You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Sonic Nutrition

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

Peter and Adam finally get a chance to check the legendary Roy Hargrove's seminal album "Earfood". This album has impacted so many people merely for the track Strasburg/St. Denis but every tune can be credited to the development of the culture. Come hang with us and dissect what really makes this album great. Earfood Unlock your FREE Open Studio trial to become a better player today.Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open Studio🎹 Head over to our YouTube channel for a better look 👀.Follow us on Instagram

Yo, Adam. Yo. Are you ready for today? I think so. You got a bit of like, I don't know, eye candy prepped for today. Well, I'm here, so yes, but I'm thinking about something else. Instead of eye candy, I'm thinking a little ear food. Oh, I'm here for that.

I'm Adam Anis. And I'm Peter Barton. And you're listening to The You'll Hear a podcast. Adam, let me paint your little picture. Please paint the picture. Are you ready? I'm ready. I'm getting my brush out.

Get your brush out. I might be in broad strokes, but I want to take you back to a little time called 2008. Oh, okay. Well, not the happiest time, I think, for financially, for me, but go ahead. Oh, okay. Was there a financial crisis? Was that that? Is that that that year?

It didn't affect me at all. It didn't affect me either. I was like, yeah. What were you doing? Were you in high school? No, I was like 30 years old. Oh, you're, yeah. Hey, my name's Peter. Hi, Adam, Mattis, nice to meet you. No, we didn't have kids yet. Okay. I actually remember sitting, here's how I know

I was young. I was sitting at a bar drinking when the financial collapse started to happen. Were you in New York? In real time? No, I was here in San Luis. Oh, okay. And I was just like, ah, that'd be crazy if I had any money.

Right, I know. Exactly. Well, we're going back to 2008 today, not for that unhappy memory of the financial crisis, but for a very happy memory of one of my favorite records, Ear Food, by one of my favorite

artist, Roy Hargrove. The greatest. Yeah. And I'm so excited. This album feels like it was just yesterday. I think a lot of timeless records that we explore here at the pod are like that. That's why we're exploring them.

That's what's so great about them. Like, it takes you back to that time, but it's still relevant today. It's like when we put this on, it sounds like it was just recording. Absolutely. I remember being so excited about this record. Our friend Montes-Colman is playing drums on this, which we'll talk about later. And I was so happy for him, because it was such a hit. It was so

good and well-received. St. East St. Louis's own. So, Peter, can I paint a bit of cultural context around this time? So this came out in April, 2008. Yes. The president was President George W. Bush.

I don't know if you remember W. Wait, was that son, right? Junior. That was the George Bush Jr. Yeah, lovable scamp, George W. Bush. And then at this time, too, Pope Benedict was visiting the United States for his very first trip over him. Ah, I think my...

Yeah, I believe my... Pope Bennett... Yeah, I think my dad played a gig with him on that tour of the U.S. That sounds familiar. Sounds familiar. The number one movie was a movie called 21 about... about Blackjack? Oh, yeah, that was good.

Yeah, apparently it's pretty good. The number one TV show was American Idol. Didn't like it. It's still on. Still on. Is it still number one? The number one pop song was Love in This Club by Usher, featuring young Jeezy, who I assume is not as young as he used to be.

And I can tell you, some of those lyrics did not age like they thought they were from over these last. What is this? 16 years. 16 years ago. This is the cultural climate that Ear Food was released into, at least the pop cultural climate that Ear Food was released into. Right. Absolutely. Okay, so Roy Hardgrove in 2008. I believe this was recorded actually in 2007, but released in 2008. Roy was about 37 or 38 years old then. And, you know, I first met Roy when we were in high school. Yeah, amazing. So I feel like I've known him and knew him, you know, kind of our whole upbringing. I remember hearing about Roy from Winton Marsalis, him talking about you got to check. Because I had talked to Winton when he came to town and we were going with our University City High School Jazz.

band to the NAJE convention in Dallas. And I remember Winton's saying, you got to find and check out Roy Hargrove, great trumpet player. And at that time, you couldn't Google anybody. I didn't have a phone number or anything. I was like, oh, maybe when I get to Dallas, I hope it's not too big.

Maybe I can find Roy. But it just so happened, he was all ahead of... Dallas is huge. Well, no, it just so happened at the jazz convention. I just sort of asked somebody, do you know Roy Hargrove? They're like, yeah, he's playing with his high school band over in the...

Crazy. The room over there, the hotel. So I got a chance to meet him then, and play with them. And over the years, you know, I didn't play with him a lot, but there were certain times

that I'd get a chance to guess with him or he did some kind of guest appearances with Diane Reeves when I was music director. So it was always great to come together. But I always followed him closely. I mean, he was always, when he was still with us,

was really a leader, an ambassador. A beacon. A beacon for the music. For young folks, especially younger musicians, especially towards the end. But I mean,

I think for all of us, like he was such a, you know, his recorded, output was so fantastic. And around this time, in a lot of ways, I don't want to say it was the peak, because he did some amazing things before and after. Right, right. But he was, it wasn't an interesting time for him because he was coming off of three records, two or three records, I believe, with the RH factor right at during this time, which was just like the early 2000s. And he had been,

you know, he did his Havana project with, was Christol project where he got his first Grammy, Habana. Very cool. He did. All the sole quarrying stuff. The sole querying stuff, which, which was like early 2000. So he was definitely starting to be viewed as like not just a straight ahead or not even a straight ahead jazz musician by most people. So I think this record, Earfoo was super interesting in that it was definitely seen as like, Oh, Roy's returning to his roots. He's going back to an acoustic quintet, which, you know, he'd never really laughed fully,

but I think to a lot of people they thought he had because they can see him. Early 2000 thing. He's on DeAngelo's voodoo. He's making all those albums with Questlove and James Poyser and all those. records common. It's such an interesting band that he'd put together and he was touring with these musicians for quite a bit. Roy's playing trumpet and fluegelhorn on this.

Gerald Clayton's playing piano. Very young Gerald Clayton, 23-year-old Gerald Clayton. Playing his ass off. Playing his ass off. And really, I think this is Gerald's introduction for a lot of us. And a lot of us, especially those who are a little bit older than him, were like, where did he come from?

This is incredible. Yeah. Incredible playing, an original voice. Justin Robinson is playing Alpha Saxophone and the flute. A real partner for Roy for many, many years. Totally. I mean, Roy had some great saxophonists

and Justin was right up there with them and so closely associated with him for so many years. And Denton Bowler on bass. Who? Danton Bowler. Okay. And then Montez Coleman, our dear friend and recently passed away

about two years ago as we're recording this, Montes passed away in 2022. And Montez had some great stories about being in this band. He and Roy were, as he described, very much like brothers for years. Yes. Just always hanging, always playing together.

