The Night Beat — Maria Schneider Orchestra, “Evanescence”

• It’s a special Spring Pledge Drive Edition of the Wednesday Night Beat. Join your host Doug Crane as we feature music and musicians from St. Louis, Kansas City, and Memphis.

We’ll also hear from the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra with the title track from her album Evanescence which features tenor saxophonist Rich Perry and trumpet player Tim Hagans. In the early 1970s, Rich, Tim, and I were classmates and members of the Bowling Green State University (Ohio) Jazz Lab Band. Rich has been the featured tenor sax soloist in Maria’s band since its inception and has recorded over fifteen albums for SteepleChase Records as a leader since the 1990s.

As a side note, Rich, Tim, a few other members of the BGSU jazz band and I would drive to Napoleon, OH in the first few months of 1974 to sit in with organist Milt Buckner at a Holiday Inn where Milt would hold court when not on tour in Europe. (Milt’s daughter lived in Napoleon)  Lurking about in a stash of cassette tapes at my house are recordings I made there with my Sony TC-124 stereo cassette recorder.

We’ll also hear from a few jazz musicians who share May 1 as a birthdate: vocalist Shirley Horn, trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire, and pianist Kevin Hays.

As noted above, KUVO will be in Spring Pledge Drive mode on Wednesday evening. If you’ve enjoyed evening jazz on KUVO, Wednesday evening, May 1 at 8, would be the perfect time to make a personal investment in KUVO with your pledge of financial support. I like to focus on the word “investment” as it speaks not only to the enjoyment you derive from listening to KUVO but to the entire community with KUVO’s outreach efforts including the opportunity for high school and college musicians to perform live over KUVO’s airwaves.

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