Artist - Tune - Album
Buckshot Lefonque - Music Evolution - Music Evolution
JoAnne Brackeen - Let Me Know - Keyed In
Norman Connors - Revelation - Love From the Sun
Sarah Vaughan - Stardust - The Complete Sarah Vaughan
Pharoah Sanders - You Got to have Freedom - Journey to the One
Anthony Braxton - BOR...H - Five Pieces – Fall 1975
Keith Jarrett - Great Bird - Death and the Flower
Dianne Reeves - Chan’s Song - Dianne Reeves
Chuck Mangione - Can’t We Do This All Night - Chase the Clouds Away
John Coltrane - Welcome - Kulu se Mama
Hugh Masakela - Night in Tunisia - I am Not Afraid
Lonnie Smith - Son of Ice Bag - Think!
Metalwood - The Hipster - The Recline
Jack DeJohnette - John McKee - Parallel Realities
Soundtrack Cast - America - West Side Story
Bobby McFerrin - Blackbird - Simple Pleasures
Sekoya - Fugitive Pieces - Sekoya
Miles Davis - Right Off - Jack Johnson
Steps Ahead - Safari - Modern Times
This as the very first Set of Jazz Gumbo, from almost 6 years ago.
The featured album back then was from Buckshot LeFonque’s “Music Evolution” album. I knew right away that the title track would be perfect for introducing the show every week.
The short-lived group was founded and led by Branford Marsalis, who has forever been a musical explorer, delving into all manner of instrumental groupings and genre-mixing. The composition speaks to the evolution of music over time. This how has always been intended to embrace the wide range of influences that generated jazz in the first place, as well as all the directions it has grown into. And it celebrates the musicians who have loved it and kept it nourished by all they bring to it.
The album cover this time around belongs to the group Sekoya. I happened to catch them on late night television about twenty years ago. Loved them immediately and to this day I’m amazed that they didn’t enjoy more success. Such are the ways of the industry and culture. Genius is everywhere, but doesn’t always get heard widely.
This show was an opportunity to feature music I love. Some of it I’ve been listening to since I was a child, and some of it is music I’ve discovered relatively recently. Most of it is from the greats, from those whose genius was heard widely. But much of it is from lesser knowns who deserve to be heard, as we deserve to hear them.
Most of this music is played from vinyl, because all my life, that’s what I’ve bought and listened to. Not exclusively, because most of the music I’ve come to love during the last two decades wasn’t marketed primarily on vinyl. But most of what I know well enough to share is older music, from what I think of as the age of original vinyl, which ended about 1991.
Sekoya is part of the newer generation. I’ve never seen their work on vinyl and don’t know if it’s available in that format. But I play what I Love, that I have.
I hope that you love the music too, and that you will support the artists who create it, as you are able.
Thrive!
Kirby Obsidian
p.s. And oh, one other thing: This show, being my very first, is packed with a lot of my very, very favorite music. It's a damn good Set. You're gonna Love it. If you're a regular listener, you've heard many of them over the years. Enjoy them again!
