Cosmic Jazz does not go away for Christmas, although the show was pre-recorded.
There is plenty of sparkle as the show included some festive and celebratory tunes old and new. There was even a touch of Christmas jazz courtesy of a Verve album.

1. Jazz for Joy - Those Soulful Jingle Bells
2. Kenny Dorham - Mamacita
3. Harry Beckett – Fantastic Things
4. Tabu Ley with Afrisa International – Mongali
5. Nightmares on Wax – 195lbs
6. Luisito Quintero – Obagado, Obagado, Obagado, Abogodo, Abogodo, Abogodo
7. Luisito Quintero - Aquilas Coisas Todas
8. Hajime Yoshizawa – Waltz for Jason (re-edit of Banks of Four remix)
9. Charles Earland – Black Talk
10. Sidewinder – The Adventure
11. Hank Mobley – High Voltage
12. Gato Barbieri – Viva Emiliano Zapata
13. The Afro-Rican Ensemble – Tanga
14. Orlando Julius – Mapami
15. Nina Simone – Little Boy Blue
16. Kenny Garrett – Intro to Africa
17. Cannonball Adderley – Sticks
18. Jazztronik – Samurai
19. Joe Henderson – Blue Bossa
20. Val Bennett – Take Five
21. Marcia Arnold – Memory
22. Jazz for Joy – Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer

I have a lot to thank Grant Green for.

As a fan of soul and funk music I have always loved the guitarist’s funkier sides for many years without knowing much about him or his story. But, after reading Richard Cook’s Blue Note Records- the Biography I now have a much fuller picture of the “Great Green” as I call him. I learned how Blue Note founder Alfred Lion had given the young Green an opportunity to lead his first debut session in November 1960 – but then rejected the session as unsatisfactory even though it included the pianist Wynton Kelly and drummer Philly Joe Jones. It would be left on the shelf gathering dust for forty years. By the time it was released in 2001, Green had recorded thirty solo albums for the label, was recognised as a genius and had been dead for over twenty years.

It was Grant Green’s story that was partly my inspiration for a series of radio shows currently being broadcast on Ipswich Community Radio (105.7FM and www.icrfm.co.uk) on Monday between 5-6pm. They tell the story of this much loved record label, started by two German immigrants (Alfred Lion and Max Margulis) which was to become one the greatest and most recognisable brands in musical history.

All that happened seventy years ago and in 2009 Blue Note will celebrate 70 years of inspirational jazz music. Today - after many transitions, trials and musical fashions - the label remains a powerful force in jazz.

Of course its roster of artists is very different. In Alfred Lion’s day you wouldn’t see a single vocalist but instead the instrumental talents of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Kenny Burrell and the ubiquitous Art Blakey‘s Messengers were at the heart of Blue Note.

Today the label is home to the most diverse range of artists a label could have – from vocalist Norah Jones to hip hop producer Madlib. Hundreds of rap artists have sampled Blue Note grooves over recent years, giving the label a hip profile with a new younger generation.

Within months of its launch, in May 1939, an early flyer described Blue Note as “a musical and social manifestation”. And that’s the spirit that current Director Bruce Lundval has skilfully managed to maintain. Blue Note lives!

[Blue Note covers by Reid Miles – graphic artist]

Alan Bramwell

Tune into Cosmic Jazz every Thursday between 8 and 10pm on www.icrfm.co.uk

Our first ever best of the year show with some great tracks from 2008.

We started with the new CD from Harry Beckett, produced by dub maestro Adrian Sherwood. This is a really contemporary sound for the great Barbadian/British trumpeter and worked well followed by Nigeria’s Seun Kuti and the Ethiopian dub of the Dub Colossus project, led by Nick Page. Derek and I have really enjoyed a couple of the cover mount CDs from Jazzwise magazine this year - vocalist Ruby Wood’s version of Coltrane’s Africa featured on the latest one and so it seemed appropriate to follow with a contemporary classic - Jack deJohnette’s unique take on ‘trane’s India from one of the many ECM Touchstone reissues which came out this year.