And there's some things I probably can't talk about here. But they were inseparable for a while, very, very tight. Right. And I mean, I always thought of like, I got a chance to hang with them some on the road a little bit. I remember one time in South Africa. I actually was right around this time. I always thought of Montez as kind of being like a big brother.

to Roy, even though Roy was a little bit older. Montes always had big brother energy. He had big brother energy. Yeah, for sure. He had that kind of wisdom, knowledge and that kind of stuff. But I think that, you know, tragically, you know, Montez and Roy really such, as you said, brothers, but like spiritually in terms of connection with the music, so similar. And they both died about the same age. I don't believe either one of them made it to 50, which is such a 48. Yeah. And I think it was about the same.

It's tragic that we lost both those great artists so young as well. here. And then Gerald, oh, we talk about Gerald. Of course. Yeah. We're going to talk about him a lot. That's all the musicians, but it's produced by Al Schmidt, recorded and mixed by Al. So this is going to be an important thing, and I want to make sure that we hit on this, because I think it's, you know, the engineer is always important. But Al Schmidt, it was a legendary producer. Well, mostly engineer, you know, kind of the right hand for Tommy Lipuma, the other legendary producer. And I believe this is like his, at least later on his career for Al like his only or his late like an acoustic jazz album he wasn't necessarily known for that but I think he killed it the scene on this is incredible it sounds so polished and beautiful and it really a treatment that you don't get around this time or really since a lot that records jazz records sound this good and I know a lot of that was you know a collaboration with Roy and his longtime manager larry clotheur who both

co-produced this that's right along with with alschmidt for sure and it was recorded peter at capital records in los angeles oh yeah On the MRC label, which is like a phonetic way to say MRC, which stands for the Mercury Record Company. So it's like an offshoot of that old Mercury label, Saravan Clifford Brown, Max Roach, all those folks. Yeah, I mean, I think being recording a capital records, I've recorded there a couple of times. Legendary. It's the one that looks like a stack of pancakes.

Yeah, yeah. You know, Frank Sinatra and that can call so many legends. Not a lot of like this kind of jazz records recorded there. And just being in L.A., them having, I believe it was recorded over three days. They really had some time on it. even though it was mostly first takes. That was the story on it from Montez and from others. But you really get that relaxed, beautiful vibe.

A lot of budget thrown at this record. It feels like it. Recorded September 19th through the 21st in 2007. All musicians were in the same room at Capitol except for Tess. Al had everyone so close together that they could... That big room is amazing. It's like you fit an orchestra and a choir. I mean, that's where you're using the room to your advantage.

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Here's an interesting little fact toy that producer Caleb found. The same mics that were used on the piano were used on the bass, the Neumann. Engineer Nerd Alert. And that most of these tunes were first takes. It doesn't say which ones, but it says most of them.

I remember Monta saying that. Okay, well, so they're there. They're in L.A. It's September. They're there for three days recording, this incredible group of musicians where I put together. Why don't we dig into the opening track? And this is a Cedar Walton tune.

I'm not so sure. I'm not so. Wait. Is that the title of the tune or you don't know? Oh, I'm sure that the title. is I'm not so sure. Check it out. What a start.

Yeah. Auspicious start. Has. Immediate groove. And Jerry Clayton, yeah. Dan Bolt, man. That's a rhythm section. I'm like a lot.

Woo! And, you know, Roy's smart, man. I love his graph. Roy and Justin on these heads. Oh, tight as old. Like brothers. Like they grew up together. As they say in sideways.

good reference from the movie sideways those subways montes he's a born arranger montes he's a boring on the stuff cross stick opening oh that big like

Everybody's head is playing right there Everyone's mysterious and he's kind of soloy Blues Oh Bowler hold it down Gospel back beat right Why not? Why not? Pocket

I mean this is the start of a party Yeah Is what this opening track You know. Invitation. Come on in. It's like I feel like, I kind of feel I get into a great Justin Soul there.

Like the what Roy plays on that solo and really what Montet, really what everybody's playing, the way Gerald's comping, it's all obvious. Yeah. It's all standard. Like there's nothing, it's the way they put it together. You know what I mean? Like, like, Gerald plays this voicing a couple of times.

And it's just like, almost like rude position, just the way anybody would, would voice. Boy is a sharp nine. Yeah. But the placement of it, the way Montez goes to the backbeat, the way Roy, you know, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo, boom, boom, you know, when he goes to the sharp 11. Like, a lot of people know how to do that. And we talk about this all the time here around Open Studio about, like, simple voicings.

Like, we're always kind of on the search for like the hippist shit, you know, or whatever. Wait, say that again, man, hipster. But, no, like, like a lot of people are on, you're always trying to information your way out of some situation. The way the way the Jeryl Clayton is playing a simple voicing. The way, right. like this, when, how. So much more important than what. The weight of it.

The choice when to do it. That's what, he's just talking in this, you know, incredible language. And so it doesn't have to be like the most, you know, crazy voicing. It can be something that's familiar and warm. But when it's put in this right way, it becomes art in the hands of an artist. Absolutely. And I mean, it's such a poise thing. I mean, Roy Metaz, everybody else is a little bit older.

But Gerald Clayton, even being so young, would you say it was 23? I think so. He's not playing like that. No. I just want to play a little bit of this again because some of his choices are so, well, if you know his dad, you can see that Apple didn't fall far from the tree because John Clayton is one of the great people of jazz, musicians, bass, an arranger, educator. So actually, Gerald's kind of under delivering, given his parentage, I would have to say.

His mother's lovely as well. Well, we'll talk about that in an overdog, underdog section. But just check out some of this, like, when it gets into solo, there's a lot of restraint at first. in terms of jail. Oh, sorry, we're not at the soul yet. Come on, Peter. A little, Montez is kind of like, oh, I got an opening here.

Let me jump through. Space, just a little bit. Just stay in the pocket at first. But like that little thing, whatever, whatever it was, we're slapping it around. You know, there's some great stuff that he's grabbing there.

Gang, I mean, details. Little details for the right time, man. Yeah. Do we want to jump ahead and hear anything? I mean, we got this. man. Yes, this is like, this is really, really, really great stuff. Okay, so

I want to read you a little something about this, because this is always interesting. I want you to hear, this will kind of get you, I think, into the space of what was happening then, because it's a little different than now. The New York Times had, I guess they still have a jazz reviewer, but I, oh yeah, Rossellini, Rosselli, whoever it is. But this was Nate

Chinen. Kniton? Nate Chenin. Oh, you're just going to say yes. Yeah, yeah. Great reviewer, legendary great author. Who wrote Playing Changes, the jazz in the 21st century, which is a must-have book for any jazz fan,

especially if you like contemporary stuff. But I just want to sort of just a place thing. This was the Critics' Choice new CDs, Roy Hargrove Quintet. Quartet. It's not the quartet.

It's the quintet. Ooh, there's a typo in the failing New York Times, no matter what happened. No, that's funny, though. It does say Roy Hargrove Quartet. Anyway, Roy Hargrove Quintet, Ear Food.

