Artist - Tune - Album
Gato Barbieri & Don Cherry - Togetherness–First Movement - Togetherness
David Friesen - In The Place of Calling - Amber Skies
Erykah Badu - On and On - Baduizm
Dewey Redman - Daystar Nightlight - Musics
Jack DeJohnette - Dancing - Parallel Realities
The Friends of Distinction - It’s Time To See Each Other - Friends & People
Gary Burton - Summer Band Camp - Easy As Pie
Weather Report - Domino Theory - Domino Theory
Taj Mahal - Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue - The Natch’l Blues
Jean-Luc Ponty - Ethereal Mood - Cosmic Messenger
Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim - Desafinado - Getz / Gilberto
Charlie Christian - Stardust - Solo Flight
Pharoah Sanders - Thembi - Thembi
Dianne Reeves - Feels So Good - Beautiful Life
Tony Williams - Dreamland - Angel Street
Frank Lowe - Fresh - Fresh

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

During the live Set, I neglected to mention that the DeJohnette piece features Herbie Hancock as well as Pat Metheny. (Sometimes it seems that Hancock is featured on half the numbers I play, he’s been a guest artist to so many of his colleagues over the decades) Essentially, this is a trio album, and DeJohnette and Metheny co-produced.

I can’t help but wonder sometimes, why an album is attributed to one artist instead of another. In this case, DeJohnette and Metheny each wrote three tunes, and they co-wrote the seventh. And in my opinion, the best of them, including “Dancing”, are Metheny’s.

Another curious example is “Desafinado”, a huge hit that’s been covered by dozens of artists. It, and almost all the other music on the album, including the even more massive hit, “The Girl from Ipanema”, were composed by Jobim. But the listing above is no mistake. The album is titled “Getz / Gilberto”, while Jobim is ‘featured’. Even more egregiously, Astrud Gilberto, the female voice to her husband’s on “Ipanema”, isn’t properly credited at all, only mentioned in passing in the liner notes. In fairness, she only sang on the one tune, and this was in fact her first ever recording, and it launched a career.

A third variety of missing attribution was completely the norm in the 60’s and 70’s. Pop, Rock and Soul groups often failed to list the names of the group’s members. So the name Jessica Cleaves is nowhere to be found in the credits or listings of The Friends of Distinction album (nor those of her male colleagues, Harry Elston and Floyd Butler) though you will find the names of producers, arrangers, technicians, album artists and the guy who wrote the liner notes.

Kind of odd, isn’t it?

Enjoy the beautiful music, friends!

Thrive!
Kirby Obsidian

Artist - Tune - Album
Abdullah Ibrahim - The Mountain - The Mountain
Pat Labarbera - Virgo Dance - Virgo Dance
Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto - Everything is Everything
Bosho - Atsui Yoro No Kawa - Live at the Knitting Factory, vol. one
Charles Lloyd - Night Blooming Jasmine - A Night in Copenhagen
Billy Cobham - Spanish Moss - Crosswinds
Etienne Charles - Papa Bois - Folklore
Robert Glasper - Y’Outta Praise Him – intro - In My Element
Robert Glasper - Y’Outta Praise Him - In My Element
Adam Makovicz - Django - Moonray
Frank Sinatra - Mood Indigo - In The Wee Small Hours
Anthony Braxton - Spring Is Here - Seven Standards 1985, vol. 1
Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Joy Spring - Jordu
Jazzmeia Horn - People Make The World Go Round - A Social Call
Eddie Harris - Abstractions - Bad Luck Is All I Have

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

I hope you can all enjoy the flow of moods in this Set. The serenity of Ibrahim’s “The Mountain” was just what I needed when I entered the studio after a busy and chaotic work day. I was glad for the particular selection of vinyl I’d pulled off the shelves that morning, as lots of it perfectly fit the shifting temperaments of the day. And the special beauty of digital music libraries is that I then had so much else to draw on.

The Bosho number, the Makovicz and the Sinatra are all from my vinyl collection, as are the opening and closing numbers, and some others.

One of the bits I pulled from the digital library is Glasper’s two-part “Y’Outta Praise Him.” Talk about flowing. That word almost defines Glasper’s style; his structures are almost minimalist, but support so much feeling and depth.

I’m glad to finally present a full length version of “Joy Spring”. A real favorite that, until recently, I only had in a 4 minute version. Jazzmeia Horn’s take on the soul classic “People Make the World Go Round” is a perfect update. I was so, so glad to have finally downloaded a full length version of “Joy Spring”, though I still hope to find it on vinyl someday. And I think that Eddie Harris’s “Abstractions” was a fitting finale. I hope you’ll agree.

