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The Major Scale – Abdullah Ibrahim & Jazz Africa

June 3, 2020 By Chris

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 …

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

May 27, 2020 By Chris

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.Continue Reading …

The Major Scale – The Bad Plus & Jazz Piano

May 20, 2020 By Chris

The Bad Plus lent us some time to talk about their latest excursion with their most recent addition, the brilliant pianist Orrin Evans. The latest album is titled Activate Infinity and has proven to be yet another creative boon for this prolific band. The music matches the moniker, redefining the concept of the piano trio yet again and working together beautifully. From the opening salvo to the final note, these melodies have anthemic passion and hypnotic charm that will sweep you away, be it the slower tempos or the ones on the upswing. One could say this outing could be the soundtrack to an older, wiser, and well adjusted Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang cartoon.

The Bad Plus continue to deliver the goods with originality and an off beat infectiousness that has the urgency of rock-n-roll. Which isn’t easy when you’re following in the footsteps of giants like Ramsey Lewis, Vince Guaraldi and Allen Toussaint, not to mention contemporaries like Noah Haidu and Cat Toren. Since we’re talking about tickling the ivories, the next half of the show will dive into the piano trio game. We’re spinning some Ramsey, rockin’ a little Toussaint, hearing some Haidu, and more. Continue Reading …

The Major Scale – The Midnight Hour & David Liebman

May 13, 2020 By Chris

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.”Continue Reading …