Despite his many forays into funk and Neo-Soul, the trumpeter Roy Hargrove has kept his hard-bop bearings. There are a number of possible reasons to suspect him of a conservative streak. And ear food, his new album, lays out a few for inspection. The sound of the record, bright and crisp, attest to a classic jazz ideal. Then there's the feel of a tightly bonded group that keeps its hierarchy clear. And in the liner notes, Mr. Hargrove, the liner notes, what are those? Who knows anymore?

If you're under the age of 28, you don't even know what I'm talking about right now. I've written a liner note in 20 years. Mr. Hargrove declares that he aims to please with simple melodies and a product steeped in tradition and sophistication. He has a secondary title for the album, I love this, sound nutrition. That's good. It's really good. Indicating that this stuff is also supposed to be good for you. The twist is how freely Mr. Hargrove moves within this zone.

He's not afraid to assert his own idea of what tradition and sophistication mean. Only two of the album's 13 tracks feature swinging rhythm, which I never really thought about that. Well, because it's all swinging. Yeah, but there's a bunch of ballads too, which I would consider swinging. But I get it. I mean, yeah, and even this. He means like straight ahead tip, man, yeah.

But this is a different time when it was like, you're conservative, are you jazz, or you, you know. A little bit, yeah, yeah. Now it would be like, what? There's swinging on it? Incredible. Style, a different stroll and the stinger,

a livelier, or livelier shuffle. But of those originals, but of those originals bring out the natural effervescence of the pianist Gerald Clayton. Elsewhere, it's all backbeats and ballads. your Hargrove sounds right at home. Yeah. That's a pretty good,

that's some good jazz writing there. Way to go, Nate. And I think it's, you kind of nailed it. You can, we'll link to this, the entire archived article. I don't know if you have to be a member.

I'm a member in New York Times, so, but I can't share my log in here. That's too much. But that kind of gives you a little bit of a backdrop. And then I pulled up this interview. Oh, yeah, let's see this interview.

I saw you fussing with this, but I haven't seen this. What do you mean? Well, you've been fussing all day. Stop fussing with me, man. But this is Roy in 2008. So, big world, you know, that you...

Wait, hold on, let's take it back a little bit. I've always felt that, you know, music was this big world, you know, that you just kind of like explore every part of it. Even when I was in college, I used to always hang out with, like, the gospel choir, the rock cats or the R&B cats,

and the jazz musicians as well. So, you know, I try to keep a well-rounded ear for things. actually right now I'm not doing so much of the other things I'm kind of maintaining a straight-ahead repertoire these days because this is the music that I enjoy playing the most I think for sure so that kind of tells you where he was at at that time 2008 I love thinking about it just warms my heart to see

I mean I miss him a lot and his spirit just being there it's almost kind of shocking Energy is undeniable. Like the charisma and just the magnetism of his. You can just feel his love and seriousness for his craft. He was speaking about college, which, you know, one of my favorite fun facts is freshman year. I believe Berkeley is where he went to college.

Freshman year, Roy gets sent to the dorm. His roommate, young Jeffrey Keeser. Yes, that's right. We're college roommates their freshman year at Berkeley, which is insane. Yeah, and Kees is, Jeffrey Keeser is on. on, keys to me, keys to life. He's on, I believe, his first record Diamond in the Rough and wrote some early compositions that Rory really loved.

And I played with him in 94-95, those same tunes. And Roy wrote some great stuff, huge influence on each other. And, you know, also there's, I recently saw the Roy Hardgrove documentary, which is called Hargrove, which is by a director, Elion Henry, and highly recommended that. It's on PBS right now. you may have to be a member. I'm a member as well. New York Times, PBS, and PR.

And Costco. I was going to say in PR. Casco. Well, you've certainly got your liberal suburban cred's down, Peter. But it's a wonderful, like there's a lot of controversy about it, as there always is, with somebody that we hold near and dear to us close in the community.

Like, we don't want to share him. We don't want anyone disparaging him. And it's a tough watch because it's the last year, it's within the last year of, his health was failing. in his last few months, but there's some beautiful footage of him playing and talking.

There's some rough stuff in terms of interpersonal relationships, but I think it's an important piece. They've got the right people talking about him. First and foremost, him. Roy is constantly being interviewed and talking with the crew, with being interviewed.

This was speaking for himself. 2018? 2018, exactly. He passed in 2019, yeah? In 2018. In late 2018? Yeah, Paul. And I mean, he...

He was at the bistro, by the way, just that year. That's right. You know, playing here. And I remember... That was the last time I saw him. He, off the stage seemed, you know, kind of like his health was failing. Yeah, it was.

You can kind of tell something was wrong. Yeah. On stage, he was playing at a high... At just a high level, as I've ever heard him. It was crazy. Incredible. Yeah, his... That duality that he had, and that had been like that for years, actually.

It was... And they get into that, his health stuff. And some people say, they shouldn't have talked about it, whatever, some other issues. But I would just say, go see it for yourself. They've got Roy talking and playing beautifully Christian McBride, Questlove, you know, just a lot of people that really speak eloquently. People complain, why isn't this? No, no, no, it's not about, they can't include everybody.

Antonio Hart has some beautiful words about a Gerald Cannon. Really, musicians that knew him, his manager, Roy Hargrove, I mean, Roy Hargrove's manager, Larry Clothier. You know, anyway, it's an interesting, it's an interesting piece for sure. With someone with this kind of magnitude that's so important to an artistic community like this, there's always going to be people who, I mean, you feel like he's a part of you, right? You feel like you're, you have some stake in his thing. So I'm sure there's always going to be controversy about who's included and who's not and all that stuff.

Yeah, and seeing the documentary and just talking, I was talking about him all weekend. And my wife, Kelly, reminded me, she's like, yeah, I remember that time when I was not, I was not happy with Roy. And I was like, what do you mean? because Roy was a very, like, everybody loved Roy, but Roy was a lone wolf. You know what I mean? At different times. I mean, he was definitely close with different people.

Mark Carey, who we were super close with at different times. He's in the documentary speaking about him. But she reminded me of this time, this must have been like 95, 96, sometime around then. But there was a gig in New Orleans. It was kind of a jam session at this guy's house who would organize things during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Really nice cat who just loved music and would invite musicians that were in town

and local cats like myself over. And Roy was there, I was there. And Roy kind of had, as Kelly remembered it, she's very protective of me. You know, she doesn't know what she's doing. But she's like, he was kind of upset with me because I hadn't seen him since I'd left his band. There was some other, like, I never left Roy.

I did leave the band to do other things. There was other issues that really aren't worth going into. But just to say that I never got a chance, which was on me to talk to Roy. I mean, I did talk to him, but he felt like it was like a betrayal. I wasn't the only one because of management and different issues.

