Jazz and Blues

It’s one of the defining songs of the Blues, written by one of its formative figures, Son House. The opening lyric “Woke up this morning…” would be considered trite today, but its 1930 recording date makes it more iconic than anything.

With its simple but insistent guitar rhythm and mournful lyrics, “Walkin’ Blues” is a virtual blueprint for Delta Blues, and a powerful influence on the development of modern blues.

Multi-instrumentalist and singer Bernie Jacobs fronts his quartet in highlights from an Art of Jazz Concert at The Seattle Art Museum on Jazz Northwest, March 24 at 2 PM PDT on 88.5 KPLU.   The concert was presented by Earshot Jazz and recorded for this broadcast on KPLU.   Joining Bernie Jacobs, who plays mostly flute on this broadcast, are Bill Anschell, piano, Phil Sparks, bass and Adam Kessler on drums.  The music includes standards and jazz classics from Fats Waller to Wayne Shorter.

A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, a founding member of the innovative Cuban group Irakere, a renowned classical musician who performs regularly with symphony orchestras around the world:  trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval returns to Seattle's Jazz Alley this week.

Over the past few years, Take 5’s theme-based music lists have covered a wide variety of subjects. We’ve covered all the seasons of the year, all the holidays, different types of weather, the careers of jazz legends, the cutting-edge work of up-and-coming jazz artists and have gotten into the musical minutiae of things like flowers, birds, baseball, prohibition and civil rights.  And now it’s time for Take 5 to go meta and present a five-song list of songs about….LISTS.  It had to happen sooner or later.

New CDs by Northwest Jazz artists are featured on this week's Jazz Northwest.  Tenor saxophonist Bill Harris leads his Portland quintet , Cory Weeds and Bill Coon front a quartet from Vancouver BC, singer Gail Pettis, and Jay Thomas and The Cats represent Seattle.  Also included this week is former Seattle trumpet player Tatum Greenblatt and some New York friends billed as the Verve Jazz Ensemble.  Jazz Northwest is broadcast Sunday afternoons at 2 on 88-5, KPLU and kplu.org. 

Louis Jordan is one of the pioneers of American music, and an important force in the transition from the Jazz Era to Rock and Roll. He was one of the first to down-size the big band format to a combo of five or six players, pounding out high energy jump, swing and rhythm and blues for dance audiences.

One of the early bands to use electric guitar, he established a musical style that rock originators like Bill Haley followed closely. Louis Jordan’s 1947 recording of “Early in the Morning” is an example of the influence of Afro Cuban rhythms on American music.