After two back-to-back ‘rewind’ episodes to close out 2022 and open 2023 it feels great to be back with the first ‘normal’ broadcast of the new year.
Strong start to this episode thanks to a forthcoming collaboration between Finnish virtuoso Jimi Tenor and Japanese producer Calm on the Italian Hell Yeah imprint. Followed that with a bunch of releases that I somehow didn’t get to in 2022, so new to me, though not new based on their release dates. Titles from the likes of Dave Okumu from The Invisible, Scotland’s Lord of the Isles, the Afro-Caribbean disco outfit The Mauskovic Dance Band from Amsterdam, multi-instrumentalist Mansur Brown, plus the first new album from South African producer Felix Laband since his 2015 album ‘Deaf Safari’.
Two albums that you’re guaranteed to hear lots more of in weeks ahead are ‘Whateverism’ by Italian DJ and producer Turbojazz on his Last Forever label, and ‘A Certain Circumstance’ which is the debut album from Detroit’s Kevin Reynolds on Osunlade’s Yoruba Records.
Stepping up for remix duties this week you’ll find Earl Jeffers remixing Marina Trench, K15 remixing Damian Shwartz, Zopelar remixing Lonely C feat. Kendra Foster, and Prins Thomas remixing the Phenomenal Handclap Band.
Two incredible live recordings from the ‘ezz-thetics’ series, named after George Russell’s 1961 album. The Hat Hut label has put out live recordings over the last few years from jazz giants such as Charlie Parker, Archie Shepp, Andrew Hill and Don Cherry to name just a few and give you a glimpse of the quality of their offerings. Featured on the show this episode is a lost performance of saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded in his hometown of Cleveland in 1966, and the Horace Silver Quintet recorded in New York in 1964.
Beside those two live numbers, got to play a few picks from some holy grail records I treated myself to on my birthday at the end of 2022 - two on the legendary free jazz label ESP-Disk from the Frank Wright Trio and the New York Art Quartet & Imamu Amiri Baraka, plus Teddy Charles & Jimmy Raney’s version of ‘A Night in Tunisia’ recorded seventy years ago in 1952, and topping things off the seventeen plus minute title track to trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s 1970 album ‘Straight Line’ on the infamous CTI label, which features all all-star supporting lineup consisting of Herbie Hancock, Weldon Irvine, George Benson, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and Joe Henderson.
Helping close things out this week you’ll hear everything from sci-fi feminism by Maddalena Ghezzi & Maria Chiara Argirò to modern Venezuelan folk from Insólito UniVerso to future jazz from one of Madlib’s many monikers the Kenny Cook Octet.
While usually I tend to play anywhere between forty to fifty tracks on the show each week this episode features just under forty songs due to some of the live recordings and jazz numbers in the fourth and final hour being rather lengthy, which is one of the many things I love about WYEP, the fact that they allow me to play really long pieces from start to finish, the way that they were meant to be heard.
Dubmission #1,239
Calm & Jimi Tenor - Trans-Siberian Express [Hell Yeah]
Dave Okumu – Streets [Transgressive]
Lord Of The Isles – Return to Yourself [Lapsus]
Felix Laband – They Call Me Shorty [Compost]
Klein – Black Star [Parkwuud Entertainment]
Mansur Brown – Meikai [Amai]
Little Simz – X [Forever Living Originals/AWAL]
Noah Klein – whitefineline8 [Cascade]
The Mauskovic Dance Band – Telefoon Dub [Les Disques Bongo Joe]
eigenheimer – affection
mort.domed – Solutionless [Perimeter Junk]
James Curd - I Am One, I Am Many (MAD Remix) [Pronto]
JKriv - Lingala Nationale (JKriv Edit) [Moton]
Kevin Reynolds – 12 Degrees [Yoruba]
Marina Trench - L'Orage (Earl Jeffers Mix) [Sweet State]
Lonely C feat. Kendra Foster - I Ain't Worried (Zopelar Remix) [Soul Clap]
Lovebirds feat. Declan McDermott - Mar-A-Lago Sunset Theme [Teardrop Recordings]
Turbojazz – Constellated Ceiling [Last Forever]
Phenomenal Handclap Band - Burning Bridges (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) [Razor-N-Tape]
Damian Shwartz – Zwei Danke (K15 Remix) [Pulp]
J-Felix - Anemoia feat. Juga-Naut [OVN]
Boris Gardiner - Chillum Dub [Ultra]
The Collective & Idris Ackamoor – Black Queen [Strut]
Albert Ayler – Zion Hill (Live in Cleveland, 1966) [ezz-thetics]
Horace Silver Quintet – The Tokyo Blues (Live in New York, 1964) [ezz-thetics]
Frank Wright Trio – The Moon [ESP-Disk]
New York Art Quartet & Imamu Amiri Baraka – Rosmosis [ESP-Disk]
Teddy Charles & Jimmy Raney – A Night in Tunisia [Prestige]
Freddie Hubbard – Straight Life [CTI]
The Kenny Cook Octet – High Jazz [Madlib Invazion]
EABS – Dead Silence [Astigmatic]
Maddalena Ghezzi feat. Maria Chiara Argirò - of the flowers [DēngYuè]
Matthew Halsall – Upper Space [Gondwana]
Insólito UniVerso - Ventana Honda [Olindo]
La Femme – Sacatela [Disque Pointu]
As the show enters its 25th year this year the fact that there’s not much normal about the show is to me what makes it stand out from a lot of other programs on the traditional FM dial, and keeps me driven to continue pushing the musical envelope with sounds from yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and/or listen to the show. Feel free to leave your thoughts on the post and/or the show by leaving a comment below, share with someone that you think would enjoy reading and/or listening, or subscribe if you’d like these posts delivered to your inbox weekly. Other than that, enjoy the music!