A lot of people came and go. And as they say in the documentary, nobody ever left Roy's man because he wanted them to leave. That never happened. But people were constantly, especially during that time. So I cherished the time I had with them,

what I learned from him and everything. And, you know, this record was years later. You know what I mean? He was already killing it back then. But by this time, I think he was really, really in his prime. He was in his prime. Well, let's talk bangers, Peter.

Let's talk bangers. We've got a banger each. We've got our favorite tracks, our favorite solos. So my banger track on this. A little bit of an unexpected banger. It's a ballad. It's Speak Lowe. And I chose Speak Lowe because, first of all, I love the tune.

It's a standard. But the way that Roy treats this, like I can listen to him play a beautiful melody for every day for the rest of my life. And I mean that. There's nobody better alive in my lifetime that could do this. And so I just want to enjoy this, this track, Speaklo. And also the rhythm section here.

Top shelf. They're doing nothing wrong. Patience of this. It's the perfect falling into the time. That flugelhorn tone. It's raining outside. This is jazz. This is jazz.

Resident bass, Mr. Bowler. The way that he ends those long held notes, the way where he decides to stop the note. Yeah. It's so masterful. A vibrato. But it's like, I mean, obviously, yeah, great technique control instrument,

but it's here. Like, he's got that lyricist. Like, you used to sing, you know. It's the same thing, you know. He's selling the melody. listen to where he ends it on the beat almost every time Montez yeah Montez is every ballad I ever got to play with Tess

was such a beautiful experience in a voice movement go ahead Gerald and then I remember hearing him play live that last show Sullivan Forder was on piano yeah playing a ballad all those little arpeggios I listen to the dynamics that Gerald Clayton using underneath everything. Super light, but the recording on this, though,

the clarity that they're getting for every instrument. I'm surprised that Montez was in the same room because it sounds like they're all right there together. He'd tell you this was a one-taker. I know the way Roy was. I mean, like, this is the way he played. I think when something's so beautifully recorded to, it affords the musicians,

the luxury of just playing simply and beautifully. and the confidence, because like when you go in and hear playback, and it almost sounds better than you're playing. It isn't actually, it's just capturing nuances that you can't even hear. I mean, I've been in the situation before, and it's such a confidence boost to you, to know that you can play quietly and it's going to be captured. Yeah.

Nuances. And Roy's not done anything who'll play the melody. Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, he's not added a single flare or flourish or anything. And the whole arrangement was just that beautiful, ribato breathing for four bars and then coming in with the time i think this is like the greatest great american song looks standard every i think it's really good beautiful but i mean they've

in their hands in their hands yeah the lyrics are great the most he's done is that two-note phrase and there's nothing that anybody's playing that's the weirdest thing harmonically and it's not even though everything is just isn't that perfect one chorus through bit of a tag on the end just Just that, so this was definitely influenced by Shirley Horn. So Roy played with Shirley Horn. And, you know, I remember listening, going, hearing Shirley Horne live with him back in 94, 95, 96. Like, when we were on festivals and stuff, like, he loved Shirley Horn. And just that kind of, like, luxurious approach.

It's almost like you're just like, you're getting on the private jet. Oh, I think I'm just going to lay down here with my trumpet in the most beautiful seat and play the most beautiful music. Let the music unfold the way of it. it wants to unfold. Use the tune to its advantage. Make it, you know, really like embrace your craft what your instrument is good at, what you're good at,

make it happen. Yeah. And I think it also is just, you know, it's a testimony to say the way everybody's playing. I mean, Roy set the tone with this, and I remember this as well, just not from what he would say, but with how he would play

and just how he would even like pick up his horn and approach playing. And it's not to say that he was perfect. Like he had some, I remember one tour where he was just like tired, we all were. I mean, it was like crazy travel. We were young, but it was still like,

and his chops were like messed up after a couple days, and he was like struggling. But like his kind of like connection with the music, there was something about his spirit and like his bounce that was always there. And it almost made it sound better than it was because he was like cacking notes and different. It didn't sound like this.

Let's just say, well, we all have those sort of times. But it's just don't people think like, oh, he's so talented. His lips are made of gold and all that. No, no, no. I mean, there was a lot of work to get into the position to be here, but not just this and this, but this, you know, that connection with the music.

I'm going to do, Peter, I'm going to do my favorite solo. Ooh, is this, oh, this is the banger segment. The banger, my banger solo. I think it's the greatest solo on the album. Wow, you're really going on a live on this one. I think it's one of the best solos of the 2000s. It's Gerald Clayton solo on the third track, which is now, by the way, jam session standard.

Yeah, has been for a minute. Strasbourg Study in pentatronics A pentagram And hexatonics Is it? The bridge That's a hexatonic scale

All that Everybody goes to the major seven Songs should not work as good as it does Thanks throughout here too Okay sorry I got to stop it Okay Because I want to lose it again

All the times I've heard the solo We've talked about this Part of the genius to this And maybe what sets it up is how he starts, he starts early, right? He's quoting that like, be, but, like, he's coming in hard on the syncopation. He's coming in real, like, basic in terms of, like, that pentatonic he's still there. But he's already giving a little bit of a, uh, and a little bit of a different prism, right? Yeah.

And that's just a little thing, but it's kind of like somebody walking into a room. You know how some people walking in and everyone's like, damn. Yeah, yeah. And not even, and then you might look at him later, be like, they're not that attractive, but like they got this. It's all swagger. It's like swagger. But this is almost like a little bit of a, like, you're kind of easing your way around the corner.

And he's doing this cool thing if you don't know when you hear him doing this. He's palm muting the strings inside the piano. So he's playing in the grand piano and he's going to, I can't do it here on my Nord, because it's a digital keyboard. Yeah. So you'll hear him like mute the string.

You'll hear it. Let's hear it. Let me just go back to that. So that's where it starts. He's already offset. Highly melodic, highly rhythmically. attuned so. All right, listen to, I want you to

listen, this chorus through, listen to how he uses the low end of the piano keyboard. He uses it as this like effect, like, almost like a to get this like grace note. It's so unusually low though. But check it out.

Did you hear that? Yeah, it's all the way to be B flat. Like a b-flat. Yeah. Is it a B-flat? I think it's B-flat and D-flat, I think. You can hear him down there. Yeah.

These little ghost notes. Taz right there. Oh, wait. We got to back it up. So that crashed there. And now he's outside of the piano obviously. It's just like such basic stuff. Some pentatonic diets.

Yeah. Lundy gets a little. Okay. One of the greatest drum fills of all time. I mean, again, it's so like you could write it out and learn it and be like, yeah. And that's what's up. But like to play, you talk about like just like drum swagger. But at the right place.

