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On this edition I pay tribute to the late great tenorsaxophonist Michael Brecker on what would have been his 68th Birthday but who sadly lost his fight against cancer 10 years ago, the life and music of one of the leading saxophonists of our time remembered with a selection of his work.
Read more: Tales from the far Side 30.03.2017 The Best in Jazz Remember Michael Brecker
The 11th edition of The Hot Box takes a new turn on the A-Z of pianists, and digresses to pay tribute to the recently deceased guitar hero Larry Coryell, who died on February 19th, not long after declaring that he wished to come and settle in Ireland! His dislike of the recent political events in the USA were well publicised. He is a sad loss to the jazz world, and The Hot Box has mined the archives for 2 pieces recorded with a quartet (including Fintan O’Neill) in Dublin back in 2004.
Read more: The Hot Box #011 - A to Z of Jazz Piano Part 3 - The Letter C
On this edition you can hear the music of Alec Wilder, one of the greatest composers of 20th Century popular music , interpreted by some of the leading Jazz musicians from Roland Hanna to Bob Brookmeyer, from David Liebman to Emilie Conway.
Read more: Tales from the far Side 16.03.2017 The Music of Alec Wilder
In this edition I pay tribute to the first "officially" Jazz recording by the Original Dixieland Jazz band in January 1917 and I feature some of the group's compositions interpreted and recorded by other musicians on it's way into a new century of Jazz history. You can hear music by Duke Ellington, Bix Beiderbecke, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Arturo Sandoval, Benny Goodman, Humphrey Lyttelton, Art Pepper and the Hot 8 Brass Band.
Read more: Tales from the far Side 09.03.2017 the Best in Jazz
On this edition you can hear some of the funkiest organ grinders of 1960s Soul Jazz and beyond who ruled and revolutionized the sound of the good old Hammond B 3 Organ, showing that it could be creatively used in a Jazz context. And you can groove along to the music of Jimmy Smith, Big Joe Patton, Babyface Willette, Brother Jack McDuff, Shirley Scott and Dr.Lonnie Smith.
This time around we have a very special Hot Box for you with Al Ryan as guest presenter. Al Ryan is a well-known Irish trumpeter and broadcaster who now lives in the UK. He was a producer and presenter of jazz programmes for RTE and Lyric FM in Eire, covering of all Ireland’s major festivals, notably Cork Jazz, for nine years. He now broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio Oxford, as well as leading his own 17-piece big band in the UK and Ireland.
The Hot Box #010 features new releases from pianist Joey Alexander, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel and Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda.
TALES FROM THE FAR SIDE is live on air on CRC102.9fm and on www.crcfm.ie every Thursday 8-9 pm with a repeat on Saturday 9-10 pm. And there is a podcast of the show available on the web site all through the week. The show has established itself over the years with a small but devoted listenership (even beyond Jazz-fans) and since the introduction on internet the listenership extended nationally and internationally.
Read more: Tales from the far Side 09.02.2017 Bud Powell and his Influnce