Unpopular Christmas 2019

Here we a Christmas offering for you. It comes in four sections - A kind of straight-up jazz set, then a few medieval through baroque choral pieces, which leads us to some "derangements" of some overly familiar songs, and finally some small-scale, intimate, perhaps introverted even, renderings of some more staples. This exercise of hearing these familiar songs on unfamiliar, even irreverent settings can perhaps help us appreciate the original musical intentions of the songs.



Rest ye merry! (and remember, the comma comes after "merry," not "ye.")

See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for December 21, 2019

 And so here we are - the last weekly webcast on Boston Free Radio. Created under the same conditions that have convinced me that I need to take a break. (I was digging through boxes at 7:30 or so this morning, the McCoy Tyner track was ripped around 8:15, I still came in about ten minutes short and was digging through the BFR library throughout the show, I played off You Tube something that I forgot to add to the playlist before I left the house. But, two hours of this and that that I think can be enjoyed.

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And, to be clear, it's see you later, not goodbye. 

See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for December 14, 2019

A variety show for a rainy Saturday, at least here in Somerville. We have a jazzy first set with some overlapping personnel.The second set is the quiet set, which also features the obscure Hungarian instrument the taragato. The second hour begins with a few miniatures, before presenting two twentieth-century classical works dense with musical references. There's also a longish bit of "jazz composition" that I've been meaning to play for a while, before we end with some odd upbeatness and some college nostalgia (for me at least.)

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for December 7, 2019

A bit of a variety show for you this week. The first typically jazzy hour has many flavors of jazz, some current, some historical, some in between. There's an unintended grouping of tracks led by Miles Davis rhythm section alumni. The second hour wanders around. Some jazz, some modernism, something from the classical side of the third stream, a 70's obscure classic/classic obscurity I've been meaning to play for a while, and a fifty-year-old song ripped from today's headlines. Also, an announcement regarding the future of the live webcast.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for November 23, 2019

The first hour is typically jazzy. As for the second, well...

I kind of fell down an prog rock rabbit hold on YouTube last weekend, poking around a genre which I've been intermittently interested, but never as much as I was in high school, in the years before I discovered jazz. And sure, it's occasionally shown up in the webcast, but not like today. So strap yourself in, turn on your black-light, practice counting seven, five and thirteen, and enjoy.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for November 16, 2019

For reasons we don't need to go into, we were again late to organizing today's program. The folder where I park candidates for upcoming programs was full of what's usually second hour material, so some of that has crept into the first hour. After a jazzy (if maybe long-winded) first set leads to a contemporary classical set is bookended with some some aspirational jazz, followed by an eight minute pop song. The second hour is obviously more typical, with some electronics, and things that sound electronic, and other somewhat pretentious stuff. Enjoy!



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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for November 9, 2019

A mostly jazzy show today with the second hour consisting of a tribute to the recently departed legendary ECM Records sound engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.



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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for November 2, 2019

A jazz-centric program for you today, including a small batch of new releases from groups led by bass players.


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Celebrate Somerville Media Center's Community Media Week

This week Somerville Media Center, home to Boston Free Radio and the Unpopular Music webcast is presenting Community Media week. Although this is a tradition going back several years now, this is year it  is being tied in to SMC's fundraising efforts, which have become more urgent as the the sources of funding, particularly what we get from cable TV companies has changed in recent years, and will likely change in the near future. See the schedule below and find out more here.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for October 19, 2019

A variety show today with some film music, Burmese chamber music jams, Messiaen shouting about birds, artificial folk music, and the usual jazz offerings presented today in two long sets, but with some extra jabbering from me about the Somerville Media Center's upcoming Community Media Week fundraiser.

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See the playlist after the break...

Webcast info for October 12, 2019

This week I'm away celebrating the holiday by setting off to a faraway location, ending up somewhere else entirely, claiming that place for myself regardless of the people already living there. (actually, I'm just visiting my mom.)

In my stead, we will be re-broadcasting the episode from October 13, 2018, which was an unboxing of sorts of a recent record store binge in Portland ME, along with an RIP to baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.

Also, please enjoy the holiday pageant presented above.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for October 5, 2019

Yet another last minute creation, which I do think came out rather well. We have a few new jazz releases, plus the usual variety show. I'm not using the late start as an excuse for playing a twenty-six minute track (not that it didn't help), but when I heard this piece yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I thought "this is the sort of thing I wanted to have a radio show in order to play." So, there is is.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 28, 2019

A variety show for the first weekend of autumn eschews a couple of Unpopular Music traditions. No Autumn Leaves, no commemoration of Coltrane, Springsteen, Ray Charles or any of the other September 23rd Birthday Club (or John Carter on the 24th.) We do dig into my project of catching up on the backlog of records that I haven't gotten onto my hard drive. (Please forgive the pops and crackles.) There's a bunch of 80's jazz, some high-modernist piano, some artificial folk music and a mandolin and banjo jam from the marketplace in Marrakesh.