New music from rising stars like Arun Ghosh and Jamil Sheriff was matched by brilliant new material from Holland and Arve Henriksen but there just wasn’t time for all our favourites in this two hour special. So, there will be more in our first live show of 2009 - including EST’s amazing Leucocyte, the live CDs from Charles Lloyd and Kenny Garrett and the dubstep collection Steppa’s Delight.

Listen in on 08 January for great new music from 2008, and on New Year’s Day extend the party mood with a jazz dance special!

1. Harry Beckett - Ultimate Tribute
2. Seun Kuti - Mosquito Song
3. Dub Colossus - Azmari Dub
4. Ruby Wood - Africa
5. Jack deJohnette’s Special Edition - India
6. Arun Ghosh - Bondhu
7. Zoe and Idris Rahman - Sanctuary
8. Claudia and Brazilian Octopus - Gosto de Ser Como Sou
9. Arve Henriksen - Migration
10. Tabu Ley with Onaza - Likambo ya Mokanda
11. Sleep Walker - Brotherhood
12. Quasimode - Raw Cotton Field (live)
13. Joe Zawinul - Scarlet Woman (live)
14. Celestine Ukwu and his Philosophers National - Okwukwe Na Nchekwube
15. Dave Holland - Pass It On
16. Jamil Sheriff Octet - The Happy Ending
17. Dave Douglas - Tough (live)
18. Hajime Yoshizawa - Yoake -Dawn-

When we discovered that it was McCoy Tyner’s 70th birthday today we had to do a feature. We’ve featured Tyner since the show began and his muscular, pounding style (especially in his Milestone recordings of the 70s) is always a great sound.

1. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
2. McCoy Tyner - Sahara
3. John Coltrane - My Favourite Things
4. McCoy Tyner - Horizon
5. McCoy Tyner - Indo-Serenade
6. John Coltrane - Song of the Underground Railroad
7. McCoy Tyner - Mode for Dulcimer
8. John Coltrane - Olé
9. McCoy Tyner - Groove Waltz
10. McCoy Tyner - Fly With The Wind
11. McCoy Tyner - Man From Tanganyika
12. McCoy Tyner - T ‘n’ A Blues
13. John Coltrane - The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost

This was our Blue Note show with special guest Alan Bramwell whose History of Blue Note programmes currently go out on ICR on Monday between 17.00 and 18.00 hrs. He’s half way through the series so there’s still plenty of great music to listen to! Alan chose some of his favourites and we added a few too - all showing the range and diversity of recordings for this most famous of jazz labels. If you want to find out more, check out Richard Cook’s Blue Note: the Biography, published in paperback by Pimlico or try and track down Francis Wolff’s greatest photos for the label in Blue Note: the Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff.

The music ranged from one of the first artists to record for the label - stride pianist James P Johnson - through to the more contemporary rap sounds of Pieces of a Dream mixed with classic tracks from John Coltrane, Art Blakey and Grant Green. Thanks again to Alan for an inspirational show - and look out for his own thoughts about Blue Note in our feature article.

1. Hank Mobley - No Room For Squares
2. Lee Morgan - The Rajah
3. Art Blakey - Amuk
4. John Coltrane - Blue Train
5. Grant Green - It Ain’t Necesssarily So
6. Rachelle Ferrell - My Funny Valentine
7. James P Johnson - After You’ve Gone
8. Donald Byrd - Lanasana’s Priestess
9. Wynton Marsalis (feat. Dianne Reeves) - Feeling of Jazz
10. Lo Borges - Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser
11. Dr. Lonnie Smith - Scream
12. Tommaso Starace Quintet - Keep Moving Please!
13. Horace Parlan - Us Three
14. Andrew Hill - Grass Roots
15. Pieces of a Dream - Mt Airy Groove
16. Sabu - El Cumbanchero

Youtube clips thisweek come from Horace Parlan playing with the Jackie McLean Quintet at the Mt Fuji Jazz festival in 1988 and Lee Morgan with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers playing the tribute to trumpeter Clifford Brown, I Remember Clifford from thirty years earlier. Listen to Lee Morgan’s tone and control and check out Parlan’s wacky style!

Just one click and you’re in - enjoy!

Jackie McLean:

Lee Morgan: