#2 Song of the Vagabonds

Art Tatum plays this Friml / Hooker tune from the Broadway musical, The Vagabond King.

Ah, crackles.
i forgot how comfy my couch is

Hi, ethylene. I'd play more stuff from 78 RPM transcriptions, but for the crackles.

#3 Finesse

Guitarist Django Reinhardt plays this tune by bassist Billy Taylor, which is elsewhere published under the title "Night Wind" from an April 5, 1939 session in Paris, with Rex Stewart and His Feetwarmers. (Rex Stewart. cornet; Barney Bigard, clarinet & drums; Django Reinhardt, guitar; Billy Taylor, (Sr.) bass)

You can hear Django clearly strumming and finger picking rhythm parts early on, and finally, taking out the tune with bassist Taylor and Barney Bigard on snare.

i like some well placed crackles.
And Django.

#4 Hey John

Carmen McRae was a gifted pianist and singer, who here sings a Blossom Dearie/ Jim Council tune (a Thank You to John Lennon, according to Dearie), from a 1973 album "It Takes a Whole Lot of Human Feelings" with Joe Pass on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, Dick Shreve on piano, Frank Severino on drums, and Larry Bunker, percussion, via the 1992 LaserLight compilation The Jazz Collector Edition: Carmen McRae.

i'd be pretty happy with old jazz 78s.
There's all sorts of things from the 30s and 40s that i try to find to no avail as i don't even know the proper names and players.
i can listen for at least an hour and this fits the bill quite nicely.

#5 Everytime We Say Goodbye

From the My Favorite Things album, here is John Coltrane on soprano sax, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums and Steve Davis, tastefully, on bass, doing a Cole Porter tune. (aka Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye). From an October 26, 1960 recording session at Atlantic studios, NYC.

Happy Thursday evening :)

What scrap time to find my speakers don't fit with this thing.
*sigh*

"i can listen for at least an hour and this fits the bill quite nicely.
posted by ethylene 15 February | 19:12

I hope you can stick around, for some things you'll probably like a lot, towards the end of the program. If not, check back later for links to albums.

But however long you can hang, I'm glad to have you along.

hello, phoenixc! Good to have you with, too!

#6 Solea

Miles Davis and Gil Evans collaborated for this early concept album, based on the "Concerto de Aranjuez" for Guitar and Orchestra by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo who, interestingly, considering the album title selected by Davis and Evans, was blind from the age of 3, and had never really seen Spain, much less sketched it. But a friend played Rodrigo's peice for Davis while Davis was on a West Coast tour in 1959. According to Nat Hentoff's original liner notes for the album,

"After listening to it for a couple of weeks," Miles said later, "I couldn't get it out of my mind. Then, when Gil and I decided to do this album, I played him the record and he liked it. As we usually do, we planned the program first by ourselves for about two months. I work out something; he takes it home and works on it some more; and then we figure out how we're going to do it. He can read my mind, and I can read his."

So, here we have a piece from a jazz album, inspired by a classical (if contemporary) record. This cut was mostly recorded on November 20, 1959 at Columbia studios, NYC.

#7 Healing in Foreign Lands

Regina Carter on Paganini's violin, from her 2003 album "paganini: after a dream", doing a tune by pianist Werner "Vana" Gierig.

#8 Sudan

From the Double Trios album for Denon, here is McCoy Tyner on electric and then acoustic piano, with electric bassist Marcus Miller, Jeff Watts on drums, and Steve Thornton, percussion, doing a Marcus Miller tune. Recorded June 9, 1986 at the Clinton Studio, NYC. From Masahiko Yu's September 12, 1986 "Notes on the Music" for this tune:

"Composed by Marcus Miller. The 16-bar theme, performend on the electric piano by Tyner, is in ABBA form, with four bars each. The mood is mystic, expressed in the solos by the electric bass (two choruses) and piano (4); notice that Tyner switched back to the acoustic piano for solo work -- just like him!"

#9 Freddie Freeloader

The World Saxophone Quartet is one of those unlikely, yet prolific, musical groups that has found a place in the world, despite all odds, giving me hope that I, too, will find mine someday. Here, from their 1998 album with drummer Jack DeJohnette, they do a classic Miles Davis tune, with humor and the kind of freedom Miles himself wanted, but often didn't brook in those about him.

