You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Albums Adam Never Knew

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

Peter drops some knowledge on Adam in today's episode as he shows him 7 albums he's never listened to. You can listen to all of them on our Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/user/zpb9n56jhvy0tq45oa0yo4r9m/playlist/0FpJ3GdR2CK2ntoPCecxAI?si=b0P5q9-YRoOF00L0NdySCQToday's episode is sponsored by the Oxford American. The Oxford American is a magazine dedicated to documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. Its award-winning annual music issue comes with a CD sampler and digital download - a must-have for any serious music fan. Recent issues have featured Nina Simone, Thelonious Monk, John Cage, and John Cage. Visit https://www.oxfordamerican.org/yhi today for a special subscription discount!Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel and leave a comment for this episode.Interested in more jazz advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram at:https://www.facebook.com/heyopenstudiohttps://twitter.com/heyopenstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/heyopenstudio See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Adam. What's up? How do you know what you don't know? I don't know. Well, today we will find out. I'm Adam Mace. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast.

Daily Jazz Advice, coming at you. Coming at you. Today's episode is sponsored by The Oxford American. The Oxford American is a magazine dedicated to documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. Its award-winning annual music issue comes with a CD sampler and digital download. It's a must-have for any series music fan. Recent issues to feature Nina Simone, Thelonious Monk, John Cage, and John Coltrane. visit oxfordamerican.org slash y-h-I-today that's oxfordamerican.org and you can get a subscription for 25

bucks man i've been reading the heck out of the oxford american since they became our charter sponsor yes i just read this awesome article on fletcher henderson and his his incredible life story yeah i mean it was it was a very short biography but it was it was just amazing to hear you know where he came from his impact on the music we still play yeah um incredible oh and i'm sure the writing the beautiful thing about Oxford American is like you I mean look you can go to Wikipedia page on Fletcher Henderson and get just the facts ma'am but I mean to hear it just to learn in such eloquent words and maybe you can play the music a little bit going on the music and the immersive the photos you know I mean it's it's so well

written and well researched feeling of the page I've never been we can't guarantee this but I've never have you ever got a paper cut from Oxford American not not yet not yet I don't think it's going to happen they got some quality paper down south in Arkansas but anyway yeah check it out again And oxfordamerican.org slash y-H-I for that deal. Nice. What are we talking about today? Well, you're not going to be talking about much because you don't know nothing about this.

Man, I'm a little nervous about today's episode because, you know, this is revealing. Well, look, we don't know what we don't know. And I think this is going to be fun. I know. Am I wearing pants? I can't tell. It feels like one of those dreams. Look, we all, this is the great thing about this music.

It's an endless well. And we were, you know, having drinks yesterday. And I think we talked about, I mentioned an album where you said, somebody had mentioned an album which gave us the idea for this episode, which was, you know, what to me was like a seminal recording, which you had never even heard of. I know. Yeah, yeah. Which is no knock on you.

In fact, I'm looking forward to maybe we'll do this next week. We could do it the other way. Oh, we're doing it next week the other way, for sure. But I think some of these, I tried to put a nice mix together. And full disclosure, I did check out with you that you didn't, you know, I called out and said, you know this one. So we are, these are confirmed ones that you never knew. Yeah.

Like you were like, what? Yeah, I would like to think that probably everybody has holes in their knowledge. I mean, just these, if you, from what I've seen from a lot of these are in that era where I was really too young to hear it live. And by the time I was getting into it, it was kind of out of style a little bit. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't the thing anymore. Yeah. So I could see how this would have happened.

But I'm, you know, another part of me is very excited about this because I know that these are going to be awesome because they're, they were so important to you. And so I'm excited that I have this new listening list to check out. I'm excited for our listeners who maybe haven't heard of some of these. Yeah. That we have the Spotify playlist to check out. Well, and I think I got a pretty good mix because there's definitely going to be some that I think everybody will know some of them. Yeah. I will be shocked and please leave us a little comment in the YouTube's or wherever you'd like if you know all of them.

