No doubt the biggest thrill about producing The Major Scale is in interacting with living legends and heroes of the music world, which we’ve been blessed to do on a number of occasions. This episode we proudly welcome Abdullah Ibrahim, the man, the maestro, an artist with no need for an introduction. For decades he’s dazzled music lovers and critics alike, from his native South Africa to the world at large. He’s prolific with a gift for inventive composition. His unique way with the piano leaves the soul in warm delight and the eardrums in awe. We talk with him about The Balance, Jedi knights, love, and other matters of the spiritual heart.
Jazz is America’s native art form, but its heartland is in Africa. Abdullah Ibrahim reinforced this fact in our chat and it got us thinking about the cycle of influence that the two continents have had on one another. We came up with a playlist that hails from Cape Town, South Africa to Accra, Ghana, the Sahara regions of Mali and Mauritania to the Congo. The music grooves marvelously with a bluesy grit that reminds us that it all began in Africa.
Featuring Hugh Masekela, Noura Mint Seymali, Osibisa, the Rail Band, Chris MacGregor, and more!Continue Reading …

(Pre-recorded before the pandemic shut everything down)
This week we re-release episode 30 of The Simon Time Trivia Show, from March 2018, featuring Sam and Trav from the Samantics podcast, plus they bring their friend Derek to round out the trio! BUT FIRST we have a few minutes with Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn doing a 5-question warm up round of the trivia so we hope you enjoy this week’s program and we’ll be back next week with a whole new episode of the show.