Anthony Dean-Harris

So what if you can't be in New York City or Montreal for the really great jazz festivals going on this weekend. I'll bring the festival to you. Ben Williams - Moontrane Just another friendly reminder that State of Art is still up for streaming over at Nextbop until its release date this coming Tuesday. Gerald Clayton - If I Were A Bell This man is everywhere lately, isn't he? First, He hit up Atlanta and now he's playing Undead? Insane. Dave King Trucking Company - Payphones I had seen that Dave King's new band was playing the Undead Jazz Festival but the moment I got to the station today, my music director was sure to put this album, Good Old Light , in front of me to make sure I could put it in front of you. Tarbaby - Jena 6 Hank Shteamer wrote quite glowingly about Tarbaby's appearance at the Undead Jazz Fest, which made me think maybe I, too, should give The End of Fear another listen. Maybe we all should. Ari Hoenig - Anthropology I neede...

As much as I wasn't feeling the groove of putting last week's show together, I felt almost the opposite of picking this week's Line-Up. I had no pre-prepared Post-it Note of selections, I just had a soul set in mind and a few folks I knew I wanted to get back to playing. I feel it worked out pretty well. JAMES Farm - Unravel Some people get out of rotation in my show for a few weeks for the sake of variety, that way, I can ask "Hey, when's the last time I played some _____?" That's what happened here. Ben Allison - Some Day We'll All Be Free I haven't put together a ranked list of the best albums of the year so far (I'll be lazy and won't make a list until November or so) but Allison's Action-Refraction is certainly in consideration. Portico Quartet- Clipper Portico is one of those groups that needs time to breathe. I've been getting into them again lately. Some music rejoins us in their proper seasons. Gretchen Parlato - C...

I'm honestly going to try to keep this thing updated with works I've published on a weekly basis, especially since I have now added a second semi-regular avenue for my voice, SunDryed Affairs . I should hopefully be chiming in here weekly to post what new words I have scattered about the internet. Last week's Nextbop column hearkens back to the same classicist/modernist jazz argument that sparks up from time to time. I'm going to put this out plainly. I am tired of having this argument. I know that by mentioning it here, I'm part of the problem by even acknowledging it. But I also know that we can't move forward if we have all this infighting holding us back. When an angry old man starts spouting off at the mouth, we need to follow the late Sidney Lumet's example in Twelve Angry Men and start turning away en masse. There will be times like these when we can let talk like this still hold us down, but we need to move forward and make strides to embrace dif...

It was a grind putting this week's Line-Up together but all's well that ends well, eh? I'm not even sure if it's a great episode. I've got doubts. I don't like the combinations. But these shows work out well anyway. Corea, Clark & White - Captain Marvel I like that this group is still getting together and making good work. I'll never shy away from playing stuff like this, no matter how old they get. That just means they're growing even more chops. Madlib - Stormy Whenever I'm stuck putting a playlist together, I know I can never go wrong with Madlib, especially with Shades of Blue . Gerald Clayton - Snake Bite I revisit this album a lot lately, don't I? Well, it's good. Béla Fleck and the Flecktones - Life in Eleven I am most impressed with this album and its amalgamation of styles. Rocket Science is a quality album. Jeff Lederer - Snake in the Blackberry Patch One of the advantages of being at a radio station is that there a...

It's times like these when I'm playing music new and old that many folks probably haven't heard before or probably not for a while that I feel like I'm a good DJ. This is a good DJ show. Grand Pianoramax - Infidel Shout out to Leo Tardin who is celebrating his birthday today. Or is that last week? Man, Facebook is confusing. JD Allen Trio - Mr. Steepy This is a new one and deserves play. Ben Williams - Moontrane Williams' debut album is pretty nice. I'm looking forward to playing more of it soon. Stefon Harris , David Sanchez, & Christan Scott - Ñengueleru We've been waiting for this album and we've finally gotten our hands on a (scratched, unfortunately) copy. Still, due to some weird happenstance with the record label and things of that ilk, I'm just playing the free track that's already available. You may have heard about it. Rachelle Ferrell - Why You Wanna Mess It All Up? For me to have had a show this long and to have not ...

I know that I haven't been altogether diligent here with noting past published works but I wanted to post once more about a project that I have been working on with Kyla Marshell entitled SunDryed Affairs . We have at long last launched and we're very happy to be up and running. This online magazine will feature different voices of color and we're still very much open to submissions. Feel free to submit essays, inquiries, and other assorted pieces to anthonydeanharris@sundryedaffairs.com. We'll be glad to welcome you into our collective. In the meantime, head to SunDryed Affairs and get an eyeful of our different pieces. We shall constantly endeavor to be an interesting read for you every week.