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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Sunday's Playlist Air Date: 3/24/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET HOUR ONE: Contemplative Morning Roy Hargrove Quintet-With the Tenors of Our Time-09 Across the Pond 1994 Robert Glasper-Canvas-09 North Portland (2005) Robin McKelle\Impressions of Ella 2023\Soon Samara Joy-Samara Joy 2021-07 It;s Eas to See Roditi Ignatzek Rassinfosse-Light In The Dark-10 Placid Moon 2005 Shirley Horn-Here's To Life-03 How Am I To Know 1992 Something Blue-Maximum Enjoyment-03 Stunts And Twists 2019 Stan Hope-Pastels 1999-07 Pastels Willie Morris\Attentive Listening 2024\La Mesha Lauren White\Making it Up as We Go Along 2024\I'm Glad There is You Jun Iida\Evergreen 2024\Love Theme From Spartacus Stella Bass\Look for the Silver Lining 2024\Being Alive HOUR TWO: New For You Jocelyn Gould-Sonic Bouquet 2023-03 My Foolish Heart Blue Moods\Swing & Soul 2024\Each Time I Think of You Remy Le Boeuf with the Assembly of Shadows - Heartland Radio 2024\\Heartland Radio  
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents The Pulsing Heart of Jazz Air Date: 3/17/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Right here in Worcester Massachusetts you will find the pulsing heart of jazz. Like your own heartbeat, it is always there, playing, waiting for you to turn on that radio or connect on the internet so you can hear glorious sounds.  Now is our Spring Into WICN fund drive, and we are hoping that you will call during your favorite show and donate to Worcester's only NPR radio station.  We know there are other NPR stations in the state and elsewhere that you can listen to. Oh wait a moment, none of them play any significant amount of jazz. Or blues, folk, Latin, world, Brazilian, new age, or soul.  WICN is an oasis in a desert of these musical genres. Join me Sunday morning for four hours of great jazz, and a little fundraising mixed in, but the music plays on.  You can subscribe and/or donate here: WICN DONATION PAGE. Do it Sunday morning during the show - it is much mor
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Stella Bass Air Date: 3/10/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE My guest on the next edition of Musician's Corner on the Sunday Jazz Brunch will be vocalist Stella Bass, all the way from Dublin, Ireland. She's with us to talk about her new album, Look for the Silver Lining. The new album is only her second. Her first CD, Too Darn Hot , was released in 2014.  Just an aside: on that debut album Ms. Bass sang the Amy Winehouse original, Back to Black, and Amy Winehouse's mom contacted her to say what a great version of the song it is. We'll hear that track later in the set. The new album is a collaboration with the Johnny Taylor Trio, and it features a mix of jazz standards and some new songs written by Ms Bass.  Mr. Taylor plays piano and does all the arranging, mostly for trio, but sometimes with a guest artist.   Tune in at 9:30 am ET  to hear this edition of Musician's Corner. If you liste
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Julie Kelly Air Date: 3/3/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Julie Kelly CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT Next up in the Musician's Corner series, is LA-based vocalist Julie Kelly. Born in Oakland, California, she performed with her twin sister a local coffeehouses way back in 1970, thus starting her on the road to becoming a jazz vocalist. The duo opened once for Peter, Paul, and Mary during that time. In 1971 she spent time in Rio De Janiero in Brazil, where she performed with Carlos Lyra and Luis Eca, absorbing the fertile Brazilian jazz scene.  Later in the decade she spent time in New York and then San Francisco, continuing to perform and honing her craft.  Finally she moved to LA and has resided there since 1980.  She has performed and worked with such artists as Benny Green, Nat Adderley, Ray Brown, John Clayton, and Alan Broadbent. Her new CD is entitled Freedom Jazz Dance . Included on the album are tunes by Gregory Port
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents The Guitarists Air Date: 2/25/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Pop. Rock. Folk. Blues. Country. Classical.  And, of course, Jazz. The guitar is a prominent instrument in every western musical genre. It is amazingly versatile. Much like the piano, it can be used for both melody and harmony - in some cases, simultaneously! Well that does it for my grand generalizations. Let's talk about The Jazz Guitarists! The Jazz Guitarists Look at that playlist! Tell me there aren't at least a few of your favorites in there.  Yes, I know there are some omissions, and if one of them is a favorite of yours, well, you'll notice it right away. The thing is, even with four hours to play with, there isn't enough time to cover everyone. We go for breadth, as much as fits in four hours. You'll notice a few other artists in the mix on occasion - mostly vocalists, always new music. Let's talk about a few of the guitarists you'll hear. Kenny Burrell, for
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Mark Winkler Air Date: 2/18/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE On the next edition of the Sunday Jazz Brunch, my musical guest is vocalist and lyricist Mark Winkler. Born and raised in the L.A. area,  he is known on the west coast for his work as a live performer. In this interview, of course, we'll be talking about Mark's recorded work, specifically his new CD The Rules Don't Apply. Mark Winkler While we know him as a vocalist, he is also an accomplished lyricist. He has written lyrics for tunes by such composers as Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, Joshua Redman and David Benoit.  For the new project, Mark wrote lyrics for eight of the original songs on the album. He also included five of his favorite tunes written by Paul Simon, Lennon and McCartney, Eddie Arkin and Lorraine Feather, Donald Fagen, and Randy Newman. It is said that Mark comes from the tradition of Bobby Troup, but he has been compa
