Anthony Dean-Harris

Yes, it's Friday the 13th but I'm not the superstition sort so this week's show is just as awesome as you would expect it to be. This week is focused initially on everything from the Newport Jazz Festival (many of the sets are available at NPR ), but then things just splintered out to a grab bag of all sorts of great stuff. Give it a listen... Esperanza Spalding - Inútil Paisagem I didn't want to be the last person on earth to play Esperanza Spalding's latest album (still streamable in its entirety at NPR First Listen for the week) but she wasn't at Newport this year, so I had to find some way to play her while still adhering to the initial theme of this week's show. Fortunately, Gretchen Parlato shares this track and she had a great set last weekend. Fly - Super Sister It is amazing how more and more Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, and Jeff Ballard make their own accolades. Listening to them live should be proof of that. Darcy James Argue's Secr...

Yet another show put together for you to enjoy. This one was mostly a "Retro combs through the KRTU library" episodem I hope you enjoy. Joe Lovano & Hank Jones - Six and Four With Hank Jones' passing this past week, I knew I wanted to play something of this tonight. Nextbop posted an interview he did with us and mentioned working with Joe Lovano on a couple of projects so I knew just what to look for. J Dilla - Oblighetto Imagine my surprise to look through the categories and see a J Dilla track. Seeing his name meant mandatory airplay. Brad Mehldau - Dropjes Recently, JD asked me to record a quick promo and asked me if I had any song in mind to play in the background. While I was thinking, JJ chimed in and said, "Something from Brad Mehldau!" Theses people know me too well. Weather Report - Teen Town I've been seriously craving some Weather Report lately. Dafnis Prieto - Taking the Soul for a Walk The computer picked this. I don't mind. ...

I don't have much to say tonight about the show. Much of it was computer selected but it's still pretty good. Others were just randomly brought to mind because of one thing or another. As always, please read my latest post at Nextbop about how jazz music is really all around us. On a related note, Janelle Monáe just release a couple new tracks that'll appear on her latest album this coming May. "Tightrope" sort of falls in that same aforementioned ideology. The horns really are quite dynamic. Give Monáe a listen and support her. She's already on the cusp of blowing up. You won't be able to say, "I heard her first." That's already claimed by folks who went to school in the AUC if you wanted that blipster cred, but  her music can still most certainly be appreciated and she only continues to grow as a musician. But that's on a whole other note. Tonight's Line-Up includes... Miguel Zenon - Oyelo The computer selected this one bu...