Anthony Dean-Harris

Another week, another Line-Up. This week's show sort of felt like pulling teeth, largely because I didn't have a particular theme or focus. Still, I felt like the show turned out alright. Christian Scott - K.K.P.D. Yet another song that showed up on The Line-Up because it showed up on my commute. Plus, I haven't played this song on the air in a while. I figured it would be a good idea to start this week's show off with a bang. Roy Hargrove Big Band - Roy Allen I can't say enough how much I like this song. It's smooth and cool and the best thing about Hargrove's Emergence album. This is yet another one of those songs that's been a while since I played it. Terence Blanchard - Choices The computer picked this one but Blanchard has been on my mind since I rented Just Wright last weekend. That was an okay movie, and it was everything a forward thinking black person would want to put in an okay movie... other than better writing. Still the Terrence Bl...

I decided to branch out pretty far with The Line-Up. This will happen from time to time. I'll decide to play some music a little further out from the show's comfort zone and then reel myself back in for the subsequent week. This week was provoked by my pulling Bonobo's Black Sands from the station's "No" shelf. I thought it was different but still sort of jazzy, so it found its way onto this week's show. Then the rest of the hour sort of formed around this one song. Robert Glasper - Maiden Voyage/Everything in its Right Place I figured I would want to start a little light. I want the audience to warm up, so I started with Robert Glasper. If you listen to The Line-Up, you know his work. It's courageous but palatable. It signifies that if I start the hour with Glasper, we're going to be taking some twists and turns, but it'll still be a pretty good ride. Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau - Ahmid 6 I went through a lot of fighting with myself a...

One year ago (really 364 days ago, but it still was 52 weeks ago, so I'm counting this as the anniversary), I hit the airwaves taking The Line-Up from Lyz, who went off to grad school. So began the fun I've had here each week playing great new jazz that I think the masses would love. The theme for this week's show is all about pianists. Since my favorite musicians all happen to be pianists and I used to play the piano many moons ago, that's what I'm running with for this one year anniversary. Vijay Iyer - Fleurette Africaine When I saw this track on the listing for Iyer's Solo album , I wondered how he'd be able to pull off playing this track by himself as opposed to with a trio. I can remember an interview with The Bad Plus in which the interviewer was talking with the group about this song. If memory serves, they don't play it because Reid Anderson just couldn't move as fast on the bass as Charles Mingus. So it really surprised me the first ...

While I may have been spreading my interests around musically, I always come home to roost with The Line-Up. It may be a good thing because for this week, I'm playing some folks I haven't even thought about for a while and I'm playing some other folks who just caught my eyes and ears. I rather like how this week's episode was put together. There are a few folks here tonight who I've wanted to play for a little while but just couldn't find a good place to play them until now. Tonight, one could say this is the episode in which the chickens come home to roost. Avery Sharpe Trio - My Favorite Things Yep, the computer picked it. This episode also has another live selection. I don't quite know how well they work and were edited for radio, but the performances are sound and I'm standing by them. Pat Metheny - Orchestrion From time to time, I'll put the show together and I'll wonder when's the next time I should play something from...

I was in a pretty bad mood a couple of days ago and I just needed to play a bunch of ballads to get myself out of it. The next morning, I filled a whole Post-It note with songs I knew I'd play this week. I don't normally play an evening of ballads but that's where I'm headed for this show and I hope you come along for the ride. Christian Scott - Isadora I find this song placement sort of odd on this album. Much of the press and commentary for Yesterday You Said Tomorrow lauds it for being such a spot on political jazz album, but in the midst of all those angry tunes with a message is a song to Scott's girlfriend that's as beautiful as any other love song. Sometimes when you're fighting the power, you still have to take some time for loving. I guess this song isn't that out of place, after all. Esperanza Spalding - Wild is the Wind A friend of mine some months ago wanted me to play this song originally as Nina Simone sang it. I told him I couldn...

Hey, everybody! The Line-Up is a cool, funky episode tonight. I go where the wind blows me, you know. It's totally not the reverential feel I was noting this week over at Nextbop . It's all about enjoying the music this week. The Dominant 7 - An Ounce of Hope This is a cool track from a band with a cool name. That's all I really have to say about that. Esperanza Spalding - Winter Sun It's pretty much impossible to escape this album lately and I still haven't yet heard it (though I'm about to fix that nigh immediately). This track is here largely because JJ Lopez said it was awesome. Robert Glasper - No Worries I'm pretty sure this is my favorite track off of Double Booked and I know I haven't played it in a while. Brad Mehldau - When It Rains Before I got Mehldau and Jon Brion's Largo , I used to go to the Apple Store in Atlanta's Lenox Mall and listen to it on any iPod they had on display. This song sounds really great but it sounds...

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...