Hello out there in Podcast-Land! Jazz many times is taken as a very serious music (rightly so). Charlie Parker even said "If you don't live it - - - it won't come out of your horn!" With that said, many people find it hard to even break into jazz listening. They don't even know where to start with something so "serious" as jazz. On the other side of the coin, there are many light-hearted songs that are some of my personal favorites tracks in all of recorded jazz. At the end of the day, jazz cats know when to cut up and have a really good time - - - which is one of the most important aspects of this great art form. Jazz music can challenge you to think on another level, it can blow your socks off, but it can also make you smile, grin and laugh out loud. Enjoy!

The Dr. Jazz Podcast with Nathan Holaway

The Dr. Jazz Podcast: Light-hearted Jazz (Dec. 2021)

You wrote. We listened! Back by popular demand - the Dr. Jazz Podcast gives you another edition of a Jazz Grab Bag Episode! There are lots of interesting twists and turns in this one. Don't sleep on this one!

The Dr. Jazz Podcast: Jazz Grab Bag (Mar. 2022)

Mental Maps is the title track for the EP of the same name (out Oct 21, 2022)

The notion of the mental map has always intrigued me — that our subjective and fragmentary geographical knowledge effects how we interact with the world.  As my geography professor David Lanegran explained, the reason that people don’t stray from the familiar paths they know when going somewhere is because there are vampires in those unknown areas.

This is song about how our individual mental maps may or may not intersect — and what can happen as a result of world views being too far apart.

In addition to producer Kenny Schick, this rollicking folk rock recording features Peter Colclasure on piano.  Peter is a musician/composer based in San Jose, California who plays piano at the New Ballet School and teaches at Evergreen Studio of Music and the Arts.  The way his piano line builds to a crescendo in the final verse is reason enough to give this track a listen.

Vocals - E.G. Phillips
Piano - Peter Colclasure
All Other Instruments - Kenny Schick

Lyrics:

VERSE 1:				  
Silk road through the roof of the world			
Flowed to the spice lands of the East
A persistent belief 
In a Northwest Passage                             
Tempered fears of the Kraken and 
Other beasts of the deep

That’s the stuff of history books                    
Dreams found in an atlas from the past
Yet still live at the intersection
Of our mental maps

VERSE 2:
We both sketched the city in the dirt
Drew landmarks from our memories  
We clearly referred 
To all the same places        
Yet shared no ground in common 
As far as I could see

We set a course for the morning star
The sky fell and we lost the path
Which direction is the intersection
Of our mental maps?

BRIDGE:
The compass rose is in full bloom
Let’s get the lay of the land	                
You insist we stick to the forged trails
Lest we step into a mess of quicksand

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

VERSE 3:
Last week you set off on your own
A voyage of discovery, a walkabout
One of those journeys 
Where you delve deep though the self                
And drift as far as you can from
All of your doubts

I had a vision — we arrived at a point
Where space and time had collapsed
And there we met — at the intersection
Of our mental maps

Mental Maps (Mental Maps EP)

Kate McGarry w/ Scott Sawyer Trio "re-do" Nick Drake's haunting classic....

03 Riverman

Producer: Manabu Endo
Songwriter/Piano/Harmonium/Vocals: Peri Benjamin
Cello: Ruben Rebholz
Slide Guitar: Scott Hildebrand
Harmonies/Vocals: Marla
Ablum Cover: Klara Cmerjkova

PACIFIC ECHO RECORDS 
Released June 26th, 2024

Diana's Earrings

at the edge of the world
i have time, i have patience
eyes of tourists, i’m not vacant
i am longing, on the 
hillside wander
i am full of pigments, sunlight

on some jetlag, on translation
in cathedrals, transit stations
i was in a subway tunnel
then i floated 
above the earth, gazing
at the lamplights, starlight
it’s been years now trying
get some rest now darling

rome

Oleander -- Do you know what you do to me?  You're smile is infectious -- You're laughter's contagious -- But I think I ought to avoid this malady.