When we played trio, when Bob and I played no trio with Montez, we never played this song because I didn't want to put this, like this is, you know, he's kind of, I didn't want to be like, yeah, this is your thing, you know, I never want to do it. But we did the Steely Dan tune Black Cowl, we did it this bouncy, like. I remember that, yeah. We did this kind of like, kind of feel, you know. And occasionally he would do this fill, like on a. solo, like we're coming back on the chorus, you know, like,

like over the bar with it, and it was just, I've just lit up thinking about this every time. Well, is this, is the Montez-Straussberg-Somte-Somtee drum groove? Is this like the Amajemal Poinceana drum groove? Could you say? It's approaching that, right? I think it's the whole rhythm section, yeah. I think it's that whole baseline, you know. Well, as it is with Poinsinae-N- Yeah, yeah, it's approaching that for sure.

Yeah, but I just got to hear that Phil. He's, oh. Man, and then when he goes to the time and then to the hi-haq, come on. This isn't a bad solo here. I know it's not on your officialist. I think the Gerald played solo for me is all of the things that he's talking about. Oh. But Gerald's still kind of soloy.

Oh, I will get it back it up there. Again, another Montez moment. Listen how he catches what Roy does here. Second time. Yeah. On the one. Roy wasn't afraid of like a straight diminish, like something. I love the way Ted's is.

kick drum sounds too. And that's a combination that has his taste and Al's taste. Yeah. This is incredible. I'm sorry. That was a little bonus solo there. That's a great solo. Okay. You kind of got me on the bangers. Although I got you too. What's your bang your track? Those are good. So I've got

Starmaker, which, up until preparation for this pod, my friend, I thought was written by Roy Hardroof. Shame on me. It's written by Lou Marini. Come on. You knew that. Did you know that? I did not know that. This is kind of a different thing in terms of banger.

But you also had Speak Low, which was, you know, by the way. Luxurianting on the private jet. Talking to Tess about this record, he's on, StarMaker was his favorite track on this album. This is the one he always talked about. He always wanted to cover. Well, it's very much like, I think, as many, like, great tunes,

there's no, like, hits except for Straussberg-Saint-Denis, written by Rory, I would say, on here. But I can tell you these other songs. and I thought it included Starmaker, it turns out it's not. But, you know, Rouge and Stinger style. I mean, these are all, like, classic, in their own way, Roy's tunes. Like, there's some other ones.

I mean, we used to play back in the day that kind of fell off by the wayside. But he could write music so fast. For sure. And so interest. I mean, he had this. This was like, he wrote this when he was, like, 21. It's just,

like, he knew how to, like, take interesting harmony with super simple melodies and then later on with different grooves and stuff I mean, masterful. But this is not by Roy, but he was great at picking tunes as well.

Starmaker. And the way Justin and Roy play this melody, I don't know if any two form. It's a melody that just is creeping. I love the way Tess is just playing that tune. There it is.

That's some lined-up intonation right there. Open. So good, man. What a great tune. I mean, their intonation. Crazy good. Yeah, the intonation is so sick. Yeah. And it's not like it's pitch correct or something.

Like when they're a little bit sharp, if they're together in such a beautiful way. So human. What a great arrangement to go right through on this. You want to breathe right here. This is just timeless. Transition here. Stunning.

With the fluegel. Yeah. You know? Lots of it. The discipline in the rhythm section right now, too. Yeah, so, okay, I kind of stole a little bit of solo there too, but... Man, so good. Yeah, so that's my banger.

Worth every banging penny. What about your solo, Ben? So my solo. Okay, so this is Gerald Clayton on Mr. Clean. Oh, yeah. So, okay, Mr. Clean, this is a Fred, I guess it's not a Freddie Over Tune, but he did it on his CTI on straight life. Yeah.

It was on straight life. And, like, to be a trumpet player, try to cover this, because Freddy's killing it on there. Jack Dijanette, I think it's Ron Carter Hey And this is all just kind of F The whole tune is like when they get He's doing a lot of diminishes

Just like F yeah Angry Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Funny weird tune Just like

Survive It's like It's like junkyard dog in it Junkyard dog Okay But we're doing a solo So I can't cheat He's like yeah man

I love Tess What do you call that Flam? Spling You know it's not bang You know, it's, big, big, big flapping. Okay, so Gerald Clayton's solo.

Oh, I've got the time on here. It's 350. Okay, so he takes it out. He might be up for an award later, a little foreshadowing for you. But this is coming out of Justin Solo and Justin Robinson. And this is all just like F7, you know, kind of burnout. Yeah. But just check out the way that Gerald starts the solo.

Oh, yeah? He said I didn't know what's right Bird I just sold to me So good And it keeps going And check out the way

They phrase this And I love like He's not really sowing But is he? Montezza's like Come on, let's go Man This drum kit is recorded

So beautifully This is going to be a word This keeps going Hey Hey this is a triad Over that F Fourth Roy sing McCoy for days

But they started 10. They stay at 10. They start at 10. That's a banger track, man. That is a banger. So right in the middle of the record. That brings us, Peter, to our next category, the over underdog. Over underdog. What's the over underdog? What is the over under under? So is there anything that is overrated? Is there anything that's underrated from this album? I would say, underrated? I'm going to go, uh, uh, Dan Bowler on the bass. I feel like he's an underdog. Well, was he even rated up to this point? We don't really know. We don't really know. We don't really know. but he's playing his ass off in this album.

Where is Danton, by the way? Where's Dan? Right. He's from California, I believe. Is he? I don't know a lot about him. I believe I met him once. He's totally played his ass off on his record.

Playing his ass off. Him and Montez are... He's rarely rated. I know Taz love playing with him. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll say that's, for me, that's an underdog. I think, I mean...

Hard to say Gerald Clayton's an underdog. He's an upstart. He's an upstart. I mean, he was not much rated, so he got rated real high after this record came out. For sure. I think that the sound is underrated on this record, not by us.

Just in that, like, I think it's such a, you know, great sound, great engineering can't make, you can't polish a turd. A great engineer told me that one time. It's true. You know, shit and shit out. But, no, I mean, a great engineered record can't make a record great if the music isn't great. They sure can't ruin one. But it's sure can't ruin one.

And I also think that it, that really superior and, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, sound can elevate a record. And I would say that this is a little underrated because I think a lot of people, and when we get to our snobaminer leader, you're right, this is great playing. They would say it's too much of a sheen on this. It's too artificial.

I beg to different. I think it sounds great. I think it's accurate, clean, beautiful, intense. I totally agree. I think the playing is clear active for sure. Playing is obviously world class, and you need that first. That has to be there,

because like you said, you can't apologize a turd. But I think... You could make it sound just like pedestrian. The sound elevates it. It makes it even better and makes it even more fun to listen. And I'm telling you, when you're in the studio and you know it's sounding great, not only because it's a great room, this is an incredible piano.

They had it too. I mean, everything's like, like this is what happens when you throw pop money, or at least small pop money at a great jazz artist, a great jazz group with a great engineer, great production, great, you know, you're going to get something wonderful. I'm going to say overrated. I'm going to say one hour plus jazz albums. It's a little too long. I love it.

