My iTunes Playlist

Yeah, I know I went WAY over the 10-20 song, 70 minute limit, but this is a VERY important list. These are the tunes I practiced EVERY day (in this order) for several years from a list given to me by my teacher Ted Dunbar in 1990. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1 Confirmation5:53Charlie ParkerThe Charlie Parker Story2 ...

Downtown veteran, multi-instrumentalist Charles Gayle's style suits all sorts of situations. It works equally well as an irresistible morning wake-up call or an unusual choice of late night, post-coital soundtrack. Whether he is playing tenor saxophone or viola, once heard, Gayle is not quickly forgotten.

With the holiday season upon us, the selection below is a ...

Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond's solos kept me connected to the Dave Brubeck Quartet's music. A perfect “dry martini" mix of boundless lyricism and musical excellence. The following tunes were selected from several albums included in the The Dave Brubeck Quartet: The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1954 to 1967 box set. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1The Night ...

Vol. One, 1959-60 | Vol. Two, 1960-61 | Vol. Three, 1961

This music was recorded over a six month span but illustrates the breakneck speed with which the bleeding edge of jazz was transforming. In late May and early June 1961, McCoy Tyner was part of the John Coltrane group that recorded the ground-breaking Impulse! ...

I find it funny when reviewers assert my influences; they are never correct and I'd prefer to acknowledge my sources. So here is a list of the music that helped inspire my forthcoming album, You Are Here. The whole list makes me euphoric, but highlights for me would be Jack DeJohnette's fevered drumming on “Down San ...

Time-honored classics for the most wonderful time of the year. Lights and snow not included. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town2:38Tony BennettSnowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album2A Holly Jolly Christmas2:14Burl IvesClassic Christmas3Looks Like A Cold, Cold Winter3:50Bing Crosby with Sonny Burke's OrchestraClassic Christmas4Winter Wonderland2:16Ella FitzgeraldElla Wishes You A Swinging Christmas5Baby, It's Cold Outside2:20Dinah ...

Enduring holiday classics from Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith, Vince Guaraldi and more. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1The Christmas Song3:30Ella FitzgeraldElla Wishes You A Swinging Christmas2Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!4:37Joe WilliamsVerve Presents: The Very Best Of Christmas Jazz3Santa Claus Is Coming To Town4:27Bill EvansThe Best Of Bill Evans On ...

Vol. One, 1959-60 | Vol. Two, 1960-61

The jazz world ushered in the 1960s with a fury of innovative change. A bold avant-garde stretched the form while also making accessible and engaging records. Across just nine months in one corner of that world,pianist McCoy Tyner played on a variety of sessions that together serve ...

Alice Coltrane's death in 2007 did not bring about the critical reassessment her work deserves. Nothing less than a trailblazer in free and spiritual jazz, the pianist and harpist was a deeply sensitive blues player and top-rate composer. Working in the shadow of her husband, saxophonist John Coltrane, through his controversial, late-period work and her erratic ...

Vol. One, 1959-60 | Vol. Two, 1960-61

Most biographers rely on one of two creation myths for pianist McCoy Tyner's career: He first emerged from his native Philadelphia as part of saxophonist Benny Golson and trumpeter Art Farmer's Jazztet, or he had been known to, and gigged around town with, saxophonist John Coltrane as ...

King Tubby did not invent dub, but with hundreds--if not thousands--of sides standing witness to his wizardry--he elevated the form to an exalted level. Jamaican dub of the roots reggae era is the direct antecedent of modern remix culture, which today spans music, the visual arts, and even high technology. It is the immediate effect on ...

Some of the most creative jazz and world music artists on the scene right now that deserve wider recognition. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1Sangre Mandinga6:2Alex WilsonMali Latino2Bamako 20005:29Alex WilsonMali Latino3Choro6:16Banda Jazz Sinfonica de Diademainterpreta Noel Rosa4Galactic Panama5:4Danilo PérezProvidencia5Providencia5:8Danilo PérezProvidencia6Firi Na Gron'6:18FrafraSoundBlack,Dutch & More7Guess What?6:24FrafraSoundBlack,Dutch & More8Blen Blen Blen3:5Gerardo RosalesGerardo Rosales and his Afro Cuban Jazz Quintet “Chano ...

Artistic and sensitive jazz. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1Toledo7:32Avishai CohenAt Home2Folk Song For Rosie8:41Paul Motian TrioAt The Village Vanguard3Loving Without Asking8:0Brian BladeBrian Blade Fellowship4Common Fields8:38Wolfert Brederode QuartetCurrents5Scarabee5:53Wolfert Brederode QuartetCurrents6Oddfelt7:56AlasnoaxisDogs Of Great Indifference7Harmsoft1:37AlasnoaxisDogs Of Great Indifference8Sand9:18Enrico RavaEasy Living9Continuum4:28Jaco PastoriusInvitation10New York 20072:46Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz, Michal MiskiewiczJanuary11Believe Beleft Below4:51Esbjörn Svensson TrioSeven Days Of Falling12Merciful 21:13Nils Petter MolværSolid Ether13A-i-a9:43Barre PhillipsThree ...

My favorite Dubstep songs! TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1Crawling/Krwlng (Murdok Dubstep Remix)3:31Linkin ParkDubstep2Concrete (Feat Dread MC)3:28TCDubstep3Make My Day (Specimen A Remix)2:40Bashy vs NAPTDubstep4Superman (Dubstep)5:38EminemDubstep5Let's Go2:28Roksonix & StatelapseDubstep6Amadeus (Mozart dubstep remix)2:5RudebratDubstep7Gifted (Masuka Remix)4:12NASA (Feat Kanye West, Santigold & Lykke Li )Dubstep8Monster (feat Example Camo & Krooked Remix)4:18Professor GreenDubstep9Shot Yourself In The Foot Again5:5Skream & ExampleDubstep10Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix)4:11Simian ...