#10 Wasn't Always Easy

Gary Burton, with Pat Metheny, Will Lee, and Peter Erskine from the 1990 "Reunion" album, doing a Pat Metheny tune.

#11 Rose Petals

This a reworking of a Keith Jarrett tune, from the 1990 "Crazy People Music" album by The Branford Marsalis Quartet. From the liner notes for that album:

"Basically," Branford points out, "it's a vamp on a minor seventh, a little in the manner of Miles' 'So What.'"

#12 Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette from the 2003 "Up For It" CD, doing a John Lewis tune.

#13 Baroque And Blue

Another cut from the 1975 album by Jean-Pierre Rampal and Claude Bolling, which I introduced last time. A cool sound, that alternates between classical formalist structure and jazz swing.

ooh, I like lucky 13.

Well then, I'm glad I gave it a "spin" again, phoenixc.

#14 All Love

Another cut from The Chick Corea Elektric Band album, also discussed briefly last time.

#15 Alice in Wonderland

Here's a nice tune by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard from The Bill Evans Trio off the Sunday at the Village Vanguard album, with Scott LeFaro on bass, and Paul Motian on drums, which, again, I mentioned last time.

#16 Heartstrings

Following up on ethylene's comment last time, here's a cooperation by Oscar Peterson and Milt Jackson from the September, 1961 "Very Tall" album.

Terms and conditions for the Shoutcast server that brings us Radio Mecha, as I understand them, prohibit Radio Mecha presenters from taking "requests" as such, but I happened to have this album out for inclusion in this program, anyway. Lucky ethylene...

i even know this one.

#17 Blues for Mary Jane

From the 1991 Verve compilation CD, "The Artistry of Stan Getz: Vol. 1", here's a Stan Getz tune, with a title that probably is a thinly veiled reference to his incense odor of choice, first recorded on the 1956 album, The Steamer.

#18 Bags' Groove

Here's the Modern Jazz Quartet from the 1960 European Concert album, featuing Milt "Bags" Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums, with a Milt Jackson tune that was something of a trademark for him, since he recorded it in 1954 with Miles Davis.

#19 West Coast Blues

Tommy Flanagan on piano, with Keter Betts on bass and Jimmie Smith on drums, with a Wes Montgomery tune, from the 1978 album "Something Borrowed, Something Blue".

#20 I Can't Be Bothered Now

Ella Fitzgerald from the "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book" album.

I love Ella. Ella Forever.

#21 I Will Say Goodbye

The Bill Evans Trio in its longest running incarnation, with Eddie Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums, with the title track from the 1977 album of the same name to take us out. To recap, in this set, we heard:


1. McCoy Tyner - The Greeting (2:27)
2. Art Tatum - Song of the Vagabonds (2:21)
3. Django Reinhardt - Finesse (2:21)
4. Carmen McRae - Hey John (3:23)
5. John Coltrane - Everytime We Say Goodbye (5:45)
6. Miles Davis - Solea (12:20)
7. Regina Carter - Healing in Foreign Lands (3:09)
8. McCoy Tyner - Sudan (8:52)
9. World Saxophone Quartet - Freddie Freeloader (6:50)
10. Gary Burton - Wasn't Always Easy (5:08)
11. Branford Marsalis Quartet - Rose Petals (11:11)
12. Keith Jarrett - Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West (6:48)
13. Jean-Pierre Rampal & Claude Bolling - Baroque And Blue (5:18)
14. Chick Corea Elektric Band - All Love (5:48)
15. Bill Evans Trio - Alice in Wonderland (take 1) (7:02)
16. Oscar Peterson - Heartstrings (5:40)
17. Stan Getz - Blues For Mary Jane (7:52)
18. The Modern Jazz Quartet - Bags' Groove (5:13)
19. Tommy Flanagan - West Coast Blues (6:43)
20. Ella Fitzgerald - I Can't Be Bothered Now (2:49)
21. Bill Evans Trio - I Will Say Goodbye (3:30)

Until next time, kids, be swell and do well.

Nice way to close out.