The Major Scale

The Major Scale

By PFT Media, LLCArtsMusic
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The Major Scale episodes

  • Mark De Clive-Lowe & Idris Ackamoor
    Two artists, from different decades and veterans in their own right, presented to a new generation that's taking on bold new territories.   Mark De Clive-Lowe's musical calling began when he discovered his father's jazz records around the dawn of acid house. From earnestly composing electronic music in his native New Zealand, to making a name for himself in the clubs of London and around the world, De Clive-Lowe has racked up points working with the likes of 4-Hero, Shirley Horn, and Lauren Hill. From Broken Beat to Blue Note, he's always delivered an inspired collaboration. His recent output has both worlds merging, producing something new and sonically exciting with CHURCH, Live at the Blue Whale and Heritage.   Idris Ackamoor is the type of sonic treat that one really looks forward to and savors, knowing that it's the sort of pleasure that doesn't come around very often. Over the decades Ackamoor, with or without his band the Pyramids, has selectively released a series of wonderfully crafted gems steeped in soul, psychedelia, dub, and Afrobeat that are always heavy on spirituality and social awareness. His latest, An Angel Fell, may be his greatest–its freshness and originality make him a contender in the canon of jazz notables.
    58 min
  • Twin Talk & Grachan Moncur III
    As a prefix, "post" tends to signify both the offspring of something major and a place where you can lay multiple creative ideas on the table–like "post-punk" or "post-rock." The last term is synonymous with both the trio Twin Talk and their hometown city of Chicago. Twin Talk's music is jazz, but it's produced like an indie-rock record, not too unlike the music of some of their illustrious fans such as Bon Iver or Jason Moran. With a brooding, elegant, cinematic, and dreamlike sound, Twin Talk takes on the intensity of Sonny Rollins with the soundscapes of Tortoise.    The second half of the program welcomes Grachan Moncur III, whose own music could also be described as brooding and cinematic, if not idiosyncratic. One of the most original composers in the canon of American music, his career has taken him from Julliard, to the Chitlin Circuit, to hard bop, to the avant-garde. He's also gained the artistic respect of Ray Charles, The Jazztet, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, Lee Morgan, and Frank Zappa to name a few. His Blue Note recordings are often celebrated, but throughout the years his more underground work has earned him a fervent cult following. The Major Scale explores three of these recordings with the man himself: the rare and sought after Echoes of Prayer, Shadows, and Blues For Donald Duck.
    58 min
  • Roy Hargrove & Ghost-Note
    Perhaps Generation X's first jazz star, Roy Hargrove came through at a time where the 'new' was pushed along by the rising tide of hip-hop. Hargrove gave both the genre and the trumpet a newfound energy, one that could stand up to the changes happening as the 20th century gave way to the 21st. With two Grammys and a career that's spanned 30 years, his talent has held its own with such titans as Joe Henderson, Shirley Horn, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, and Joshua Redman. He sadly left us too soon, but his influence lives on in his collaborations with contemporary artists such as D'Angelo, John Mayer, and Common. We pay our respects to the man with violinist Tanner Johnson, whose arrangement of Hargrove's "Strasbourg-St. Denis" serves as a touching tribute, and Jon Lampley of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Stay Human band, who finishes the segment with thoughtful insight and a sensitive note.   What do you get when you add all things socially aware, prescient, and entertaining with a beat? The answer is "conscience funk" and it's the term Ghost-Note uses to describe their music. Its roots are built upon Afro-Latin musical lines, with some scat, a little disco, hip-hop, rock, jazz, and whatever else you could fit into the kitchen sink that gets the mind and body going. Ghost-Note has won Grammys as Snarky Puppy's rhythm section, and various members have performed with Prince, Herbie Hancock, Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake and others. In this segment, co-leader Nate Werth joins us to dig in about the band's latest, Swagism. Have headphones ready, their sound is deep.
    58 min
  • Weldon Irvine
    To Be Young, Gifted, And Weldon Irvine   What do Nina Simone, A Tribe Called Quest, Freddie Hubbard, Mos Def, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Boogie Down Productions, Horace Silver, 4-Hero, Aretha Franklin, Talib Kweli, Stanley Turrentine, and Jay-Z all have in common?!   If you answered Weldon Irvine, you are correct. If you didn't, then let us turn you on to this amazing artist. His work crosses the decades from hip-hop, to musical theatre, to having created what may very well be the greatest anthem to the Civil Rights movement: "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black." He was a legend to those who knew him as a teacher, a band member, and a beloved friend. Digging For Weldon is an upcoming documentary about Master Wel (as he was called in person) himself, and we're lucky enough to speak to producers Victorious DeCosta and G-Clef the Mad Composer about the journey they took to understand the man–both his struggles with his art and with ultimately with himself. 
    58 min
  • St. Paul and The Broken Bones & Gilles Peterson w/ Hillary Donnell

    The Major Scale hosted by Kyle Eagle featuring Gillies Peterson w/ Hillary Donnell & Paul and The Broken Bones.

    St. Paul and the Broken Bones revive an energy that is desperate to break free in the 21st century. Their sound brings to mind the soul innovations of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and Booker T. And the MG's, but with the live energy of an Elvis or James Brown Revue. On their records they fire all cylinders, live they become a near religious experience with Paul Janeway's stunning voice testifying from the pulpit. Janeway joins the Major Scale in conversation about the band's album Young Sick Camellia, their sound, their family roots and, of course, that voice.
    We welcome Hillary Donnell as a our guest contributor, one of the brightest talents in contemporary music journalism and DJ-ing. In this second half, she turns the mic around on another shining light of broadcasting and a true champion of music: the legendary Gilles Peterson of the BBC. They talk about his recording labels, live events, his countless showcasing of artists known and soon-to-be, and how the Winter Jazz Festival has helped to highlight Britain’s new trail blazers in jazz. It's a movement that Rolling Stone has deemed “The Second British Invasion,” echoed by Vanity Fair, Esquire, and Newsweek.
    58 min
  • Delvon LaMarr Organ Trio & Brother Jack McDuff

    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.
    58 min
  • Cat Toren & Kyle Eastwood

    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.

    58 min
  • Tommy Guerrero
    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.
    58 min
  • Ashley Kahn on John Coltrane & Nels Cline

    The Major Scale returns with another season of championing the past, present, future and everything in-between of the great American art form - Jazz!

    Out of the gate we speak to celebrated author Ashley Kahn (The House That Train Built, The Universal Tone) about John Coltrane's lost album Both Directions At Once, which he helped produce. This is a landmark time for music, and 'Trane is still present–he's maybe even more understood now than when he was alive. We discuss this and more with Mr. Kahn, all the while listening to the never before heard music of Both Directions At Once.

    Nels Cline makes a return visit to The Major Scale with some insight about Currents, Constellations, his second album release on the legendary Blue Note Records. As usual, Cline's music sparkles with soul and daringness. His deep love of all music, combined with his experiences in DIY punk, free jazz, Sonic Youth, and Wilco, have made him one of today's most formidable players to follow.

    58 min
  • Thundercat & Erik Deutsch
    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!!!

    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 sauces.

    58 min

About The Major Scale

From the publisher's feed

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. Guests include legends like Herbie Hancock, Tom Scott, and Ahmad Jamal, the up and coming and the underrated-Kamasi Washington, Mia Doi Todd, Michael Blake, and more!