I mean, I'm talking about know them. I will be very impressed because, you know, some of them are a little bit obscure. They're all fantastic, I think. But you're right. They do kind of come from that era, my kind of coming of age, some kind of mid-80s, late 80s, but there's a little bit of a range on there. But I think that this speaks more to the two things. One

is just the endless well of so many wonderful releases of our music. There's a lot of value. Yeah, there's a lot of great albums out there. And then the fact that we both kind of have always had this lifestyle of deep listening, like we get into something and we really listen to it. So I always think that's more important than knowing every release

of the year. You used to know a couple of them really well, you know. It's so true, man, now that I think about it. You know, I list for me Grant Green is one of my main influences. Yeah. But I really only know like two albums of his, but I know every track on on both those albums so well and every note. You know what I mean? So I consider that just a deep connection I have, even though I actually don't know his whole like later funky stuff. Like yeah. Oh, you play a little funky stuff. A little bit, but not as well as those two albums

that I'm so connected with, you know, so. Okay. Well, so the first one here might kind of be along those lines in that I know you know a lot of Herbie Hancock. This is the one that set off this episode. This is a surprise because Herbie's like, you know, our guy. Yeah, because you were like, What? You never even heard of the record. And I think this did fly under the radar for a lot of folks. This is Herbie Hancock's album called Quartet. Yeah. And it's with Tony Williams. You ever heard of that guy? I've heard of... Yeah. Ron Carter on bass. Yeah. And a young, a very young, bespeckled, Winton Marcellus. And I want to say this is like 1981, 82, something around there, maybe even 80. I think it's 80. Yeah. Oh, it's 80. Okay. And so I'm going to just play a little bit. And this is one of the lesser-known tracks on it called A Quick Sketch. Oh, okay. Maybe I'll start it.

the beginning. How about that? Good. And I remember when I heard this, man, I was like... Yeah, so how old were you when you first heard this? I mean, I was probably 13. Influential. So I didn't hear it right when it came out. Because I would have been 10. A little herbivism. A little muted.

Tony. So I'll just jump ahead a little bit to Winton. Real young Winton. Playing amazing, though. And this is like... It's funny because they call it quick sketch. And this is very much like, I'm sure they just kind of All it is is that bump.

That vamp. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're just, like, grooving out for 26 minutes or whatever. It's so funny. Like, I think I know how this blind spot happened. You know, because I got into Herbie through Miles, really, which I think probably a lot of young musicians who are just discovering the music, you know, you get the names of the Titans and then you start checking out.

So I discovered Herbie, and then I got, I just fell in love with Herbie. And I went through all of Herbie's, you know, early stuff from the taken off stuff to Maine Voyage and the 70s stuff. And then I, but like, concurrently would start. getting into Wayne Shorter and then Joe Henderson and then all of a sudden I have all this music to listen to. And this was also around the time that he put out that record, the new standard. Do you remember that? It's like 97 maybe.

Right. So I was in high school probably. And then I just started with Roy and... With a ton of cats. Brecker. Yeah, just a ton of. Schofield is on it. Like a ton of guys. And I just got into that kind of era of Herbie. Oh, New Standard, I'm sorry. That was the one before the one with Brecker and Roy Harder. But there was

same era. There was like an all-star cast on the new standard, like, um, which Herbie then would do a bunch throughout the rest of his, you know, career from then forward, but, but I kind of skipped over this whole era.

Yeah. You know, I went from funky to the new standard era and then, well, and the thing is he did this record. I mean, Herbie has always been so prolific. This is right during the rocket period.

And that's actually how I got into Herbie Hancock. Because when Rocket came out, I mean, I was trying to be like a DJ for a minute. Yeah, you know, and I was, I knew a little jazz,

but I wasn't even really that into, I mean, I was kind of into it. I was doing some classical. stuff but herbie that was a big hit rocket at that time yeah and um then so this is saying Spotify saying this is 1982 maybe when it came out but when i met went martyles around in 84 so i went and tried to find all the records he was on at streetside records and this was one of them and i still remember like how it looked and i bought it was a double album i was like and it's kind of expensive was opened up

and i basically got it because went but i was like oh herbie hancock yeah i kind of know her the rocket guy from the rocket guy and i'd heard a little bit of stuff with miles or whatever yeah yeah And so, man, it was so exciting just to hear. So this is, in a lot of ways, my really early entree into Herbie. And then I went and dove deeper. And then when I heard My Funny Valentine, it was like lights out. That's awesome. Yeah, I was a little too young for Rocket.

I know it as like a cultural touchstone, but I didn't experience it because I was just, you know, a little kid. Yeah, it was a big deal because it was like, it was on MTV. It was like a hit. And it was on MTV at a time when especially that kind of music was just sort of break. It was kind of a breakthrough thing. I mean, Michael Jackson was in a different way. I was on a much bigger scale. But to have Herbie Hancock on MTV, number one album.

