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Showing posts from December, 2011

The Line-Up for 12-30-2011

At long last, it's the Nextbop Best Albums of 2011 episode of The Line-Up. There's not a whole lot more I could say that I haven't said already about these selections. Once again, thanks to the whole Nextbop staff for having such great taste (especially my partner-in-crime, Seb, who I somehow forgot to mention in my closing but want to make sure I try to articulate a mere fraction of the love and appreciation I have for him and all he's done for this site and bringing me on to make something I consider pretty cool) and explaining that taste in your own distinct voices that I love to pick over. Everyone involved in jazz-- musician, critic, and fan alike-- has had what I think is a rather monumental 2011. I feel a lot of great promise for 2012. Ari Hoenig - Higher to Hayastan Radiohead - Bloom Yaron Herman - Heart Shaped Box Vijay Iyer feat. Prasanna and Nitin Mitta - Duality Jonti - Hornets Nest Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - Grandfather's Gun Ambrose Akinmusir

The Line-Up for 12-23-2011

This Christmas Eve Eve, I still haven't been feeling Christmas-y, but I have been feeling list-y. This week's show pulls straight from my personal Best Jazz Albums of 2011 list . Next week's show pulls from Nextbop's full staff Best Jazz Albums of 2011 list. Also, considering this is essentially the radio version of a list I already wrote, please don't be alarmed that I don't have a write-up for each track this week (and likely next week when I do the full Nextbop staff version for next week's Line-Up as well). Ben Williams - Moontrane   Toro y Moi - Intro/Chi-Chi Pilc Moutin Hoenig - Nardis Vijay Iyer feat. Prasanna and Nitin Mitta - Tribal Wisdom Radiohead - Bloom Ben Allison - Some Day We'll All Be Free Somi - Changing Inspiration Jonti - Pássaros Tigran Hamasyan - What the Waves Brought Booker T. Jones - Harlem House Gretchen Parlato - Circling Teebs -  LSP feat. Austin Peralta Thundercat - Fleer Ultra

The Line-Up for 12-16-2011

This week's show has some highlights; for example, I have no words to articulate the amount of glee I feel about this week's soul set. I'm particularly happy playing new music that I just got. There are times when I put together a show and want to keep the mp3 file archived for the sake of awesomeness later. This feels like it's going to be one of those shows. Le Bouef Brothers - Fire Dancing Dreams I don't know how it came to me to play this at the top of the hour. The rest of the show seemed to come together with so much coolness and energy that I went against type, usually playing a tamer track to ease the show in, and went with something a little more out there while still palatable. This fit the bill. Nujabes - Arurian Dance BADBADNOTGOOD - Rotten Decay I know I have a tendency of playing just about everything this group releases, but I couldn't pass this track up just because they've finally made the momentous benchmark of releasing an original

The Line-Up for 12-9-2011

This show felt sort of weird. I'd put a couple tracks together and wander off until a new idea came to me. I didn't have anything prepared in advance, everything just sort of came together in its own time. Even the few computer selections had their own special part in this week's Line-Up. Austin Peralta - Ode to Love The computer picked this one but I knew I'd have to include it because it's around that time to start mulling over what are the best albums of the year. Peralta's Endless Planets  is one of those releases that's getting a little of that mulling. Toro Y Moi - Intro/Chi-Chi Shane Endsley and the Music Band - Big I wanted to play some Endsley this week. I didn't have a special reason, it just felt like it was time. This is actually one of one two folks I knew I wanted to play this week in advance, that's how much I knew it was time. Fabian Almazan Trio - The Vicarious Life I mean it when I say that I really like Almazan's Person

The Line-Up for 12-2-2011

Now that I've had the chance to process new music that has come in, I'm glad that I'm able to play some new stuff. Takuya Kuroda - Skyrocket I'm impressed with how much Kuroda has progressed from last year's Bitter and High  to this year's Edge . He's learned to add some swing and it really helps his work. MF DOOM - Arrow Root Gerald Clayton - Snake Bite Congrats to Clayton for his Grammy nomination for Bond: The Paris Sessions . It's quite well deserved. Miguel Zenón - Tiemblas I've wanted to play this on the show for a while but I just haven't had the chance to get this track into the system. Now I have and I'm really glad I'm able to play this now Grammy nominated track. Francisco Mela & Cuban Safari - Yadan Mela feat. Esperanza Spalding Everything about Mela's Tree of Life is just grabbing, isn't it? Washed Out - Feel It All Around Stanley Cowell - Travelin' Man Every now and then, I take some inspiration