Listen Here!

A few interesting things to listen to today that I've been enjoying lately...

- Uncle Paul's Jazz Closet is an excellent podcast curated by Paul Motian's niece Cindy McGuirl that features the life and music of Paul Motian, including many unreleased and private recordings.

A recent episode features some rare rehearsal recordings of Motian's in which he is tuning his drums, practicing the drums (!) and rehearsing original material with other musicians.

I was also really impressed with a previous episode that featured Motian's private recordings of him practicing the piano and playing through several of his original compositions (on a piano that he allegedly bought from Keith Jarrett and apparently Motion was a very serious student of the instrument, even taking regular lessons for a number of years). I don't think that Motian meant for these recordings to be heard by anyone other than himself however I don't think he would really mind either (*this is purely my speculation of course!)

Anyways, I think these recordings are highly significant and I think we can all take a lesson from this. Given the technology readily available to us, there is no reason why we all shouldn't be recording ourselves on a regular basis for self-evaluation (even if not intended to be shared with others). Perhaps no one will be curating a podcast in our name after we're long gone however there is still much to be learned and gained by regular documentation of your own creative process.

I recently spoke with Dr. Patrick Boyle about this very subject, Ted Warren blogged about this earlier in the week and Chad Anderson is a constant inspiration via his posts on Instagram.

- Jerry Fuller is a name that often comes up in Canadian Jazz drumming circles. When I ask other musicians about him, he is always remembered fondly (in fact, whenever Nick Fraser is asked: "Who is the best Jazz drummer in Toronto?" Fraser usual replies: "Jerry Fuller"....even though he's been deceased since 2002!)

Here's an article written by long-time Montreal Jazz critic Len Dobbin on Fuller's career.

A couple of great examples of Jerry Fuller's drumming to check out, both from the Canadian Jazz Archives on-line (a great resource!):

• A 1991 concert date featuring the Jerry Fuller Quintet

• With the Phil Dwyer Trio from 1997

Both of these concerts were recorded live at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.

- Here's some more Canadian Jazz: guitarist Sonny Greenwich with pianist Don Thompson, bassist Jim Vivian and drummer Barry Elmes, recorded at the Upstairs Jazz Bar in Montreal on a spirited version of Cole Porter's "I Love You":



I think I may have been in the audience for this concert now that I come to think of it...

- Thanks to Adam Nussbaum for passing along this rare one of the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960, recorded at the Jazz Gallery, featuring Pete LaRoca on drums:

- And speaking of Coltrane....here's Montreal's Yannick Rieu and his quartet performing Trane's Untitled Original 11383 from a recent performance at the Montreal International Jazz festival with ANDRE WHITE on drums:



- Kenny Washington first played this Philly Joe Jones drum solo for me a few years ago at his apartment in Brooklyn. It's extremely rare and out-of-print but fortunately it's still up on YouTube: