This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Michael Ward, Charlie Hunter, and Compartment Of Secret Forks. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.
DJ Hairy Larry Presents Michael Ward Playing An Aperitif
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2024-03-10
Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear an uptempo jazz standard performed by ASU students in the Fine Arts Recital Hall.
I met Michael Ward at the Delta Jazz Workshop when he was in high school. I was immediately impressed with his tenor sax playing and his improvisational approach. When he started at ASU he played with me in the Jazz Recital Band. And then, after the pandemic, he played with Bebop Beatniks on the twitch porch. I’ll post links to these performances on the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Then there I was reading the Monday Morning Music Memo and what do you know. It’s Michael Ward’s Senior Jazz Recital. I just had to go.
And I was glad I did. He played great with an old school tenor sax tone that I just loved. And the ensemble work was excellent too. I knew some of the musicians who played with him and I was glad to hear those I hadn’t heard before. I mean that’s why you got to live music, right? To hear something you haven’t heard before.
He played six songs at his recital and I picked “An Aperitif” by Hank Mobley to play for you today. It’s uptempo and swinging, the ensemble work is tight and the soloists nail it. We’ll hear more songs from the recital this weekend on Something Blue.
Playing with Michael Ward on tenor were Layton Sanders, soprano; and Jasper Webb, alto. Playing in the rhythm section were Jack Alan Ezell, bass; Ethan Conner Williamson, piano; and Jalonnie Emmanuel Johnson, drums.
Ok now, here’s Michael Ward leading a sax ensemble playing “An Aperitif”.
This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Giant Steps, Joe Lovano, and Steve Swallow. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.
This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’ll hear Giant Steps, Joe Lovano, and Steve Swallow. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at ten, right here on KASU.
Joe Lovano – Quartets: Live At The Village Vanguard
Thanks Marty. Today we’re going to hear a tenor sax rendition of a jazz standard recorded at KASU Jazz Thursday.
Giant Steps was a jazz combo featuring some of Jonesboro’s finest jazz musicians. The core group had Craig Baker, trumpet; Joy Sanford, piano; Tom Mason, bass; and Mike Overall, drums. Formerly known as Nightlife they played standards and they were a good dance band.
When they played for us at Jazz Thursday they brought Mike McGowan, a former resident of Jonesboro now living in Texas. As you will hear he’s fantastic on tenor sax.
On May 23, 2013, they put on a great show at TheArts@311 in downtown Jonesboro nailing tune after tune. The song I picked for today is “Tangerine”. It was a number one hit in 1942 and remains heavily covered today. We used to sing it in the Swing Band Project.
Mike McGowan is featured on “Tangerine”. I had the good luck to work with him and play music with him at the Delta Jazz Workshop. He played with Bebop Beatniks on our Wednesday night show and he’s featured on “Sheltered” on our album, “Church”.
I also worked with Craig, Joy, Tom, and Mike on Joe Lee’s album, “Bopping At The Forest”, at Blues Fest, Jazz Thursday, and Bebopalooza.
Mike Overall passed in 2014. I can’t tell you how much I learned from him when I was recording the Jazz Alliance “Partly Cloudy” album.
As always I will post links to all this great music at the Something Blue website, sbblues.com.
Ok now, recorded on May 23, 2013, at KASU Jazz Thursday here’s Giant Steps playing “Tangerine”.
This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring The James Quintet, Bob Reynolds, Steve Lawson, and After Work. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.
MixRemix On Anonradio – From The Creative Commons Jazz Library – 2024-02-16 jazz.mixremix.cc
DJ Hairy Larry Presents Hairy Larry Playing Freddy’s Blues
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2024-02-25
Thanks Marty. Today we’re going to hear a livestream version of one of my most popular songs.
During the pandemic I would livestream on Twitch. I called my channel, Hairy Larry Practicing Piano and that’s exactly what I did. I practiced my repertoire of original songs using iRealPro backing tracks as my metronome.
I licensed all of these audio and video recordings Creative Commons Attribution. What exactly does that mean?
It means that if you want to use one of these songs in your project whether it’s a movie, a game, multimedia, or whatever you have permission to do that as long as the song is attributed correctly with the magic words, Freddy’s Blues by Larry Heyl or Freddy’s Blues by Hairy Larry.
There are many Creative Commons licenses including CC0 which dedicates your work to the public domain allowing anyone to use it without any restrictions.
