I
1:00:03
sincerely thank you for your support.
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