I’ve experienced an explosion of downloads from the site recently. Lots of activity from the Netherlands and Germany, as well as Baltimore in the US. I’d love for some of you folks to send a message now and then. Let me know who you are, and what you like best about the show. It’s good to know you’re out there!

Thrive!
Kirby Obsidian

Artist - Tune - Album
Eddie Palmieri & Harlem River Drive - Harlem River Drive - Harlem River Drive
Marquis Hill - Black Harvest - Modern Flows EP, Vol. 1
Erykah Badu - Turn Me Away - New Amerykah, Pt. 2
Cinematic Orchestra - Reel Life (Evolution II) - Man With A Movie
Tony Williams - Tony - The Joy Of Flying
Dinah Washington - It Isn’t Fair - This Is My Story, Vol. Two
Steely Dan - Aja - Aja
The Headhunters - Descending Azzizziuh - Straight From The Gate
Eddie Jefferson - Sister Sadie - Golden Essentials
Sy Smith - Perspective - Sometimes A Rose Will Grow In Concrete
Joe Jackson - Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid - Jumpin’ Jive
Gladys Knight - Daddy Could Swear - Gladys Knight and the Pips Anthology
Grant Green - Brazil - Right Now
Jay Hoggard - Startin The Blues En Clave - The Right Place
Leszek Możdżer, Lars Danielsson, Zohar Fresco - Karma Party - Polska
Freddie Hubbard - Space Track - The Black Angel

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

During my early teens, I lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which was a very diverse community. My junior high school’s population was about a third Black, a third White and a third Puerto Rican. Aside from having lots of Puerto Ricans as school mates, I can’t say that I absorbed a great deal of that culture. Except, that is, for the Music! In the streets, the playgrounds, the shops and apartment buildings, the strains of Puerto Rican music were as prevalent as any other.

Unfortunately, I was a product of that bias-blinded time. Back then, the mainstream cultural media covered all things White, and little else. My Black friends and I listened to the Black radio stations. And I guess my Puerto Rican friends had their own stations to listen to. Though our environment brought us all together, and we shared in many ways, there were barriers of behavior and preference and taste that we observed without being consciously aware of them. I remember that there was one Puerto Rican boy who was dating a White girl. I don’t think there was any substantial, negative social reaction to that, but just the fact that I remember it tells me how rare that sort of mixing was.

Similarly, though I remember watching the live premiere of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” one evening, along with just about everyone else, I don’t think I’d ever have spent my money to buy the record. It would’ve seemed disloyal, to all the Black artists – like James Brown – whose talent was hardly acknowledged by the status quo. And on the flip side, though I knew the names of Tito Puente, Willie Colon and Eddie Palmieri, and was drawn to the Puerto Rican music I heard, and even recognized that Puerto Ricans shared a lot with Black Americans as dis-advantaged and disparaged people, it never occurred to me, until decades later, to delve a bit more into this music, these people, their culture.

Eddie Palmieri did something about this cultural divide when he formed Harlem River Drive in 1971. The actual expressway for which the band is named, and which the song speaks to, was a way for suburbanites travelling to and from lower Manhattan to by-pass the Black ghetto or Harlem and the Puerto Rican ghetto that was East Harlem. Palmieri’s band brought together the musical styles of these two communities in this music. Their theme song opens up this Set of Jazz Gumbo, and their album cover is this week’s feature.

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Tania Maria - Tranquility - Taurus
Terence Blanchard - No Borders Just Horizons - Magnetic
Jowee Omicil - Straight In My Pocket - Let’s Do This
Jean-Luc Ponty - Echoes Of The Future - Upon The Wings Of Music
Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery - Night Train - Jimmy & Wes – The Dynamic Duo
The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack - Psychedelic Shack
Weather Report - Punk Jazz - Mr. Gone
Airto Moreira - La De Casa - Promises Of The Sun
Nancy Wilson & George Shearing - On Green Dolphin Street - The Swingin’s Mutual
Dionne Warwick - This Girl’s In Love With You - The Dionne Warwick Story
Miles Davis - Mademoiselle Mabry - Filles De Kilimanjaro
Max Roach - Driva Man - We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite
featuring Abbey Lincoln
Billie Holiday - Porgy - The Billie Holiday Story
Dizzy Gillespie - Our Delight - In The Beginning
Ray Charles & Cleo Laine - I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ - Porgy and Bess

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

I never leave the Regent Park Focus studio on a Monday evening not feeling better than when I got there. It just feels so good to spend an hour and a half or so simply sharing great music!

There was a time in my life when I spent a lot of time listening to music. I mean really listening. Not doing other things and having music on in the background. I mean hours every week when the listening was the main thing going on. It’s a wonder to me how that was possible, because nowadays there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day, in the week, in Life.