Don't get me wrong. I love it, but it's an hour in 13 minutes or something like that. Hour 7. But I mean, there's 13 tracks, my friend. 13 tracks.

Yeah. There could have been 11. That's all I'm saying. I don't know which two I get rid of. I was what to say, which ones did you take? But it's just as a listener. I don't know.

You know, I love LPs. I love 43 minutes. Right. 40 minutes. You're a renaissance hipster. Got it. No, no, no, no. It's just like there's a flow

that I need to get into. There's nothing wrong. But I feel like in the CV era, people really started to make some long as records. I would say normally I would agree with you in this record, just because I've listened to this record a lot from beginning and end. And there's no point where I'm like, oh, this is great, but I don't need this. I know.

It's extending on. I'd say in general, yes, there's too many. It's a very nitpicky thing. Yeah. I like a tight. Because what if you went to a concert and it was an hour and seven minutes long? I love an hour and seven minutes long. Well, why can't this be an hour and seven minutes?

I don't know. I don't know. There's a flow thing. But that could be just my thing, but it is my thing. and I'm going to say that's my overdog on that one. What about, let's talk Apex Mountain. Apex Mountain. Pinnacle Mountain.

What do we call it? If we were stealing Apex Mountain from another bucket. Mount Rushmore, no, Mount Rainier. St. Helens. Mount Everest. Something very high, like high points. What's the top dog? What's the top shelf that occurred on this record outside of what we've already said?

Well, I consider Apex Mountain is like, I think who's having their apex at this point, right? So like, is this the apex for some? someone involved in this project. So is this Roy's Apex? I would say he's recorded, like, for an entire record that is him as a leader. Yes. Commercially, it might be his APEC. Yeah, although I'd have to say Hard Groove, like, RH Factor, Hardroof is, it's different, though.

But if I was pressed to pick one, I would say this is Apex Mountain. Because it's not that he's playing, like, there's live stuff like on the DVD from the New morning, which was from the same year, 2008, and other times, and I remember playing with the New Morning, and he loved playing there. But, like, I've definitely heard Roy play just as good as this, maybe even next level in a way, like, live sometimes stretching out more. But in terms of, like, his sound, I mean, that speak low, the diverse, like, the way this is set up. This is a case to be made that this is Roy's sort of apex moment. You know, commercially, artistically, you could make an argument for your food. You know, he really, like, cemented his

sort of legendary status in the culture with ear food. I mean, before that even, but this really was like... Especially if you look back at his totality of the... The exclamation point on the situation. This is like, oh shit, this guy is like leaving us tunes that are now part of the, like, jam session. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Also, there was a viral video from this. This also came out around the same time that YouTube started, and there was a version of Strasbourg-Denie that was a live version. On the DVD, but someone put it on YouTube. illegally, these bastards. No, thank you for doing that because.

Apex Mountain of jazz videos on YouTube. It was amazing. But that video had millions and millions of views on early YouTube. You can still find. I'll send you a link. Okay, please send you a link. Okay, Apex Mountain. I'm going to go out on a limb.

I'm a big guy and it's a small limb, so support me if needed. Apex Mountain for sound on a jazz record. I think there's a case to be made. I think you can make a very strong case. Like an acoustic jazz album. The impact is for a sound of a jazz album. This is almost as good as it gets. I can't...

I mean, let's think of other great-sounding, like, acoustic albums. You're going to be thinking blue note. You're going to be thinking impulse. You're going to be thinking... Blue note for sure. I'm thinking Now We Sing's Now He Sobs. I think one of my favorite sounding trio albums. Yeah.

You also make a case for any Keith Jarrett, you know... Yeah. Different. Trio stuff. Very different. different sound but also beautiful sound. All the Manfred Iker stuff. There's some, there's some, I'm put a case out for some of the Max Jazz stuff, Peter.

I know this. Oh, absolutely. Kind of a homer pick. No, no, no, that's absolutely. They cared about sound and they did like make sure that everything was legit on point. I think all that stuff or anything we can't even think that we're forgetting, I wouldn't put it above. That's so Apex Mountain. There might be some other people at the top of the mountain with this record, but I'm putting it up there.

Okay. Is it Apex Mountain for, is this the Apex for? pianist playing inside of the piano. Well, it might be. It might be. I mean, in terms of popularity, you know what it is? There's been some more extensive uses of that.

Oh, for sure. But in terms of like what the general suite of piano pieces. In terms of what the general population enjoys, yes. For sure. The overlap between actual success with doing it. I say Gerald Clayton hit the apex mile. That's pretty dang good, man. Is it, it's probably the apex for a number of the players.

This is probably like, No, I'm serious, but like, is this such a... Is this Montez's? It's probably Montez's... I mean, I've heard you play with him. I play with them live some that were probably, I'd put it just because I was there. But he's at his peak right now, you know, when he's at this age playing with who he's playing with doing his thing and this is, I think, for everybody's probably their biggest commercial

success. Like, the one that people will remember them for, for Justin to... Not a grammar winner, though. For Danton. Didn't win a grammar. I don't think so. It's so, it was been so popular. I think the only person you might say it might not be an apex four.

might be Gerald. It's more of his Genesis. It's more of Gerald's like debut to the world stage to like the broader audience. At least it's way it's kind of like shook out. But I would say that like he's had really great moments of his own since then.

Yeah. So could it be the apex mountain for debut side man pianist though? It could be. Well, that's a tough one too. There's so many good ones. This was his first record he was on but it was real early. I can't say I know there was some stuff a little bit. it doesn't count, then it does count.

Well, talking about Genesis, the band or the concept. In order to get to the APEX model. Can we do an invisible touch? Three Sides Live? Album, listen, that'd be great. Strasbourg-Den-Denie as a jam session tune. Was this the genesis of that?

Oh, it has to be. Well, yeah, because this is when it came out. Right. Well, you've been playing it, you know, before. Yeah, I mean, all of these things are, I think, are good to, like, there's cases to be made for all those. It's fun, listen to record. that have Apex.

Let's do some awards. We've got some new awards to give out. I don't know if the audience has noticed, but we've kind of made a shift away from our rating. Okay, we won't even talk about it. Okay, so you ready? No more ratings. We're not rating music.

We are, however, giving out awards. That's a very St. Louis thing that just happened. I could tell you the one thing. There's some expired tags on that car. Okay, the Oscar Peterson overplaying award. I was not for this, by the way. Was anybody? Adam came up with it.

