PFT Media

The Major Scale – The Midnight Hour & David Liebman

Chris — Wed, 13 May 2020 03:00:50 +0000

The wee hours have brought the creative inspiration for eons and this episode takes that setting to heart.

First up is the aptly named Midnight Hour, a dynamic duo of Ali Shaheed Muhammed (A Tribe Called Quest) and Adrian Younge (Black Dynamite), together you will recognize them as the creators behind the breathtaking Luke Cage soundtrack. They also helm this amazing collective that has released two live recordings of dark, spacey grooves with a brow-raising list of collaborators–from neo-soul auteur Raphael Saadiq to Stereolab’s Laetia Sadier–with more work on the horizon.

The second segment is a real honor, as we’re joined by the incomparable David Liebman. Alumni of the electric Miles Davis period, and one of the early foot soldiers of jazz-rock, Liebman is both an innovator and a band leader in his own right. He hits us to the core with Earth, the final installment of a series based on the elements with a heady groove and deep future music vibe. There’s no other way to describe it than “pure dope.”

ABOUT THE MAJOR SCALE:

Your attention please to a new program that celebrates and takes a fresh and bold look at the great American art form- JAZZ!!!

The Major Scale is the title, the motto and the mission are, Jazz- past, present, future, and everything in between. A lot of focus will be on new and fresh sounds, deep cuts, closer looks at underrated artists, taking a different look at some of the titans of the genre, and getting the two cents worth from a number of surprise guests and sources.

The Major Scale can boast amongst it’s guests- legends like Herbie Hancock, Tom Scott, and Ahmad Jamal. The up and coming and the underrated-Kamasi Washington, Mia Doi Todd, Michael Blake. Fresh perspectives and commentary from the likes of Rock legend Al Kooper, who weighed in on the gospel. From The New Yorker, Amanda Petrusich expounds on her article about the movement to rename the Williamsburg Bridge in honor of Sonny Rollins. We explore the Soul-Jazz experiments of the Rascals. Grace Kelly from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert talks about her pop-up/flash mob concerts. Plus Thundercat, Henry Mancini, Ghostface Killah, Jaimie Branch, Nels Cline, Badbadnotgood, Cecil Taylor, and more get pick up on the Major Scale radar.

Produced in Central Florida, this program seeks to become one of the defining voices of this Native American art form, and everything else that finds itself under it’s umbrella. Think about programming and content found on the likes of World Cafe, Philadelphia, PA. Tiny Desk from Washington D.C., and KEXP Live from Seattle, WA. and that’s what the Major Scale strives to do.

For the curious, and lovers of music who like the details in between.

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

Kyle Eagle has been a contributing writer and producer for the NPR-WBGO, WUCF, WPRK, Wax Poetics, The Orlando Weekly, Artbourne, and The Fiscal Times, as well as several music and film releases- Light in the Attic’s documentary “This Is Gary McFarland”, and an upcoming film on composer Jack Nietzsche. Recordings- Call Me-Jack Wilson, Live at the Penthouse, Grachan Moncur III, Chico Hamilton, and Andy Bey.

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):

Chris Baranyi is a sound engineer and music producer. He splits his time between designing AV systems for theme parks and recording music. Chris has worked with many Orlando area musicians with backgrounds in jazz, fusion, hip-hop, funk, new age, and classical. Some of which have been featured on NPR’s Echoes. His passion includes jazz, vintage microphones, and hot sauce.

The Major Scale – African-American Art in the 20th Century in the Sunshine State

Chris — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:28:33 +0000

The Major Scale is proud to present a three-part special for Cornell Fine Arts Museum’s exhibit African American Art in the 20th Century, on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It’s a bounty of bold and brilliant masterworks that showcases paintings and sculptures from 32 African American artists. In our special series, we delve into the stories that tie together the exhibit’s themes, including jazz and civil rights, as well as the music with the show’s curator, Virginia Mecklenburg.

Part 3:

Among the many amazing artists in the exhibit is Purvis Young, a native to Florida. We thought it apt since the exhibit since both Cornell Fine Arts Museum and the Major Scale are based in Central Florida that we take the time to explore some of the regional roots. Young, the term “Outsider Art”, and the legendary Highwaymen are on the table for conversation as well as some of the Sunshine State’s – Slim Galliard, Fats Navarro, Charles Tolliver, Gigi Gryce, Pee-Wee Ellis, Archie Shepp, and more.

This special series is a must for curious eardrums.