Honestly, I don’t know if it’s me, society, or just a natural part of that time warp that comes with getting older. Whatever the reason, I haven’t been able to solve the issue of time. I can’t fairly call it a problem because how can a lack of time be a problem when life is made up of time? It would be like a fish complaining about a shortage of water. Clearly, time itself isn’t the issue. It’s rather something to do with how I/we relate to it (because it isn’t just me, is it?).

So, one of the very special things about Jazz Gumbo is that it has given me back a quantity of time. It’s time that was always there, obviously. But curating this show has infused a few hours of each week with a quality that was lacking. I’m listening to music again, in the way I used to: carefully, with my attention and my heart. And I’m listening communally, you could say, because I’m listening with an ear to sharing it with you. And I’ve learned from my Podomatic stats sheet that you are literally All Over The World! A vast community of music lovers! And that touches me.

Those early times I referred to, when I took time to listen to music carefully…they almost always had some connection to others. Either I was physically with them, or I was exploring music someone had told me about, or I was listening to it being performed live. Or sometimes, it might just be the connection with the musician, who we understand – when we really listen – is sharing something, is telling a Life Story. It was a dynamic exercise in community. And Jazz Gumbo, and YOU, have brought that dimension back to me. I’m very grateful. And I thank you.

Enjoy the Music

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Ramsey Lewis - Close Your Eyes And Remember - The Piano Player
Christian Scott - Paradise Found - Rewind That
Dee Dee Bridgewater - Congo Square - Dee Dee’s Feathers
Stanley Clarke, Biréli Lagrène, - To and Fro - D-Stringz
Jean-Luc Ponty
Bobby McFerrin & Yo-Yo Ma - Hush Little Baby - Hush
Flora Purim with Urszula Dudziak & Googie Coppole - Encounter - Encounter
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Funky AEOC - The Third Decade
Don Cherry - Karmapa Chenno - Hear & Now
Raul de Souza - Nana - Colors
Opa - Pieces - Golden Wings
Lonnie Liston Smith - Desert Nights - Expansions
Grant Green - Jan Jan - Live at the Lighthouse
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Celestial Terrestrial Commuters - Birds of Fire
George Benson - Cast Your Fate to the Winds - The George Benson Collection
Quincy Jones - Soul Serenade - Golden Boy
Lou Rawls - Dead End Street - Naturally
Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack - For All We Know - Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

A pretty wide variety of styles and sounds in this Set, from Ramsey Lewis to D-Stringz, from the Art Ensemble of Chicago to some old Quincy Jones.

Vocal play is a standout, and is all over the map. I particularly like the trio of Purim, Dudziak and Coppola, but both Dee-Dee Bridgewater and Bobby McFerrin bring lots of fun to their offerings.

I notice that I sometimes point out a particularly great instrumental player after the selection has played. I’m going to try to point out more of the special performances in advance. So long as I don’t bog things down with too much talk. After all, the music always speaks for itself!

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Hudson: Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, - El Swing - Hudson
John Medeski, Larry Grenadier
Yazz Ahmed - Jamil Jamal - La Saboteuse
Gerry Bryant - Stormy Weather - Chasing the Clouds Away
Michael Gregory Jackson - Lovin’ You - Heart & Center
Lester Bowie - I Am With You - Twilight Dreams
Nicholas Payton - Intro to Kimathi - Afro-Caribbean Mixtape
Courtney Pine featuring - I’ve Known Rivers - Modern Day Jazz Stories
Cassandra Wilson
Bill Evans - Alice in Wonderland - Sunday at The Village Vanguard
Elizabeth Shepherd - What’s Happening - The Signal
Bobby McFerrin - Say Ladeo - Vocabularies
Michael Brecker - Sea Glass - Michael Brecker
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Maiden Voyage - New Blood
Paquito D’Rivera - Guataca City - Manhattan Burn

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot LeFonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

The Hudson quartet. Yazz Ahmed. Gerry Bryant. Courtney Pine. Bobby McFerrin.

For me, now, these are the standouts for this Set.

Brilliant layering of tones and effects from all these sonic engineers.