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Gabriel Espinosa Air Date: 2/11/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE My guest on the next edition of Musician's Corner is bassist, arranger, composer, and teacher Gabriel Espinosa, born in the city of Mérida, which is the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán.  In 1983, he graduated from Boston's Berklee College of Music with a degree in arranging, and from there started a group called Ashanti, which performed in the Boston area.  In 1992 while studying in Texas, Mr. Espinosa produced several albums for Mexican artists, including the famous Armando Manzanero, composer of Somos Novios , also known from Perry Como's English version called It's Impossible . Since 1996 Mr. Espinosa has directed the Jazz Studies program at Central College in Pella, Iowa, where he does all his composing and arranging, including for his latest CD, Bossas and Boleros .  This release features a list of very talented gue
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Don't Miss These Delicious Tracks Air Date: 2/4/2024 streaming at 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Look at all the songs released in 2024 in the playlist below for Sunday!  I'm particularly enjoying vocalists Stella Bass and Judy Whitmore. Both releases have superb accompaniment and really good sound engineering to match the excellent vocals.  Jun Iida is an interesting trumpeter hailing from the west coast.  I always like getting Danilo Perez with Claus Ogerman on the air; their CD Across The Crystal Sea is just gorgeous! Not new, but more than worthy. Dan Dean's Vocalise is unique, interesting, and a joy to experience. You'll hear a song with Gregory Porter during the second hour. You may not have heard it because it is on Wayne Escoffery's new album. How about some Bill Evans with Jim Hall? Also I have a very good youth orchestra, the JM Jazz World Orchestra. The kids these days seem to know their stuff, jazzwise that is. The new Incognito r
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Hot Off The Press Air Date: 1/28/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Check out the new material that has come into the WICN studios. You'll hear these artists during Sunday's show. Don't forget, if you miss the show you can still listen from our archives for up to two weeks. Marshall Gilkes with WDR Big Band  Marshall Gilkes He's a composer-arranger-conductor-trombonist. Formerly a member of the renowned WDR Big Band, he is now on his own, recording critically-acclaimed works.  With this release he is reunited with his former band for the third time since his departure. The two earlier collaborations netted a couple of Grammy nominations.  Gilkes noticed a commonality across his compositions on this release.  “I realized that a lot of the themes for these pieces relate directly to life and what’s going on in the world these days,” he says.  Decide for yourself as we open the show with a track from this fine CD. Adam Palma with Polish Orchestra
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Is Time Travel Possible? Air Date: 1/21/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET I hope you enjoyed last week's Best of 2023 show. That got me thinking about previous Best Of shows, like the one celebrating 2022.  So let's go back in time and revisit that show from a year ago. Click here to see the blog and playlist with the best jazz releases of 2022.  Listening to the best jazz releases of any year never gets old! By the way, I remember fondly the year that The Time Tunnel came out on ABC during the fall sweeps (do they do sweeps anymore?). In fact, I still have an old TV Guide with a story about that show. I only watched it once. Apologies for the references that only the old folk like me will understand! As far as the question goes, the answer is: yes and no. Best, Marty    
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The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Best of 2023 Air Date: 1/14/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET It's time to look back at the best jazz releases of 2023. In that year I played approximately 200 new CDs. I suppose it is obvious, but just to be clear, my list represents the best from this group , and excludes CDs that we didn't receive, of which I am sure there are many. You might like to take a look at a prior 'best of' show where I laid out my philosophy (if I may use so grand a term!) behind this list.  Don't miss this show. As a jazz lover, you owe it to yourself to hear the best of the latest material.   Tune in Sunday 8:00AM ET  to hear the best jazz of 2023. And now for our annual tradition. I present to you, in play order, the Sunday Jazz Brunch Best of 2023 . 〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰 Sam Taylor: Let Go   Saxophonist with big Ben-Webster-type sound. Darmon Meader: Losing My Mind   Singer/instrumentalist from New York Voices in solo project. See previous blog . Debut: J
The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Sunday's Playlist Air Date: 1/7/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET If you miss the show, you can always listen for up to two weeks from our online archive . HOUR ONE: Contemplative Morning Joe LoCascio Trio-Close To So Far 2002-07 Purgatory,Tx Leslie Pintchik-So Glad to Be Here 2003-02 You Keep Coming Back Like a Song Barney Kessel Trio-Jellybeans 1981-03 Mermaid Tim Green-Catching Yourself Gracefully 2003-08 Wrong Again Aaron Diehl\Zodiac Suite 2023\ Michael Morreale-The Piano Album Vol VI 2023-06 I Have Dreamed Sarah McKenzie\Without You 2023\Bonita Steve Million\What I Meant to Say 2021\Open the Book Chris Botti\Vol 1 2023\Paris feat John Splithoff: Vocals   Joe Locke-Makram 2022-04 Elegy For Us All Ivan Lins\My Heart Speaks 2023\The Heart Speaks Michael O'Neill Quintet-Conversations with Birds 2023-05 I Remember Joe Locke-Makram 2022-04 Elegy For Us All Mason Razavi\Six String Standards 2023\You Stepped Out of A Dream HOUR TWO: New For You Emmet C