3/8/07

This Week

I have mixed emotions announcing this, but I've made the decision to cease with my radio work in the next few weeks. My wife and I are expecting a baby this summer -- so there's a great deal of planning and moving and adjusting to be done in the next six months. Happy things! All of my work for 88.9 requires about 10-12 hours a week, and as a volunteer, as much as I enjoy it all, I simply need the time to devote to "baby prep," freelance writing, and simply resting. I am not quitting my civilian job as a teacher, of course!

Passing Notes -- Fridays at 7:06 pm on 88.9 FM or seriousjazz.org -- will run for three more weeks. I'll be picking my personal favorites from the past three years. March 23 will mark the last broadcast. If and when Passing Notes returns, it will be as a podcast feed, in a form more suitable for syndication. We'll see how I feel in the fall once things settle down.

Early Jazz Weekend and Straight, No Chaser will roll ahead as usual onthe weekends until March 24, when Ed Blanco and I will do our last show together. Ed is talking to WDNA right now about continuing Straight, No Chaser on his own. It was great to start the new music program with Ed -- however brief it may have been.

As for the blog, it will still be operational, if a little less active in the months to come. I'm working on other freelance projects, as always. For instance, you might want to read my latest spring training book roundup from the Miami Herald -- here. I'll also be gearing up for more work in High Country News, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, AllAboutJazz.com, and other places. And, as usual, who knows what might be posted on the blog from time to time.

Stay tuned for news as well about South Florida's Promethean Theatre's summer show, Cyrano, with which I've been happy to help out.

Peace,

Mark

3/4/07

Early Jazz Weekend - Playlist - Sunday

Song, Artist, Album

Say The Brother's Name, Metheny Mehldau, Metheny Mehldau
West Hartford, Brad Mehldau, Places
Broad Way Blues, Lovano & Osby, Friendly Fire
Party Hats, Will Bernard, Party Hats
Fly Mr. Freakjar, Fly, Fly
White Fang, Bill Frisell, Unspeakable
New Amsterdam, Kenny Werner, Lawn Chair Society
Swiss Cheese D, Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel, Riding the Nuclear Tiger
Blue Monk, Dexter Gordon, Blue Dex
Body and Soul, Dexter Gordon, Dexter Gordon featuring Joe Newman
Sticky Wicket, Dexter Gordon, Blue Dex
Scrapple from the Apple, Dexter Gordon, Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions
Love for Sale, Dexter Gordon, Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions
Clear the Dex, Dexter Gordon, Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions
Confirmation, Dexter Gordon, Daddy Plays the Horn
Work Song, Cannonball Adderly, The Best of. . .
Everybody Lives the Blues, Calvin Owens, Stop Lying in My Face
Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You?, Jimmy Witherspoon, Blues for Easy Livers
Black Water, Charlie Musselwhite, Delta Hardware
Future News Blues, Nnenna Freelon, Maiden Voyage
Three Sides to Every Story, Coco Montoya, Dirty Deal
The Same Old Story, Big Maybelle, The Same Old Story
Tin Pan Alley, Big Pete Pearson, I'm Here Baby
When I Am Drinking, J. B. Lenoir, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues
Smiling Face Hiding A Weeping Heart, The Holmes Brothers, State of Grace