Bill Evans Archives - JAZZ IMPRESSIONS

Routes: A Jazz Impressions Podcast – Episode 11 (A Mildly Festive Special)

Grab your winter coat and koto, we’re back with a slightly seasonal special! In this episode, we chart floral and festive paths from the library music-inspired serenity of Sven Wunder’s ‘Snowdrops’, to Roland Kirk’s honktacular rendering of ‘We Free Kings’. En route we take in hip-hop, Japanese jazz and even some Christmas music, plus a brief rundown of some of our favourite albums of the year. Stay tuned as we get cooking again in 2024.

You can also find us on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts!

Tracklists below (SPOILERS!)

Routes: A Jazz Impressions Podcast – Episode 8

We’re back! After a busy period of new jobs, new musical projects and new strains of Covid, we reconnect and rejoin the dots between two more of our favourite tracks. In this episode, we pay tribute to the late, great MF Doom, the metal-faced enigma we lost on Halloween 2020. But what connects the supervillain to ‘70s funk supremos the Ohio Players? What’s Cole Porter got to do with Giorgio Moroder? And where does an Anglo-Trakehner stallion fit into all this? Get your Gazzillion Ears round episode 8 to find out.

Find us on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts!

Tracklists below (SPOILERS!)

John Abercrombie – Timeless

‘Changeless’ and ‘endless’ were the defining terms of our last post on virtuoso pianist Keith Jarrett. Continuing this theme, we follow with ‘Timeless’, the beautiful final track on guitarist John Abercrombie’s 1975 album of the same name, which like Jarrett’s Changeless, was also released on ECM and featured Jack DeJohnette on drums.

Pete La Roca – Lazy Afternoon

One of the many attractive qualities of jazz, more than any other musical genre, is how the same song can be interpreted in many different ways. Whether this is Bill Evans and Yusef Lateef offering their personal takes on a classic soundtrack, or Ahmad Jamal and Bobby Hutcherson reworking a Herbie Hancock original, the musical freedom that underpins jazz allows its musicians to constantly reinvent and offer fresh perspectives on popular classics. In his last post, Dan wrote on guitarist Grant Green’s version of the ballad ‘Lazy Afternoon’. Whilst Green’s version is excellent, the definitive version in my opinion of this well known standard is found on drummer Pete La Roca’s album Basra, released in 1965 on Blue Note.

Devadip Carlos Santana – Love Theme From “Spartacus”

Our last post focussed on Santana’s heady fusion offering ‘Going Home’. Now we fast-forward eight years to an underrated gem of the Santana catalogue, his version of Alex North’s ‘Love Theme From “Spartacus”‘ from his 1980 album The Swing Of Delight.

The Ahmad Jamal Trio – Dolphin Dance

Five years after Herbie Hancock set sail with his 1965 masterpiece Maiden Voyage, another great pianist released a masterpiece of his own. That pianist was the influential Ahmad Jamal and the album is The Awakening, released in 1970 on Impulse!, which contains a beautiful version of Hancock’s track ‘Dolphin Dance’.

Bill Evans – Love Theme From Spartacus

I’m doing Spartacus! Specifically the 1963 version by the pianist Bill Evans – not to be confused with the pianist Gil Evans. Top tip: if you want your kid to be a great jazz pianist, name him Phil Evans.

John Coltrane – Impressions

It only seems fitting that the first step on our musical journey begins with a track closely connected to the name of our blog – ‘Impressions’ by the great John Coltrane.