Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1028 in the Series) is Jean-Luc Ponty, Imaginary Voyage. Some people might not realize how popular jazz-fusion was from the early 70s to early 80s. Acts like Jean Luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Brand X, Jeff Lorber, Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Passport, Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour and Shadowfax were all over the place. Cripes, Spyro Gyra was a house hold name! (I was a bigger fan of “Spyrograph” myself) It was really a fun time. Jean Luc Ponty was one of the leaders in this genre.  He was popping them out like crazy while playing in bands along the likes of Frank Zappa and the previously mentioned Mahavhishnu Orchestra. Don’t get...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1012 in the Series) is Bryan Ferry, The Jazz Age Talk about something coming completely out of left field. I had heard nothing about this album until one day I saw it pop up on a listing of new releases for the week. What makes it more surprising is that was true even though it had been out in the UK for about three months. The premise of The Jazz Age is quite simple. Bryan Ferry takes some of his more popular recordings and transposes them into 1920s era jazz pieces.  I love the idea but I must admit that it did take me a few listens to warm to the record....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#955 in the Series) is Shadowfax, Watercourse Way When you look at a listing of the best bands Chicagoland has produced it better have Shadowfax included, if it doesn’t find a new list. Are you familiar with Shadowfax? If not, let me go back a ways. The origins of this eventual Grammy-winning band begin in the early 70s in south-suburban Crete, Illinois. That’s where the band lived in a farmhouse popularly known as “The Triple B Ranch.” It was there that these five young men crafted a sound that really could not be pigeonholed. It was jazz, it was rock, it was spacey. It was acoustic, it was plugged in. It was good....

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy” by Return To Forever featuring Chick Corea Pianist extraordinaire, Chick Corea, got his professional start playing with the likes of Cab Calloway, Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria. He went on to replace Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis’ band and played with him from 1968 through 1971 during a crucial time when Miles was moving away from straight-ahead jazz, and toward a more psychedelic rock sound. He appeared on Davis’ seminal albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Black Beauty and Miles Davis At Fillmore. After leaving Miles’ ranks with Dave Holland, he formed Circle with Anthony Braxton and Barry...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “That Old Black Magic” by Tony Bennett with The Dave Brubeck Trio Every so often the reissue gods bestow upon us a truly special recording that music fans never knew existed.  Recently, one such recording was unleashed upon an unsuspecting public by our friends at Sony Legacy, featuring a musical summit that took place between Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck on August 28, 1962 at The White House. The event was a special concert recorded at the Sylvan Theater (at the base of the Washington Monument) welcoming a new group of volunteers (or interns as they are now called) that had come to Washington DC to work for the government. The...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “House Party Starting” by Herbie Nichols Trio If Herbie Nichols is remembered for anything, it’s probably for composing one of Billie Holiday’s signature songs “Lady Sings The Blues.” Problem is, Nichols is all but totally forgotten, even though he recorded a handful of seminal EPs and an album for the Blue Note record label between 1955 and 1956. For the 30 or so years after these recordings were made, the music sat in the vaults, out of print and out of most people’s minds. Sometimes the greats don’t get their due during their own lifetime. During the late ‘30s, Nichols was part of the Harlem jazz scene, playing at such Harlem...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Waiting Is Forbidden” by Rudresh Mahanthappa Welcome to the sonic space where Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time meets King Crimson. Sound intriguing? If it doesn’t, read no further because today’s Song Of The Day is not for the faint of heart or those of closed mind. Despite his exotic name, Rudresh Mahanthappa was born in Italy of Indian descent, but raised in Boulder Colorado from a very young age. He studied music at Berklee in California and earned his Master Of Fine Arts degree at DePaul University in Chicago. While at Berklee, he was introduced to Indian saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, and the two traveled to India to play concerts between 2005 and...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Improvisation #2” by Pat Metheny Orchestrion Project If the essence of Jazz is to listen to and improvise off of the musical ideas of those you are playing with, and you are in essence a one man band, can you still consider the music you make jazz? The orchestrion is a mechanically controlled mini orchestra that was designed by Pat Metheny and controlled by his touch on the guitar. Metheny based his orchestrion on his childhood fascination for his grandfather’s player piano. But where the player piano plays itself, Metheny, in essence plays an entire orchestra controlled through his guitar in the album and film, The Orchestrion Project. Metheny has...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Push Push” by Herbie Mann Duane Allman’s final session… Herbie Mann was already ten years into a career that established him as a purveyor of Afro Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz and Bossa Nova music by 1971 and the release of his album Push Push. Mann had released albums for Bethlehem, Prestige, Epic, Verve and Savoy, before signing with Atlantic Records in 1962 where he would release numerous records for the label over the next eight years that established him as the premiere flautist in all of jazz. While at Atlantic, Mann worked with a whole host of influential percussionists and instrumentalists like Ray Barretto, Michael Olatunji, Sergio Mendes, Antonio Carlos...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Simbah” by Gerry Mulligan Tentette The innovative instrumentation and arrangements of Miles Davis’ landmark Birth Of The Cool nonet sessions from 1948, of which Gerry Mulligan played baritone saxophone, was a major influence on Mulligan’s own Tentette recordings from January of 1953 that included “Simbah,” today’s Song Of The Day. But even though the Tentette recordings are less well known than the storied Birth Of The Cool sessions, they are every bit as essential and influential. Sessions for the songs “Westwood Walk,” “A Ballad,” “Walking Shoes” and “Rocker” took place in Los Angeles on January 29th 1953, while the recordings of “Flash,” “Ontet,” “Taking a Chance On Love”  and today’s...