I know. That's incredible. It was cool. Okay, so that's number one. Now next, I'm going to play you something. We're not doing it as a blindfold test, but I just wanted to know if you... Yeah, it's unfair blindfold test because I've admitted I don't know these things. All right, let's just listen to this.

I mean, this was another one that was, like, really exciting for me. specific. What is this? Okay, so this is Kevin Eubanks opening night. This was his first record on GRP and I'm just looking to see GRP. Yeah, GRP. What about that? Dave Gruson.

Okay, does it tell you that, like the, man, I'm trying to get my Spotify chops together. Can you help me after broadcast today? I'm kind of switching over from Apple music. Big shout out to Apple. Keep on dominating. Yeah, nice dongle you got there, buddy. I'm living that dongle lifestyle.

But I want to say this is like 85, but this was Kevin Eubach, yeah, 1985. Okay, talk about 80s. We're going to have to get this art. Oh, yeah. Look at that album cover. He's full Miami Vice. He's like a leather suit or something? Pleather.

Pleather. It's like an Eddie Murphy look. It's totally. Yeah, it's totally. Kevin Eubanks is buffed, of course. And he, so this is with, that was Brantford and Kevin. A lot of the Berkeley guys. What's the name of the album again?

Opening night. Opening night. And I love that track. and Tommy Campbell's on drums But the reason I really got to this record I mean I knew about Kevin Eubanks But this is when I was really getting Like what of the new

You know albums and stuff And Bramford was on there But Kenny Kirkland was on this record And I'd heard Kenny live Like earlier that year at Powell Hall And I was like all anything that Kenny Kirkland Yeah yeah Was on so that's when I got to

But this is such a great record He's made a lot of great records Oh man I got to check that one out I mean yeah I'm kind of late to the game on Kenny Kirkland too Yeah But I've started getting into him In the last couple of years

And it's been a great discovery Yeah, I mean, he was, since I heard him live and then, you know, heard him with Wintmarsallis that first time. And then I heard him with Sting the next year. Like, I was such a fan. But he didn't make his own record until later on in his career. And I believe he only made one or two records under his own name. So he was always, I would always just buy stuff that I saw him on, you know, like we used to do. Luckily, he was on a lot of stuff.

He was, yeah. Okay, so here's it. So that's Kevin Eubanks opening night. Now we're going to do a little buckshot LaFunk. And this was funny because I was like, have you heard of what? Yeah, you were like, what? Yeah, you were like, what? And I was actually.

surprised you hadn't heard the name but I realized that this so this is Brantfer Marcellus he had a band called Buckshot LaFunk and that was actually I think they did two records this is from the first record that sounds like some crazy New Orleans guy that they actually knew you know but he put this whole band together our friend Reginald Ville

was the original bass player cool and then later on Eric Revis and then it kind of moved back when he went back to having his quartet but this is when Bramper was like I'm not going to do the jazz thing straight ahead I want to do kind of a hip hop funk kind of New Orleans band I have no knowledge of this.

Okay, well, you're about to. Knowledge is about to be dropped. My dictation is a splendid rhyme that prove race discrimination ever ended. I'll tell you what, man. I am a sucker for this, like, organic 90s conscious hip-hop. Yeah. I really am. I could.

And I'm just going to check here. You know, and this is super. How do you do the thing when you make it softer? Oh, this is my first time DJ. We should talk about that. Yeah, yeah. Not on this album. You're not doing a very good job.

Well, I was just looking because I thought that was DJ premiere. And I'm just confirming that before I screw up. Yeah, he did most of the programming and, you know, the drum tracks and stuff on here. So then there is there points where Brantford, like, blows over that? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So let me see if I can jump to that. And this is actually Breakfast at Denny's, which is funny because it's kind of an ad on track. There was a, it's like a different version.

There was another one that was on some movie they came out where it got a little bit of notoriety. But this is from that first Bucshot LaFunk record I mean it was like Man, Buckshot LaFunk Yeah, let me see if I can get a little bit of solar I gotta get the album This is kind of the... And he's played this tune before

Roy Hargrove, a bunch of slick horn stuff But Kenny Kirkland's on this record too Bob Hurst plays some on it Actually, is it Bob or Reginal? Reginald played in the band when they went live Jeff Watts, I mean a bunch of cats It was just a cool thing where Bramford kind of brought

his whole Orban DJ premiere and Victor Wooten's on some stuff on bass. He just really like a very produced kind of early jazz, hip hop, whatever you call it. Synergy. I love it. Love Fest.

