Program 665: Saying It With Jazz
KALW Broadcast Date: August 22, 2021 | Host: Mark Abramson
In this program, we’ll listen to some music from the outer edges of the jazz world. Much of the music, though not all of it, will use the voice, spoken, sung, and sampled, in ways that are quite different than vocals in the classic sense of an Ella Fitzgerald or a Johnny Hartman. Tonight’s artists use the spoken word, chanting, and samples of recorded voice to make their points. Some of it is personal. Some of it is overtly political. Either way, it helps communicate the intention of the music they make, and it constitutes experimentation within the context of their normally assigned musical genre, which in this case is jazz. We’ll play examples of this type of work from Brooklyn-based trumpeter and composer Jamie Branch and Chicago-based musician and artist Damon Locks with the Black Monument Ensemble. And we’ll hear a classic work from 1973 by Sun Ra, and some jazz from 2021 by the Sons of Kemet from the UK. We’ll also hear some purely instrumental improvised work from elder statesman Wadada Leo Smith and the young UK-based drummer Sarathy Korwar, with his ensemble the Upaj Collective.
Jamie Branch’s work “SOS Sessions 3” features some cutting political commentary on the subject of climate change, and was made on behalf of two organizations working on that issue. Check out these links for info on The Years Project and Climate Control Projects.
Program Audio
30-Second Spot
Track Info & Links
Title: Pick Up Your Burning Cross, In Remembrance of Those Fallen (2021)
Composer: Shabaka Hutchings
Performers: Sons of Kemet, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid
Recording Title: Black To The Future (2021)
Record Label: Impulse!
Catalog Number: B0033376-02
Title: So said Said (2020)
Composers: Sarathy Korwar & Upaj Collective
Performers: Sarathy Korwar – Drums; Tamar Osborn – Saxophone; Achuthan Sripathamanathan – Violin; Giuliano Modarelli – Guitar; Alistair MacSween – Keys
Recording Title: Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions (2020)
Record Label: Night Dreamer
Catalog Number: ND004
Titles: Adagio: Monkishness (A Cinematic Vision of Monk Playing Solo Piano), Adagio: Monk, the Composer in Sepia (A Second Vision) (2017)
Composers: Wadada Leo Smith, Thelonius Monk
Performer: Wadada Leo Smith
Recording Title: Solo-Reflections and Meditations on Monk (2017)
Record Label: TUM Records
Catalog Number: TUM CD 053
Title: Now (Forever Momentary Space), The People vs The Rest of Us, Keep Your Mind Free (2021)
Composer: Damon Locks
Performers: Angel Bat Dawid – clarinet; Ben LaMar Gay – cornet & melodica; Dana Hall – drums; Damon Locks – samples & electronics; Arif Smith – percussion; Phillip Armstrong, Monique Golding, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Erica Rene, Eric Tre’von – vocals
Recording Title: NOW (2021)
Record Label: International Anthem Recording Company
Catalog Number: IARC0039
Title: Space is the Place (1973)
Composer: Sun Ra
Performers: Sun Ra & His Arkestra
Recording Title: Space is the Place (1973)
Record Label: Jackpot Records
Catalog Number: JPR049
Title: SOS sessions 3: jaimie branch (2020)
Composer: Jamie Branch
Performer: Jamie Branch – trumpet, vocals, synths, drums, happy apple
Recording Title: SOS sessions 3: jaimie branch (2020)
Record Label: Climate Control Projects
Catalog Number:
