PFT Media

The Major Scale – The Future Light of Mark Murphy with Gilles Peterson

Chris — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 08:00:16 +0000

Since the late ’50s Mark Murphy has been a stalwart of the crooner set. A jazz singer with an exquisite style that pushed the edges and split the critics, making him a real musician’s musician. A contemporary of the Rat Pack and the rock opera with an affinity for the Beats and be-bop, Murphy defied category–freeform vocalese with a rich timbre that let forth expressive colors that were alluring, audacious, and even shocking.

Despite multiple Grammy nods, he was largely relegated to the fringes. Then came the ’80s, Gilles Peterson, the Acid Jazz movement, electronica, London, Japan, Scandinavia, Asia, Europe, the 21st Century and beyond, literally. With new musical freedoms Murphy took the vocal arts light years ahead.
We welcome back Gilles Peterson, who was instrumental in this phase of the singer’s life and career, to share his experiences and shed light on the music that bookended this extraordinary artist’s legacy. Featuring collaborations with 4Hero, United Future Organization, the Five Corners Quintet, and more.

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 – Kyle Eastwood & Jazz Cinema

Chris — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 08:31:23 +0000

We’ve always dug Kyle Eastwood’s soulful bop style, but his latest album Cinematic has the bassist veering towards some literal cinematic moodiness. In a departure from their norm, Eastwood and company deliver a marvelous set of soundtrack classics that transmute some well-tread tunes into fresh gold. Whether it’s the classic themes from Bullitt, Taxi Driver, and Skyfall, or even the iconic “Windmills of My Mind” and “Gran Torino,” Eastwood performs them all with unique aplomb. The result is powerful and haunting, sometimes even tear-jerkingly moving. Slight spoiler, don’t snicker, even the Pink Panther theme gets saddled for a new wild ride.

Keeping with the theme of movie music, we round out the show by delving into some of the genre’s best and brightest on celluloid and solo: Lalo Schifren, J.J. Johnson, Michel Legrand, and Henry Mancini. Truly music that bends the imagination this mix will delight with well known tunes, some deep dives, and a few ear-pricking samples.

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 – Nobody (Elvin Estela) & Michael Blake

Chris — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 08:24:50 +0000

In this episode of the Major Scale we have Nobody… no, it’s not a scheduling snafu, it’s Elvin Estela, an artist who goes by the moniker of Nobody. For over 20 years he’s been fighting the good fight by composing amazing music that ranges from the outer reaches of psychedelic infused hip hop to rare groove suites of the highest order. We’ve been dying to talk to him since The Major Scale started and on this episode he joins us to wax poetic on music, influences, ‘90s college radio, and other things all too familiar.

Michael Blake returns with something old that is new again–the re-release of Slow Poke At Home. Originally recorded in 1998 during a landmark year in the saxophonist’s career, today the original release fetches a fairly hefty price. Like all of Blake’s work, Slow Poke is a curious collection of originals and imaginative covers by Duke Ellington, Neil Young, and Eddie Harris. It’s a sonic crossroads of bluesy slide guitar and a jazzy rhythm section that, at times, is gruff and rootsy as well as ethereal.

Curious indeed.

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 – Rez Abbasi & the Psychedelic Edges of Charles Lloyd and Gabor Szabo

Chris — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 08:21:08 +0000

Guitarist Rez Abbasi makes the kind of music that draws from all corners of the world. From the far reaches of the East to his home on the West Coast in LA, Abbasi weaves together beautiful musical scenes with each recording he releases. His recent album, A Throw of Dice, proves all the above and then some. He was commissioned to score a nearly century old German silent film based on an episode from the Mahābhārata, one of two epic Sanskrit tales of India from the 8th century (See what we mean about Abbasi drawing from all corners?) We got him on hand to give us the finer details on the project and sample some of this sweet music that defies categorization.

This brought to mind the later work of Charles Lloyd and Gabor Szabo. Both artists drew their distinctive sounds from the world at large, especially when they were members of Chico Hamilton’s group, known for their international flavor during the fertile late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Both artists branched out into World music, as well as spirituality, Rock, Soul, and Psychedelia with the likes of some of the decades’ finest; they worked with the Beach Boys, Bobby Womack, Jim Keltner, Bob James, members of Traffic, Parliament, the Byrds, the Headhunters, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and more. Through these collaborations Lloyd and Szabo helped to create a sonic hybrid that too defies categorization.

Earthy, ethereal, and a stone groove. As we often say, this is music 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 – Abdullah Ibrahim & Jazz Africa

Chris — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 08:11:55 +0000

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!

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 – Grace Kelly: Live at the Melrose Center & Clark Terry

Chris — Wed, 27 May 2020 08:00:55 +0000

The Major Scale welcomes back one of our favorite contemporary talents: the incomparable Grace Kelly! A musical maverick who delights and entices with performances that range from flash mob parody, appearing on The Late Show with Stephan Colbert, or doing a live set for us at the Melrose Center in the Downtown Orlando Public Library. Kelly and company go full throttle with some soulful originals and dazzling interpretations of “Is You Is, or Is You Ain’t My Baby” to “You Are My Sunshine.”

