In this hour of Blue Dimensions , an appealing debut from Italian guitarist Lorenzo Grassi , who went to music school in Los Angeles and caught the Latin music bug there.  We'll hear a couple of songs from his album The Monktone Stomp , as well as recent releases from two keyboardists, Leslie Pintchik , and Brad Whiteley , finally finding time to make his own album after a two-year road stint with Regina Spektor. Also a swinging live performance album from sax player Elias Haslanger , some stunning music from trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire — and a Pat Martino composition from over forty years ago sees the light of day at long last on an album of live recordings of the Gene Ludwig-Pat Martino Trio .

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, cellist Maya Beiser plays the blues. The unique "post-classical" settings of old blues songs on her new album "Uncovered" uncover a new dimension in the music. We'll also hear her with a storied ensemble she co-founded years ago, Bang On A Can. We have new music from James Farm, featuring Joshua Redman, a fine follow-up to their debut three years ago, and "The Art Of Conversation" — between a pianist and a bassist — a wonderfully intimate collaboration between Kenny Barron and Dave Holland. Also, Frank Catalano re-writes John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," celebrating its half-century mark, with his group Love Supreme Collective, and we'll match one newly written part with its counterpart from the original masterpiece as well.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, the Alex Norris Organ Quartet, with trumpeter Alex Norris, organist George Colligan, sax player Gary Thomas, and drummer Rudy Royston. Their new album "Extension Deadline" extends the familiar organ trio sound, with two horns connecting very closely with each other, and the organ and drums. We also have another organ album, the debut as band leader for organist Chris Foreman, a protege of Jimmy McGriff, called "Now Is The Time" - - plus saxophone-drum duets, which almost by their nature tend toward the musical fringe - - from drummer Jack Mouse and sax player Scott Robinson, and from John Coltrane with Rashied Ali recorded five months before Trane's death in 1967. We also have a classic Coltrane piece transformed by innovative pianist Vijay Iyer and his trio on their new album "Break Stuff."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, bassist Avery Sharpe and a wonderful band including singer Meli'sa Morgan take on the songs of the highly influential Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who generated some controversy in the 1940s doing secular, and kind of earthy, songs after establishing her reputation with religious music. We'll hear songs both from Ms. Tharpe and from Avery Sharpe's album "Sharpe Meets Tharpe," including Tharpe's songs and a new piece written for her by Sharpe. Also new music from sax player Grace Kelly with guest Jon Batiste, and also from guitarist Andy Brown and his quartet - - plus two albums recorded at a famous jazz spot,  Firehouse 12 in New Haven CT, including the new album "Sanctuary From The Ordinary" from saxophone player Russ Nolan (who turns an avant-garde Igor Stravinsky piece into a mambo!), and one from a few years ago at Firehouse 12 from drummer Ralph Peterson and his Unity Project.

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Calypso Facto is a new offering from Bluesnet Radio, home of Blue Dimensions, and somewhat of a trial balloon at this point. We are offering a summer show now, and planning seasonal shows, and depending on the response could expand to monthly or weekly and to more related genres of music from an expanded geographical area. Calypso Facto's core is the calypso music of Trinidad & Tobago (often called "kaiso" in T&T), which at once offers both some of the sharpest social commentary and the best party music to be found.

This debut program "Calypso Facto: Summer 2016" includes some songs that you may have heard "sometime, somewhere" and others probably not, because calypso has enjoyed fleeting moments of pop-chart success in the States - - but most is music that presently isn't getting any airpay in America. The program has songs from earlier decades going back to the 1930s, and songs from the last few years, including old hits from King Radio and Lord Kitchener (calypsonians often have colorful nicknames), and a song that was a massive hit for The Andrews Sisters in 1945, "Rum And Coca Cola" sung by the person who wrote the lyrics, Lord Invader.
 
This show includes music from singer-activist Black Stalin, and Calypso Rose who led the oppposition to gender bias in the calypso world. We have a song from Bunji Garlin that is one of the few Trinidadian songs to make some waves in the United States in this century, something that sensational calypso singer Heather Mac Intosh sings abut on another song on this show. We'll hear Lord Kitchener's song abut Steelband music (the steelpan, originally made from the lids of oil drums, is T&T's national instrument, and a singular contribution to the music world from this small nation) - - and we'll hear a re-invention ot the song from Trinidadian opera singer Anne Fridal.

Many Trinidadians have emigrated to find work and career advancement (Fridal lives and works in London with frequent visits home), and we'll hear a song about the beginnings of emigration to England from Trinidad from a Trinidadian artist long settled in London, known as "Alexander D Great." The program concludes with Trinidadian singer Ella Andall's spirit-rousing "Black Woman."

