Something utterly beautiful to swing to this evening, courtesy of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and company.

HT: Ernesto Calmet.

Aynsley Dunbar was one of the finest drummers who worked with luminaries like Frank Zappa, David Bowie and Eric Burdon. Here’s one of his own works, and he was quite incredible on his own.

Some British free jazz for the evening.

HT: Susanne Hafenscher.

Jazz as a racist term? That’s rich. African-Americans provided the world with one of the most vibrant styles of music ever created. Almost immediately, musicians of every possible race and permutation have adopted it in a wonderful variance of ways, from Latin to Soviet. That someone of the musical caliber of Nicholas Payton can say something like this -

“Jazz is a lie. America is a lie … Playing Jazz is like running on a treadmill: you may break a sweat, but ultimately you ain’t going nowhere. I am Nicholas Payton and I don’t play ‘the j word.’ I play BAM (Black American Music).”

and not get called out on it immediately is rather sad. It’s also rather offensive, as Payton is trying to forcibly rip away the contributions of whites, latinos, Russians, Azeris, Norwegians, French, various African nationals, et cetera, of their roles in the development of the genre.

Read Victor Fiorillo’s article in full here, courtesy of the Philly Post.

HT: loweregion.

Thanks to my dear friend John Gfoeller who came across this link. For all of my jazz-fan friends, this should keep you busy for some time.

Blossom Dearie does an admirable job tackling the Simon & Garfunkel classic.

The track comes from the album ‘There Comes A Time’, which can be purchased here.

Here’s six minutes of cool bliss to relax to after your New Year’s Eve hangover. To go shopping for some of Chet’s music, consider these sites.

Chick Corea does an admirable job covering the Beatles standard.