Cary Kilner

Cary Kilner's Picks: Volume 9

To welcome summer I want to offer a cross-section of remarkable music, from trad-jazz to modern jazz to smooth jazz to funk. I hope you like it. Please click on the italicized song titles to hear the tune.
 
Les McCann and Joe Pass - Maichen
 From an old Atlantic album entitled On Time, it shows them comparing watches on the LP cover photo. That’s one reason we love old LPs – for the great photos and informative discussion usually found in the extensive LP liner notes.
You may have only heard Les with the Eddie Harris group on the hit tune, Compared to What. But here you will appreciate how well he supports Joe’s beautiful playing. He has deep blues roots (that later evolved into funk), but he is still firmly in the emerging modern jazz tradition. And he swings as hard as anyone!
 
Vincent Herring - Walton
I don’t know this tenor player, but go to YouTube to hear more of him. He definitely has his own voice.Nice quintet here with Mike LeDonne on piano who we heard back in Week 5. And Jeremy Pelt, a great trumpet player of whom I do not hear much. The tune is aptly named for one of my favorites, Cedar Walton.
 
Yellow Jackets- Strange time and Ecuador
This was one of the original fusion groups from back in the ‘80s originally begun by Robben Ford on guitar. They are in the mold of Spyro Gyro and The Rippertons. But as you will hear on this very sophisticated performance, it’s a quintet firmly rooted in the modern jazz tradition playing a very intricate composition, with the great Bob Mintzer on tenor and the son of Jaco Pastorius, Felix, on electric bass. I encourage you to find more of their material if you like this. In fact, I just discovered another tune that followed the one I chose on You Tube, so I will add it here.
 
Joyce Cooling - Coasting
Please do not snub your nose at this smooth jazz player. Just listen to the interesting chord changes in this tune, and dig this remarkable young lady play very musical melodic lines played with a beautiful guitar sound.
 
Kirk Whalum - Korogocho
Here is a tenor player I did not really appreciate until I heard him on Xfinity’s MC Music Choice. He is playing great stuff with the funky background supplied by Marcus Miller on bass (recall that Miles used Marcus in his last electric band). At around 3:00 you will hear a killing bass solo! To really appreciate it and what good funk means, you must play this bad boy LOUD (but do not blow out your woofers)! If new to you, funk is all about playing the groove and not running a set of chord changes.
 
Danilo Perez - Claudio, Panama Libre, and Historia de un Amor (Providencia)
To my ears, this is a truly monumental new style of piano playing. Go to YouTube and check out his playing with the Wayne Shorter quartet. This is some very sophisticated music. I suspect this samba, Claudio, is written for my good friend, Claudio Roditi, who married my sister’s college roommate when he arrived from Brazil. He performed at the Press Room a couple of years ago but has unfortunately recently passed. This second samba just came up on my YouTube and I have to include it. And the next trio cut also came up that really demonstrates his original style.