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Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

Jeffrey Siegel

The Award-winning jazz podcast, hosted by Jeffrey Siegel.

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01:01:48

Podcast 897: Spirituality 2022

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/04/15

It seems that most of the world’s religions have spring holidays. In fact, celebrating the beginning of spring may be among the oldest seasonal holidays in human culture. The earliest reference we have to such a holiday comes to us from Babylon, 2400 BCE. The city of Ur apparently had a celebration dedicated to the moon and the spring equinox which was held some time during our months of March or April. For Christianity, today is Good Friday, at the end of Holy Week, culminating in the commemoration

32:36

Podcast 896: A Conversation with Sherrie Maricle

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/04/09

Broadway musicals have been the source of many notable jazz standards, so it should come as no surprise that the DIVA Jazz Orchestra’s latest release is DIVA Swings Broadway. The 15-piece band, fast approaching its 30th year as a performing group, lends their seemingly boundless talents to nine songs, some well known, and others which dig deep into the Broadway Songbook. DIVA was founded by Stanley Kay, one-time manager and relief drummer for Buddy Rich and the band’s drummer and musical director,

26:01

Podcast 895: A Conversation with Dave Douglas, Part Two

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/04/06

Podcast 895 is Part Two of my conversation with the extraordinary Dave Douglas. In Part One, we focused on the inspiration for, then writing and recording of Secular Psalms, now available on his Greenleaf Music label. Created as part of the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Ghent Altarpiece painting "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," Douglas and mostly European musicians recorded the spiritually uplifting music during the COVID pandemic. Dave discussed how they overcame travel and group

29:22

Podcast 894: Mingus@100 - A Conversation with Sarah...

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/04/01

With the start of the month of April, Straight No Chaser begins a month long celebration of the life and music of Charles Mingus, one of the most important jazz performers, composers and personalities ever. Six years ago I interviewed Kris Gabbard, the author of Better Git It in Your Soul: An Interpretive Biography of Charles Mingus (University of California Press), who considered Mingus not just one of the most important figures in jazz, but in American 20th century music as a whole. At that time

37:04

Podcast 893: A Conversation with Dave Douglas, Part One

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/04/01

Dave Douglas, one of the most prolific writers, performers and recording artists in jazz today is also one of its widest-ranging stylists and important entrepreneurs. At the age of 59, his award-winning career includes more than fifty recordings as a leader, close to one hundred as a sideman, and more than five hundred published compositions. In 2005 Douglas founded Greenleaf Music, a record label for his albums, sheet music, podcasts, as well as the music of other modern jazz musicians. To date,

24:36

Podcast 892: A Conversation with Avishai Cohen

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/27

One of the benefits we get as jazz listeners from the inactivity in recording and releasing of music due to the COVID-19 pandemic is the backlog of exciting music that is now coming out. Trumpeter Avishai Cohen describes his album as the outcome of a “two-year meditation.” He had been sitting with the main motif of Naked Truth since the start of Covid, and used the layoff to follow that melody to its inevitable conclusion, an 8 part suite with a spoken ending. Naked Truth (ECM Records) was recorded

26:13

Podcast 891: A Conversation with Kabir Dalawari

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/23

Nourished by the abundant creative energies of the scene in his native Chicago, drummer and composer Kabir Dalawari has developed a unique musical on his vibrant debut album, Awareness. Dalawari fronts a talent-packed quartet with altoist Kyle Brooks, pianist Eric Arroyo and bassist Matt Ulery for a set of original pieces brimming with rhythmic animation, melodic richness and bristling interactivity. Dalawari approaches music in part from the perspective of someone versed in neuroscience, given his

28:34

Podcast 890: A Conversation with Quentin Angus

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/21

Quentin Angus has received national and international recognition for winning three ASCAP 'Young Jazz Composer Awards', five Downbeat Magazine Awards in the 'Composition' and 'Soloist' categories. The State of Things is his third album as a leader. He carefully chose his collaborators for the album, choosing the topnotch drummer Nate Smith as the core of his band. Pianist Can Olgun and bassist Desmond White solidly round out the rhythm section. Vocalist/lyricist Michael Mayo is a new talent to me,

29:19

Podcast 889: A Conversation with Ron Jackson

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/18

Since the 1991 release of his debut album A Guitar Thing, featuring Benny Green, Cecil Brooks III and Lonnie Plaxico, guitarist Ron Jackson has steadily built a robust reputation as a sideman and solo artist. Standards and My Songs is his ninth title as a leader on his independent label Roni Music, the logical follow-up to his. Standards and Other Songs. The seven-string guitar player put together a topnotch trio, with Ben Wolfe on bass and Willie Jones III on drums to tackle tunes that vary from

28:59

Podcast 888: A Conversation with Matt Slocum

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/12

Matt Slocum’s latest work is a long-form suite, performed by one of the best quartets I’ve seen put together in some time. Slocum, the drummer and composer of the songs on With Love and Sadness (Sunnyside Records), originally planned for a trio, but decided the music called for a fuller sound. The resulting group – Walter Smith III on saxophone, Taylor Eigsti on piano and Fender Rhodes, Larry Grenadier on bass and Slocum on drums – makes the album a must-listen and an early contender for the year