I'm, I stand down. named after one of our favorite musicians of all time, Oscar Peterson, lovingly, Oscar, could play a lot. I think there's no debating that. It's so beautiful. So you're saying you think he overplayed? I think, well, sometimes, yes. I mean, on those, like, L.L. Louis records

where he's basically soloing underneath everything they're doing the entire time, it works somehow. Yeah, it does work. But is there anybody on this album who is overplaying, or is there any overplaying? I actually think that this album is not going to be really applicable to this one. Well, I would say that it seems like there's a lot of overplaying. I would say the album itself is too long. I would say that possibly... It's possible the track listing is overplaying. Oh, maybe

that we should give that award if you did that. I don't agree, but I mean, because I would say there's times, there's a couple solos. I would say Justin Robinson is playing a lot from the beginning. Yeah, yeah. But it's also balanced pretty well with how Roy is playing before or whatever. Same thing with Gerald Clayton. So, yeah, I agree with you. Album length. It would be the overplaying there's sometimes where I think Montess can be really busy. Yeah. But He's so effective dynamically. It's, again, it's like an Oscar thing. So it's not a detracting award at all.

No, because Oscar overplayed beautifully. A fun thing. Actually, you know what? Let's give us to Montez. Because like Oscar Peterson, he played things that would be overplaying in lesser drummer's hands. That's right. But he pulls it off.

He pulls it up. Maybe that's the crux of the award. You overplaying, but able to pull it off. Right. Exactly. What about the John Coltrane theft award? Who steals this record the way that John Coltrane's stole kind of blue.

from everybody else. He 100% sold kind of place. Really? I feel like Cannibal was pretty good on that. Cannibal was great. John Cochran was the greatest. Really? Carl Trayne also stole every record he was ever on. So yeah.

Okay. This is just my opinion. Okay. But John Coltrane was a scene stealer. He was a track steal. He would steal, I mean, so good. Is there anybody here that is going to win this award, Peter? I mean, Danton Bowler, because we didn't see him coming, maybe?

I got to give it to Joe Clayton, though. Gerald Clayton, because he's an upstart. He's on the come up at this point. I mean, look at both of our... That's true. Our solos. Our Jero Clayton's. That's true.

Our banger solos. We're pianists. We are pianists, but he's laying down some thunder here. We can give it to him. All right. Joe Clayton gets the John Coltrane theft award. Are we going to go with the third one?

Do we decide on that? Yeah, the Cecil Taylor taking it out award. Who takes it furthest out? Well... It's got to be Geraldton again. On that solo. On that solo. Yeah.

Actually, that I would say, yeah, It would have to go to Gerald. Yeah. Mr. Clean. Yeah, Gerald Clayne and Mr. Clean. He wins the Cecil Taylor taking out of order. Okay, first call subs. Imagine, now this is a perfect lineup

because they made this perfect piece of art. But what if there were subs on speed dial just in case a plane flight got canceled or someone got pneumonia or something? Who would your first call sub be for some of these fellows? Like, for me, if you were gunned, like, we've already talked about Joe Clayton, he steals this album and is, is, you know, this incredible debut to the greater, broader world. Yeah.

But if he wasn't able to make it, I think you could make a case that Robert Glasper would do a great job with this material. Rob would do great. I mean, you play with Roy right before or after this? But he would on ear food, I think specifically. Oh, he would crush. He would do great. I mean, crush on anything, but he would crush on this. I mean, yeah, I'm thinking any of the pianists that played.

Roy's great bands, Sullivan Fortner. Too young for this, but yes. Well, no, he would have been, no, he's about the same age as. Is he? I know, he's a little bit younger. I always think he's like 28. When I met him, he was 14, he was killing.

So he was already ready. All right, you're right. Jonathan Batiste would have been, he played with him like maybe five years later. That's interesting choice. No, more than that. Yeah, he was in there with Montess for a while. Right.

Yeah, that was the overlap there's an interesting choice. That would be good. That would be good. Mark Kerry. Mark Kerry would be, he would crush this one. Yes. in one of the first great quintess? I agree with that.

You would crush this, too, Pierre. You would crush this one. I come in and try to my thing. This is like in your, if your wheelhouse had a wheelhouse, you would do really well. That's fun to think about, though. What about Thelonius Monk if he was around?

That would be different. Yeah, I don't know about Monk. He would be interesting. It would be interesting. It would be great to hear a monk Roy duo album, actually. What if Roy had to call us, though? You got to call Nick Payton then, right? Nicholas Payton would be the perfect, right?

He would be good. That'd be a great. Could you, I mean, what he would do with this material? Yeah. He didn't, you guys did a tribute thing at one point? Yeah, well, yeah. So Roy died, I believe, 2018. Didn't he make a record together with Winton at one point?

They made a record, I think so. And they did something on Verve, because they were both on there. But after he passed, we did like a week at, in Chicago at jazz showcase with a former band of Roy's, Gregory Hutchinson on drums, Roddy Whitaker on bass. Gregory Hutchinson would be great. Ron Blake, a great sub. Ron Blake would have been a great sub as well. Myself on piano, and then Nicholas played the part of Roy Harger.

And we played all of Roy. I don't know if we did anything from this record. We might have done. We probably did something. We did a bunch of tunes of Roy's and had an amazing week. And Nicholas, actually, I didn't realize until we were playing and hanging that week, how much of a kinship and brotherhood he had through trumpet and through music with Roy and what kind of, you know, sort of separated at birth trumpeters and flugel hornets that they were.

So he would be somebody. Oh, what about on bass? I would love to hear the maestro, Ron Carter. Okay. All these great baselines, and then you imagine him playing on, like, speak low, the ballad? Yeah. Oh, he would. Yeah, I mean, bowlers kind of coming out of a Ron Carter approach to a lot of the grooving stuff, obviously the swing.

For sure. That's fun. Okay, Peter, next category. Uh-oh. Bespoke genre. So someone said, someone said this was listed as Pope Poppob. I don't even really know what that is. Isn't that anything after 1955?

Isn't that like a pretty fraud? acid rock so if you had to if you had to label this a bespoke a bespoke a bespoke genre if you had to make up a genre

for this record in particular it was its own genre what would it be um so I almost think this is like a smooth this is smooth jazz but it's got to be bespoke

so like it's not what most people think of a smooth jazz it's smooth I mean that it's got to peel it's hip oh the smooth jazz hip actually I don't know

Okay, smooth, acoustic, vegan jazz. Vegan, why vegan? Well, because it's good for you. It's actually more soul-fellow people realize. And nourishment, he talked about that in the alternate title. Your food, I like it. I'm going smooth, acoustic, vegan jazz. I'm going post-reel-book groove-bop.

Post-reel-book. Oh, you're just, okay. No, because the Strasbourg's Santanyi is now a standard, post-real-book standard. That's not in the real book? It's not in the real book. Not any real book that I know. Because it's post-reel-reel book.

Post-reel-book, Groove-Bop. Groove-Bop is this nonsense. I like it. I like it. Hot takes. Slash Ramp. Hot takes. Okay.

I was thinking about this a bunch. I've got a number of hot takes, some of which I've revealed already. But are you ready for my number one hot take? What's your hot take? Your number one hot take. Ear food. The album we're celebrating today by Roy Hargrove.