I'm saving it. Yeah, Buckshall at a fun. And it's cool, too, because it sounds dated, but not in a bad kind of dated way. Like you brought it up, that kind of early 90s sort of vibe, late 80s, early 90s, definitely. Okay.

So that was my first funny, and there's a lot of New Orleans connections on here, too. My funny name one. That's definitely a, a weakness in my arsenal. So the next one I threw at you, I was like, have you ever heard of Lofties Road Souffley? You're like, come on, man.

But I mean, you literally never heard of it. And this one's a little bit off me, but let's just listen to a little bit. And I want to see if you... I have no idea what this is. Okay. So this is Harry Connick Jr. Trio.

I was going to say, it's a pretty high production value. Yeah, yeah. This is a... I love the way the drums are recorded on this record. Yeah. Ben Wolf on bass, Shannon Powell from New Orleans, on drums.

And they had a nice trio for a while. They became the foundation of his big band because right around this time. I'm trying to remember because I was actually hanging around a little bit with Harry when I first went to New York.

And I met Ben actually and Shannon through Harry. And he was just doing little gigs and I kind of have a trio together. And then he did that movie. Harry met Sally and his thing just sort of blew up. And then he put a big band together and this was the original rhythm section.

You know, my parents, when I was a small kid, kid, maybe like eight or nine, had a Harry Connick trio tape. I remember it was a cassette tape that they used to play in the car all the time. Could have been this. And it was all instrumental and I loved it. Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't sing it all on this. And

it's, but it's actually says it's released in 90, but it was probably recorded 89, I would think. But Harry was like super like, you know, felonious monk influences as you can hear. And I love the way Shannon and and Ben Wolf played together. I thought it was a cool trio. It was kind of

short-lived, but I heard him live a bunch of times. As famous as he is, Harry might be an underrated pianist. Totally. You know what I mean? Amazing pianists. Great writer, great arranger. You know, done a lot. It can do a lot of different things, a lot of different styles, you know.

So that's, but that, I mean, to me, is one of the best trio records of that era, actually, I would have to say. Awesome. All right. I'm checking it out. Yeah. Or maybe revisiting. Yeah. Okay.

So we might have to take that one off that once he never knew. He never knew that he didn't know it. I don't know. I think that counts. If it's not like a touchstone, you know. Okay. So next we have now we're at number five. Okay.

And this is, I yelled out to you, do you know Diamond the Rough? This might be another one that you have heard, but didn't know you knew it. Roy Hargrove, Diamond the Rough. This is his first record. And a lot of people, not, didn't necessarily sleep on it, but weren't hip to Roy. Like, because I knew him since we were like 15, 16 years old, he was sort of my consciousness. And so when he, it was kind of a big thing when his record came out. But a lot of people kind of discovered him later.

Sorry, somebody's calling. I'll call you back. All right, peace. We're doing a podcast. So this is a tune I've always liked and I got to play with him a bunch of times later on, which was fun of his called Confidentiality from Diamond in the Ruff. What year is Diamond in the Ruff from? Oh, man.

This has got to be 90. Let me, how do I find that out on Spotify? Help me out. Oh, yeah, 1990. 1990. Okay. That's so good. Who's that?

That's, I think it's Antonio Hart. And Jeff Keezer. We're on piano, our friend Jeff Kieser. Man, you know what's amazing about that is it sounds like Roy Hargrove. Like, he was fully formed. Yeah, exactly. He had his sound already. Yeah, that's definitely Anton.

I need to confirm that, but I'm 90% sure that it's got to be. Yeah, this one's a little bit embarrassing. I should have gone all the way back. But I admit that, you know, 90 was, I was still too young to really, I mean, I think I was just getting into jazz, but really just into like, you know, Miles and Bill Evans and all that stuff. Right. So I probably didn't hear. Roy for the first time until mid late 90s.

Right. And what you probably did, and I've done this a lot, is like you, once you start to get into him, he was so young. He was like 18, 19 when he recorded this. This actually says December 89. It was released, another source. But you kind of go to the current thing, and then he starts doing other things, and then you never quite make it back to the beginning. And a lot of times, it's kind of more immature releases. And, I mean, Roy looks like a little kid on the cover of this record.

