PFT Media

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.

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.