These days I’ve been listening to a lot of stringband music, as regular visitors to this joint can attest. Still sometimes I need a dose of jazz, I need to hear the horns, those fantastic extensions of the human voice. Here’s Rahsaan Roland Kirk performing… Read More
Here’s Count Basie with Little Jimmy Rushing (Mr. 5X5!) on vocals. Sent for you yesterday and here you come today. This tune rocks. Basie and Rushing were both favourites of my father’s. He’d say, “Listen to Basie’s piano, son, just listen”. He used to play… Read More
This evening we sallied forth across the invisible border between Long Branch (or The LB as our neighbour Kate calls it) and New Toronto to a new joint called Ember. We used to go there when it was Long Grain Pan Asian food, but that’s… Read More
I heard today that Peter Appleyard died, at 84. Do you know his work? He was a great vibraphone player who lived and played in the Toronto area for many years. Here’s another video I’ve shared before in which Mr. Appleyard has an opportunity to… Read More
This morning we launched the woodchopper whirligig into the skies above 27th Street. Now let’s swing with Woody Herman with Bill Chase, performing The Woodchopper’s Ball. This tune was one of my father’s favourites. His friend Norm used to come over the house and they’d… Read More
Jazz-man Dave Brubeck has passed at 91. RIP Here’s In Your Own Sweet Way http://youtu.be/2aHGMDf42lw Let’s take five and listen to his big one…this melody was all over the radio tonight. http://youtu.be/faJE92phKzI
Occasionally a musician comes along who must come from some other place, somewhere else, another planet perhaps. As Sun Ra wrote, there are worlds they have not told you of… One of those musicians was Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He came from a very special planet,… Read More
Sometimes, when I witness the world and it’s most bizarre, I shake my head and say, “There are worlds they have not told you of.” I never really thought about where that phrase came from or where I first heard it. And then one day… Read More
Earworm alert…had this tune in my head today and it just didn’t want to go away…..but now I’m unleashing it and turning over the responsibility to you… Here’s Hoagy Carmichael Artie Shaw… http://youtu.be/PBGdCpEliT0 Coleman Hawkins, Django Reinhardt, Stephan Grappelli and one more…here’s Keely Smith Who… Read More
Today’s train song of the day is the very stylish Take the A Train, featuring Duke Ellington’s group from the film Reveille with Beverly, 1943. Here’s Dave Brubeck’s version from 1966, and it’s a whole different trip. http://youtu.be/EbUklDXdH2o
27th Street 