“What’s STILL in the Mailbag, Maude?”(epilogue)

Welp, as we come to the end of another year, we radio programmers like to lament over all of the unplayed music we’ve accumulated on our desks and desktops. By no means is it intentional – we’re just really bad at saying “No, I can’t take another cd!”. Musicians, in general, are playing at such a meteoric level, how can one turn anyone away from the turntable? Free Jazz Collective writer and accordion player Gary Chapin expressed a “mea maxima culpa” for three “overlooked gems” of 2022 that the group had yet to review. Again, no cruel intentions – it’s about time and capacity. I only have so much time and I only have so much headspace for the amount of music that comes my way. And I wouldn’t change a thing. With the torrent of releases that came out this year, it signals that there continues to be curiosity, excitement, and engagement with this music – Jazz, Black music, autophysiopsychic, call it what you will – and that means my role as a programmer is still necessary and welcomed. I’m part of the latticework that gets this music stuck to your auditory cortex.  

You’re welcome. 

Listen, instead of me stepping inside the confessional and begging artists everywhere to forgive my weary soul for all that I didn’t spin this year, I’ll just mention a few that either flew past my gaze without a second thought or tickled my ears and then I forgot about them (typical me): 

·        Jussi Reijonen/Three Seconds: Kolme Toista (Challenge Records International)

·        Eddie Palmieri/Presents Sonido Solar (Truth Revolution)

·        Eunhye Joeng/End of Time KM-53 Project: Vol. 1 (577)

·        No Hay Banda/I Had a Dream About This Place (No Hay Discos)

·        Ant Law and Alex Hitchcock/Same Moon in The Same World (Outside in Music)

·        Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade/LongGone (Nonesuch/Warner Bros.)

I could go on…love will come their way in 2023!

Hey…here’s a peak into a future pick for one of the shows: synth player Louis Siciliano’s Ancient Cosmic Truth comes out on January 6, 2023. I reviewed this recently and it is far out.

And that is it for the blog until mid-January 2023. Feel free to get in touch with me to offer your comments, quips, and/or anecdotes on the look, feel, taste, and smell of Jazz/Fluxus.

Thanks for reading!

Make it merry, cheerful, and bright this season, y’all!