ABOUT THE MAJOR SCALE:

Your attention please to a new program that celebrates and takes a fresh and bold look at the great American art form- JAZZ!!!

For the curious, and lovers of music who like the details in between.

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):

The Major Scale – Karl Denson & Allison Miller

Chris — Wed, 08 May 2019 08:09:43 +0000

When one wants to find out where the “mainstream” gets its lifeblood, simply look outside and underground–there you’ll find all the hidden gems and roads less taken. Karl Denson is an artist who has operated in both of these worlds since the 1980s. His saxophone is the first choice of Lenny Kravitz and the Rolling Stones, to name a few, and on the flip side he cuts with Andy Bey and the Greyboy All-Stars. Then there’s his own stunning discography… Funk, blues, rock steady, and loads of soul make up the music of Karl Denson, along with some gnomes and badgers, which he’ll explain in the segment.

One thing we’re proud to brag about here at the Major Scale are some of the artists we’ve featured from the late night talk show scene: such as Grace Kelly and Jon Lampley from Stay Human of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Thanks to a suggestion by Hillary Donnell, we can now add Allison Miller to the list. She’s one of the rotating drummers from Late Night with Seth Meyers, and upon listening to her work you can tell why she get’s the gig. Or simply ask Ani DiFranco and Dr. Lonnie Smith, some of the other excellent talent she’s held her own with. Miller’s band is called Boom Tic Boom and they’re on a roll with their latest album “Glitter Wolf.”

The Major Scale – Delvon LaMarr Organ Trio & Brother Jack McDuff

Chris — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 08:00:35 +0000

The Hammond B-3 organ gets some big love in this episode. First up is the Delvon LaMarr Organ Trio and their debut album Close But No Cigar, a Billboard #1 in the jazz charts. The band takes the well honed sound and constructs an incredibly funky outing that comes off like a live mixtape. It harkens the spirit and quotes from the titans of B-3 like Booker T. and the MG’s, the Incredible Jimmy Smith, and Brother Jack McDuff.

Speaking of which, The Major Scale has been waxing on for a long time about the need to spread the word on Brother Jack McDuff’s overlooked spaced-out jams of the late ’60s and early ’70s. We take a look at a trio of albums he cut for Blue Note during this period: Moon Rappin’, To Seek A New Home, and Who Knows What Tomorrow’s Gonna Bring? Unlike his other work, these albums don’t turn up often on playlists, but when they do they dazzle and delight with their surreal soul and hard driving funk. Crate-diggers and producers have looked to these records since the dawn of hip-hop; just ask, J Dilla, Nas (who’s father plays on one of the albums) A Tribe Called Quest, or Black Moon.

The Major Scale – Cat Toren & Kyle Eastwood

Chris — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 08:02:34 +0000

Cat Toren hails from Vancouver, a positive wellspring of musical talent. She’s a distinctive voice in modern music, most well known as a lead performer of the Juno award winning band Pugs And Crows. Human Kind is her album, her band, her inspiration, and her greatest work to date. The music is a suite of deep feelings, pensive melody, hypnotic groove, and a sensitive yearning for hope. In this time of numerous contemporary musical landmarks, she is certainly staking her claim. The music seeks to respond to what can actually make America right again.

Kyle Eastwood comes from a family of music lovers, especially Jazz, but he’s the practitioner of it. For decades he’s been making solid and soulful bop, and in recent years Eastwood has really come into his own as a bandleader and composer. If the Adderley Brothers and Cleveland Eaton passed the baton, he grasped it firmly and then some. He joins in to talk about his 20 years of output and his most recent release, In Transit.

The Major Scale – Tommy Guerrero

Chris — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 08:00:46 +0000

The Major Scale raises a glass to Tommy Guerrero, a multi-disiplined, multikulti cultural icon.

Guerrero’s first blip on the radar was as a pro-skater with Powell Peralta’s legendary Bones Brigade. Yet music was always a constant in his life, and as time went on it quickly rose to the forefront. Through the trajectory of skate culture he traveled the worlds of Hip-Hop, D.I.Y. punk, electronica, world beat, and the vibrant visual arts, all culminating in an impressive body of work that he describes as, “…..breakbeat, noir, spaghetti western, surf soundtracks”.

What he can do with a guitar, a four track, and a sampler has attracted some of the best collaborators of our time to him. Guerrero’s sound is rooted somewhere in-between Gabor Szabo, with the post-modern ethics of Durutti Column – he’s a must for curious eardrums.