It's funny. And so, but what's so cool about this is, oh, yeah, that's right. Ralph Peterson Jr. on Trump is that I love the tunes on here. There's a tune called Proclamation by Jeff Keezer. One of my favorite tunes from this era, this confidentiality. And then they do like whisper nod and some. But I remember just being like, wow, man, this cat is doing it. And it's so much captured that Young Lions, early 90s, late 80s kind of a sound in a way.

Man, this is awesome. I think we should do this again next week, but another one for me. I'm getting a ton of stuff to listen to. This is great. And then Roy, he's already Roy, of course. That's what's just that first impression. It sounds like a Roy Hargrove album. Yeah, it's amazing.

Yeah. So that's cool. So that's Diamond in the Rough, Roy Hargrove. Now this one, this is another one. I was like, you know Sonic Trance and you're like, what? But I think most people slept on this record. So I'm going to give anybody a pass. But I love this record.

It's totally offbeat, Nicholas Payton. And it was fun because I got to play a lot of this music with him right after he wrote it down in New Orleans. And I want to say it was like 10 years ago, but this is going to be funny because it's going to probably be, you know, much later. I'm going to look that up as we're listening to Cannabis Leaf Rag from Nicholas Payton. No, that's still right. Buddy, get your Spotify game together. Come on, man.

Come on, dude. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is just a fantastic album. That's awesome. It's like, of all the different people, especially around the early 90s, I mean, not early 90s, early 2000s. This is 2003.

I wasn't that far up by saying. 10 years, 15 years ago. No. But of all the people kind of trying to do you know, fusions of hip hop and jazz, I think Nicholas is one of the most

interesting, authentic, challenging, and just grooving. Now, big shout out to Kareem Riggins from Detroit, Michigan, the great drummer, because he programmed a lot of this stuff. He was a real collaboration with Nick. Yeah, I mean, just a genius of amazing jazz drummer,

amazing hip. I mean, just, you know, could do everything. But this is a great record. Sonic Trans, Nicholas Payton. I'm so, I wasn't even sure it was going to be available. Man, I'm going in. And then look,

He's got, I'm going to do a little. He's so funny in his music sometimes. This is Cannabis Leaf Rag 2, second part, later on. It's got like 18 tracks. Wow. Where he kind of changes it up. Yeah, so that's a good one for, especially if you're into some different kind of stuff in Nicholas Payton. That's six.

We're up at number seven now. This is awesome. Okay, so this one I knew you'd been asking about some New Orleans stuff that you didn't know that you were interested in. It's definitely a gap for sure. Yeah. So this is a fun one. This is Hurling Riley's album, New Directions. This is Tutima, which is an old standard in New Orleans.

Dude. Nice tambourine work from The Master. Huh. Who's on that piano? I have no idea. I should know that. Let me look it up. Oh, this is my jam.

Emmett Cohen on piano. Emma Cohen on piano. That's not right. Come on. Is that right? Maybe. that thing Toonema is a big

That's her It's singing To be my It's a big pretty thing So that's This is just a really fun record

He goes through And does a bunch of the You know New On stuff And some of his own originals And It's a cool

And our friend Nate Shinnon Who you've been reading his book He gave this I remember A really good

Review In the New York time This is pretty Recent 2016 Yeah So that could be Emmett Cohen

Yeah I don't You know the Problem is you can't find out easily who's, you got to like search all these places. It's the worst. Honestly, all these streaming services need to get their album credits thing together. Yeah, it is, it is Emicoen. Russell Hall on bass.

And, yeah, I mean, Hurling is just the most authentic bridge of modern New Orleans jazz drum. I mean, just jazz drumming. Just, I mean, his, along with Shannon Powell as well, who we heard earlier with the lofties roads to play, just two masters of New Orleans drumming and the most authentic, but up-to-date way you could find. man Pete thanks for this this is going to give me some like solid listing material for a long time I hope so I feel like I hear something now is that possible sorry this my YouTube oh that's cool I was watching watching some mayor Pete videos this morning I love Mayor Pete dude Mayor Pete's my guy man how do we get him on the podcast we need to get Mayor Pete while he's still small

while he's still available if we got anybody out in the you'll hear an audience that has connection with the mayor But no, you Pete, kind of the mayor of you'll hear at town. Thanks for that. That's really awesome. Good stuff. Good stuff. So, again, to remind everybody that for a limited time, you'll hear it listeners can subscribe to the Oxford American for only 25 bucks.

Visit oxfordamerican.orgie to subscribe today. Can't recommend that enough. Until tomorrow, you'll hear it.