Friday, January 9th, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Jimmy Smith died the other day, so I wanted to spin a track or two of his. Turns out we have a two-record (vinyl) "greatest hits" collection from Blue Note -- where the track lengths range up to 20 minutes long! Played the 20-minute one of course ("The Sermon") which includes Lou Donaldson, Art Blakey, Kenny Burrell -- just a great lineup. Hope I did right by Jimmy.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)

* Christophe Grab -- "Smart Rebels" -- Personal (Unit, 2004)

From Switzerland, a saxophonist leading a fairly accessible quartet. Some nice adventure creeps in courtesy of guitarist Flo Stoffner, though, who's got a chiming, not-quite-melodic sound that sounds like a mellower Nels Cline to me (that's Nels of the 2000s, as opposed to his softer -- and very nice -- sound on the 1993 Enja album Angelica).

* Francois Carrier Trio -- "Le Marais" -- Play (482 Music, 2004)

* David Borgo -- "Beantown Bounce" -- Reverence for Uncertainty (Circumvention, 2004)

*! David Nzomo Trio -- "Nyie" -- Sweet Soul of Kenya (Locust, 2004; recorded 1950s)

* ECFA Trio -- "3 Eggs" -- Die Faden (Pecan Crazy, 2004)

Jimmy Smith -- "(Mama Said) Go for Watcha Know" -- Go for Watcha Know (Blue Note, 1986)

* Ken Walker Sextet -- "Amsterdam after Dark" -- Terra Firma (Synergy, 2005)

Very retro, '60s sound. Not many surprises or innovations here, but they do it well -- I found myself really grooving with this one.

* Parker/Guy/Lytton Trio with Sten Sandell and David Stackenas -- "Gubbrora" -- Gubbrora [Freedom of the City 2004] (Psi, 2004)

-- 4:00 p.m. --

* The Nels Cline Singers -- "He Still Carries a Torch for Her" -- The Giant Pin (Cryptogramophone, 2004)

Jimmy Smith -- "The Sermon" -- Jimmy Smith's Greatest Hits! (Blue Note, 1958; orig. released 1958)

* Dave Douglas -- "Gumshoe" -- Mountain Passages (Greenleaf, 2004)

* Christian Boucard -- "Brazil Wins" -- Fractures (Empreintes Digitales, 2004)

Nice sample-art stuff, with bright gloopy sounds. E.D. is a good label for modern musique concrete composers and the like.

* Sonore (Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Peter Brotzmann) -- "No One Ever Works Alone" -- No One Ever Works Alone (Okka Disk, 2004)

* Territory Band with Ken Vandermark -- "A Certain Light" -- Map Theory (Okka Disk, 2004)

-- 5:00 p.m. --

* Simon H. Fell/SFQ -- "Gruppen Modulor 2" -- Four Compositions (Red Toucan, 2004)

I was expecting an improv-laden, academic-minded set here -- which would be fine -- but a couple of these long tracks feature exciting, tumbling free-jazz moments (while still in that controlled "composition" setting). It's a 2-CD set, with Disk 2 devoted to one of the compositions. Nice stuff.

* Big Satan: Tom Rainey, Marc Ducret, Tim Berne -- "Mr. Subliminal" -- Souls Saved Hear (Thirsty Ear, 2004)

* Joel Futterman/Alvin Fielder/Ike Levin Trio -- "Spatial Odyssey" -- Resolving Doors (Charles Lester Music, 2004)

* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.