The Major Scale – Thundercat & Erik Deutsch

Chris — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 08:43:49 +0000

In this episode we’re featuring Thundercat and Erik Deutsch!

SONG CREDITS FOR THIS EPISODE:

THEME: Jazz Phantom by Chomsk’ (from the album “Different Beats” on Magnetic Records).

FIRST HALF: Uh Uh and A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite III) by Thundercat (from the album “Drunk” on Brainfeeder).

Lone Wolf and Cub, Inferno, The Turn Down, Show You The Way, Friend Zone, and Day and Night by Thundercat (from the album “The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam” on Brainfeeder).

Curly Martin by Terrace Martin with Robert Glaspar and Thundercat (from the album “Velvet Portraits” on Rope a Dope Records).

SECOND HALF: Firefly and Incandescence by Erik Deutsch (from the album “Creatures” on Immersive Records).

Prayer for Zimawanga by Erik Deutsch (from the album “Fingerpoint” on Sterling Circle Records).

Crown Vic by Erik Deutsch (from Live at Relix.com).

ABOUT THE MAJOR SCALE:

Your attention please to a new program that celebrates and takes a fresh and bold look at the great American art form- JAZZ!!!

For the curious, and lovers of music who like the details in between.

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):

The Major Scale – Kaia Kater & a Cannonball Adderley Tribute

Chris — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 12:32:40 +0000

In this episode we’re featuring Kaia Kater and a nod to the Brothers Adderley.

First up, the new roots and blues of Kaia Kater. She’s Canadian born, yet embodies all the musical treasures the Americas have to offer. From bluegrass, folk, and jazz, to MC’s like Rakim and Kendrick Lamar, it all comes together in this burgeoning artist’s style of songwriting. Along with Ms. Kater, music columnist Bao Le-Huu (This Little Underground/The Orlando Weekly) joins in the conversation.

Speaking of taking in all the sounds of America (and the world at large in this case), we pay tribute to the brothers Adderley: Cannonball and Nat. With a body of work that left no stone unturned, these two did it all with a sense of musical adventure and accessibility with a bit of show-biz gleen. All types of great music passed through the brothers’ horns, ranging in themes to folklore, Broadway, afrobeat, astrology, religion, and psychedelia. Along the way the left a trail of bonafide classics – Work Song, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, and Sack O’ Woe – not to mention a who’s who of talents they helped to foster, from Joe Zawinul, Charles Lloyd, George Duke, Yusef Lateef, and more.

SONG CREDITS FOR THIS EPISODE:

THEME: Jazz Phantom by Chomsk’ (from the album “Different Beats” on Magnetic Records).

FIRST HALF:

St. Elizabeth and Nine Pin by Kaia Kater (from the album “Nine Pin” on Mavens Music).

Live recording from Orlando Philharmonic Performance with Eric Jacobson

Little Pink and Harlem’s Little Black Bird by Kaia Kater (from the album “Nine Pin” on Mavens music).

SECOND HALF:

Poundin’ by Cannonball and Nat Adderley (from the album “Big Man” on Fantasy Records).

Work Song by Cannonball and Nat Adderley (from the album “Live Session” on Capitol Records).

Never Will I Marry by Cannonball and Nat Adderley with Nancy Wilson (from the album “Live Session” on Capitol Records).

I’d Rather Be Drinking Muddy Water by Cannonball and Nat Adderley with Lou Rawls (from the album “Live Session” on Capitol Records).

So What by Miles Davis (from the album “Kind of Blue” on Columbia Records).

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Cannonball and Nat Adderley (from the album “Mercy Mercy Mercy” on Capitol Records).

Tensity by Cannonball and Nat Adderley (from the album “Quintent and Orchestra” on Capitol Records).

Fiddler on the Roof, Boy With the Sad Eyes, and Walk Tall by Cannonball and Nat Adderley (from the album “Fidderelty on the Roof” on Capitol Records).

ABOUT THE MAJOR SCALE:

Your attention please to a new program that celebrates and takes a fresh and bold look at the great American art form- JAZZ!!!

For the curious, and lovers of music who like the details in between.

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):

The Major Scale – Tom Scott Tribue

Chris — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 07:50:03 +0000

The Major Scale gives a wink and a nod to Tom Scott and some of his early work. Before Scott was topping the charts with music for Tom Cat, L.A. Express with Joni Mitchell, along with scoring for film and TV- Starsky And Hutch, Let’s Do It Again, and Family Ties, he was a teenage prodigy who was signed to Impulse Records – the home of his hero John Coltrane among other legends. Although these first albums weren’t as popular as his later releases, over the past couple of decades they’ve become fertile ground for sampling – Massive Attack, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Hieroglyphics and countless others have rearranged his work to great heights. We talk with the man himself about this phenomenon – easily one of our most entertaining conversations yet!.

