This Week: Theme? We don't need no stinkin' theme!

This week on Miles to Go Before I Sleep, I decided to ditch that trite, old convention of the theme (until next week) to just bring you a great assortment of jazz. Intern Dan Rasch joined me in the studio, and together we spun tunes from some of the greats.

We also paid homage to Clifford Brown this week, as he would've celebrated his 80th birthday on 30 October 2010. Brown, aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter, and played with the likes of Max Roach, Horace Silver, and Sonny Rollins, among others. He died at the age of 25 in a tragic automobile accident, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings. Even in such a short time, Clifford Brown made a name for himself as one of the greatest to ever pick up the horn, and is still regarded among the greats today.

We enjoyed a great listenership this week, many of whom wrote and called in to the show. We even featured a reading from the talented Paul Dougherty over the air, and I gave my regards to Kenyon (in Hindi) from one of my friends abroad. But enough of that - here's a look at what we played this week:

1. Cosmic Rays - Charlie Parker
2. Dream a Little Dream of Me - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
3. Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Duke Ellington
4. Lazybones - Leon Redbone
5. Mean to Me - Paul Desmond
6. Heart of Glass - The Bad Plus
7. Mètché Dershé - Mulatu Astatke
8. 21st-Century Schizoid Man - The Crimson Jazz Trio
9. Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless) - Bill Evans
10. Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jamie Cullum
11. Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michaelson) - Tom Waits
12. Stardust - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
13. Butch & Butch - Oliver Nelson
14. Someone to Watch Over Me - Ella Fitzgerald
15. Aurora en Pekin - Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos
16. Rebel Rebel - Seu Jorge
17. Nuages - Django Reinhardt
18. Sing, Sing, Sing [Live] - Benny Goodman
19. Sweet Rain - Stan Getz
20. Milestones - Miles Davis

Talk-over music this week came courtesy of Booker T. & The MG's, The Crimson Jazz Trio, Paul Desmond, Yoko Kanno & The SeatBelts, Walter Wanderley Trio, Django Reinhardt, and Mark Soskin.

As per usual, for a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!

This Week: Grande Dames of Jazz

Tonight on Miles to Go, faithful intern Sam Mashaw brought us plenty of soulful selections from the greatest jazz singers of all time: Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone (pictured left, center, and right, respectively).

Livening our program further was our homage to Dizzy Gillespie, who would've celebrated his 82nd birthday yesterday (21 October 2010). Gillespie was known for wailing on his bent trumpet while looking as though he was about to burst (see photo, left), and served as both inspiration and teacher to some of the best-known horn players of all time, from Miles Davis to Chuck Mangione.

Interspersed amongst these magnificent leading ladies were tunes from other great jazz names past and present, as well as a few names you might be surprised to find included in a jazz program (such as Pomplamoose and Andrew Bird). Here's a look at the full array of what we laid down tonight:

1. Baby, Don't You Go Away Mad - Ella Fitzgerald
2. My Baby Just Cares for Me - Nina Simone
3. Misty - Billie Holiday
4. Nature Boy - Pomplamoose
5. Autumn in New York - Dexter Gordon
6. Autumn Serenade - John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
7. A Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie
8. Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac - Dizzy Gillespie
9. Sinnerman - Nina Simone
10. Blue Skies - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
11. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
12. Birdland [Live from King Street, San Francisco] - Buddy Rich
13. Strange Meadowlark - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
14. Ides of Swing - Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
15. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Nina Simone & Ray Charles
16. Feelin' Good - Nina Simone
17. Spiral - John Coltrane
18. Georgia on my Mind - The Oscar Peterson Trio
19. God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday
20. Bewitched, Bothered, & Bewildered - Ella Fitzgerald
21. I Cried for You - Billie Holiday
22. When I Fall in Love - Miles Davis

Talk-over music came courtesy of Booker T. & The MG's, The Modern Jazz Quartet, The Oscar Peterson Trio, Air, Louis Armstrong, Sonny Rollins, Young Holt Unlimited, The Walter Wanderly Trio, Medeski Martin & Wood, and The Kenyon College Kokosingers.

As per usual, for a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!

This Week: Great Jazz? You Betcha'!

