The Jazz Break at Noon is KRTU’s weekly, mid-day program. Hosted by Music Director Kory Cook, the program is an educational listening session highlighting major artists, styles, and themes from jazz music’s rich history. From rare recordings of the 1930s to today’s most progressive sounds, the Jazz Break at Noon takes you on an educational sonic journey through jazz history.
Aug 2-6
Worlds of Percussion with Nana Vasconcelos
The music of Recife, Brazil-born Nana Vasconcelos offers a place of meditation and solace across a challenging backdrop. Listeners can explore sound from a wide variety of percussion instruments, mostly native to Africa and Brazil. Sparse instrumentation and close microphones capture Vasconcelos in intimate studio settings on particularly pleasing ECM recordings from the late '70's to the 1980's. Collaborations with trumpeter Don Cherry, and guitarists Egberto Gismonti and Pat Metheny are among highlights from Vasconcelos' array of ambient tracks we'll listen to this week on the Jazz Break at Noon.
Aug 9-13
Trailblazing, Chicago-born Trumpeter Marquis Hill in San Antonio, TX
Trumpeter and bandleader Marquis Hill's roots from Chicago's south side reflect the wide palette of sound and style heard on his recordings made before and after winning the prestigious and rewarding Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2014.
Modern, hard bop fertilizes R&B, hip-hop, and spoken word on any given Hill release.
KRTU and Jazz, TX present Marquis Hill and his quintet live in San Antonio, TX, on Thursday, August 19, 2021. Hill brings all-star recording artists Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, pianist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Junius Paul to Jazz, TX at the Pearl. This week, we'll pre-party with some of Hill's sides including 2016's The Way We Play on Concord and 2020's Soul Sign on Black Unlimited Music Group.
Aug 16-20
The Many Moods of Mal Waldron
KRTU host Bradley Kayser once got into a heartfelt, Mal Waldron-mood on program "Riffs," heard Tuesdays at 8pm. Co-host Chuck Parrish said "Mal makes us tap into a different vibration. I always feel better having gone there with Mal." The four-part Mal... series on Prestige from the 1950's, Billie Holiday and Charles Mingus classics, Eric Dolphy collaborations, and 2002's Left Alone Revisited with Archie Shepp are among Waldron's over 100 albums under his own name and 80+ as a collaborator/sideman. Piano giant and composer Waldron is both sublime and direct. Dark and heavy chordal themes cool down to gentle and introspective tones on his ECM recordings. The list of recorded gems is plentiful from Waldron, and we'll go there all this week on the Jazz Break at Noon.
Aug 23-27
The Imagination of Bassist and Composer Linda May Han Oh
Since our feature last year on Linda Oh, the bassist recorded one of 2021's most anticipated and praised releases led by pianist Vijay Iyer with drummer Tyshawn Sorey on Uneasy. Born in Malaysia and raised in Australia, Linda May Han Oh brings intelligence, wit, and a fresh perspective to her own deliberate compositions and recording collaborations in a growing body of work as a composer and bassist. Oh leads her own rewarding sessions, debuting with 2012's Initial Here on Greenleaf Music. We'll explore the imagination of Linda May Han Oh all this week on the Jazz Break at Noon.
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