"Brexit" has been one of this year's biggest news stories so far, but while the British may be exiting the European Union, at least one very special jazz musician is actually a member of the EU parliament. Damian Draghici, who plays jazz on an unusual instrument, the pan flute, is a native of Romania. Music has been the passion for several generations of his family, who are of the Romani ethnicity, traditionally known as gypsies. The word "gypsy" has been associated with negative stereotypes of the Romani people, and the word also suggests that the Romani's origins are in Egypt, which they are not. Draghici has sought to fight the negative stereotypes and help Romani people both through his music and his political work. As a young man, he walked hundreds of miles to escape the repressive Ceausescu government of Romania. He made it to Greece, where he launched his musical career, eventually winning a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he majored in jazz performance on the pan flute, a wind instrument made up of cane or bamboo pipes of varying lengths. Later he served as an advisor on Romani issues to the Romanian government, and in 2014 was elected to the EU Parliament. He finished production of his album "The American Dream" with many notable guests, while serving in the Parliament. We'll hear several pieces from the album, plus a very important pan flute piece from 1928 from Texas bluesman Henry Thomas, a song that became a hit for a rock group and part of a major movie soundtrack without attribution to Thomas. Also, bassist Joe Policastro and his trio jazzify a couple of Prince songs on the new album "Pops!" and we'll hear a piece from the new album "Convergence" from extraordinary vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll mostly feature recent recordings of drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. His new album "Blue, Volume 2" continues his jazz experiments with blues and spirituals. We have several songs from it, and from its predecessor "Blue, Volume 1" from 2015. We'll note the presence of Grégoire Maret, one of the world's very few well-recognized jazz harmonica players, on a couple of these tracks with Watts as well. We'll also hear Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums with Kevin Eubanks on his recent release "East West Time Line," and on last years's album "Convergence" by vibraphonist Warren Wolf. We'll end up with a song from an old album made before Watts began recording, rediscovered while organizing a long-neglected shelf of LPs, the album "To The Listeners" from Musica Orbis in 1977, which, to date, has not been reissued in a digital format.

