This week, in anticipation of April Fool’s Day, Bryan and Rob ask the question that Frank Zappa asked many years ago: “Is there humor in music?” Join us for laughs, hi-jinks, and
. . . oh, yeah, jazz.
“Third Stream” is author, composer and conductor Gunther Schuller‘s term for post-WWII music that fused jazz and classical elements together into a hybrid of compositional and improvisational techniques. On today’s show we will investigate the early connections between jazz and Western “art” music, and anticipations of “Third Stream” music. Our special guest, UCSB Musicology Professor Derek Katz, will give us a tour of music from the 1920s and 1930s where jazz and Western “art” music blended, clashed, or at least attempted to be friends. We’ll hear music from the “Bad Boy” of music, George Antheil, along with pieces by Gunther Schuller and others.
Professor Katz is a violist and a scholar of Czech music, including the jazz influence on modern Czech composers. He has also published articles on opera, and on music, modernism, and nationalism.
This week we pay tribute to one of the most influential bands in the Western Hemisphere: The Skatalites. Through the influence of American jazz and R&B, the Skatalites created the Jamaican style of music known as ska, which was, as Prince Buster says, “The Godfather of Reggae.” We’ll listen to samples of Jamaican music influenced by jazz and jazz music influenced by Jamaica music. Special guest “selecter” and UCSB ethnomusicology Ph.D. candidate, Gibb Schreffler, aka The Bootist, aka “Molten†Hulton Clint, aka “Sugar†Kane de Bane, aka the Bruiser from the East, aka Gene Scotte, aka Fat Boy, aka Gabbah Shareef “Bhalwan,†helps put the skavoovee into our Friday Riffings.
A one-time double bassist with a passion for be-bop, Gibb hopped aboard the Train to Skaville as a teenager, after first hearing the Skatalites and their version of Jamaican jazz. From 1993 to 1997, Gibb—under the influence of his idol Charlie Mingus—lead Concrete Gibsons, an avant-garde ska ensemble. In April 1997, Concrete Gibsons joined a symphonic orchestra and cast to perform Gibb’s 90-minute ska-opera, Brewed in Nova Scotia. Gibb now is part of the Santa Barbara Riddim n’ Bruise outfit, The Escalades. Gibb will help us approach the ever-fresh stylings of Jamaican jazzers from a new perspective.
The Skatalites perform live at SoHo this Friday!
In anticipation of the UCSB Jazz Ensemble’s Winter Concert, “Modern Masters of the Large and Small Ensembles,” we listen to unique music springing from the big band tradition, played in bands big and not-so-big. Special guests include director of the UCSB Jazz and Percussion Programs, Prof. Jon Nathan, who we again contact via jazz-o-phone, and UCSB Jazz Ensemble drummer, Ali Warrick. Featured music includes tunes and/or arrangements by Gil Evans, Sun Ra, The Northern Arizona University Jazz Ensemble, and more! Plus: drummer jokes.
For more info about Sunday’s big band concert at Lotte Lehman Hall, Sun. March 11th at 7PM visit: http://www.music.ucsb.edu/faculty/jnathan/jazz/
Rob and Bryan take a break from themed shows and interviews to play some of their favorite jazz tunes. Pharoah Sanders, Dizzy Gillespie, Oliver Lake are all featured, along with typically (un)witty banter from Rob and Bryan.