This week on Miles to Go Before I Sleep, the theme was...well, there was no theme - just great jazz. I took particular relish in featuring songs from artists new to my library, such as Clifford Brown, Haden & Rubalcaba, Art Blakey, and legendary pianist Horace Silver (pictured right). I was joined in the studio by my two interns - Sam and Daniel - and over the airwaves by the show's largest listenership thus far, and the lot of us bebopped and scatted to swingin' tunes through the night.  I also had the pleasure of debuting several liners produced by yours truly. Our selections this week were:

1. Excerpt: American Haikus - Jack Kerouac
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - The Bad Plus
3. Yègellé Tezeta - Mulatu Astatke
4. What's New? - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
5. Windows - Chick Corea
6. Moonlight (Claro de Luna) - Charlie Haden & Gonzalo Rubalcaba
7. 'Til the Clouds Roll By - Paul Desmond
8. My Romance - The Ray Brown Trio
9. Come Rain or Shine - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
10. IX Love - Charles Mingus
11. Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits
12. Rhapsody in Blue: A Medley - Eugen Cicero
13. In a Sentimental Mood - The Modern Jazz Quartet & Sonny Rollins
14. Stolen Moments - Oliver Nelson
15. The Lover - Medeski, Martin & Wood
16. Without You - Horace Silver
17. St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins
18. The Look of Love - The Ahmad Jamal Trio
19. The St. Vitus Dance - Horace Silver
20. Solar - Miles Davis

Talk-over music came courtesy of Mulatu Astatke, Paul Desmond, Yoko Kanno & The SeatBelts, David Holmes, The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

As per usual, for a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!

This Week: Davis Comes Alive!

This week on Miles to Go Before I Sleep, I explored the world of live recordings from some of the best ever to play at some of the world's most famous jazz venues, such as The Blue Note, Carnegie Hall, and The Village Vanguard (pictured left). And in the spirit of improvising on the fly, Miles to Go was flooded with requests - both online and over the phone - and a flurry of visitors. Lessons learned this evening include: 1. There is always time for listener-requested music; 2. There is no such thing as a short live jazz recording - take, for example, Coltrane's My Favorite Things, which I cut off a third of the way through its 20-minute runtime; and 3. Three Musketeers nougat sandwiched between a pair of Animal Crackers makes a decent snack.  (Seriously, I wasn't kidding when I said the show operated on the fly this evening!). That said, we still managed to saturate the airwaves with some pretty catchy tunes:

1. Filthy MacNasty [Live at The Village Gate] - Horace Silver
2. Split Kick [Live at Birdland] - The Art Blakey Quintet
3. Machine [Live from King Street, San Francisco] - Buddy Rich
4. In the Hall of the Mountain King [Live from Folly Theatre] - The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra
5. Tank! [Live] - Yoko Kanno & The SeatBelts
6. My Funny Valentine [Live] - The Miles Davis Quintet
7. Gloria's Step [Take 2, Live from The Village Vanguard] - Bill Evans
8. When I Fall in Love [Live at The Blue Note] - Keith Jarrett
9. Autumn Leaves [Live at The Alhambra] - The Ahmad Jamal Trio
10. Black Dog/Helter Skelter [Live from The Blue Note] - Paris Troika
11. A Night in Tunisia [Live] - The Modern Jazz Quartet
12. Cast Your Fate to the Wind [Live] - The Vince Guaraldi Trio
13. Take Five [Live at Carnegie Hall] - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
14. The Girl from Addis Ababa [Live] - Mulatu Astatke & The Ethiopian Quintet
15. Big P [Live at The Lighthouse] - Cannonball Adderly
16. I've Grown Accustomed to YourFace [Live from Birdland] - Sonny Rollins
17. Slow Boat to China [Live from The Savoy] - Charlie Parker
18. My Favorite Things [Live at The Village Vanguard] - John Coltrane
19. So What [Take 1, Live] - Miles Davis & John Coltrane

Talk-over music came courtesy of Mulatu Astatke, Paul Desmond, David Holmes, The Crimson Jazz Trio, The Swingle Sisters, Yoko Kanno and the SeatBelts, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

As per usual, for a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!