New Music Monday — Caesar Frazier, Charles Lloyd, Ron Rieder

It’s New Music Monday on Lunchtime! with Arturo Gómez! Tune in on Monday, March 4 at noon to hear new music from Caesar Frazier, Charles Lloyd, and Ron Rieder.

Caesar Frazier: “Live At Jazzcup”
Growing up in rural northern Florida Caesar had limited exposure to jazz or soul music on the radio. As a teen, he heard a Jimmy Smith song playing from a jukebox and instantly fell in love with the organ and decided he too wanted to make people happy and dance. His career began in the mid-1960s playing in the backup groups to several standout soul artists like Marvin Gaye. NEA Jazz Master Lou Donaldson heard Frazier’s playing and asked him to join his group for a long tour around the country arriving at each venue via a station wagon that served as a school for Caesar learning jazz as Lou would share his knowledge with the band members while traveling in between engagements. Now a seasoned veteran with ten albums as a leader, Frazier releases his first ever live session! Caesar is accompanied by a Danish group, tenor sax, guitar, and drums recorded at the Jazzcup Jazz Club in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Charles Lloyd: “The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow”
The highly respected and esteemed veteran saxophonist, NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd will turn 85 years of age on March 15^th. To celebrate it, Blue Note Records gave him the green light to record a double album, his first studio session since 2017. The recording has Lloyd accompanied by a younger group of gifted musicians: Jason Moran-piano, Larry Grenadier-bass, and at the drums, Brian Blade. The album also features six brand new compositions written by Charles expressively for this project where he also plays flute in addition to saxophone. Lloyd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up absorbing the richness of both Memphis’ jazz and blues scene. After graduating from the University of Southern California (USC) in the late 1950s he began playing with many different Los Angeles-based bands leading him to become the music director for Chico Hamilton and Cannonball Adderley’s groups before embarking on his solo career in the mid-1960s. His 1967 album, “Forest Flower: Live at Monterrey” was a certified million seller and launched Charles Lloyd to international fame!

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Ron Rieder: “Latin Jazz Sessions”
After graduating from high school Ron came to a crossroads, he had to decide to follow his passion as a pianist-composer and study music or opt to continue his studies of the physical sciences. Although he chose science, he never abandoned his love of music and composing music as a hobby. After a successful career in the realm of the sciences, Ron is now fulfilling his lifetime ambition of recording his music. Rieder says: “Latin jazz makes one’s soul resonate, and body move” which is why he chose to have his music played by a formidable Latin jazz group consisting of the finest players in the Boston, MA area led by veterans Alain Mallet-piano and Mark Walker-drums. Two tracks feature the pans or steel drums played by Ron Reid. A very enjoyable recording from start to finish.

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

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