Recently in Jazz Category

Have you seen the HBO show Treme? It does something that no other fictional TV show has done before -- it captures how music can enrich, enhance and give special meaning to life.

The show's setting, Tremé, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in New Orleans, the epicenter of American popular music, and therefore, global pop. It has long been a center for the city’s brass band tradition and a breeding ground for jazz musicians. The co-creators of Treme, David Simon (who is famous for using Baltimore as a setting in The Wire and Homicide: Life On The Streets) and New Orleans resident Eric Overmyer, concentrate on flavor, atmosphere and setting as much as they do on the narrative. The stories come out organically from this sense of place, which in turn affects the music the characters create and listen to. These are people who have decided to make their lives harder because they love New Orleans -- and music -- so much.

The show wisely casts local musical giants such as Dr. John, Donald Harrison, Jr. and the ever-dapper Allen Toussaint, though Kermit Ruffins, one of the founders of the Rebirth Brass Band, is the breakout personality of the bunch. We'll likely be seeing more of him on TV and film.

Many Rhapsody members seem to be taken with Treme; people like STGB are creating playlists filled with the fantastic, life-affirming songs heard on each episode. So I’ve picked out a few select albums from artists who are featured in the show (I assume that your Louis Armstrong hutch is all stocked, buffed to a shiny glow and set to follow you up into heaven). Professor Longhair is long departed but his influence will never end, while Trombone Shorty is a young star-in-the-making.

Palmetto Records has been carrying the torch for forward-thinking modern jazz since 1990. With an indie spirit and a refusal to be pigeonholed, founder and producer Matt Balitsaris is serving to extend the vernacular of post-bop, avant garde and other jazz-inspired sounds. Artists/composers such as bassist Ben Allison, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, pianist Fred Hersch, saxophonist Ted Nash and drummer Bobby Previte round out a roster that is as varied as it is virtuosic and important to the continued growth of independent jazz.

Download eight free tracks from some of Palmetto's all-star players -- with no strings attached -- including Will Bernard, Javon Jackson, Frank Kimbrough, Kate McGarry and more.

Clink link below to download a zipped file of MP3s.

AMC's Mad Men is a show that people either love, hate or have never watched. We love it over here at Rhapsody's "all things 1950s and '60s" desk, and we even put together a playlist of songs from the show's first season, which was its most musically rich (so far). There are actually a couple of modern numbers mixed in here (including the show's theme song by RJD2), though mainly the playlist gives you a good idea of the E-Z listening jazz and pop that was a vital part of the early 1960s.

Play the Mad Men playlist now  and be sure to sign up for your free Rhapsody trial membership today.  

It is hard to think of one person who has shaped so much of popular music, in so many different ways, as the legendary Les Paul.

Since music was so central to Paul's life, we thought nothing would be more appropriate than a playlist of the great man's music to play as you read on.

Les Paul played beautiful guitar that influenced jazz, country, EZ listening, electronic experimentation and rock ’n’ roll. He invented the solid-bodied electric guitar (a massive seller, the Les Paul Gibson is still favored by many famous guitarists like Jimmy Page). Paul also helped create many modern recording techniques (including multi-tracking). He led a weekly television series with his wife Mary Ford (with whom he had dozens of hit singles) for most of the 1950s. When he shattered his arm in an accident, Paul had the nearly immovable limb set in the “guitar playing” position so he could still perform. He won two Grammys at age 90 -- for new material. Wow. Les Paul ruled!

Beloved by fans and (especially by) his fellow musicians, Les Paul played a weekly club gig until he passed away at age 94. If you need a life to serve as an example, you may want to ask yourself, “What would Les Paul do?”

Welcome back to Frank's World, where I get to bore complete strangers by waxing rhapsodic about the vast Sinatra universe.

There have been some news items up recently about Apollo 11 landing on the moon 40 years ago. Probably not enough headlines -- we could all use some good news right now, even about something that America did four decades ago. We could use some good music now, too. Sinatra fan and all-around man's man Buzz Aldrin played Frank Sinatra and Count Basie's stellar version of "Fly Me to the Moon" on the actual trip to the moon. The Apollo 10 astronauts also played the song when they orbited the moon. Bottom line: astronauts, like jazz musicians, dug Sinatra.

The tune can also serve to show how special Sinatra's knack was for bringing his own style and musicality to his material. The English composer Bart Howard wrote the number in the '50s, and it was recorded by a number of vocalists. Everyone from Nat "King" Cole to Peggy Lee, Bobby Darin and Annie Ross cut readings of it (here's June Christy's version).

Here's the difference: everyone before Sinatra's definitive recording sang the tune the way the composer conceived it -- as a very sincere and kind of drippy love song. On the surface, Sinatra changed the ballad into a romantic swinger. But, he also changed the entire approach of the lyrics and the entire feel of the song.

