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I don't think Bob will mind me stealing the whole post

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on April 17, 2006 - 3:59pm.
on

Mind the auto-play soundtrack...(I hate that, by the way...and the player is all the way at the bottom of the page.)

WHAT IS THIS SITE? (It's Jazz for people who say that they don't like Jazz)

Soul-Patrol Jazz I grew up listening to "jazz music". It was played in my household, in my neighborhood, on the radio and on TV. It was played at family gatherings, it was played at block parties, barbeques, subway stations, street corners, weddings and even funerals. The term "jazz" back in those days meant everything from Doc Severenson to Dr. Lonnie Smith, from John Coltrae to John Scofield, from the Heath Brothers to the Brecker Brothers. In my neighborhood, Gil Scott-Heron and Gil Evans co-existed as did Herbie Hancock and Herbie Mann. In my universe CTI was just as great a jazz label as Impulse or Blue Note and I saw no conflict whatsoever between Sun Ra, Dave Brubeck and Grover Washington. Of course that world of jazz all disappeared sometime during the 1980's and it became stratified and subdivided into many different sub genres and in doing so lost touch with "regular people".

The scope of Soul-Patrol Jazz is inspired by a great radio station that existed in NYC back in the 1970's called WRVR-FM. One of the things that made WRVR so great was that it focused on presenting jazz music and commentary that was "in touch with regular people". The real brillance of WRVR was that not only was it able to connect with "regular people", but it also educated listeners about "deeper music" at the same time, without "pandering" or becoming "condesending". That's what we are going to do here at Soul-Patrol Jazz.

One of the things we will be doing here is updating the site often with new releases, so bookmark the page and also sign up for the Soul-Patrol Newsletter (where we will be announcing the updates) using the form at the top of the page. This time out we have features on Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chip Shelton, Frank McComb, MFA Kera/Mike Russell, Spirit of Life Ensemble, Bill Godwin's Ink Spots, The Rebirth, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Jason Miles, Louise Perryman, Marlon Saunders, D-Erania. Soon be updating these pages with info on upcoming jazz releases from Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Billy Griffin (yes I said Jazz), File Under G, Monet, Janis Siegel, Jazzhole, "V", Eric Person, Hill St. Soul, Shilts, Vernon Reid and Masque, Frank McComb, SounDoctrine and more. We will also be having some offline events. For example we will be hosting the CD release party for longtime Soul-Patroller Chip Shelton's new CD called "Peacetime" @ Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair, NJ on Apr 27, 2006 7:30 PM. And of course we will continue to do jazz on internet radio at Soul-Patrol as well as featuring our jazz programming here on this page.
So stay tuned and if you have any ideas or suggestions for me, please let me know...

--Bob Davis
[email protected]

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That's pretty cool. I'm
Submitted by Temple3 on April 17, 2006 - 6:02pm.

That's pretty cool. I'm still trying to figure out who regular people are...when do you become irregular?? when you write too much, read too much, earn too much, think too much, love too much, pray too much, talk too much, hurt too much, achieve too much?? When does that happen?? Are regular people the same as average people?? Are average people the same as mediocre people?? Can you be average people if you absolutely SUCK at lotsa shit? What about if you're only great at one thing? Can white guys join the Average Black Band??
Blue Note will always be the
Submitted by ptcruiser on April 17, 2006 - 6:06pm.
Blue Note will always be the coin of the realm in jazz.  The covers on the old vinyl LPs were always sharp and hip. I used to belong to an online discussion group devoted to the music of Miles Davis. I grew disenchanted when I realized that these guys did not really respect  a lot of the late 1960s and 1970s Blue Note albums that were recorded when the late pianist Duke Pearson was the lead A&R man there. They referred to it as "boogaloo jazz".  (I think if black folks can pat their feet or shake their behinds to jazz music then some jazz cognoscente types get wind in their jaws.  Monk used to get up and dance around the bandstand when the music got good to him.)

CTI produced a lot of good sides.  I never cared that much for Bob James et al. but some of  the earlier stuff like Freddie Hubbard's "Straight Life" and "Red Clay" still knock me out.  Also, Stanley Turrentine's recordings. In fact, a few months ago I managed to get a CD copies of Randy Weston's "Blue Moses" date with Hubbard, Hubert Laws and Grover Washington and Turrentine's "Salt Song" album. 

Anyway, Bob Davis is right. It was all jazz.  And most of it was good for your soul.