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Blue Dimensions F18 Has Been Published on PRX:  In this hour of Blue Dimensions, music from a rising star, 20-year-old pianist Alexis Lombre from Chicago. We'll hear songs from her debut album "Southside Sounds", informed by her experience as a teenager playing jazz, and from a 2016 album "Coming Of Age" with a band she played in, The Young Masters Quartet, a group of young musicians mentored by Chicago saxophonist and "jazz activist" Ernest Dawkins - - and, we'll talk with Alexis - - about her music, playing jazz with and for young people, and living in Chicago on the South Side. Alexis also named some of her favorite pianists and greatest influences, and we'll hear music from some of them, including Wynton Kelly, and the player she calls her "samurai" pianist, McCoy Tyner. Music and conversation with pianist Alexis Lombre, in this hour of Blue Dimensions.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll go "Beneath The Surface" with bassist Mike Boone. "Beneath The Surface" is the title of Boone's new album, and the title track is a contrafact of a Joe Henderson classic, that is, a new melody built on the harmonic structure of the older song. We'll hear the original Henderson piece too, and a couple of other selections from the new Mike Boone album, including a great Coltrane melody, and one that Boone wrote. Also, a new version of a Bobby Hutcherson favorite from guitarist Russell Malone, from his new album "Time For The Dancers" as well as the wonderful original Hutcherson recording from 1965. Musical connections from now and half a century ago, in this hour of Blue Dimensions.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, it's music of the bassist sort - - bands led by bass players, which we have noted frequently on this show are increasing in number in recent years. We'll feature bassist Kent Miller and his quartet and their new album "Minor Step," on which saxophonist Benny Russell also stands out, and we'll hit the road with Kyle Eastwood; his new album is called "In Transit," and he gets into some blues on it, as well as some Charles Mingus, one of his influences. We'll hear from Mingus too with his septet from a famous 1959 album, and play a piece from the Nathan Brown Trio, from the new album "This Is The Moment" on which Brown displays his talents playing the bass with a bow.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, the music of a great singer and songwriter, Ida Cox, from the 1920s and the 1960s, with thanks to singers Cécile McLorin Salvant and Rhiannon Giddens for recent covers of Ida Cox songs that we will also play on this show. Cox was highly successful in her time; perhaps that is part of why she wasn't celebrated during the folk-blues revival with its emphasis on obscurity and rare records. A cover of one of her songs by Cream that was a hit in the 1960s was actually credited to the obscure country blues player who first covered it, not to her. We'll also hear a couple of other songs from Cécile McLorin Salvant's new album "Dreams And Daggers," an excellent set of in-concert performances. Plus, we have a Freddie Hubbard piece from the new album "Beneath The Surface" by bassist Mike Boone, a classic from Mr. Hubbard himself, and guitarist Dave Stryker taking on a  classic composition by another great trumpeter Clifford Brown, on Stryker's new album "Strykin' Ahead."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll devote most of the show to the newly available Volume Six in the Miles Davis Bootleg Series from Columbia/Legacy Records, entitled "The Final Tour," recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane and band in concerts in Paris, Copenhagen, and Stockholm in March of 1960. Much of the excitement from these shows comes from the tension between trumpeter Davis and tenor sax player John Coltrane, who told Davis he would quit the band as soon as they got back to the United States. Davis's famous "Kind Of Blue" album had come out the previous year, and this tour was based on it, with all of the musicians in the band also on the album. Anchored by pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, the band with its two brilliant stars made music that still grips us today, as it did the 1960 European audiences, for whom it was originally played. We'll hear three long and intense tracks from this remarkable four-disc set, in this hour of Blue Dimensions.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, "Passion Reverence Transcendence," a new album celebrating the music of McCoy Tyner from pianist Benito Gonzalez, percussionist Gerry Gibbs, and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet. We'll hear two Tyner compositions and one written by Tyner's most famous collaborator, John Coltrane. We'll also hear from guitarist Andreas Varady, with Benito Gonzalez in the band on his new album "The Quest," and we have new music from bass guitarist Frank Russell celebrating his instrument's funky sound in jazz - - plus, drummer Billy Jones, inspired by avant garde composer John Cage on a piece from his new duets album perfectly entitled "3's A Crowd," and singer Laura Walls, known as Olori, in concert in 1994 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, from a new release of that show.
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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, "Heaven and Earth," a new double album from saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington, free-spirited and adventurous music, employing at times an orchestra and a choir, from an artist who might fairly be called today's John Coltrane - - and in that spirit, we'll also hear from the newly discovered and recently issued album of Coltrane and his classic quartet called "Both Directions At Once," saved from back-up copies of a March 1963 session that Coltrane took home with him after the session, recently retrieved by family members of his first wife, Naima. We will also hear from another talented saxophonist and composer, Shawn Maxwell and his band Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow, from their album "Music In My Mind," and we have some funky rhythms from multi-instrumentalist and composer Marcus Miller, from his album "Laid Black" (not "laid back" - - which, by the way, it definitely isn't!).

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll open "The Window" — that's the title of a new album from singer Cécile McLorin Salvant with pianist Sullivan Fortner, and the two of them offer some spirited and inventive renderings of songs from Rogers and Hart to Nat King Cole to "West Side Story." We also have the new album from pianist Christian Sands, called "Facing Dragons" - - - with some great new compositions from Sands and a Beatles song made new by the young pianist and his band. Both of these artists are twenty-nine years old and represent the leading edge of the generation of jazz artists now coming of age. We'll also hear from the late pianist and composer Randy Weston, who died September 1st at age 92. Weston devoted his career to showing the connections between jazz and blues and the African music from which they evolved. We'll play music from an album he self-released in the 1960s years before Atlantic Records saw the wisdom of issuing it to a wider audience.

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Celebrating the Autumnal Equinox with the music of John Coltrane, including his original recording of his minor-key blues classic "Equinox," and a very different version of it by a trio of great guitarists, Larry Coryell, John Scofield, and Joe Beck, from their album together called Tributaries from 1979. We will also play two very inventive renderings of Trane's "Resolution" (the second part of his four-part masterpiece "A Love Supreme"). from vocalist Tiffany Austin, who scats Coltrane's saxophone parts from the original recording, and trombonist Elliot Mason who brings some ear-catching changes and turn-arounds to the work. We'll hear guitarist Stew Cutler with a piece that takes off and riffs from Coltrane's "Giant Steps" featuring keyboardist Julian Waterfall Pollack, and a stunning solo performance of a Coltrane favorite from pianist Benito Gonzalez - - plus, music from that "lost" Coltrane album from 1963, "Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album," issued at last in 2018, after tapes of the 1963 session taken home by Coltrane at the time of the session were retrieved by relatives of his first wife, Naima.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, our "blues ambassadors" to Europe - - American blues artists, and a great jazz band, performing in Europe. We'll feature several new and recent releases of concerts recorded on European tours, led by a new album called "Live At Rockpalast," featuring the great bluesman Muddy Waters with a superb band, in concert in Germany in 1978. We'll also hear blues great Howlin' Wolf recorded in concert in Poland in 1964, and a song from another member of that tour, pianist Sunnyland Slim as well - - and we have Miles Davis and John Coltrane with another superb band, from 1960, performing a Miles Davis classic when it was still new, in Paris from the album "The Final Tour" (which is volume 6 in the Miles Davis "Bootleg Series" from Columbia/Legacy Records).

