Tag: Jazz
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Van Morrison ‘Astral Weeks’ (1968)
Every morning I try and find some time in the day to take a walk by myself. With a family of five including our dog and full-time employment this isn’t always easy or achievable, but it is something I aspire to accomplish. There’s a real calmness in the brisk morning air and the relative quiet…
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Grover Washington Jr. ‘Mister Magic’ (1974)
As a kid one of my fondest memories was going on trips with my parents during the weekend to local record stores to purchase albums. These of course were the halcyon days when an experience like going on a Saturday drive with your father to Fry’s Electronics (a local big-box store that had an incredibly…
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Nina Simone ‘Wild Is The Wind’ (1966)
When I first heard Wild Is The Wind it caught me completely off-guard. It was a beautiful summer morning in sunny Northern California, I was driving the kids to daycare, and they were in an exceptionally good mood giggling in the backseat. I was feeling inspired after a night out where I met about 30…
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Charles Mingus ‘Mingus Ah Um’ (1959)
Charles Mingus is one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, an American icon in the genre whose legacy has lived on long after his death in 1979. A fiercely passionate artist, Mingus was known for being religiously uncompromising with his compositions, prone to violent eruptions (he once punched renowned trombonist Jimmy Knepper…
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Fievel Is Glauque ‘God’s Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess’ (2021)
Fievel Is Glaque’s 2021 album God’s Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess is a collection of live mono cassette recordings that were cut in Brussels during the COVID-19 pandemic that rocked the world in 2020. The ensemble includes American keyboardist Zach Philips and French singer Ma Clément as well as a collection of nearly 30…
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Mr. Jukes ‘God First’ (2017)
Inspired by a trip around the world that began with a two-week stay in the hold of a cargo ship (yes, really), Jack Steadman delights in his debut album God First. After a mutual hiatus of his longtime band, the Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Steadman the festival-anthem indie rock focus and tapped into the classic…
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The Pharcyde ‘Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde’ (1992)
There’s an old saying that goes “If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” When The Pharcyde named their 1992 album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde they certainly talked like a duck. And almost immediately after hitting the first note, it’s clear The Pharcyde is here to also…
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Chet Baker ‘Chet Baker Sings’ (1954)
It’s funny how music can provide such vivid imagery of a place and time you haven’t experienced. Chet Baker Sings is the sound I hear when I imagine what it would be like to sit down at a romantic white tablecloth dinner in New York City in the 1950’s, dressed in a suit with a…
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Count Basie ‘The Atomic Mr. Basie’ (1958)
This was the first time I’ve ever knowingly listened to Count Bassie, who was an incredibly influential jazz musician in the 40’s and 50’s. The Atomic Mr. Bassie is considered one of the best albums of his career (keep in mind Basie’s career apex occurred before the business of recording music professionally really took off)…
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Joe Jackson ‘Night And Day’ (1982)
Joe Jackson’s Night And Day has all of the elements that make the 80’s such a wild time in music history. The album throws elements of jazz, new wave, salsa, classical, and pop into a blender with a laissez-faire panache. What comes out the other end is an album of absolute excess, filled with big…
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