Conversations about the all-time jazz legends from local jazz legends Gunnar Biggs, Keith Bishop, Joey Carano, Leonard Thompson, and Bob Weller. Soak in their stories and expertise as they prep for their Sunday night shows at St. Michael’s-by-the-Sea in Carlsbad, California.
Songwriter Arthur Schwartz(born Nov 25, 1900) was trained as a lawyer, but encouraged by friends George Gershwin and Lorenz Hart, soon abandoned that career and became a successful popular songwriter. His tunes are featured in several Broadway shows, and many of his tunes are favorite vehicles for jazz musicians due to their interesting harmonic structure. His longtime lyricist, Howard Dietz, a collaborator with composer Jerome Ker...
Gerry Mulligan (born April 6, 1927) is possibly the best known baritone saxophonist in jazz, but he has also recorded on soprano and tenor saxophones, clarinet and piano. He is a prolific composer and arranger, contributing scores to the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool nonet, the Claude Thornhill and Stan Kenton bands, and his own Concert Jazz Band in the early 60s and 80s. His innovative piano-less quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker...
John Lenwood “Jackie” McClean (born May 17, 1931) grew up in the same neighborhood in Harlem that was home to Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell and Thelonius Monk, and soon fell under the sway of the Bebop Revolution, particularly as espoused by Charlie Parker. Throughout his career, Jackie kept his ears open to new developments in the music, while still remaining grounded in the bebop vocabulary of his youth, he recorded with many more ad...
[Note: Stay tuned at the end to hear the band play Blue Skies!]
It has been said that Irving Berlin didn’t write American music ... he was American music. Indeed, the scope and length of his career, and his vast body of work in a variety of musical contexts give credence to this argument. One of the very few songwriters of his generation who wrote his own lyrics as well as the music, it is staggering to realize that English wasn’t ...
[Note: Stay tuned at the end for some music from the band!]
Thomas “Fats” Waller (born May 21, 1904) grew up the son of a preacher in the vibrant musical community of Harlem. He played the organ for his dad’s church as a child, with the organ pumped for him by Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. His prodigious keyboard abilities were soon encouraged by many of the lions of stride piano in the neighborhood, who bought him his first pairs of lo...
It’s impossible to overestimate the impact that Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (born April 29, 1899) had on jazz and indeed the world of music in general. Even if his myriad contributions to the Great American Songbook were his only accomplishment, he would be one of its most hallowed creators, but his legacy is far more sweeping. He managed to field an orchestra for several decades consisting of totally unique musical personaliti...
Herbie Hancock, born April 12, 1940, is one of the most influential pianists and composers in jazz. He first rose to prominence with trumpeter Donald Byrd and later revolutionized jazz itself with Miles Davis, and pop music with his headhunters and rockit bands. He remains a big influence on younger players to this day, now an elder statesman of the music.
Pianist/composer Cedar Walton (born January 17, 1934) first rose to prominence with drummer Art Blakey’s band and his own groups featured his original compositional voice for decades: fresh original takes on the hard bop style he came up in. Many of his tunes have become jazz standards.
Saxophonist and jazz composer Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) was one of jazz’s senior statesmen, passing away last year at the age of 95. He was one of the last surviving subjects of the well known photograph “A Great Day in Harlem”, which was featured in the film “The Terminal” (2004) which also featured a cameo by Golson himself. He penned a number of compositions which have become well loved jazz standards.
Songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock on January 26, 1913) picked his professional name inspired by the shirt company. In the course of his career, he won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for best song. Many of his tunes have become beloved jazz standards over the years.
Songwriter Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna on December 24, 1893) was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. In the course of his long career he was nominated for 11 Oscars for Best Song and won three times. In a career that lasted over sixty years, he composed over eight hundred songs and were featured in over three hundred films.
The band talks about celebrating New Orleans and Mardi Gras and the city’s great musical traditions.
The band is back! This Sunday at the "Unchained Melodies" show, the Evensong Quintet is playing a live recording concert of tunes in the public domain. Many of the best songwriters of the “Tin Pan Alley” era wrote some of their most enduring songs during the late 1920s, and many of these songs fall into public domain this year. Jazz musicians have long favored the work of these giants: George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Fats Waller, Irv...
As they prep for the annual Jazz Family Christmas show, the band talks Christmas tunes and jazz influence in classic favorites. The podcast is taking a break for the holidays and will return next year!
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Pianist/composer McCoy Tyner (born December 11, 1938) was the youngest member of the earth-shattering John Coltrane Quartet and went on to be a major innovator on his instrument, influencing a whole generation of pianists with his rhythmic and harmonically dense approach to the instrument. He has been recognized with an NEA jazz master award and five Grammy awards. His music is as important in many ways as Coltrane’s, and his music...
Composer/arranger/pianist Billy Strayhorn (born November 29, 1915) was a true genius in his own right, though often referred to as Duke Ellington’s alter ego, he was so much more than that. A gay man in in an era when that was even more of an onus than it is now, Ellington made it possible for Strayhorn to create and thrive in spite of societal constraints, clearly he recognized Strayhorn’s unique genius, and the two had a symbioti...
Pianist/composer Dave Brubeck and Alto Saxophonist Paul Desmond are enshrined in jazz history as the most prominent voices of the popular Dave Brubeck quartet. This group cast an outsized shadow over the jazz scene of the 1950’s and 1960’s, Desmond’s composition "Take Five" is one of the most beloved jazz compositions of all time and was the biggest hit the quartet ever had. Brubeck incorporated diverse musical influences, includin...
Saxophonist/composer Phil Woods (born Nov 2, 1931), is by many musicians considered the major exponent of the alto saxophone for the past sixty years. His big, commanding sound, strong sense of swing, and command of harmony are second to none. His playing is totally distinctive and immediately recognizable. He may be best known to the average listener as the saxophone soloist on the Billy Joel hit, Just the Way You Are, but he can ...
Saxophonist/composer Jimmy Heath (born Oct 25, 1926) came from a musical family in the fertile music scene of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and his brothers Percy, bassist with the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Tootie, drummer with a plethora of jazz groups have contributed far more than their share to the world of jazz. A contemporary and close friend of John Coltrane, Heath eclipsed his friend early in their careers, nicknamed “Littl...
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The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.