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Buckshot Lefonque - Music Evolution - Music Evolution
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - The Return of the 5000 lb. Man
Jamaaladeen Tacuma - Show Stopper - Show Stopper
Kevin Eubanks - Who Knows - Sundance
Airto Moreira - Parana - Fingers
Bennie Maupin - It Remains To Be Seen - Slow Traffic to the Right
Jill Scott - A Long Walk - Words & Music: Volume 1
Chick Corea - Quartet No. 2 - to John Coltrane - Three Quartets
Michel Camilo - Caribe - Michel Camilo
Baird Hersey - Lookin’ for that Groove - Lookin’ for that Groove
& The Year of the Ear
Osibisa - Adwoa - Happy Children
Horace Silver - Sanctimonious Sam - Sterling Silver
Billy Cobham-George Duke Band - Do What Cha Wanna - “Live” On Tour in Europe
Earth, Wind & Fire - You Can't Hide Love - Gratitude
Bill Frisell - Cadillac 1959 - Good Dog, Happy Man
John McLaughlin - Do You Hear the Voices that You Left Behind? - Electric Guitarist
Sweet Honey in the Rock - Good News - Good News
McCoy Tyner - For Tomorrow - Inner Voices
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not be Televised - Pieces of a Man
Crusaders - Put It Where You Want It - Crusaders 1

Jazz Gumbo just had a birthday. We launched almost exactly six years ago, in May of 2012. And the show and podcast have become one of the great joys of my life. I thank Adonis Huggins, the executive director at Radio Regent for suggesting a show to me. He knew that I’d been spinning vinyl once a week at the nearby jazz bar and restaurant, The Dominion on Queen (thanks to you also Sean Duranovich, for inviting me to that gig!), and said that they were interested in new programmers for Radio Regent!

Not only has this opportunity allowed me to introduce the music I love to listeners in more than 40 countries – many of whom I know are hearing much of it for the first time. It’s also pushed me to get more deeply into the music – Yes! The music I already knew and loved. Because I soon realized that I couldn’t just play my favorite tracks over and over. I began to listen more often and more closely to those flip sides of my favorite albums, and the albums I considered the lesser works of favorite artists, and to the albums of the supporting players to those artists. All of which reminded me of great work I’d loved but had forgotten, and got me listening with fresh ears to tunes I’d over-looked.

It also got me exploring again, something I hadn’t done in years the way I once had. I’m spending more time in used record shops again, listening to some of my fellow podcasters for classics and for new artists that had escaped me, I’m passing on exciting new talent I’m hearing on my local jazz station, Toronto’s Jazz FM, and I’m even getting out into the clubs a bit more often than I have in awhile.

And my hope is that this show is playing a role in keeping the jazz community vibrant, by keeping great, sometimes overlooked music in circulation, by reminding old members and newcomers alike of the great breadth and depth of this communal, improvisational, dynamic and all-embracing music. It’s a music that has never turned away a single cultural influence or source of inspiration. And that’s truly worthy of sharing.

So Thanks again for Being here on this listening journey with me. Enjoy this Set from 2012. And come back for another fresh Set in just few days!

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing - Giants of Jazz – Benny Goodman
Stanley Clarke - More Hot Fun - Modern Man
Donald Byrd - Fly, Little Byrd - Harlem Blues
Betty Carter - What Is It? - Betty Carter Album
Keith Tippett - Thank You For The Smile - You Are Here…I Am There
Kenny Garrett - Doc Tone’s Short Speech - Standard Of Language
George Duke - Be Cool - Montreux Summit, Vol.2
Leszek Możdżer, Lars Danielsson, - Weeks/Shavuot - Polska
Zohar Fresco
Bennie Maupin - The Jewel In The Lotus - The Jewel In The Lotus
Ray Bryant - Blues in De Big Brass Bed - Solo Flight
Sade - The Moon & The Sky - Soldier Of Love
War - Slipping Into Darkness - All Day Music
Clara Ward - Just A Little While To Stay Here - We Gotta Shout!
& The Dukes of Dixieland
The Wood Brothers - River Takes The Town - One Drop Of Truth
Louis Armstrong - Stardust - Giants of Jazz – Louis Armstrong

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot Lefonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

Some Highlights:

The Benny Goodman Orchestra’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” had become a band and audience favorite by the time they performed at Carnegie Hall in 1938, and they closed a very successful show with the version that opens this Set. Drummer Gene Krupa drives the 8-minute number, but it’s full of great horn flourishes and solos, by Goodman on clarinet, Babe Russin on tenor, Harry James on trumpet, more of Benny, then Jess Stacy of piano. It’s brilliant! What a show that must’ve been.

George Duke wrote and arranged “Be Cool” and leads a group of All-Stars for another rousing live performance, this time at Montreux. Many of these musicians had never performed together, and according to all accounts, the rehearsals were horrible. But the live show brought the magic. Solos by Duke and by flautists Hubert Laws and Bobbie Humphrey, with a rhythm section that includes Billy Cobham on drums, Alphonso Johnson on bass and with Bob James conducting.