Oleander (Live at Bazaar Cafe)

Uptempo jazz track with electric guitar.  Original music by Jules Day.
www.julesday.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/when-im-over-you-single/1282989166

When I'm Over You

Sara Gazarek
Thirsty Ghost
2019

--

“I see who you are… And it’s so much bigger, so much deeper, so much more multi-dimensional than your music is right now. Don’t be afraid to walk away from what you think people want from you – and to step into all of the depth, darkness, and radiance of who you really are. That’s what we are thirsty for. The honest, messy, beautiful YOU. -Kurt Elling

…

Stumbling into a recording contract right out of college not only came with big management and an even bigger booking agency -- it also came with big responsibility. At 20 years old, I was recording, touring, receiving great press, and heartfelt feedback from fans. And, while everything in my career seemed to be moving in the right direction, I now see how this level of visibility at such a young age could create a certain amount of pressure to “be the happy girl in the dress” that everyone expected. The ultimate goal was a set of fun, light music that left people feeling happier than when they’d come in the door. And we were giving it to them.

But 15 years in, now, as a 35 year old woman processing the dissolution of a marriage, the separation of a long term musical partnership, and my mothers almost catastrophic car accident, it was my dear friend and mentor Kurt Elling who spoke those very poignant words, and sent me on an incredibly transformative path.

The resulting musical journey took three years to complete -- alongside a new relationship rife with doubts, lies, and infidelity, new collaborations (in Geoff Keezer, Larry Goldings, Stu Mindeman, Josh Johnson, and Alan Ferber), travel abroad, endless questions, explorations, new compositions, risks… In the end, internalizing the idea that “A forest never grows, higher than the depths it knows // The warmth of sunlight comes and goes, but beauty only grows, When It Rains.”

“Thirsty Ghost” explores that honest, messy, beautiful place of hunger, thirst, wanting more – more connection, more transparency, a more whole hearted experience that occurs when we address the lessons that come with taking a deep look at adulthood. Through a series of new instrumental colors (including rhythm section, rhodes/organ, bass clarinet, alto sax, and trombone, percussion, and background vocals), some very special guests (Kurt Elling, Larry Goldings), new original material, contemporary covers (Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Sam Smith), and jazz standards, my hope is that my audience will see their own whole hearted experiences reflected in this music – the light AND the dark. 

…
Track Listing (TBD):
1. Never Will I Marry (Frank Loesser)
2. Not The Only One (Sam Smith/James Napier)
3. Easy Love (Larry Goldings/Sara Gazarek)
4. I Believe When I Fall In Love (Stevie Wonder)
5. Riverman/River (Nick Drake/Sara Teasdale)
6. Cocoon (Bjork)
7. Spinning Round (Jessie Palter/Mike Jellick)
8. Jolene (Dolly Parton)
9. Gaslight District (Larry Goldings/Sara Gazarek)
10. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Hoagy Carmichael)
11. Lonely Hours (Hy Glaser)
12. Distant Storm/When It Rains (Brad Mehldau/Sara Gazarek)
13. I’m A Fool To Want You (Frank Sinatra/Jack Wolf)

PERSONNEL: 
Piano/Organ/Rhodes, Stu Mindeman
Bass, Alex Boneham
Drums, Christian Euman
Alto Sax, Josh Johnson
Trombone, Ido Meshulam
Bass Clarinet, Brian Walsh
Organ, Larry Goldings 
Special guest vocalists, Kurt Elling, 
Vocal Layering/Backgrounds: Erin Bentlage, Michael Mayo

CONT INFO:
Engineer: Helik Hadar 
Studio: Jim Henson Recording, Los Angleles, CA
Dates: August 20, 21, 22, 23
Mastering Engineer: Bernie Grundman, Los Angeles, CA 

If Relevant:
13k fans and 12k followers on Facebook
13.7k followers on Twitter
332k monthly listeners on Spotify
2k mailing list

09 The River - River Man

This piece also features a Rhodes piano. This time the Rhodes is playing the melody and the tines are played with a mallet. This track is also best heard on full range speakers with some decent low end reproduction or in headphones while skydiving.


Copyright 2013 McKay Garner. 
No unlicensed samples were harmed or used in the creation of this piece.

Like Water

The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World

E.G. Phillips is a songwriter based in San Francisco.  His lyrics are whimsical and cinematic.   He's twice been the "Songwriter In Residence" at Bazaar Cafe and he hosts and annual "EGPhest" event in August where he invites Bay Area performers to come and play his songs for his birthday.

He is the front man for the fake band Ducks With Pants.