Tune in Saturday January 7 from 1-2 PM as Houston musician Chase Hamblin joins us in-studio to preview the 8th annual BowiElvis Fest! Not only that, we will be giving away a pair of tickets to the festival on-air. WHAT!?! We'll have a ramblin time with Chase Hamblin as we celebrate the joint birthday of the icons David Bowie & Elvis Presley. The festival takes place Saturday January 7 starting at 7 PM at The Continental Club. Presented by Splice Records and Saint Arnold Brewing Company.
The avant-garde/Third Stream legend, whose name has been well known in jazz circles since the mid-50's, will be performing this Saturday, January 7 at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House, at 1318 West 26th St, HTX. Doors open at 4:30pm. Concert begins at 5pm (on time) in order to coincide with the sunset and James Turrell's Skyspace. Admission is FREE. For more info visit Nameless Sound here.
Sunday Jazz Show DJ Achim will be there and he is VERY excited. He would not miss it.
Some background from Wikipedia, with musical/visual aids from your friends at KTRU Sunday Jazz:
"Beginning in the late 1950s, Blake was part of a duo with vocalist Jeanne Lee. Together they recorded his first album The Newest Sound Around, which was released on RCA in 1962...The album shows Blake's signature style beginning to develop, as they paid homage to Blake's early influences with a tribute to David Raksin's "Laura" and a reworking of the gospel standard, "The Church on Russell Street"." (wikipedia)
"Blake met Gunther Schuller in a chance encounter at Atlantic Records in 1959. Recognizing Blake's talent, Schuller asked him to study at the School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Blake met jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Mary Lou Williams during a performance at The Composer, a New York nightclub. She later became a mentor and a significant influence on his work. During his time as a student at Bard, Blake often traveled to see Williams perform and to take lessons from her. Later, Williams and Blake worked together while she was a visiting faculty member at the School of Jazz." (wikipedia)
"In 1966, Blake released his first record as a soloist, Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano, on New York-based label ESP Disk.
In 1967, Schuller, president of the New England Conservatory, recruited Blake to fill a faculty position as the Conservatory's Community Services Director. In this position, Blake was responsible for putting on concerts in prisons, retirement homes, and community centers. Blake remained in this role until 1973, when he took on the chairmanship of the new Third Stream Department (now Contemporary Improvisation) at the New England Conservatory, an initiative he started with Schuller.
Schuller coined the phrase "Third Stream" in 1957 during a talk at Brandeis University. According to Schuller, Third Stream is "a new genre of music located about halfway between jazz and classical music". This new genre was created, in Schuller's opinion, to combat purists in both the jazz world and the classical world: to play Third Stream music, one had to be proficient in both. When Schuller met Blake, two years after creating Third Stream, Blake's blend of influences, from free form jazz and gospel music to classical composition and film noir soundtracks, appealed to him. When the two of them created the new department at the NEC, it was natural that Blake would be the chairman. He remained in that position until 2005. He is still a faculty member at the New England Conservatory.
Musicians Don Byron, Matthew Shipp, John Medeski, Grayson Hugh and Yitzhak Yedid have studied with Blake at NEC. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition in 1982, and a MacArthur Genius Grant six years later. At the NEC, he teaches composition classes, as well as a seminar on performance and a special class on film noir, his earliest inspiration.
He has collaborated with a number of other musicians, including Jaki Byard, Houston Person, Steve Lacy, Clifford Jordan and Christine Correa." (Wikipedia)
Hope to see you there!
Be sure to tune in on Sunday.
KTRU Sunday Jazz airs every Sunday, from 2 to 7 p.m. central, on 96.1 FM Houston and live online at ktru.org.
1 - kishi bashi - sonderlust - joyful noise 2 - macula dog - why do you look like your dog - wharf cat 3 - warpaint - heads up - rough trade 4 - green, thom sonny - high anxiety - infectious 5 - jambinai - hermitage - bella union 6 - chain wallet - chain wallet - jansen 7 - carl sagan's skate shoes - s/t - super secret 8 - allah las - calico review - mexican summer 9 - frog hair - a long list of shortcomings - liplock records 10 - lady wray - queen alone - big crown 11 - children of pop - what does 69 mean? - #veryjazzed 12 - lvl-up - return to love - sub pop 13 - haku - na mela aka - em records 14 - sts9 - the universe inside - 1320 records 15 - local natives - sunlit youth - loma vista 16 - mcmorrow, james vincent - we move - caroline 17 - merchandise - a corpse wired for sound - 4ad 18 - falana, shana - here comes the wave - team love 19 - s u r v i v e - rr7349 - relapse records 20 - maita, luisa - fio da memoria - cumbancha 21 - colonial blue - dear misery - s/r 22 - the olympians - s/t - daptone 23 - cameron, alex - jumping the shark - secretly canadian 24 - votaries - psychometry - wharf cat records 25 - lemon twigs, the - do hollywood - 4ad 26 - hector ward & the big time - evolution: live at the saxon pub - s/r 27 - american football - s/t - polyvinyl 28 - twink - dust bunny - disques de lapin 29 - story, dexter - wondem - soundway records 30 - strfkr - being no one, going nowhere - polyvinyl 31 - acid arab - musique de france - crammed discs 32 - ancient sky - all get out - wharf cat 33 - bell, caretta - ephphatha - coy records 34 - purling hiss - high bias - drag city 35 - russian tsarlag - unexplained american goat lp - wharf cat records
Tune in Tuesday, January 3rd from 5-7 PM as local photographer, music lover, and taco aficionado Marco Torres joins in-studio to talk on all these topics and more. AND HE WILL BE GIVING AWAY A COPY OF "THE TACOS OF TEXAS", which he did extensive work on. TACOS 4 LIIIIFFFFEEEEE.