Talking with Grace while we were setting up the session yielded some great conversation, this lady has serious roots with some of the legends she’s mentored with– from Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Bob Dorough, Dave Brubeck, and Clark Terry! The Major Scale has a lot of love for Mr. Terry, so we decided to pair her segment with some of his tremendous, yet undersung, gems. Turns out it’s a natural fit, with their like-minded styles, sense of bravado and, best of all, humor. We’ll hear Terry give a nod to the Civil Rights movement, an ear to the East and all things tinged Latin, that old time religion, and a shake or two of some funky boogaloo.

This episode makes some serious joyful noises.

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 – 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!!!

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

ABOUT KYLE EAGLE (Host):

ABOUT CHRIS BARANYI (Producer):

The Major Scale – Brandee Younger & Gary Peacock

Chris — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 08:09:56 +0000

It’s birds of feather in this episode–Gary Peacock joins us to talk about a live date from 1999 featuring his long-time colleagues, the late great Paul Bley and Paul Motian. But first is Brandee Younger, one of the bright lights in today’s music vanguard, and the hippest harpist since Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane.

From leader, to side gigs, and mix tape compilations, it’s an endless list that proves how in demand Younger is. She’s paid her dues with the likes of Clark Terry, Jackie McLean, and Quincy Jones, and cut her teeth with John Legend, Makaya McCraven, and Postmodern Jukebox. Her Soul Awakening is a wake up call to anyone craving something from the celestial crossroads–its somewhere in-between hip-hop in the classical world, but with the backdrop of jazz.

Taking cue from Ornette Coleman’s “When The Blues Leave,” Gary Peacock, Paul Bley, and Paul Motian’s live date has finally seen the light of day 20 years later. As to be expected from this legendary trio of players, the music is brilliant with incisive swing that the three improvised with charm. Not to mention a subtlety that proves telepathy is possible–at least among musicians.

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 – Jamie Saft & Ron Carter

Chris — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 08:00:40 +0000

Keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist, Jamie Saft is exactly the type of musician we love to talk about here on the Major Scale. He’s prolific, and leaves no musical territory unexplored–from rock to punk, and the experimental to all that Jazz. His work with Bernard Purdie, John Zorn, Bad Brains, the Beastie Boys, and Bill Laswell, to name a few, have put Saft into the Musician’s Musician club–a very good place to be. His latest efforts have found him in good company with fellow heavyweights Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte, not to mention the incomparable punk icon Iggy Pop on the mic, all of which you’ll hear.

Ron Carter you’ve heard countless times and if you haven’t we don’t know where you’ve been. He’s a legend–his bass playing provides the pulse and groove of countless classics and infinite samples for hip hop and electronica. He’s been name checked and enlisted by everyone from A Tribe Called Quest to Gil Scott-Heron and Miles Davis. He’s a leader and an artist with over 2000 sessions under his belt and he continues to this day. He joined us to talk abut one of his recent recordings, The Brown Beatnik Tomes with Def Poetry’s Danny Simmons. Curious eardrums will be delighted.

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 – Snarky Puppy and Doc Severinsen

Chris — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 08:08:32 +0000

Snarky Puppy have been delivering the goods for some time. From picking up Grammys to creating the Ground Up Festival, kudos to their futuristic fusion that takes all things soulful, funky and jazzy and turns it on its ear. Like the bands from Miles Davis’ electric-era, this group has a hundred flowers blooming in their talent pool. The band boasts members who have taken part in the music of Prince, Erykah Badu, Justin Timberlake, David Crosby, and Ghost-Note. Known as “The Fam” to friends and fans alike, guitarist Bob Lanzetti gets anything but snarky with us as we discuss the music and more.

Speaking of flowers blooming, our next guest needs no introduction as he made his name in the late night talk show game. The Major Scale has been covering the cream of this crop since we started, and we’re proud and humbled to present an icon. Easily the godfather to today’s Jon Batiste and The Roots, without further delay: HEEEEEEEEEEEERE’s DOC!!!!!!

“Doc” Severinsen that is, the legendary band leader from The Tonight Show. While Johnny Carson may have been the king of late night, Doc is the king of the music. Night after night he presided over some of the greatest musicians in the world, with trumpet in hand and outrageously bespoke threads on his frame. The NBC peacock logo paled in the light of Doc and a band that included a who’s who of greats like Clarke Terry, Shelly Manne, Snooky Young and more. Severinsen joins The Major Scale to shed light on recently discovered recordings from his workshops with Texas high school bands. Recorded in the 1970s, the music is masterful, with epic and cinematic turns, with a backstory that touches the heart. It’s perhaps his greatest artistic achievement to date.

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):