1989 Contemporary Jazz from contemporaryjazz on 8tracks.

DJ Logic describes Global Noize as “a hip and eclectic musical journey crossing all boundaries.” Miles, Logic, and Falu talk more about this 21st century music:

Hip hop/jazz collective Us3 returns with their eighth studio recording, Lie, Cheat & Steal next month. The first of the 13 tracks, “Ghost,” leans on the jazz side, telling a story of abuse and revenge. It’s the first of the messages relating to the theme of the title. Leader Geoff Wilkinson explains  ”I’ve become increasingly disillusioned by the people we, as children, are traditionally brought up to look up to. Politicians, police, business leaders, sportsmen, religious leaders, etc. all seem to be up to their eyeballs in corrupt practices. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening at an increasing pace. Is this what a democracy should look like, where it’s ok to lie, cheat and steal your way to the top?” The music drives this in. Of note are MC’s Oveous Maximus and Akala and the horn section of saxman Ed Jones and trumpeter Bryan Corbet. A variety of keyboardists add to the mix as well as Chris Dodd on Double Bass and DJ First Rate on the turntable.

Lie, Cheat & Steal is available digitally worldwide on October 3. You can sample and pre-order it on Amazon right now.

Ever imagine The Bad Plus doing music from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast? How about Joshua Redman doing a cover of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story? Those notable artists are among the dozen contributing to the forthcoming compilation Disney Jazz Volume 1: Everybody Wants to Be a Cat.

The title of the album comes from the song “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat,” from The Aristocats, which is given an upbeat, grooving treatment by Roy Hargrove’s quintet. You’ll also hear Disney classic songs like “The Bare Necessities” and “It’s a Small World After All” performed by a diverse lineup. “I wanted to get a group of people together who would represent the many styles of jazz,” says producer Jason Olaine, who also called Dave Brubeck, Esperanza Spalding, Regina Carter, and Nikki Yanofsky for the recording.

Writing in the album liner notes, Ashley Kahn praises the top-drawer prowess of the performers: “It’s exceedingly rare that one finds this range of talent on one jazz album. If one desired an accurate measure of today’s scene in all its flavors and formats, here it is on one disc.”

I’m looking forward to hearing this. Disney Jazz Volume 1: Everybody Wants to Be a Cat is in stores February 15.

Rarely do debut solo albums come to the station as solid as Torcuato Mariano’s Paradise Station (Windham Hill). From the start, it’s evident that the guitarist knows how he wants his music to sound. The CD features Mariano demonstrating his ability on guitars and other instruments on his own world-influenced compositions.

Born in Buenos Aires, Mariano ended up in Brazil during his adolescence. He started playing nightclubs in 1980, working with artists such as Johnny Alt, one of the most renowned Bossa Nova players in Brazil. He played in bands with the country’s more notable players, Djavan, Ivan Lins, and Leo Gandelman. These influences, plus those of Pat Metheny and Jeff Beck, have helped Mariano develop a personal style that comes across in a big way.

Mariano knows how to write and arrange a memorable song. The uptempo tracks, “A Train to Uberaba” and “2350″ are only two of the twelve examples presented on this release. His playing is equally good and he has a strong group of worldly musicians to back him up. It’s the influence of both Mariano’s background and these musicians that really makes Paradise Station stand out. It’s still early to say, but so far Torcuato Mariano has got the nod for debut of the year.

Get the Paradise Station CD from Amazon.com!

Eventually, I graduated from the University of Missouri but still stayed on as a volunteer announcer for KBIA for some time. I think at some point the evening contemporary jazz show was put to rest and I didn’t want to stay on for programming that didn’t interest me as much. It wasn’t long before I missed it. At the same time, I started learning this new way to make content for this thing called the World Wide Web. In 1995, I learned HTML, got a web host and created my first GIF. cJazz: The Contemporary Jazz Site was launched in January 1996. I recall it being one of the first 16 jazz sites indexed by Yahoo! (people added sites manually then; there was nothing like Google yet). I’ll never forget how I quickly received 15 email messages about the site and about half were outside the U.S. It really put the world in World Wide Web. I remember an email exchange with Rob Mounsey, getting a nice message from a doctor in Italy, and meeting Suzy Cline who was running a jazz hub called Jazz Stuff.

Most labels weren’t sure or unaware of the Web then but Randall Kennedy at Warner Bros. knew the deal. I think he had a WB Jazzspace site going earlier than other jazz labels. Michael Ricci launched AllAboutJazz.com, now the top jazz site on the Web. Larry Rosen, Dave Grusin, and Jon Diamond founded Jazz Central Station. Morrice Blackwell launched JazzReview.com, still a top jazz site to visit.

I spent five years building up ContemporaryJazz.com (I’d bought the domain name soon after the site launched). I worked on it almost every day for most of those years. Due to a major change in my life and some burnout, I sold the site in 2001. I later regretted that decision and was happy to be able to get the site back a couple of years ago. I won’t be giving it up again.

KBIA-FM, one of the top NPR stations in the country, had an evening contemporary jazz program that would have a life-altering affect. One night, I won a GRP sampler in a giveaway. When I went to the station to pick it up, I started talking with the music director and I guess I got talked into doing a tryout for the show. I had no broadcast experience. I remember a pronunciation sheet that taught me how to say Metheny and Corea. I gave it a try and before I knew it, I had a FCC license and was on the air from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Having unlimited access to contemporary jazz was a dream come true. I’d come in to listen to (and later get to participate in) calls from record label promoters the music director was taking. Fellow students and the KBIA staff would joke that they should be a cot in the studio for me since I would always cover for people. Eventually, the music director trusted me to help select the music. That was so awesome for me. To this day, I still am compelled to share music I like with people, which is why there is ContemporaryJazz.com Radio. That music director, Darren Hellwege, became a good friend. He was the best man at my wedding! The program director at that time was the organist. My time working at KBIA is a treasured part of my life. My next contemporary jazz highlight would also be in the media field: the World Wide Web!