And lastly, my inability to correctly pronounce a couple of Asian names and titles totally wrecks the last mic break. Apologies.



See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 21, 2019

A real variety show for the last weekend of summer. Like last week, I try to keep both hours more equal in their freeness of form. We present a range of jazz-stylings An Americana set leads to an African and Africany set. Bach shows up again, along with some microtonal piano. A behind the scenes disaster is mostly kept from intruding on the proceedings.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 14, 2019

Today's webcasct took place in conditions similar to what I was expecting last week, and ended up fitting just as well. The program basically consists of two second hours, two long free-form sets which cover a lot of ground stylistically and chronologically. There's some 13th century music from Galicia, a tribute to an electro-acoustic pioneer, some Bach, some reggae-jazz, some lighthouse-jazz, new-wave and Afro-pop, plus a variety of jazz offerings.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 7, 2019

The first set keeps its usually jazzy nature, featuring a couple of recently released recordings of decades-old performances, plus a couple of today's finest trumpet players.

The second set is a century and genre spanning assembly, largely randomly programmed onto my phone and soundtracked my ride to work yesterday. I programmed it thinking it would go nicely with the predicted afternoon rain, but alas, the big storm just zipped by New England leaving us with a nice sunny day (sigh.)

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See the playlist after the break...

Webcast info for August 30, 2019

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Since the Somerville Media Center is closed for the weekend, today we are presenting a rewebcast of the episode from September 8, 2018. I'm sure you're all nostalgic for 51 weeks ago. Jim Mattis was Secretary of Defense. Drake topped the Billboard charts. Hurricane Florence was making its way towards the Carolinas

Meanwhile, Unpopular Music mourned Randy Weston and Khaira Arby, presented "a jazzy-yet -haunting piece from between-wars Germany", some afro-jazz, some swinging library music, a few, let's say, "jazz-aware" classical pieces, and more.

Let's all reminisce together!

Fashion appreciation from Thelonious Monk

Via Boing Boing -

Among Thelonious Monk's many gifts was his fashion sense. While his own duds are pretty sharp, here, he shows his admiration for saxophonist Johnny Griffin's fabulous Danish pants, from, I'm guessing 1967. Sadly, no color film exists of this clip.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for August 24, 2019

A variety show which ends up featuring a handful of Boston Jazz Institutions, some longstanding, some transient. We also dip into a couple of records I can't help dipping back into, a couple of albums I'll probably be dipping into over the next few weeks.

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See the playlist after the break...

A word from Duke Ellington

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Found in the liner notes of Herbie Hancock's "Gershwin's World" -

"It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line. - Duke Ellington

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for August 17, 2019

A quality if arbitrary selection for you today. The first hour typically jazzy, with a free-form hour for the second.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for August 3, 2019

A variety show for you today. The first hour starts out with jazz as usual, winding it's way towards some senior citizen Americana. The second hour passes starts with some lawn mower powered avant-rock, through some contemporary classical from Soviet Union escapees, electronic music (both abstract and not), a guitar-synthesizer duel, and a wah-wah trombone rock-out to wrap it up.



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Herbie Hancock on genre

It's been a while since I've brought in the big guns to explain my program, but here's one of the greatest living musicians in today's New York Times putting in his two cents on one of my favorite topics, the futility of genre, and one I haven't really gone into much, jazz as the perfect vehicle for exploring combinations of music.

Genres made it easy to put things in categories so that they could be promoted. One person’s face could be recognized for one category, and another person’s face could be recognized for another category. It was just to make some sense of it all. But when it starts to interfere with cross-collaboration, and the fact that that too can be musical, then it becomes a problem. I can only say that the word “jazz” today is much broader than it has been in the past.

You know, the most important thing is the spirit of jazz — which is about freedom, about improvisation, about courage. I mean the courage to play something that you haven’t played before, to create something on the spot. And it’s also about sharing, because onstage we don’t compete with each other. Each of us expresses ourselves from our own being, and no two people are alike, so the idea of being judgmental is not on the table.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for July 27, 2019

I've got to admit, I was a bit lazy this week, so there are a few long pieces, especially in the second hour, and I leaned a bit on the usual jazz masters (Monk, Ornette, Mingus et al), but I think this is an easily enjoyable program.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for July 20, 2019

Yeah, so I'm doing what it seems every other DJ is doing this week and programming a show full of about, or somehow related to the moon. A century spanning variety show featuring jazz from several traditions, some surf music, some afrobeat, a bit of early electronic music, a couple of 20th century classics, and an R&B obscurity that comes closest to addressing the event itself.