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Our music on this show centers around a great saxophone player, Azar Lawrence, and his new album "Elementals." Pianist Benito Gonzalez sparkles on the album, and we'll also hear Gonzalez in other settings, his own album "Circles" with Azar Lawrence in the band, and another Azar Lawrence album with him in the band. We'll also hear Lawrence in another setting, with pianist McCoy Tyner, with whom he worked in the early years after John Coltrane's death. This music is all heady, soulful, energetic, and expansive stuff. Born in Los Angeles, Azar Lawrence played in jazz and R&B bands including War, and he worked  with the great drummer Elvin Jones of the John Coltrane Quartet, who led him to New York to play in his band. He also played with Roberta Flack and Earth Wind & Fire, on the soul side of things, and Miles Davis among others on the jazz side. His new album "Elementals" and other recent works mark the re-invigoration of his career and reflect his magnificent talent as a saxophonist and composer. Pianist Benito Gonzalez possesses an uncommon energy in his playing, and in his work with Lawrence, there is powerful synergy between the two artists.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll hear from an exceptional guitarist and several young pianists on thier way to greater recognition. We'll play some songs from guitarist, singer, and percussionist Lionel Loueke from a enchanting new album called "The Journey." Loueke has become a unique voice in jazz; his songs come from the musical traditions and historical events of his native Benin, and offer intimate interplay between his voice and his guitar. We'll also highlight pianist Connie Han and her new album "Crime Zone." She's twenty-two years old, and this is her debut album. She may look like a rocker on the cover, but this daughter of two Los Angeles classical musicians is a straight-ahead-and-then-some jazz player. We also have something from pianist Christian Sands from his recent album "Facing Dragons," and from post-traditional jazz pianist Sullivan Fortner, both leading his own band on his album "Moments Preserved," and sparkling as solitary accompanist to singer Cécile McLorin Salvant on her new album "The Window."

In this hour of Blue Dimensions, music from the amazing saxophonist, composer, and arranger Kamasi Washington from his album "Heaven and Earth," including a track from the hidden CD in the album's packaging on which Kamasi's saxophonist father Rickey Washington plays. Also, we revisit a very special 2007 album "Ride! Ferris Wheel To The Modern Day Delta," from the late trumpeter Abram Wilson, who brought blues and experimental jazz together in a unique way. We'll hear from another adventurous trumpeter Nabaté Isles, his debut album "Eclectic Excursions" is indeed that, and, also on the way, a track from saxophonist Roxy Coss, her recent feminist-themed album "The Future Is Female."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll hear a lot from a great drummer, Allison Miller. We'll check out her latest album from her sextet, Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom, an album called "Glitter Wolf," that is at once both tightly conceived and a bit chaotic and almost off the rails. Plus, we'll hear music from an even newer Allison Miller project, an all-female band called Lioness with an album called "Pride & Joy." We also have a couple of blues tracks on the Hammond B3 organ from one of the world's best players of that instrument, Barbara Dennerlein, from a new compilation of her best blues recordings over the many years of her fruitful career.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions,  bassist and composer Avery Sharpe's new album "400: An African American Musical Portrait" uses compelling music to track African-American history from the arrival of the first slaves in Virginia, now 400 years ago, to modern times, and we'll hear several selections from the album. We'll also hear from another bassist leading a band, Rodney Whitaker, who highlights the music of composer Gregg Hill who has juggled music with the need to make a living throughout his life. Also, a track from the "Bolden" soundtrack album from Wynton Marsalis, a song made famous by Abbey Lincoln from Ulysses Owens Jr. and band on the new album "Songs Of Freedom," and Eric Garner's last words "I Can't Breathe" living on in songs, from Vivian Sessoms, and from Bill Cole playing a didgeridoo.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, drummer Ralph Peterson and a band of fellow alumni of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers celebrate the 100th anniversary of their mentor's birth on a live album "Legacy: Alive Vol. 6 at the Side Door." with a couple of compositions from alto sax player Bobby Watson, and a piece that was one of Art Blakey's signature offerings from this wonderful group, led by Ralph Peterson. Also, new music from superb vibraphonist Tyler Blanton, from his album "Sense Of Place," and the future-looking, final song on bassist and composer Avery Sharpe's album "400: An African American Musical Portrait," an ambitious musical expression about the four-century experience of African-Americans in this country since the arrival of the first slaves in Virginia in 1619.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, some spirited singing from three new albums - - a new album from the wonderful singer Catherine Russell called "Alone Together." Also, Gaye Adegbalola offers great singing and telling social commentary, as well a humor on her new album "The Griot," and, song and social commentary also come our way from Rhiannon Giddens with Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell, and Amythyst Kiah, who have recorded an album called "Songs Of Our Native Daughters." We'll also hear the latest from saxophonists Joshua Redman and Javon Jackson, all in this hour of Blue Dimensions.

