New Music Monday — Brian Charette; Kenny Wheeler Legacy; Misty Blues

Join us for New Music Monday on Monday, November 25 at noon on Lunchtime! with Arturo Gómez as he will debut new music from Brian Charette, Kenny Wheeler Legacy, and Misty Blues!

Brian Charette: “You Don’t Jack!”
The mega-talented B-3 organ player out of New York City is a student of his instrument and is aware of its history and the titans whose shoulders he stands on, yet he is a very contemporary player pushing the sound forward. His new recording is a tribute to one of the all-time greats, Jack McDuff who was known first as Brother Jack and then Captain Jack. Teaming up with Vancouver based saxophonist and record label owner, Cory Weeds the duo adds a few original compositions ala McDuff alongside originals penned by the Captain. The pair are accompanied by Dave Sikula on guitar and John Lee at the drums. An explosion of soul jazz in the tradition of the organ quartet with a splash of modernism that will have you tappin’ your toes and snappin’ your fingers.

Kenny Wheeler Legacy: “some days are better”
One of the most revered trumpeter and composer by his peers is the late Canadian Kenny Wheeler. Ten years after his passing his playing and compositions stand as references for young trumpeters and veterans as well. To honor his legacy, the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra hailing from the UK joined the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music Jazz Orchestra for this transatlantic collaboration celebrating Wheeler’s rarely heard and unknown music. Kenny died in the UK in 2014, he often played with Denver’s own, guitarist Bill Frisell. Special guests sitting in with the orchestras are Shelly Berg, Brian Lynch, Etienne Charles, Ingrid Jensen, Chris Potter, and others.

This album, due to be officially released at the end of January 2025, is in conjunction with the long-awaited biography of Kenny Wheeler. A masterful production that befits its tribute, Kenny Wheeler.

Misty Blues: “I’m Too Old for Games: A Live Tribute to Odetta”
The legendary Odetta Holmes was born in Birmingham. Alabama but at the age of six, the family moved to Los Angeles to escape the grip of Jim Crow. She grew up in a household where the radio played the music her parents loved, opera and country. As a teen, she became acquainted with blues, spirituals, and emerging folk music prompting her to learn how to play the guitar. In the late 1950s, she relocated to New York where her ability to mix all the styles of music she had heard to create something new made her a sensation. Established singers Harry Belafonte and Pete Seeger endorsed her getting her to play at the Newport Folk Music and other important venues. Bob Dylan cited that after he heard Odetta, he too began singing folk music. Odetta became a voice of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and occasionally appeared in film and on TV until she died in 2008.

Misty Blues emerged in 2020 and has become a very popular group on stage and recording with 5 albums in their discography showcasing blues, jazz, and touches of folk. This new recording reimagines some of Odetta’s best-known songs to bring her music to a new generation and to bring back pleasant memories to the legions of Odetta fans past.

Now in its 21st year of debuting the latest arrivals to the KUVO Jazz library, many of which are played ahead of their official release date. In addition to the music comments, I’ll provide a few tidbits about the artist when it’s a new or an up-and-coming artist. It all begins at Noon every Monday.

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