JAZZ IMPRESSIONS

Routes: A Jazz Impressions Podcast – Episode 1

Welcome to the first episode of Routes: A Jazz Impressions Podcast, where we connect two of our favourite tracks via a selection of musical stepping stones. Today marks Blue Note Records’ 83rd birthday so what better place to start than a swinging classic from the legendary label, plus an auspicious debut from a pioneering pianist.

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Tracklists below (SPOILERS!)

David Axelrod – Holy Thursday

It seems fitting that our 50th post should cover a landmark album: Song of Innocence (1968) by David Axelrod – as in the producer of Cannonball Adderley’s The Black Messiah (1971), not the political strategist behind two Barack Obama victories and zero Ed Miliband ones.

Cannonball Adderley – The Black Messiah

The year before pianist George Duke featured on Frank Zappa’s The Grand Wazoo, he recorded two solo albums and spent the best part of the year playing in the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. If Zappa was Duke’s mentor in all things rock, Cannonball was his teacher in jazz and soul. Joining Adderley’s Quintet gave the young Duke an opportunity to develop not only as a performer, but also as a composer and arranger. In the summer of 1971, Cannonball and his band recorded a live album at The Troubadour club in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. The album was named after its title track, a composition by Duke, and was released later that year as a double album on Capitol Records.

Frank Zappa and The Mothers – Blessed Relief

In between stints with jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and fusion drummer Billy Cobham, keyboard visionary George Duke joined Frank Zappa and The Mothers for some of their most ambitious studio recordings.

George Duke – Peace

Our last post looked at Billy Cobham’s fusion classic ‘Heather’ from his album Crosswinds (1974) which featured the mellow tones of keyboardist George Duke. Flashing back a couple of years earlier to January 1971, a young George Duke had just left Frank Zappa’s group The Mothers Of Invention and joined saxophonist Cannonball Adderley’s new quintet, replacing pianist Joe Zawinul. The months that followed would prove formative for this young pianist and in this year he recorded two albums: Solus and The Inner Source, originally intended to be two separate albums but were later merged, released on German jazz label MPS in 1973.

Billy Cobham – Heather

From John Abercrombie’s Timeless classic on ECM, we follow the guitarist to another proto-ambient wonder of the fusion world: Billy Cobham’s ‘Heather’ from the Atlantic album Crosswinds (1974).

John Abercrombie – Timeless

‘Changeless’ and ‘endless’ were the defining terms of our last post on virtuoso pianist Keith Jarrett. Continuing this theme, we follow with ‘Timeless’, the beautiful final track on guitarist John Abercrombie’s 1975 album of the same name, which like Jarrett’s Changeless, was also released on ECM and featured Jack DeJohnette on drums.

The Keith Jarrett Trio – Endless

Here’s a fun musical connection: the pianist Keith Jarrett sued Steely Dan over similarities between ‘Gaucho’ (1980) and his track ‘Long As You Know You’re Living Yours’ from the album Belonging (1974). Walter Becker and Donald Fagen acknowledged the influence and officially credited Jarrett, admitting: “Hell, we steal. We’re the robber barons of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Steely Dan – Gaucho

In our previous post, Dan wrote on the Steely Dan (not to be confused with British folk rock group Steeleye Span) Silver-inspired classic ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’. Last weekend marked the 40th year anniversary of their 1980 album Gaucho and so it seemed a natural way to continue our journey of musical connections.

Steely Dan – Rikki Don’t Lose That Number

Pop fans may be hearing more jazz than they realise. James Brown’s 1967 single ‘Cold Sweat’ is indebted to Miles Davis’ ‘So What’, the opening track on Kind of Blue (1959) – which came full circle when Davis was inspired by Brown’s funky sounds for On the Corner (1972). Van Morrison (who recently became an “antifascist” because he didn’t want to wear a mask) based ‘Moondance’ (1970) on Kenny Burrell’s jazz guitar classic ‘Midnight Blue’ (1963). And the intro of Horace Silver’s ‘Song For My Father’ is lifted verbatim by Steely Dan’s 1974 hit, ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.’