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See the  playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for July 13, 2019

A program for a lovely summer's day in Somerville, and hopefully wherever else you may be.
This week's program brings us down the similar first hour jazzy, second hour free-form.

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See the playlist after the break...

Webcast information for July 6, 2019

Today we are still away from Unpopular Music Central, still hearing residual fireworks go off, and so we will be rerunning the episode from November 17, 2018. I trust the shift from post-Independance Day to pre-Thanksgiving will not be too jarring.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for June 29, 2019

Two second hours for today's program. I came up with some longish jazzy things for the first hour, but couldn't assemble them around the usual break point,s so one less talking break. The second hour, after a rocky start, skews towards the contemporary classical, with a couple of segments that came around on the shuffle play this week which sounded good together, occasionally obscuring where one track ends and the next begins. Maybe not the most professional way to program, but it worked. (or did it? you be the judge)

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See the playlist after the break...

Livestream info

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Well, it seems that StreamLicensing.com, the company that providers the livestream on the Boston Free Radio homepage has gone out of business. At this point, I don't know what the plans are to replace it.

Currently there is no way to get the stream from the homepage. The best way is to listen is on Tune In. I think we are also in the radio section of Apple Music, but, not being a subscriber, I have no way to confirm that.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for June 22, 2019

A happenin' program for the first full day of summer. A typically jazzy first hour with a free-form second hour which gets a bit mellow toward the middle. A good time can be had by all.




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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for June 8, 2019

A by the seat of my pants presentation mostly held together. A jazzy first hour, and a mix and match second hour. Enjoyable sounds for an enjoyable day.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for June 1, 2019

Music for a sunny Saturday with a bit of ocean chill to it. A jazzy first hour featuring some new additions to the Unpopular Music Central Library. A free form second hour also skews jazzy, but has some rockin' string quartet music, some African sounds, and a couple of pop oddities.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for May 18, 2019

A variety show for you today on this lovely afternoon in Somerville. A jazzy first hour, with some more contemporary (classical and otherwise) in the second, featuring some crazy piano music, some crazy piano music transcribed for barrel organ, an excerpt from a banjo concerto, some minimalism-meets-math-rock-meets-jazz and more. Several of the Unpopular Music All-Stars are also heard from.



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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for May 11, 2019

Some music for a lovey day in Somerville. We're pretty jazzy for both hours. I get lazy and bust out a twenty-minute version of an Art Ensemble classic in the second hour. Monk comes back after a couple of weeks off. We also get some revolutionary French jazz from the seventies.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for May 4, 2019

Greetings from Somerville, where April showers bring May showers. We have a few flower references regardless. There's the usual jazz/not jazz breakdown between hours one and two. We've got some faux-Wagner film music. Some legendary guitarists getting introspective. And of course some May flowers.

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No Star Wars references except for an RIP to Peter Mayhew.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 27, 2019

A program as eclectic as today's weather. We have a pretty jazzy first hour. A set focused around 1960, and another from the last few years. The second hour contains jazz, some slightly contemporized early music, a bit of high modernism, and some elevated pop music.

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See the playlist after the break...

Webcast info for April 20, 2019

 

Not an Easter song, just a song about a rabbit, so when else do I play it

I'm away this weekend for the holiday, so today we present the episode from January 7, 2017 which had been meant to have been rebroadcast on January 12, 2019.

As I said on both occasions, it features a "raucous first hour, [and a] contemplative, yet not, somnambulant second hour." Having not re-listened to the program since I chose it as a rerun, I've forgotten what I meant by that. I guess I'll have to listen in, too.

Oops, it was actually the episode from January 20, 2018. I don't know where I came up with that phony information.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 13, 2019

Today we present a program of various sounds, progressing from the usual jazz opening, to a variety of sounds. There's a historical electronic piece, some avant-garde jazz and theatrical music.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for April 6, 2019

A mix-and match show today a jazzy first hour, with some classical asides. Followed by an electronics heavy variety show for the second hour.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 30, 2019

Today we belatedly celebrate World Piano Day, which was yesterday, as March 29 is the 88th day of the year. (I only heard about this in a promotional email, so as far as I know, Deutsche Grammophon made the whole thing up.) We feature a variety of jazz, contemporary classical and one or two oddities, all featuring the piano.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 23, 2019

A variety show for you today for the first Saturday in spring. We start with a jazzy set on springtime themes. Followed by a short set from a couple of Unpopular Music All-Stars. The second hour brings us some rockin' Rite of Spring variations, some volcano atmosphere, a long whisper-to-a-scream track, heavy metal goes classical and a few other odds and ends.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 16, 2019

The first set starts with a pair of be-bop classics, ends with something from one of the first steps beyond, and has something contemporary in the middle. The second set is the ruminative set for the show. While the second hour has a set of collage pieces, the first of which is a great influence on my musical aesthetic in general, and the webcast in particular.

