Life from the Coronazone

This was an idea I originally thought to do as a spoof but i decided to take it seriously!

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This week we lost friend and family member, Dave Jones. Please join us in wishing his family and friends our deepest condolences. 

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Chick Corea was the center of many musical universes when I was a young listener and curious musician in training. On February 9th 2021, one of the brightest stars in that universe went dark but his light will shine for as long as music is performed and taught. These are just my extemporaneous thoughts on Chick and his music and how i was affected. I'm sure I'm leaving out many things about Chick but I wanted to speak while his loss was still raw. I hope you enjoy and I hope to be more regular in my output. It's been a rough 10 months! Peace!

David Beasley

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Once in while we experience the oncoming of an artist that in all respects seems to be ahead of his time. The depth of this kind of artistry on every level is more than evident on the debut Release of Senegalese Composer and Bassist Cheikh Ndoye. The well known term “Young Lion”, seemingly has reached even greater heights as of late by collaborating with such world renowned artist as Baaba Maal, breaking incredible ground musically at such a young age.

Early in his life Cheikh played the piano, and was attracted to many jazz greats. His love for Jazz put him on a historical path of investigation into this genre, again at quite an early age. After listening to Weather Report‘s 8:30 album, he was so captivated by Jaco Pastorius melodic and harmonic developments that he immediately fell in love with the bass guitar.

Africa’s flair for melody lends itself to being a cultural playground for the virtuoso bassist and over the decades, several have made their mark in the international arena. Bakithi Kumalo (South Africa), Linley Marthe (Mauritius) and of course, Richard Bona (Cameroon) make up a small part of a respected roll call. Today, Senegal’s own, Cheikh Ndoye, fits comfortably into and adds to this incredible legacy, not only as a bass master, but also as a multi-instrumentalist and composer of distinction.

He has played and recorded with great artists such as Randy Brecker, Russell Ferrante, Dave Weckl, Eric Marienthal, Kazumi Watanabe, Mike Stern, Leni Stern, Karen Briggs, Tizer, Special EFX, Dean Brown, and Arshak Sirunyan a number of whom appeared on his first CD, an album entitled “A Child’s Tale”. There’s no doubt that Cheikh will be added to this prestigious and very short list of inspired artists.

Randy Brecker ” Another great CD from Cheikh Ndoye full of engaging African rhythms, melodies and sensibilities featuring outstanding work from a host of world class musicians! You’ll love this”

Richard Bona  “Absolutely Inspirational work… By an amazing artist Sounds like true art to me”

Russell Ferrante ( The Yellow Jackets) “You’ve made a really diverse and adventurous recording! I love the fact that each tune takes the listener on a different musical journey from acoustic jazz through world music. Fusion at it’s best!

http://www.cheikhndoye.com
https://youtu.be/Y3i3_VAULzk

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Friends of mine tell me that I'm one of the more astute listeners regarding music. I do really take it seriously and have since I was a child. This podcast stems from a conversation with my good friend Nina Brown-Lane. She's just beginning to nibble around the edges of our great Black American art form known, for better or worse, as Jazz. Jazz to some artists has become a label with negative connotations, and the term can be the source of some very heated arguments. Notedly from the great musician, trumpeter - Nicholas Payton. Agree? Disagree? The jury is out. Whatever we decide to call it in the future is fine with me, I'll never stop listening!  

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In this mini episode I take a minute to talk about bassist Laurence Cottle. I've added a link to his site so that you can explore in greater depth. If you're not familiar I think you will be glad that you stopped by! https://www.laurencecottle.co.uk

  

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I discuss the reason for a new guitar being built by New York Bass Works. This is an instrument that I dreamt up 40 years ago based on a wish list of things I wanted to be able to do. Within a few weeks this guitar will be complete and in my hands. I take a few minutes to discuss the instruments that have lead up to this point and how their successes and failures kept me reaching for an instrument that only existed my mind.  

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"No doubt, Wood is a wildly endowed and original musician."  -Steve Krugman (hollywooddrum.com)

 Grammy nominated Nate Wood is a drummer/multi-instrumentalist and mastering engineer based in New York City. Nate is a founding member of the Grammy nominated quintet Kneebody. Kneebody released their self titled debut album in 2005 on trumpeter Dave Douglas’s label Greenleaf Music. In 2007, Kneebody released “Low Electrical Worker” on Colortone Media. They completed an album of arrangements of Charles Ives compositions with singer Theo Bleckmann and released the recording “12 Songs of Charles Ives” which was nominated “Best Classical Crossover Album” Grammy Award (2009, Winter and Winter). Kneebody’s latest record “The Line” was released on Concord Records in 2013.

Nate has also performed or recorded with many notable artists including Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Dave Grohl, Brian May and Roger Taylor (Queen), Chris Squire (Yes), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Chaka Khan, Wayne Krantz, Billy Childs, Tigran Hamasyan, Donny McCaslin, Sting and many others. 

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In this episode I talk about a group and album that was influential in my life as I was becoming a young musician. This record in particular is out of print but you can still reach out to Wayne for help in acquiring a copy. Enjoy!   

     www.waynejohnsononline.com

• 1980 Arrowhead (Inner City)
• 1983 Grasshopper (ITI)
• 1984 Everybody's Painting Pictures (Zebra)
• 1988 Spirit of the Dancer (Zebra)
• 1993 Keeping the Dream Alive (MoJazz)
• 1996 Kindred Spirits (GTSP)
• 1999 Apache with Jeff Richman (Miramar)
• 2003 One Guitar (Solid Air) available at iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/album/one-guitar/79109885 
• 2014 The Distance with Jeff Richman (Iti Records) (reissue of Apache less one track)

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Promo about the next 2 episodes, be sure to tune in and subscribe!  

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