Bennie Maupin’s “The Jewel in the Lotus” is one of those very special albums with a mood all its own, perfect for middle-of-the-night magic and mellowness. It features the most earthy of acoustic bassists in Buster Williams.

Thanks to my Polish family for the Możdżer, Danielsson & Fresco cd. I don’t know any of them. Their tune here is shimmering, sizzling & sweet. I’ll be re-visiting this album soon.

Ray Bryant delivers a rapturous solo piano performance.

Kenny Garrett is his usual driving, dynamic self.

And War, probably my favorite group from my teens, shows you why, with their natural, funk and roots sound.

That's not even the half of it! I could go on and on and on. But I’ll leave it with you.

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Dorthaan’s Walk - Boogie-Woogie String Along For Real
Victor Wooten - Me & My Bass Guitar - A Show of Hands 15
Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island - Empyrean Isles
Ashley Henry - Moving Forward - Easter – EP
Count Basie - Blues for Charlie Christian - Mostly Blues…and some others
Dee Dee Bridgewater - Lullaby of Birdland - Keeping Tradition
Howlin’ Wolf - Back Door Man - The Best of Chess Blues
Edwin Hawkins - Oh Happy Day - Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord
John Coltrane - Africa - Africa / Brass
Sly & the Family Stone - Stand! - Stand!
Carmen McRae - I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good - Carmen McRae
Klemens Marktl - Elveen - December
Lou Rawls - A Natural Man - Naturally
Courtney Pine - In The Garden Of Eden - Modern Day Jazz Stories
Chick Corea - Humpty Dumpty - The Mad Hatter

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot Lefonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

Isn’t this a wonderful photo of Basie, lovingly working his magic?

Lots of beautiful magic in this Set, top to bottom.
The newest pieces are from Ashley Henry, Klemens Marktl and Victor Wooten.
(Just love Vic and his bass guitar!)

And oh, what a remarkable and varied set of oldies:
the old Masters Basie and Trane do their thing;
Dee Dee and Carmen elevate some standards;
We have brilliant, early chapters from the encyclopedic careers of Herbie and Chick.
And there’s some funk blues, a pulsing soul classic, and even a slice of stirring gospel.

I won’t try to categorize Courtney Pine’s “In the Garden of Eden”, but it’s one of my favorites.

Thrive!
Kirby

Artist - Tune - Album
Sarah Vaughan & Michel Legrand - The Summer Knows - Sarah Vaughan & Michel Legrand
Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds - Conference of the Birds
Russell Gunn - Neo-So - Krunk Jazz
Steps Ahead - Modern Times - Modern Times
Bill Evans - Gloria’s Step - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Ella Fitzgerald - Some Of These Days - Live at Carnegie Hall, July 5, 1973
Phronesis - Charm Defensive - The Behemoth
Tom Waits - Down In The Hole - Big Time
Carlos Santana - Shere Khan, The Tiger - The Swing of Delight
Jay Clayton - Freedom Jazz Dance - In and Out of Love
Hilton Ruiz - Stolen Moments - Crosscurrents
Stevie Wonder - Love Having You Around - Music Of My Mind
Freddie Hubbard - Hub-Tones - Hub-Tones
Etienne Charles - Kaiso - Kaiso

The ode to musical styles past and present that introduces Jazz Gumbo is “Music Evolution” by Branford Marsalis and Buckshot Lefonque.

Playlists for all past Sets of Jazz Gumbo will be found at jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca

This Set serves as a gentle, invitational offering to Spring. As I listen back to it – a few weeks after it originally aired, unfortunately, but with Spring still struggling for full expression against a tenacious Winter – an opening doorway is evoked, and I’m more than ready to walk through.

A few of these musical offerings have overtones of Springtime for me: of fresh beginnings, corners turned, re-births…

- The liner notes to the Vaughan-Legrand album refer to the singer being introduced to a recording by the composer/conductor/arranger and deciding to devote the whole of her next album to his work.

- Stevie’s “Music Of My Mind” marked the beginning of an extraordinary period of volcanic creativity. Though it was his 14th album, he was only 22, and eager to break out of the Motown mold. And the album title is literal, in that Stevie composed, arranged and performed every note of it, except for the trombone solo on the featured cut and one other guest solo elsewhere.

- “Conference” was Dave Holland’s first album as leader, and I don’t think he’s stopped exploring since.

- And you’d hardly recognize Santana in the cut bearing his name, he remains so much within the ensemble of jazz greats he’s invited to play, in this foray beyond his wheelhouse.

I hope that there is a beautiful Spring sensibility available to you too, wherever you might be in the world.

Love & Peace
Kirby Obsidian