Everybody else sang "Fly Me to the Moon" like it was about the dreamy way you feel when you're really falling in love. With Sinatra, the song becomes about the ridiculously great way you feel when you fall for somebody -- it's so good, in fact, that maybe it's not even real. Whatever happens, enjoy the ride while it lasts -- which in this case is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

And Sinatra is perfectly in synch with Quincy Jones' sublime arrangement and the Basie Band's euphoric playing. Everything comes together on this one. Can you imagine actually flying to the moon while listening to a song that makes you feel like you're flying to the moon?

To listen to these songs and thousands more by Sinatra, Basie, Q and their pals, go directly to Frank's World, my superlative Rhapsody Radio station.  

Welcome back to Frank's World, where I get to bore complete strangers by waxing rhapsodic about the vast Sinatra universe.

It also looks like I sometimes get to anger some of Frank's legion of fans. When I stated that I preferred the thin, well-coiffed Democratic to the old-fat-bald-Republican I received the following note from a reader:

"I saw Frank live as an fat old bald guy and he was brilliant. I was feeling apolitical at the time so maybe I caught a break."

Now, I was probably too young  to see Sinatra in concert. But this guy tells the truth -- the OldFatBaldGuy could still bring it in concert. I have a mess of official releases and a furlong of bootlegs to prove this. The 1970s, '80s and (especially) the '90s could kind of be heartbreaking for Sinatra. When he was on fire in concert, I wish he would've just run into the studio with a casual jazz combo and cut an album. When his voice is in tatters, it's like watching an aging Muhammed Ali try and hold it together in the ring (and that's if Ali was smoking and drinking and staying up all night and then dragging himself to the ring to box all over again). But, overall, Sinatra was a masterful performer.

I just wish he went into the studio more when he was on fire like this.

Welcome back to Frank's World, where I get to bore complete strangers by waxing rhapsodic about the vast Sinatra universe.

Sinatra was in the middle of a protractive career nosedive when he started recording for the artist-owned indie Capitol Records in 1953. His first single for the label did O.K. but it failed to dazzle. It was his second Capitol single, "I've Got the World on a String," that truly gave him a new voice, a new sound and a new attitude.

The new voice came from the fact that an overbooked Sinatra sang so much that he hemorrhaged from the throat (I'd like to see Celine Dion try that. Really, I would) and lost his voice for awhile. When he got it back it sounded rougher, deeper and darker.

The new sound came with help from the great arranger Nelson Riddle (more on him in a later post).

Sinatra was also now hitting up rhythm tunes as often as ballads. "String," a wonderful Harold Arlen song, was recorded a few times before Sinatra covered it, most notably by Louis Armstrong.

To listen to Frank's early Capitol singles, check out This Is Sinatra!, which has just been reissued in the digital age for the first time. Or, better yet, check out literally thousands of songs by Sinatra and his friends on Frank's World, my superlative Rhapsody Radio station. 

Welcome to Frank's World, where I get to bore complete strangers by waxing rhapsodic about the vast Sinatra universe.

That means you'll get to hear acres of superalitve tunes and dig into the work of some of Frank's favorite vocalists, songwriters and jazz musicians.

And, just so you don't confuse me with the great, sadly departed Bruno Kirby in Spinal Tap, I can say negative things about Sinatra, too.

For instance, like my mother, I prefer the skinny Democrat to the fat, bald Republican. 

Also, I can safely live another 1,000 years and never hear either "Strangers in the Night" or "My Way" again.

But take "Strangers." At least Sinatra built a nifty little jazz album around what was just a cheesy hit. Here's my Rhapsody album review of Strangers in the Night:

The title track was an era-defining description of how the sexual revolution was actually started by confused, recently divorced parents rather than their hippie offspring. Sinatra tired of the tune quickly, so he grabbed Nelson Riddle and built a quality album around the hit. Here, Riddle and Sinatra are in Count Basie mode, with a jazzy organ fronting a sleek big band. "Summer Wind" and "All or Nothing At All" are heralded classics, though the wondrous "On a Clear Day" may be the single most underrated tune in the entire Sinatra songbook.

"On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" clues you in to the fact that adults were taking their shoes off, walking on the grass (and perhaps smoking it too) way before rock music came of age or the hippies showed up and stopped taking showers.

The tension created by Sinatra's voice and the band in this one is incredible.

It reminds me of the dreamy way that Count Basie handled a ballad like "Li'l' Darlin'." "Summer Wind" takes this approach, too. Sinatra was always listening and learning even as he was loving and losing. 

To listen to these Sinatra songs and literally thousands more like them check out my Rhapsody radio station Frank's World.