The Hartford International Jazz Festival

One of the greatest weekends of the year for jazz lovers is the Hartford International Jazz Festival, coming up next weekend, October 5-7. Some great jazz concerts on the Main Stages (I am looking forward to seeing Ravi Coltrane). After the main shows, many of the Hartford night clubs are stacked with the best of the local area jazz cats at various venues. I am sure we'll have a lot of late night jammin' with the likes of Dezron Douglas, Mario Pavone, the Curtis brothers and much more. If you are in the area, you just have to check this out.

India Fusion

Indian influenced jazz fusion is featured in tonight's show. After seeing Garaj Mahal live at a local club last night, I was inspired to do a show with one of my favorite jazz sub-genres. Shakti, Mahavishnu John M., and newcomers Mynta and Nabil will thrill you with their virtuosity and innovative sounds that fuse classical Indian rhythms and scales, with jazzy improvisations. Also in this podcast are new releases from some great artists, new and old.

Playlist
Track * Artist * Album
Fuzzy * Mynta * music.download.com
Hanin * Nabil Khemir * RayJam
Teabreak * Mynta * music.download.com
Blueberry Cave * Garaj Mahal * Blueberry Cave
Jambull * Antonio Restucci * Crisol
Peace One * Mahavishnu John McLaughin * My Goals Beyond
Arena * Antonio Sanchez * Migration
Arjuna * Chris Potter * Follow the Red Line: Live at Village Vanguard
So What * Miles Davis * Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival
Mind Ecology * Shakti * Natural Elements

Sing in Autumn

We welcome in Autumn with a few tracks that were written for the fall season, and then transition to a great vocal set. It was great to have Karen Frisk in the studio to present her new CD, How Little We Know. Karen is a fixture on the jazz scene in the Hartford, CT area. She always surrounds herself with the best musicians from New England, as she has for this album. Karen talks about the process for putting together this CD, and gives us some insight into the local music scene. The podcast also features other great female vocal artists like Karrin Allyson, Rebecca Parris and others. Its a different sound for In The Groove podcast, and we hope you enjoy.

Playlist
Track * Artist * Album
Autumn Leaves * Sonny Stitt * The Good Life
Autumn in NY * Joe Lovano * Joyous Encounter
Early Autumn * New York Voices * Sing!Sing!Sing!
How Little we know * Karen Frisk * How Little We Know
Compared to What * Roberta Flack * First Take
Nobody Else But Me * * Karen Frisk * How Little We Know
Softly as a Morning Sunrise/Alone Together * Karen Frisk * How Little We Know
You Don't Know What Love Is * Karrin Allyson * Ballads
Besame Mucho * * Karen Frisk * How Little We Know
Weaver of Dreams * Rebecca Parris * You Don't Know Me
One For The Road * Diana Reeves * Good Night, Good Luck
Just One of those Things * Karen Frisk * How Little We Know
** End of Podcast **
Ruby My Dear * JC & TM * Theloneous Monk with John Coltrane
Dear Ruby * Carmen McRae * Carmen Sings Monk
Triste *Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim * Elis & Tom
Work Song * Cannonball Adderly * Phenix
Darn That Dream * Paul Broadnax * Here's to Joe
Sermonette * Karen Frisk * How Little We Know

Josef and Max

A tribute to a couple of my Jazz heroes who sadly passed away recently. Joe Zawinul and Max Roach were both innovators and artists as well as giants to the jazz community. Max Roach set the standard for be-bop drumming as he forged new territory in jazz with Charlie Parker. His collaborations with greats like Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus pushed jazz music to new creative musical forms. This NPR Podcast chronicles the art of Max Roach. Joe Zawinul was one of the driving forces in fusing electronic and world music with jazz. His groundbreaking work with Miles Davis and Weather Report made Zawinul one of the founding fathers of Jazz/Fusion. We will miss them both. (Correction - During my first mic break I mistakenly credited Richie Powell as the drummer in Daahoud. Of course, Max is on drums, and Powell is on piano)

Playlist
Track * Artist * Album
Daahoud * Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet * Finest Hour
Joy Spring * Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet * Finest Hour
Freedom Day * Max Roach * We Insist! Freedom Day Suite
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy * Cannonball Adderley * Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Scotch and Water * Cannonball Adderley * In New York
Boogie Woogie Waltz * Weather Report * Sweetnighter
Night Passage * Joe Zawinul * WDR Big Band, Brownstreet
In a Silent Way * Joe Zawinul * WDR Big Band, Brownstreet

Land of the Pharoah

No one embodies the spirit of John Coltrane more than Pharoah Sanders. He projects an incredible amount of emotion through the tenor saxophone, and has the ability to coax the most amazing sounds from his horn. I had the honor of attending a live performance of Pharoah Sanders at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Friday evening. The Pharoah was in fine form with his quartet. This show features some of Pharoah's most recent recordings. Also, I play a track from Sonny Rollins with Max Roach. It is a tribute to Sonny Rollins on his 77th birthday, and the sad passing of the innovative drummer, Max Roach.
Our regular WHUS broadcast was preempted by sports programming, this is a Podcast Only edition

Playlist
Track * Artist * Album
Feelin' Good * Pharoah Sanders * Crescent With Love
Rejoice * Pharoah Sanders * Rejoice
Body And Soul * Pharoah Sanders * Crescent With Love
Beyond the Wall * Kenny Garrett * Beyond the Wall
Pent-up House * Sonny Rollins * Plus 4
Anatolia * One For All * The Lineup

Women Can Be-Bop

This show features some incredible women of modern jazz. You won't hear any sappy vocals, or slick sounding smooth jazz. Just hard be-boppers that happen to be of the feminine sex. These are some great compositions and arrangements by women artists and ensembles lead by women. Featuring great new artists like Christene Jensen, Joan Stiles and some that have been around for awhile like Jessica Williams and Barbara Dennerlein.

BTW, its back to an mp3 file format for the podcast, though I much prefer AAC. There was enough input from users that had a problem playing AAC (mostly Windoze weenies I'm sure ;-} ) that I decided to stick with the 'lowest common denominator' of audio files.

Playlist
Track * Artist * Album
Capers Papers *Christine Jensen *Look Left
Mark Adam Drum *Christine Jensen *Look Left
Jitterbug Waltz *Joan Stiles *Hurly-burly
Top Cat *Stacie McGregor Quintet *Straight Up
Uncle B *Stacie McGregor Quintet *Straight up
Peebow's Vibe *Cindy Blackman *Someday My Prince Will Come
Walkin' *Cindy Blackman *Someday My Prince Will Come
Dance of the Infields *Geri Allen *The Life Of A Song
Holdin' Court *Geri Allen *The Life Of A Song
Hot House *Barbara Dennerlein *Take Off
Amelia *Joni Mitchell *Hejira
Caravan * Sheryl Baily * Little Misunderstood
One Step * Reincarnation * Joy and Sorrow
Alone Together * Rebecca Parris * You Don't Know Me
** End of Podcast **
Cosmonaut * Joanne Brackeen * Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven
I Hear A Rhapsody * Joanne Brackeen * Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven
Bemsha Swing *Trio *Deoborah Weisz Trio
Softly, As In aA Morning Sunrise *Emily Remier *Retrospective Volume One
I Want To Talk About You *Jessica Williams *Live At Yoshi's, Volume One
Black Holes *Renee Rosnes *Renee Rosnes And The Danish Radio Big Band
Trouble Man *Cassandre McKinley *Til Tomorrow