Quintet. Fun fact. This is by, the artist on this is not Roy Hargrove. It's the Roy Hargrove quintet. That's how it's listed on that. Actually, can we put up the album cover? Because that's going to...

We're going to talk about that when we get to our Kuchamals. Let's just take a look. Because I want to confirm what I'm saying is correct. Yes, the Roy Hargrove Quintet. I love that. That's kind of old school. But it's also what the record is. This is not a Roy Hargrove record.

This is a Roy Hargrove quintet record. My hot take is, I think this is the best jazz album of the 21st century. That's a big claim, buddy. Is that a big claim? That's a bold one. Okay. I like it, though.

Do you want a hot take? No, I can't refute. Can I steal one of your, one of your rants, though? Yes. I heard you talking about. Yeah. There are no liner notes in Spotify or Apple Music. I hate that.

That's my all-time rant. That's some bullshit. It's the worst. Roy wrote some beautiful liner notes. I want to read them. Yeah, I have it in my kitchen. I'm going to bring it in tomorrow. Let's talk a Kutraman, though, while we got the album cover up.

The Kutraman. So the thing surrounding the album, the cover, I think is beautiful. So great. It just, it's got. Is it a club? I always thought it was like a school, but it's a club, right? Of course. But he's kind of in the wings.

That was Roy. Like I saw Roy, I mean, like, Roy was always about to play or playing. Like, that was his life. Any photo, too, where you can kind of smell the photo. Yeah.

Like, you can smell what it feels like to be in the wings of a club. Yeah. You're about to go on, and everybody's wearing suits. Like, I know what that smell smells like. You know what I mean? You know what I?

You know, in terms of composition with the coming in there, with the V, it's very well done. He's got his hands on the... And we already talked about some of the other Okuterman, the sound is top-

The track listing is top-notch. Title. Your food is as good as it gets. It's a 10 out of 10 if we were still rating things. The font? The font is pretty gorged. Fontastic. Yeah, a little ahead of its time that font actually.

That's right. Okay, so now Peter, onto a familiar category, but we're gonna re-emphasize it. Snobometer. The what? The snobometer. Snobometer. Snobometer.

Snobometer. On one side of the snobometer is someone that has very little taste in jazz, like my Aunt Linda, who I love dearly, but doesn't love jazz. But like music. Yeah. On the other end of the snobometer is a jazz. It's really hard to say. Does it fall off the tongue for you? Snobometer. Snobometer. Snobometer. Snobometer. On the other side is someone who has a very refined taste in jazz and music. A snobbish palette, perhaps. Someone like Ethan Iverson. By the way, of whom we got a shout out from Ethan on X. I don't even know what to call anymore. Twitter.

Where someone had alerted him that he's part of our stombometer. Yeah. Ethan? Shout out Ethan. It's, I hope you feel as complimented as we mean it to be. Yeah.

I hope we're rapping you too. You are the, you are the icon of someone with great taste. Right. So where does this... And let's just say Ethan is because he's a fantastic musician

and he's a great writer and really kind of a critic, almost you'd say a journalist about the music. I think he's a fantastic writer and journalist about the music. And that's why he's... I don't actually.

know if he's a snob. I don't think he is. The snob has a negative connotation. We mean it in a very flattering way, Ethan, if you're listening. So he's over here, he's got great taste, he's refined, he's heard a million records. Aunt Linda, she likes Kenny G. She's not afraid to, she's not afraid of some vintage soul

music, but she doesn't know a lot about what's going on. Right. So where does this fall? And can it be loved by both? You know, that's kind of which, like, I'll tell you what, Aunt Linda, she would like, I think, Strausberg's Anthony. She I think she would, like, speak low quite a lot.

Yeah. You know what I mean? She would feel like, you know, she'd put it on as she's... Some red wine. She doesn't drink, Aunt Linda, but she's dusting things, you know. Really, is that dusting music? Well, it's like, I'm looking at here. I love to clean when it's raining and, you know, do some house chores or whatever.

So I'm saying. So that would push it towards the snobometer. But I would say Ethan Iverson, like, a real jazz snob is going to love this record, or at least like it because with all the different things that Roy did, all the different genres that he straddled, this is very much, well, it's definitely, I wouldn't say it's not his most straight-ahed record, but it's very acoustic record.

And it's a, you know, some of them, yeah, it's not, it might be in the middle. It might be in the middle. Roy is like the ultimate jazz snob, musician, though, because he was always at Smalls, like he was, you know, he was a great teacher of the music. Like, he was really a stalwart of the jazz community. I think more than most people even realized.

Yeah. Shout out to the great documentary. Did we talk about that already? Yeah, we did. We did good. Yeah. But just to reiterate that, that'll really give you a flavor of all that. I agree.

I think it's in the middle. I think it's wobbling. I think that the snob loves Mr. Clean, but Aunt Linda, she doesn't like it. So, you know, I think it's somewhere in the middle range of the snobometer.

And then it's such a... Track to track it varies. I think for some jazz snobs, they may shave a little bit in Brussels sprouts. It's too clean. It's too clean. And it's also the sound is too pure.

I love that because I think it's not artificial. I don't think it's saccharine at all. It might be too traditional too. You know what I mean? Yeah. But well, they're just playing speak low. I know. As a straight ahead balance.

But the whole, like the way it starts. Yeah. I don't know. I consider myself a jazz knob and I love this record. I just don't think it's the best record of the 21st century. You did say that. I put it out there. Hot take.

Hot take. But a bigger hot take I got for you. Okay. Or a question for you. Yeah. Better. Worse or equal to K-O-B. Kind of blue.

I don't, I don't want to say worse. but I don't think it's better than kind of blue, no. So you think it's the equal? I don't know if it's even the equal. I think I like Kind of Blue a little bit better. I think it's great, but I think Kind of Blue edges it out a little bit.

Okay. Cool. Well, on that note, let's... Should we take it home? Take it on home? Yeah, so we bring it on home? This record... Oh, you know what?

You didn't even notice. I... Underrated? Underrated? Covering a soul song by Sam Cook. There needs to be more of that shit. I know. What a great way to go out. We're going to take it out of here. I think we nailed it.

Oh, we totally nailed. Okay, you look surprised. So this is bringing on home to me. Of course, Sam Cook Classic. I love the way they play this. Roy did this a bunch on gigs. Even thinking back to my brief time playing with him, he was great.

I mean, it's one thing to take a pop tune or a soul tune, R&B tune, a country tune, anything, and be like, let's jazz it up or whatever. But do they play this straight down the middle? They played straight down the middle, but it's with an acoustic jazz. It just works. It's the shizit, as we say.

Thank you, Adam. This was awesome, man. Thank you, Roy Hargrove, RIP, Montez-Colman, RIP. Shout out to producer Caleb over there. Producer Caleb in the house. We're going to press play, and then we're going to bring it on home.

Until next time. You'll hear it.