This Week: Under the Covers

This article is cross-posted from the Miles to Go Before I Sleep blog...

This week on Miles to Go Before I Sleep, I invited my listeners to join me under the covers - that is to say, I broadcast jazz covers of non-jazz songs, originally laid down by artists from Simon & Garfunkel to Nirvana to Rihanna. Several listeners called in requests, and I was joined in the studio by Rachel Walsh, who (after some coaxing) made her on-air debut. Also, I featured Paris Troika, an up-and-coming jazz trio which primarily covers rock songs in a rambunctious and infectious jazz style. I encourage everyone to check out their eponymous debut album. Here's a look at what tunes I played this week:

1. Don't Stop the Music - Jamie Cullum
2. Barracuda - The Bad Plus
3. Space Oddity - Paris Troika
4. Ziggy Stardust - Seu Jorge
5. Le Vieux Piano - Edith Piaf
6. Modal Mood - Dexter Gordon
7. White Christmas - Charlie Parker
8. Greensleeves - John Coltrane
9. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bill Evans
10. Layla - Paris Troika
11. Mrs. Robinson - Booker T. & The MG's
12. Somewhere - Tom Waits
13. Gone Daddy Gone - Gnarls Barkley
14. Smells Like Teen Spirit - The Bad Plus
15. Uptight (Everything's All Right) - Buddy Rich
16. In the Hall of the Mountain King - The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra
17. Pavanne - The Ahmad Jamal Trio
18. Hoe-Down - Oliver Nelson
19. Wind Cries Mary - Jamie Cullum
20. Purple Haze - Paris Troika
21. When You Wish Upon a Star - Bill Evans
22. Someday My Prince Will Come - The Bill Evans Trio
23. When I Fall in Love - Miles Davis

Talk-over music this week came courtesy of The Beatles, The Vince Guaraldi Trio, The Ahmad Jamal Trio, Curtis Mayfield, The Bad Plus, Booker T. & the MG's, Lee Konitz w/ The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

As per usual, for a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!

This Week: Davis Comes Alive!

This article is cross-posted from the Miles to Go Before I Sleep blog...

This week on Miles to Go Before I Sleep, I explored the world of live recordings from some of the best ever to play at some of the world's most famous jazz venues, such as The Blue Note, Carnegie Hall, and The Village Vanguard (pictured left). And in the spirit of improvising on the fly, Miles to Go was flooded with requests - both online and over the phone - and a flurry of visitors. Lessons learned this evening include: 1. There is always time for listener-requested music; 2. There is no such thing as a short live jazz recording - take, for example, Coltrane's My Favorite Things, which I cut off a third of the way through its 20-minute runtime; and 3. Three Musketeers nougat sandwiched between a pair of Animal Crackers makes a decent snack.  (Seriously, I wasn't kidding when I said the show operated on the fly this evening!). That said, we still managed to saturate the airwaves with some pretty catchy tunes:

1. Filthy MacNasty [Live at The Village Gate] - Horace Silver
2. Split Kick [Live at Birdland] - The Art Blakey Quintet
3. Machine [Live from King Street, San Francisco] - Buddy Rich
4. In the Hall of the Mountain King [Live from Folly Theatre] - The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra
5. Tank! [Live] - Yoko Kanno & The SeatBelts
6. My Funny Valentine [Live] - The Miles Davis Quintet
7. Gloria's Step [Take 2, Live from The Village Vanguard] - Bill Evans
8. When I Fall in Love [Live at The Blue Note] - Keith Jarrett
9. Autumn Leaves [Live at The Alhambra] - The Ahmad Jamal Trio
10. Black Dog/Helter Skelter [Live from The Blue Note] - Paris Troika
11. A Night in Tunisia [Live] - The Modern Jazz Quartet
12. Cast Your Fate to the Wind [Live] - The Vince Guaraldi Trio
13. Take Five [Live at Carnegie Hall] - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
14. The Girl from Addis Ababa [Live] - Mulatu Astatke & The Ethiopian Quintet
15. Big P [Live at The Lighthouse] - Cannonball Adderly
16. I've Grown Accustomed to YourFace [Live from Birdland] - Sonny Rollins
17. Slow Boat to China [Live from The Savoy] - Charlie Parker
18. My Favorite Things [Live at The Village Vanguard] - John Coltrane
19. So What [Take 1, Live] - Miles Davis & John Coltrane

Talk-over music came courtesy of Mulatu Astatke, Paul Desmond, David Holmes, The Crimson Jazz Trio, The Swingle Sisters, Yoko Kanno and the SeatBelts, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

As per usual, for a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!

This Week: What we're all about...

This article is cross-posted from the Miles to Go Before I Sleep blog...

Welcome, all you gone cats and hep kittens, to the companion blog for Miles to Go Before I Sleep on WKCO! If you tuned in for our premiere episode this evening, thanks for listening and calling/writing in with many great requests! If not, I suppose I can forgive you, but you don't know what you're missing. That said, here's a look at what I spun tonight:

1. Midnight Lullaby - Tom Waits
2. Chubb Sub - Medeski, Martin & Wood
3. Take Five [Live from Carnegie Hall] - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4. Emily - Bill Evans
5. Use Me - Bill Withers
6. Summertime - Miles Davis
7. Bye Bye Blackbird - Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins
8. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - The Bad Plus
9. Changes - Seu Jorge
10. Light My Fire [Live from the Blue Note] - Paris Troika
11. II BS - Charles Mingus
12. Baby Grand - Billy Joel feat. Ray Charles
13. Cantina Band - John Williams
14. Summertime/Burma Shave [Live from Austin City Limits] - Tom Waits
15. Yègellé Tezeta - Mulatu Astatke
16. KC Blues - Charlie Parker
17. Farewell Blues - The New York Musicians
18. Breakin' the Chains of Love - Fitz & The Tantrums
19. Saturday Night Church - Tuatura
20. Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers
21. Nutville - Buddy Rich
22. Blue in Green - Miles Davis

Talk-over music came tonight from Air; Booker T. and the MG's; Medeski, Martin & Wood; Mulatu Astatke; and Yoko Kanno & The Seat Belts. 

For a rundown of the Miles to Go playlist each week, keep your browsers here, and for the best jazz et al. around, keep your radios (or your iTunes) tuned to WKCO 91.9 FM!