Episode #2

No podcast yet again today. Fortunately though, this time next week I should have copies for my first three shows up and ready to share. In the meantime another simple playlist will have to suffice. It was a busy show today with my son Felix constantly trying to turn my microphone on and off (and when I was talking on air he was quick to tell me I talk too much), and Tim Hoover popping in to gush over Duke Ellington's Money Jungle. I hope that enthusiasm was evident through the content of the show itself. For the most part today, I stuck with classics on the jazz front celebrating Elvin Jones' birthday with a variety of recordings, and then threw in some new stuff from Billy Martin and Nick Fraser  for good measure. I even found a way to include Julia Holter's Loud City Song and Forrest Sword's Engravings, two records I can't recommend highly enough. Anyways, here's the playlist.

1.) John Coltrane - "Acknowledgement" (From the album A Love Supreme)
2.) Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison Sextet - "Nuttin' Out Jones" (From the album Illumination!)
3.) Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison Sextet - "Gettin' On Way" (From the album Illumination!)
4.) Billy Martin's Wicked Knee - "Sugarfoot Stomp" (From the album Heels Over Head)
5.) Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach - "Caravan" (From the album Money Jungle)
6.) Mountains - "Millions of Time" (From the album Mountains, Mountains, Mountains)
7.) Forrest Swords - "Onward" (From the album Engravings)
8.) Boundary - "Long Story Short" (From the album Boundary)
9.) Julia Holter - "Maxim I" (From the album Loud City Song)
10.) Ornette Coleman - "Sleep Talking" (From the album Sound Grammar)
11.) Nick Fraser - "Tricycle" (From the album Towns and Villages)
12.) Albert Ayler - "In Heart Only" (From the album Live in St. Paul de Vance)

Episode #1

I finally kicked things off yesterday. The show was a bit all over the place, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm still getting set up for posting podcasts with the episodes on here, so I don't have that ready for you yet. Once they're ready I'll make sure to post them on here. In the meantime here's the playlist from yesterday's show. Throughout the show I had tracks from Nick Fraser's latest record Towns and Villages playing underneath me while I talked. I didn't include those tracks on the following playlist.

Cecil Taylor - "Steps" (from the album Unit Structures)
The Joe Henderson Trio - "'Round Midnight" (from the album Joe Henderson in Japan)
Steve Reid featuring the Legendary Brotherhood - "Lions of Judah" (from the album Nova)
Oren Ambarchi - "Knots" (from the album Audience of One)
The Nick Fraser Quartet - "Sketch #12" (from the album Towns and Villages)
The September Trio - "Additives" (from the album Destructive Element)
The September Trio - "Ordinary Weirdness" (from the album Destructive Element)
Mostly Other People Do the Killing - "Can't Tell Shipp from Shohola (from the album Slippery Rock)

As you can see, I stuck with a lot of classics to kick things off, and then finished with some new cuts. I can't recommend Harris Eisenstadt's The September Trio's record Destructive Element enough. So if you enjoyed the two tracks I played yesterday, be forewarned, you'll be hearing a lot more in the weeks to come. Speaking of which, in spite of the holiday next week Monday, I will still be doing my show. So make sure to stay tuned for more!

First Show Today

So today from 3:30-5:00pm Rhythm and Sound will have its inaugural show. To kick things off I'm planning on staying with the classics (Coleman, Ayler, Henderson) but will throw in a few other excursions. I'm pretty pumped, and I hope you enjoy what's in store. To celebrate here's a recording from the too-often overlooked Milestone period of Joe Henderson. This is him live in Japan playing "Out n' In."

Amping the Show vol. 2

One of my greatest concerns about hosting a jazz-focused show has to do with maintaining the integrity of the show while also following the CRTC Canadian content quotas. Thank the good Lord for players like Nick Fraser who continuously pump out fascinating pieces. Make sure to check out his quartet at the West End Cultural Centre on September 25th. Here's a video of him with the Lina Allemano Four to get you ready.

Amping the Show vol. 1

Rhythm and Sound kicks off in exactly two weeks from today. To celebrate I'm going to be posting videos and other things related to the radio show on this blog to get you all ready. The show is going to be focused primarily around jazz, with the occasional exploration into other sounds as well. So for the most part what you're going to find here is my personal reflections on jazz recordings both new and old, coupled with playlists and podcasts from the show itself. I'm pretty pumped to see where this whole thing goes.

To get you ready, here's a video of Roland Kirk playing "Pedal Up" from the 1975 Down Beat Awards show. I've never been that huge on Roland Kirk, but there's no denying how awesome this particular video is. The band, feature McCoy Tyner on piano, Stanley Clarke on Bass, and Lenny White on drums is extremely tight. Kirk is his usual bizarre self. Tyner's slacks are ridiculous. Oh, and Kirk plays two saxophones for the entire piece. Pretty great stuff. Enjoy!

Favorite Things 2012: Albums

Better late then never right? Thinking about what my favourite albums from the past 12 months are has been a more difficult process then usual. Not because I find these lists to be definitive in any real sense. It's a waste of time, in my opinion, to try to come up with 'the perfect year-end list', for judgements on musical tastes are never really ever finalized in such a way. Every time I attempt at a judgement on my own taste (like saying that Daphni's Jialong is my record of the year) I find myself questioning whether such was actually the case (can I really say Jialong was a better record than Tame Impala's Lonerism?). But of course, these misjudgements are part of what makes making lists fun in the first place, inciting further dialogue on what constitutes good music.

More likely however, my difficulty is the result of the fact that 2012 was a bizarre year in music for me. I'm not sure why the reason, but unlike with previous years (2011 in particular), few albums really moved me this year. There were some albums - like Lower Dens' Nootropics or Grizzly Bear's Shields - that killed me at first, but then quickly began to bore as time moved along. There were others - like Kendrick Lamar's record - that I know I should have loved, but just didn't seem to get. Particularly disappointing for me this year was electronic music (notwithstanding those listed below), where the genre appeared dominated by records trying to rehash the past by simply either trying to sound exactly like Burial, or either throwing a shit-load of envelope-filter effects on top of synthesizers in some vain and lazy attempt to celebrate years gone by. What's most depressing about this though is that these apparent shortcomings are really only indicative of my own failures to uncover and discover music that I could really love to the extent that I have grown used to.

But wait, this is supposed to be a celebration. Right? Here are my 10 favourite records of the year with two disclaimers. 1) The record that hit me hardest this year actually was Danny Brown's XXX. But it's from 2011 and can't be counted here. And 2 - Thee Oh Sees are hands down my choice for band of the year. Only problem is that I found myself listened to their back catalog (particularly Help, and Carrion Cralwer) more than this year's Putrifiers III.

10. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

9. Matthew Shipp Trio - Elastic Aspects

8. Julia Holter - Ekstasis

7. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel .

6. Martha Wainwright - Come Home to Mama

5. The Men - Open Your Heart

4. Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE

3. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

2. Angel Olsen - Half Way Home

1. Daphni - Jialong

And the rest ...

Chris Cohen - Overgrown Paths
Metz - Metz
Lee Gamble - Diversions 1994-1996
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Nas - Life is Good
Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
Vijay Iyer - Accelerando
Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes
Eric Chenaux - Guitar and Voice
Robert Hood - Motor: Nightime World 3