This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the December 13th show.Since it was Friday the 13th, host Paul Abella chose to start with an appropriate tune: Stanley Turrentine's big band arrangement of Spooky with an all star group. It was put out on a 45, and that was the...

Keith Jarrett is a true mastermind of improvisation on the piano. The performer is infamous for his hatred of distractions, be it coughing, photography or basic noise from the audience, so recordings dont show up as often as many desire.This set from 2010 shows the pianist doing what he does best, an intense spattering of...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the December 6th show.After offering two themes in the previous week's broadcast, NFTJU host Paul Abella returns to free form no-rules jazz programming. No theme at all. Not even a little bit.Hightlights include new(ish) stuff from Trombone Shorty and...

Sun Ra, an eclectic and beyond-prolific musician, has deep roots in Chicago -- his tenure in the city during the 1960s led to some of his best recordings.Yet shortly after moving from Chicago Sun Ra became significantly more experimental, with larger percussion sections, longer improvisation and a wider use of electronic technologyThis brings us...

Shemekia Copeland gets a lot of love in the Chicago area. Besides being in constant rotation on WXRT, the blues and soul vocalist was crowned the Queen of Blues at the 2011 Chicago Blues Festival.Copelands 2013 performance at Jay Pritzker Pavilion finds the vocalist in top form, her live performance boasting more grit and soul than...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the November 29th show.From the previous weeks unthemed set, host Paul Abella provides two themed shows in one.The first hour was the barrier breakersBenny Goodman was the very first (major) jazz artist to integrate his band, heard here with Charlie...

It's not uncommon for Railroad Earth to find themselves in Chicago this time of year.This time they came to town with a little more to prove. Their two Land of Lincoln dates fell on the weekend before Tuesday's official release of Last Of The Outlaws, the band's 10 song volume of new tunes.And so...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the November 22nd show.Host Paul Abella is actually pretty great about carving out themes for these playlists. But for this week's show there was nothing tying these together other than the central Jazz Underground premise: simply being a not-at-all-typical jazz show....

The late 70s found Herbie Hancock as prolific as ever, exploring new directions to take his music with collaborations, solo piano recordings and still more funky jazz releases. Though the 80s would bring his disco-infused, vocoder-heavy pop era, 77 found him simply stretching out the sound of his classic releases.Add Weather Reports bass mastermind Jaco...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the November 15th show.This was an all new show as in, nothing older than June of 2013. Host Paul Abella explains, "It works because in the last few months, there has been an explosion of outstanding jazz discs hitting the shelves. I...