SONG CREDITS FOR THIS EPISODE:

THEME: Jazz Phantom by Chomsk’ (from the album “Different Beats” on Magnetic Records).

FIRST HALF: Rural Still life #26 by Tom Scott (from the album “Rural Still Life” on Impulse Records).

Milestones by Oliver Nelson (from the album “Live In Los Angeles” on Impulse Records).

They Reminisce Over You by Peter Rock and CL Smooth (from the album “Mecca and the Soul Brother” on Elektra Records).

Today by Tom Scott (from the record “Honeysuckle Breeze” on Impulse Records).

With Respect to John Coltrane by Tom Scott (from the record “Rural Still Life” on Impulse Records).

Looking Out for Number Seven, Woodstock and Trouble Me by Tom Scott (from the album “Great Scott” on A&M Records).

Trouble Me by Joni Mitchell (from the album “Old Grey Whistle Test” on BBC/Asylum Records).

Blue Lines (excerpt) by Massive Attack (from the album “Blue Lines” on Virgin Records).

Sneakin’ in the Back by Tom Scott (from the album “Tom Scott and LA Express” on Ode Records).

ABOUT THE MAJOR SCALE:

Your attention please to a new program that celebrates and takes a fresh and bold look at the great American art form- JAZZ!!!

For the curious, and lovers of music who like the details in between.

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):

The Major Scale – Della Reese Tribute & Al Kooper

Chris — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 08:00:22 +0000

The Major Scale is testifying the word of the gospel this episode. First, we pay tribute to the dearly departed Della Reese. She began he career as a singer of immense force and beauty, commanding a range that spanned from Puccini, the deep roots of the blues, Tin Pan Ally, and Gospel. Ms. Reese could deliver it all with spine tingling and soul stirring results. Lynda Blensky, Reese’s rep, said it best: “We lost a magnificent woman who was a trailblazer in many ways.”

The term legend gets used a bit much, but it applies tenfold to an artist like Al Kooper. His work with Bob Dylan, the Zombies, and Lynyrd Skynyrd alone is enough to put him in the history books. He also founded Blood, Sweat, and Tears, which made him a Jazz Rock innovator. Mr. Kooper joins us to talk about a couple of his favorite subjects – gospel music and jazz piano. He also takes over the turntables to plug in a great set from Bobby Timmons, Les McCann, Horace Silver, and Twinkie Clark of the Clark Sisters.

SONG CREDITS FOR THIS EPISODE:

THEME: Jazz Phantom by Chomsk’ (from the album “Different Beats” on Magnetic Records).

FIRST HALF:

Lonelyville By Della Reese (from the film “Let’s Rock” by Columbia Pictures).

Don’t You Know by Della Reese (from the album “The Classic Della Reese” on RCA/Victor).

If I Never Get to Heaven by Della Reese (from the album “I Like It Like Dat” on ABC/Paramount).

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by Della Reese (from the album “The Best Thing For You” on Jasmine Records).

Billy My Love by Della Reese (from the album “Right Now” on Avco/Embassy Records).

It’s Magic by Della Reese (from the album “The Angelic Della Reese” on Magnitude Records).

A House Is Not A Home by Della Reese (from the album “On Strings of Blue” on ABC/Paramount).

Someday by Della Reese (from the CBC TV Show on CBC Television).

Brand New Day by Della Reese (from the album “Right Now” on AVCO/Embassy Records).

SECOND HALF:

My Days Are Numbered by Blood, Sweat & Tears (from the album “Child Is Father To The Man” on Columbia Records).

Sister Sadie by Horace Silver (from the album “Blowin’the Blues Away” on Blue Note Records).

Moanin’ by Bobby Timmons (from the album “This Here is Bobby Timmons” on Riverside Records).

Go On and Get That Church by Les McCann (from the album “In San Francisco” on Pacific Jazz Records).

Name It and Claim It by The Clark Sisters (from the album “Sincerely” on New Birth Records).

ABOUT THE MAJOR SCALE:

Your attention please to a new program that celebrates and takes a fresh and bold look at the great American art form- JAZZ!!!

For the curious, and lovers of music who like the details in between.

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):