Jazz With Marty Friedman

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Chris Keefe Plays Chobim Air Date: 6/4/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE There's a spelling error, you say? Something wrong with a composer's name? Nope. It's correct - Chobim . The mythical composer created by pianist Chris Keefe! By now you must have decided what it is, and I had the same reaction. Could it really be what I am thinking, and how must it sound if it is? When I heard the song with this title on his new CD Opening , I listened carefully to see if my suspicions would be confirmed. Tune in during Brazil/World Jazz hour 10am-11am ET on the next edition of the Sunday Jazz Brunch to hear Mr. Keefe describe this song for us. He'll answer your question about the title, and then he'll go further. Yes, there's more. Additional folks influenced this song besides those two. Neil Diamond for example, related to a certain television series. J.S. Bach for another.   Tune in between ...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Aimée Allen and Love's Crescendo Air Date: 5/28/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE One song. Two arrangements.  On the next Musician's Corner you'll hear a beautiful, meditative song called Love's Crescendo , with melody written by Turkish jazz artist Fahir Atakoğlu, and lyrics written and sung by vocalist Aimée Allen. It is a delicious collaboration.   During this segment, Ms. Allen talks about how Mr. Atakoğlu played the song for her on piano while singing wordless melody. Stunned by its beauty, she agreed to write words that express the profound feeling the melody induces. The subject could only be one thing: love.  Her words are not about romantic love specifically - rather, it is universal love that she wishes to convey to us, the listeners. While the original version of the song appeared on Mr. Atakoğlu's 2020 CD For Love , Ms. Allen liked it enough to include a slightly new arrangem...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Joanie Pallatto In The Middle of Life Air Date: 5/21/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE As vocalist Joanie Pallatto tells us on the next edition of Musician's Corner, the song title In the Middle of Life could also have been "In the midst of life." She does not intend your interpretation to mean something related to "mid-life," as in "mid-life crisis". Although of course, you can be in the middle of life during a mid life crisis! Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I would like to suggest that you tune in this Sunday around 9am to hear Ms. Pallatto tell us about this song.  Tune in Sunday around 9am during the Sunday Jazz Brunch to hear this edition of Musician's Corner with Joanie Pallatto. She'll talk about how she came up with the lyrics, the melody, the intro, the interludes, the song form, and how she provides a 'palate cleanser' for the listen...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Mike Melito's Swinging Bop Air Date: 5/14/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE The new CD from drummer Mike Melito caught my attention right away. You could tell instantly that this is a group that has no trouble with any straight ahead or hard bop material. I had to get Mike on the show to talk about this project. Tune in Sunday May 14 and celebrate Mother's Day by listening to a master percussionist talk about a song on his new CD. The CD features a top-shelf lineup, including Jeb Patton on piano, Neal Miner on bass, Grant Stewart on tenor sax, Joe Magnarelli on trumpet.  I love to hear such really talented musicians keep the hard bop flame alive. I felt the same way when I presented you Greg Abate and Phil Woods a few weeks ago.  I never lost my love affair with bebop, although I don't listen to it as much as I used to. But when I hear a group like this, I perk up. It revives my love of the form....

