Normally I do not preselect the music for my show; I have no idea what exact song I’m going to play until shortly before I play it. But I do often have a good idea of which artists I want to feature. Five years ago when I took over as the Saturday night 6-9PM host, I said that the basic theme for my show would be “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Tonight’s program is going to continue that idea.
We’ll be hearing some classic Lester Young, as well as a track from Johnny Griffin’s 1994 outing, “Chicago, New York, Paris.” I’ve been unintentionally ignoring Dexter Gordon for far too long, so don’t be surprised if Dex also puts in an appearance at some point during the evening. Likewise, it’s been quite some time since we’ve taken a walk down the blues side of the street, and I’m feeling a hankering for a bit of 12-bar…
Tom Scott and David Sanborn are two of the greatest saxophone players to ever grace a jazz stage, yet both men are woefully under-represented in KMHD’s music library. Tom Scott is especially short-changed. His discography, as listed on allmusic.com, includes 31 entries. KMHD’s library contains exactly one Tom Scott CD, 1992’s “Born Again.” His latest, “Bebop United” on MCG, was in the library last year as a new release, then vanished. Whether it was stolen by one of the station’s volunteers or was removed because perhaps one of the paid staff doesn’t care for Tom Scott, the effect is the same: you, the listener and (I hope!) financial supporter of the station are denied the opportunity to hear this artist’s music. I don’t own a copy of “Bebop United” yet, but I do have a number of older Tom Scott’s albums and CD’s, and will be bringing one or two with me tonight.
David Sanborn is better represented than Tom Scott in the KMHD library, but I do have several of his albums that KMHD does not have. I’ll be bringing a couple of them with me also.
Mike Stern’s latest, the 2006 release “Who Let The Cats Out?” admittedly is not for everyone, but there are a number of tracks on this disk that I like, particularly the haunting Stern composition, “We’re With You.” This song was made all the more poignant by the death January 13th of saxophonist Michael Brecker, one of the two people for whom the song was written.
We’ll also be revisiting “Montreux ’77: The Art of the Jam Session” at the top of the 8 o’clock hour. This is an 8-disk boxed set of vinyl LP’s that I picked up a couple of years ago. Featuring such jazz legends as Oscar Petersen, Ray Brown, Count Basie and others, this is one collection that contains absolutely no filler. Every song is a winner in my book, and I hope you’ll agree when you hear the track or two I play tonight.
There will also be music by some of Portland’s great world-class local musicians, and as many new releases as I can squeeze in. Last week’s show featured nine new releases, and offerings from local talent like Devin Phillips, Tony Pacini, and Reggie Houston. Who knows what delights tonight’s show holds?
If you’re outside KMHD’s broadcast area, I hope you’ll listen to our stream on the web at kmhd.fm!
There is one other component I try to include in this and every show I do, and that is fun. I’m not a paid professional announcer, I’m a volunteer. I’m not there to dazzle you with my witty repartee or my encyclopedic knowledge of jazz. I’m there to play music for you and have a good time. If I stumble over a word here or a name there, oh well. Life, and the show, goes on.
Hosting Saturday Night Jazz is always the highlight of my week, and I sincerely hope that some of the tremendous pleasure I get from doing it rubs off on you!
I would love to hear from you. If you do write, please put “KMHD” in the subject line of your email, otherwise it may be deleted unread.
Thank you for listening!
Al Evans
saturdaynightjazz@yahoo.com
jazz for a saturday night 