This week we celebrate Earth Day (created in reaction to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill) a few days early, with jazz made for and by the EARTH. We’ll sample Paul Winter’s original “earth jazz” from the Common Ground and Canyon albums, and hear some philosophical takes on nature in the form of Eden Ahbez’s “Nature Boy”, Ornette Coleman’s “The Jungle is a Skyscraper”– and more! Listen on your Earthpods!
Another potpourri jazz mix: but since it’s Friday the 13th, the “evil” Rob and Bryan take over and discuss the “myths” of global warming, the reasons for the Don Imus firing, and other issues they shouldn’t be discussing. Tune in next week for the return of the “good” Rob and Bryan. Featured music includes tracks by Kieren Hebden and Steve Reid, Rachel Eckroth, Nate Birkey, and more!
Clarinetist Tony Scott, who played a wide variety of musical styles on an instrument once viewed as a prisoner of the swing era, died last Wednesday due to cancer-related illness. He was 85. Mr. Scott was a pioneer of both jazz clarinet and “world music,” and his career spanned the bebop era to the present day. We’ll listen to some of his music and pay respects to his legacy.
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.
This week we welcome two wonderful guests: Jazz musician, multi-instrumentalist, painter, composer, performer, educator, and writer Oliver Lake; and UCSB Black Studies/Sociology Professor George Lipsitz. Professor Lipsitz and Mr. Lake will discuss jazz and beyond as part of Mr. Lake’s residency at UCSB’s College of Creative Studies.
Oliver Lake is a long-time member and co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, and was also co-founder of St. Louis’ important late 60’s/early 70’s collective B.A.G. (Black Artists’ Group). He has played with a host of musicians and ensembles, won numerous awards, and is an extraordinary performer and educator.
More information on Oliver Lake can be found at http://www.oliverlake.net
George Lipsitz is a prolific author and scholar of American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Sociology, and Music. He has taught and published on a wide range of topics including social movements, urban culture, and inequality. He currently teaches in the departments of Sociology and Black Studies at UCSB.
Don’t miss this show!
Continuing the themes from our previous conversation with Arab music scholar Dr. Scott Marcus and musician Colter Frazier, we’ll listen to more music that is either influenced by Muslim/Arab culture, or combines jazz and Arab music into interesting fusions. And to continue the spirit of February 15th’s Anti-War Rally, we’ll also listen to some jazz that specifically protests the ongoing Iraq war from Charlie Haden‘s recent Liberation Music Orchestra album, “Not in Our Name.”