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner: Pierre Chambers, Paul, and Dear Ann Air Date: 5/7/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Ann and Paul Chambers LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE His dad was famed bass player Paul Chambers. You've probably heard his bass playing on an album by Miles Davis ( Kind of Blue) or John Coltrane ( Giant Steps ). But the famous Paul Chambers not only played bass - he wrote songs. There is one song he wrote for his wife Ann, entitled Dear Ann. It is this song that first caught my attention when Pierre Chambers, the son, recently came out with his debut CD as a vocalist.  It seemed to me that there were a delightful number of twists and turns in the song, and I wondered if it was difficult to sing. I contacted Pierre Chambers and he agreed to talk about this song on The Sunday Jazz Brunch. The result is this week's Musician's Corner segment. Tune in at 9:00 am ET to hear Pierre Chambers talk about his music during Musician's Corner. This so...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Musician's Corner:  Greg Abate Remembers Phil Woods Air Date: 4/30/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT HERE Bird Lives! That's my first reaction upon hearing a good bebop alto saxophonist. Which is getting harder to do these days. One artist who has kept the bebop tradition alive is Rhode Island's own Greg Abate . Closing in on twenty recordings since his first live date in 1991, Mr. Abate is a prolific exponent of the jazz genre. That's also true for Phil Woods, Mr. Abate's friend, band mate, and sometimes mentor. Mr. Woods, whose discography stretches seeming endlessly, played together with Mr. Abate, and you'll hear them perform Moonlight in Vermont during the Musician's Corner segment that airs between 9:30 - 10am ET on the Sunday Jazz Brunch. Tune in between 9:30 - 10AM ET to hear this Musician's Corner Segment featuring Greg Abate and Phil Woods. The opening number is a ballad that Mr. Abate wrote,...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Leo Sidran Air Date: 4/23/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET When I first heard Leo Sidran's 2018 tribute CD Cool School (The Music of Michael Franks ), I knew that his distinctive sound was somehow familiar. I could not place it at the time. Now, with the release of his new CD What's Trending , I have finally figured it out.  Steve Miller, of the classic rock Steve Miller Band, was friends with Leo Sidran's dad, musician Ben Sidran. The band recorded four of the younger Sidran's songs, written as a only a teenager. For those familiar with Steve Miller, the songs appeared on his 1993 release Wide River. And that is where I believe Leo Sidran's unique sound originates to a large degree . Right about now I would try to describe it to you, but why bother when you can watch the video below. Tell me I'm wrong! As with his prior release, What's Trending draws on influences not only from jazz but also R&B, pop music, and something c...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Alan Broadbent, Live Air Date: 4/16/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET It has been his lifelong goal, through his orchestral arrangements and jazz improvisations, to discover, in popular music and standard songs, deeper feelings of communication and love. Two-time grammy award winner Alan Broadbent will get some love from 90.5 WICN and listeners of the Sunday Jazz Brunch on Sunday April 16 at 11am ET. Appearing in Studio 50 and broadcast live during the show, Mr. Broadbent will perform with his trio, featuring Harvie S on bass and Billy Mintz on drums. If you are a regular listener of the Sunday Jazz Brunch, you will feel right at home, as Mr. Broadbent's music is a staple on the show, and has been since 1995 when I joined WICN. When you visit his website , check out the page labeled "work." There you will find a display of albums on which the artist has had a hand, either as composer, arranger, or pianist.  As I looked through these cove...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Harvie S Air Date: 4/9/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET He is one of the busiest jazz artists around. It seems like half the CDs we get here at WICN have him listed in the personnel. You wouldn't happen to need a really good bass player, would you?  New York bass player Harvie S is in demand, and with good reason. I was recently speaking with a European vocalist who was planning a northeast U.S. tour and asked for advice on finding a trio for her date at Scullers in Boston. She wound up selecting a trio from New York, including Harvie S. And the trio was perfect! He'll be returning to Scullers on April 15 for an evening show with the legendary Alan Broadbent. And then on the following day, April 16 at 11am, that trio will perform in WICN's Studio 50, to be broadcast live on 90.5 WICN during the Sunday Jazz Brunch.  On the next show we'll sample new material featuring Harvie with pianist Chris Keefe on Mr. Keefe's debut CD, which is ver...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents McCoy Tyner's Twilight Mist Air Date: 4/2/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET I first heard the song Twilight Mist on Lee Morgan's release Tom Cat. What a pretty song it was then, and still is. Whether it is played by McCoy Tyner in 1964 or by McCoy Tyner in 1992.  The release Tom Cat has an interesting history.  It was recorded in 1964 and included Mr. Tyner in the band led by trumpeter Lee Morgan. But this LP was not released by Blue Note until 1980! I was truly surprised to hear that, as this is a very fine LP, exemplifying the swaggering, latin-tinged playing of the trumpeter. However, another Lee Morgan album was released just before this one was ready to go, and that album was his famous The Sidewinder. The Sidewinder became by far Mr. Morgan's most popular release, and as a result, release of Tom Cat was shelved and another project was started to replicate the success of The Sidewinder. Meanwhile, Twilight Mist, written by McCoy Tyner, ...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Eric Reed Air Date: 3/26/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Ever since I first heard him on his 1997 release Pure Imagination , I have admired the piano work of Eric Reed. I recall listening to the title track many times over, enjoying the way way he slowed the song down, perhaps a bit like the way Shirley Horn did so many times in her career. It's been a long time since his last release, Groovewise , in 2014. Now we have his latest release, Black, Brown, and Blue , a tribute to black and brown composers and songwriters. The song selection is superb, with McCoy Tyner's Search for Peace placed back-to-back with Horace Silver's Peace , to reinforce an idea. We have a song Christina written by Buster Williams, whose new CD Unalome has also just been released. Also included is material by Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, Bennie Golson, and Stevie Wonder. There are original compositions as well.  Listen for Search for Peace in the first hour, and Alon...

The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents Rachael & Vilray Air Date: 2/12/2023 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET Watch the video below and tell me that isn't the most gentle, heartwarming, and sweet performance of an original song that you've heard in a long time. One listener wrote "So good this brings tears to your eyes!" Yes, their sound recalls an earlier time. You might feel like you just came in on a cold day and everyone is gathered around the big solid-walnut radio shaped like part of a church. The news is about to come on, and everybody's anxious to hear how our boys are doing. Rachael & Vilray play softly in the background while folks settle down. Listen to the perfectly simple guitar accompaniment, the restrained and respectful reed/horn arrangement, the sweet lyrics and melody, the vocal work and nice harmony. Delicious! We'll hear a song from the new CD I Love a Love Song as well as from their prior release. Mafalda Minnozzi & Paul Ricci in Worcester I...