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See today's playlist after the break. If you want St. Patrick's Day material, look here instead. ...

A word from John Zorn

...and a preview of this week's webcast.

From the liner notes to John Zorn's Spillane album.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 9, 2019

Today we acknowledge (or perhaps even celebrate, we'll see how the program goes) the fifth anniversary of the first Unpopular Music webcast!

No special programming to present. It's a mostly jazzy show with some 20th-century classical stuff in hour two, plus a coule of pop songs at the end. We return to a few records I've been featuring lately. Many of the Unpopular Music All-Stars make an appearance. A good time is had by all.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for March 2, 2019

March is coming in like a lion, so lay like the lambs and listen in. We have birthday tributes to Lou Reed (born March 2, 1942), Kurt Weill (born March 2, 1900) and Robyn Hitchcock (born March 3, 1953) Sorry, I don't have any Mikhail Gorbachev records (born March 2, 1931).

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See the playlist and more after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for February 23, 2019

A variety show today. Some classic jazz, and some newer jazz too. A couple of 20th century pieces, plus a 21st century piece for chamber ensemble and rock band. A few poppy things toward the end, plus RIPs for Ken Nordine and Peter Tork. As a bonus, I'm massively distracted by something buzzing in my headphones.

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See the playlist after the break...

Do as I say...

A Valentine's Day playlist for the love-lorn. Or a motivational playlist for anytime.

On her Christmas album “Child”, Jane Siberry makes a comment between songs about how she dislikes hearing songs about salvation and redemption without first presenting the need for salvation and redemption. This mix brings the same concept to Valentine's Day.

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It's a pretty personal mix I've been working on for a couple of years now, adding and subtracting until it came out right. First we wallow, then we move through longing and hope, to motivation for new beginnings, to realizing them. I've been through all these stages only to wind up back at the beginning. Maybe I'm at stage two. (which is why ...not as I do.)

Gimme That Ol' Atonal Music

This is apparently making the rounds among music nerds. Don't be left out.

via Alex Ross

Merle Hazzard, described by Anne Midgette as a "[pioneer of] a form of comic bluegrass economics" takes a break to promote some unpopular music. However, being somewhat familiar with the work of Paul Elwood, I don't believe this is my first atonal banjo solo. (OK, that selection may not actually be atonal, but I did hear him once play in a Cornelius Cardew piece at New England Conservatory back in early 2000's.)

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for February 9, 2019

Today we bring you a mostly jazzy variety show. Unintentionally featuring a number of duets. There's also a couple of historic jazz reissues from recent months, dramatic rearrangements of both Mozart and Marvin Gaye, and a remembrance of the late baritone Sanford Sylvan.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for February 2, 2019

A mostly jazzy program of odds and ends this week. There's some afropop, an oddball Bob Marley cover, and a pretty, folky song, too. Some long pieces occupy the second hour as I hadn't stockpiled much music for the show ahead of time. A bit of a chill out set, but well worth the attention though.

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See the playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for January 26, 2019

Very much a variety show today, a bit thrown together. At fisrt it may seem like I just broke the glass and pulled out Thelnious Monk and Bill Frisell in the first set, and there's a couple of long selections in the second hour. In the first hour we also have a set in tribute to the great pianist and film composer Michel Legrand. I had a hard time sleeping last night, and heard of his death from the radio in one of my waking moments. At 4AM, I actually contemplated just getting up and ripping my super-scratchy LP of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg onto my computer. I held off until about eight, and discovered I actually own one of Legrand's piano trio albums from the sixties (which was in slightly more presentable condition), so we'll hear a track from that instead.

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Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for January 19, 2019

A blend of exuberance and more mellow and/or serious tones for you this week (not that these are mutually exclusive categories.) We pay tribute to the recently departed Joseph Jarman Check out this essay by Howard Mandel for how all-encompasing his work, and that of his many associates, was. Click through even just to see how Jarman has the misfortune to have once been the subject of a famous photograph, the cover of his first album, which has been used to identify him for the last fifty years or so. One could have worse misfortunes. Therefore, I'm using it, too


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Webcast info for Januaty 12, 2019

It's the second week of January and I'm already slacking off. Well just some family obligations keeping me away from the Media Center this week. In my absence, we're presenting a repeat of the  January 7, 2017 episode.

As I said at the time, it features a "raucous first hour, [and a] contemplative, yet not, somnambulant second hour."

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for January 5, 2019

We have a kind of subdued program (though not without moments of exuberance) for what turned out to be a rather grey Saturday afternoon in Union Square. It's one of those "let's see what played on my phone the past week" kind of shows, and that's how it came out.

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See the playlist after the break...