Ever wonder what all the number one albums of our Top 35 were this year? Here they are alphabetically in its entirety for you to explore. No commentary provided by us so you can think yourself.
The Avalanches- Wildflower- Modular Recordings Baroness- Purple- Abraxan Hymns Andrew Bird- Are You Serious? - Loma Vista Computer Magic- Davos- Channel 9 Records Deerhoof- The Magic - Polyvinyl Kishi Bashi- Sonderlust- joyful noise The Moonlandingz- Expanded EP- Chimera Prince Rama- Xtreme Now- Carpark Radiohead- A Moon Shaped Pool - XL Recordings Santigold- 99 Cents- Atlantic Tacocat- Lost Time - Hardly Art Various Artists- Hyperdub 10.2- Hyperdub
1 - kishi bashi - sonderlust - joyful noise 2 - macula dog - why do you look like your dog - wharf cat 3 - psychic twin - strange diary - polyvinyl 4 - warpaint - heads up - rough trade 5 - green, thom sonny - high anxiety - infectious 6 - jambinai - hermitage - bella union 7 - carl sagan's skate shoes - s/t - super secret 8 - chain wallet - chain wallet - jansen 9 - allah las - calico review - mexican summer 10 - nots - cosmetic - goner 11 - lady wray - queen alone - big crown 12 - frog hair - a long list of shortcomings - liplock records 13 - children of pop - what does 69 mean? - #veryjazzed 14 - haku - na mela aka - em records 15 - lvl-up - return to love - sub pop 16 - sts9 - the universe inside - 1320 records 17 - local natives - sunlit youth - loma vista 18 - mcmorrow, james vincent - we move - caroline 19 - merchandise - a corpse wired for sound - 4ad 20 - falana, shana - here comes the wave - team love 21 - s u r v i v e - rr7349 - relapse records 22 - colonial blue - dear misery - s/r 23 - the olympians - s/t - daptone 24 - maita, luisa - fio da memoria - cumbancha 25 - cameron, alex - jumping the shark - secretly canadian 26 - votaries - psychometry - wharf cat records 27 - lemon twigs, the - do hollywood - 4ad 28 - hector ward & the big time - evolution: live at the saxon pub - s/r 29 - twink - dust bunny - disques de lapin 30 - american football - s/t - polyvinyl 31 - ancient sky - all get out - wharf cat 32 - strfkr - being no one, going nowhere - polyvinyl 33 - bell, caretta - ephphatha - coy records 34 - acid arab - musique de france - crammed discs 35 - okkervil river - away - ato
Tune in Tuesday December 27 from 5-7 PM for a local spectacular showcase of Giant Kitty and The Infamous Ches of Space Villains* . They are some of the acts of the "F 2016" New Years Eve Party at House of Blues put on by Roologic Records. You will also have a chance to win a pair of tickets to the soiree! GET IT!
This past weekend (Dec. 17-18, 2016) was the second incarnation of Day For Night in our great city of Houston. What follows is solely this humble DJ's takeaway from the festival. Upon arriving for the VIP Friday night to get a lay of the land, the building choice was delightfully odd for a music festival. Walking inside the post-office building brought feelings of old school raves in abandoned warehouses. And when the freezing hell came through, the inside warmth was a huge relief. The wide variety of multi-media experiences was spectacular, from lights to fur and the crown jewel of Bjork Digital. I will not delve into details of Bjork Digital the exhibit to keep it fresh for people yet to experience. What I can say is that the virtual reality experience was a full body experience worth waiting for.
Saturday there could not have been a better kick off than Welcome To Houston. The fact that members of the collective, such as Paul Wall, were at the merch table ready to make photo and autograph dreams come true was admirable. Blood Orange brought the sexy, Daughters had the bashing, Oneohtrix Point Never had the strange, Odesza the dancing, any flavor of music was at your disposal (JOHN CARPENTER ANYONE?!?!). The grand daddy though was Aphex Twin, with his first show in the United States since Coachella 2008 (where he had a 500 limited pressed 12 inch that collectors are going bonkers over). The drastic cold drop and rain wasn't enough to quell the dancers for this god of electronic music. The visuals also had an incredible local flair, with Aphex Twin providing his visual quirkiness on the Houston Texans, Mayor Turner, and other politicians. The sickness I am recovering from that night was certainly well worth it.
Sunday there were many performances worth catching (Ariel Pink, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Lightning Bolt, Sqaurepusher, RZA, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Butthole Surfers, Sophie, Bjork, and Houstonian Travis Scott). Yet personally one performance stood out above the rest, jazz legend in the making Kamasi Washington. When the lineup was initially announced, noticing Thundercat and Kamasi Washington on the bill I was curious if they would play with each other (Them Changes anyone?!?). Thundercat played during Kamasi's set in its entirety to the delight of music fans everywhere. His bass solos were out of this world, certainly looking forward to his return to Houston at Warehouse Live in March 2017.
What can I say about the worth of Day For Night? OF COURSE IT'S WORTH IT. You don't have to take my word on it, there are countless articles that echo the sentiment from publications large and small. For those saying it was too expensive, volunteer opportunities existed to attend. The art installations has inspired future artists and the solid turn out on the Yellow stage for regional artists has inspired musicians to push themselves further. Hell, I need to get my performance chops back up to snuff. Day For Night 2017 I'm coming for ya!