28:29

Podcast 887: A Conversation with Eli Degibri

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/09

It's been seven years since Tel Aviv-based saxophonist-composer Eli Degibri has released an album of original music. However, that drought ends this week with the release of his deeply personal album of tunes, Henri and Rachel. Recorded on March 9, 2020, days before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Henri and Rachel is Degibri’s first album of original music since 2015, when he recorded Cliff Hanging, which earned a 5-star review from DownBeat (a 2018 release, Soul Station, was a tune-for-tune

29:13

Podcast 886: A Conversation with Bill Summers, Part Two

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/05

In Part One of this two-part conversation, Bill Summers explained the long path he has followed to learn the art and the history of Bata, placing him firmly in a thousand plus year history of percussionists. We talked about Forward Back, his new project with his longtime friend Scott Roberts, a way to blend spiritual music with the sounds of the modern western world, especially hip-hop. That EP, Yellow Flowers, was released recently on the Ropeadope label. Part Two follows Summers' 50 year

25:43

Podcast 885: A Conversation with Bill Summers, Part One

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/02

Years ago, the study of percussion led Bill Summers to a particular ceremony in Brooklyn, where he was introduced to the rich history of religious, spiritual drumming by vocalist Leon Thomas. The path led him to Cuba, where he studied with a venerated master, immersed in a spiritual drum fraternity (Anya) that took him all the way back. He innately recognized the origin, the source, the foundation of all rhythm. Learning the history of Bata in this deep way has been a 50-year process for Summers

01:05:03

Podcast 884: Mardi Gras 2022

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/03/01

Les Bon Temps Rouler! It's Mardi Gras time in New Orleans, and this year the parades and parties are in full swing. So if you're not in the Big Easy to sample the music, food and fun, here's an hour plus of music to get you in the swing of things: Kermit Ruffins - "Drop Me Off in New Orleans" Marcus Roberts - "New Orleans Blues" Cyril Neville - "New Orleans Cookin'" The Hot 8 Brass Band - "New Orleans, After the City" Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball - "I Just Can't Get New Orleans Off My Mind" Wynton

28:49

Podcast 883: A Conversation with Rick Braun

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/02/27

Self-titled albums are typically introductory statements reserved for an artist’s first release. In the case of trumpeter/keyboardist Rick Braun, it took until his 30th anniversary as a solo recording artist.to release Rick Braun – a stylistically eclectic, ultra-soulful/funky and exotica-tinged collection of 10 new songs. While put into the box we call “smooth jazz” for years, Braun stylistically has been closer to his musical heroes Herb Alpert, Freddie Hubbard and later Miles Davis for years. In

35:16

Podcast 882: A Conversation with Anders Koppel

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/02/20

The music of Danish composer/performer Anders Koppel has defied genre almost since he learned to walk. The son of classical composer and pianist Herman D. Koppel, Anders Koppel was a child singer in the Copenhagen Boys Choir and studied piano with his sister and father from the age of five. He took up the Hammond organ in 1966 and the following year founded with his brother Thomas the legendary Danish rock group The Savage Rose. The band toured Europe extensively from 1967 to 1974 and even made a

28:14

Podcast 881: A Conversation with Michael Weiss

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/02/16

Musicians who are “on the scene” in New York don’t always get wider recognition with jazz fans around the country, to say nothing of the world, unless they are lucky enough to constantly record. In the case of pianist Michael Weiss, he’s been busy playing in and around New York, but he hasn’t recorded as a leader since 2003’s Soul Journey. Persistence -Weiss’ fifth recording as a leader and first on the Cellar Live label - brings together all the qualities that have made him such a valued member of

29:12

Podcast 880: A Conversation with Will Friedwald on...

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/02/14

Perhaps no song in the canon of the Great American Songbook is associated with Valentine's Day than Rodgers & Hart's 1937 classic "My Funny Valentine." The song was originally written as part of the score of their Broadway show Babes in Arms, which gave us classics like "Johnny One Note," "Where or When," and "The Lady is a Tramp." For a deep dive into the details of the song and the show, check out this posting at Cafe Songbook. Perhaps no one knows as much about "My Funny Valentine" than writers

29:17

Podcast 879: A Conversation with Azar Lawrence and...

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/02/13

Saxophonist Azar Lawrence has been seen as someone who can, as they say, cover both sides of the street. Lawrence has performed with numerous jazz titans that include pianists Horace Tapscott and McCoy Tyner; trumpeters Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw; percussionist James Mtume; and drummers Elvin Jones and Billy Higgins. However, the Los Angeles-born Lawrence, has never been confined by conventional genre categories. His instrumental and songwriting work with iconic soul singers, like

25:40

Podcast 878: A Conversation with Galen Abdur-Razzaq...

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show ·

2022/02/10

Here’s an event perfect for jazz fans and those looking to delve more deeply into Black History Month – a combined lecture and musical performance by flutist and educator Galen Abdur-Razzaq chronicling how jazz musicians became advocates for the Civil Rights Movement. From stirring performances that called out injustice to performing benefit concerts that financed major events such as the Freedom Rides and the March on Washington, there is much to learn about how jazz influenced the Civil Rights

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