I prefer CC BY or Creative Commons Attribution because it preserves the chain of attribution making it easy to find the musician who made the music so if you like it you can go find more.
And if you want to find out more about Creative Commons licenses I’m going to include a link to their website at sbblues.com.
Now, about the song “Freddy’s Blues”.
I wrote the song in 2013. It’s a blues with funny lyrics so it had everything going for it. NJHB played it at my Senior Recital with Suzanne Michell singing. It’s included on my album “Bop Soup”.
It’s also included on the most recent Bebop Beatniks album, “Live At Blues Fest” recorded in 2023 and featuring the incomparable Tyler Remagen on tenor sax.
But there’s something unique about the version of “Freddy’s Blues” on my “Livestreams” album. We were on lockdown so it’s just me, my piano, and iRealPro. No horns! The song is about a young girl in love with a horn player in a jazz band so it just didn’t work to have only piano solos. I had to sing the horn parts. First Freddy and then the trombone.
After I played it on the livestream one of my friends in chat said “Better get an audition for that trombonist.”
So here I am now singing “Freddy’s Blues” from my “Livestreams” album.
This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Shockra, Isaac Hadden, and Joe Lee. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.
DJ Hairy Larry Presents The Joe Lee Combo Playing Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2024-02-18
Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a jazz standard recorded live at Blues Fest.
Joe Lee was there at the beginning of Blues Fest in 1991 and he continued playing at Blues Fest for many years. There was this one time in 1998 when he brought Kenny Caldwell to play with him and I got to record some very fine jazz indeed.
Kenny Caldwell played with the Bill Black Combo. I only met him once, that day at Blues Fest, but some of my friends, Joy Sanford and Richard Murray, played in his band for his regular gig at the Holiday Inn. He was a jazz master guitarist, as good as anyone.
So getting to record him with Joe Lee was fantastic. Joe Lee was born in Inverness, Mississippi, but he spent most of his life in the Jonesboro area. He played with Mose Allison in Mississippi, was a top session man in Memphis, and then produced and recorded records at Fernwood working with Scotty Moore and Bill Black.
In Jonesboro he played with the Joe Lee Combo, the Mellow Express, and the Jonesboro Jazz Society Big Band. He released many records on his Alley label including national and regional hits. He ran Papa Joe’s record store where I first met him.
Starting in the nineties I was fortunate to get to work with him both playing music with him and recording his bands. He was my friend and mentor and I miss him still.
So now, here’s the Joe Lee Combo, featuring Kenny Caldwell on guitar, recorded live at Blues Fest, September 5, 1998, playing a Duke Ellington song, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”.
This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Tony Williams, Vincent Holden, and Frank Zappa. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.
DJ Hairy Larry Presents Vincent Holden Playing Tomorrow Night
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2024-02-11
Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear some blues fusion recorded at HairyLarryLand.
I’ve been jamming with Vincent Holden for years, at the Craighead Forest Bandshell, The Arts@311, Fireman’s Campground in Helena, Arkansas, and at HairyLarryLand. He’s a fantastic blues guitarist with deep Arkansas Roots, originally from West Helena but now living in Jonesboro.
I set up a recording session with him after I added the new studio onto the back of my house. I wanted to do all originals and what do you know, he had been writing some songs. We got together on October 7, 2019, for a very productive session. I called on Luke Reed to play drums and I’m on bass.
I met Luke Reed at Blues Alley and he asked if he could play. Well we were all about jamming so I got him up on stage behind my kit. He immediately knocked everyone out with his dance band drumming, a real powerhouse. I called on him later to drum on my “Lil Sonny Boy Hisself” album and then he brought his family band to Blues Fest. They used to play at the Dixie Dance so that goes back a ways. He’s been knocking out the beat in Northeast Arkansas for his whole life.
And what can I say about Hairy Larry. Living in Arkansas for 55 years Hairy Larry is a well known front man, side man, producer, and promoter. He even has a radio show somewhere.
After we recorded the band tracks I added lyrics and harmonica to a few of the songs including the title track, “Taste Of Mud”. I call the style blues fusion. Jazz fusion is a blend of rock and jazz. Vincent’s songs incorporate a lot of jazz into his blues.
So now, recorded at HairyLarryLand on October 7, 2019, here’s Vincent Holden playing his own song, “Tomorrow Night”.
Downloading songs
Many of the songs I play on Something Blue are available as free and legal downloads. These songs are often found on The Live Music Archive or Delta Boogie Radio. Follow the provided link to download the songs.
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