Cat Russell had a long and successful career as a backing vocalist recording and performing with singers of all sorts, including Snoop Dogg, Dolly Parton, and Paul Simon, and she was a very prominent part of David Bowie's show for a while, both singing and playing percussion. She's the daughter of Luis Russell, Louis Armstrong's New York band leader, and Carline Ray who also was a singer and guitarist and bassist. Carline and daughter Catherine did an album together shortly before Carline's death in 2013. Catherine started her solo career with her album Cat in 2006, and Alone Together is her seventh album as a leader. She "sets the standard" for singing standards. Gaye Adegbalola's musical career began with a remarkable trio of women known as Saffire The Uppity Blueswomen, who provided some humor and thought-provoking ideas in the 1990s. Adegbalola has developed a unique solo act, with some very hard-hitting social commentary, spirited singing, and a dose of humor too. Rhiannon Giddens, who became known as a member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops and received a MacArthur Foundation fellowship for her work, has put together a powerful new album with Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell, and Amythyst Kiah that explores the horrors slavery and life for African-Americans after slavery.

We also have a couple of instrumental things coming up, a new piece from saxophonist Joshua Redman and his quartet, from an album coming out in March called "Come What May," and a tribute to Pharaoh Sanders from saxophonist Javon Jackson from his wonderful 2018 album "For You."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, the new album "Barracoon" from saxophonist JD Allen. The title refers to slave barracks, and the years "1619-2019" are printed on the album's cover, marking the 400 years since the first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. Allen says the African-American experience informs his music, and we'll hear three songs from the album on this show. Also, the new album "Antidote" from Chick Corea, in which he draws on his latin music influences (his "Spanish heart"), ranging from flamenco to salsa, and a song that explores the history of Latin music complete with both rap and narration, from the Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet, from their new album "The Rhythm Of Invention."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, Mike LeDonne, known for his work on the organ, leads a piano trio with outstanding partners, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash, the album "Partners In Time." We'll hear several tracks. Also trombonist Michael Dease plays in saxophonist Markus Howell's band and in a band called Out To Dinner, on two appealing new releases. We'll hear music from both of them, as well as the new album "Barracoon" from saxophonist JD Allen, evoking the desperation of slavery with his horn on this album. Also, new blues from 20-year old Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, his debut album "Kingfish," and a hilarious song from 80-something Bobby Rush from his latest album "Sitting On Top Of The Blues."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander takes on the music of Thelonious Monk and gives it a rock-steady, reggae spin - - we'll play several tracks from Alexander's new album "Wareika Hill." Also: Markus Howell, some appealing new music on both alto sax and flute on his debut album "Get Right!" Pianist Victor Gould leads a band with a string quartet and lots of horn players plus an outstanding flutist on his new album "Thought Become Things;" we'll hear one of those "things," and we have music from the group Out To Dinner (they're not out to lunch!) with trombonist Michael Dease and vibraphonist Behn Gillece, plus drummer Mike Clark leads a band called Indigo Blue, recorded live at The Iridium, with yet another Thelonious Monk piece.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, some Chicago blues: new blues from Chicago's exciting blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist Toronzo Cannon, who is actually a bus driver in Chicago as well. His new album is called "The Preacher, The Politician Or The Pimp." Also: a few songs from a fabulous box set highlighting the Chicago-based Bea And Baby record label, run by a producer known as Cadillac Baby from the late 1950s through the late 80s. We will also hear the soulful voice of Vaneese Thomas, daughter of the late great Rufus Thomas, singing some powerful songs on her new album "Down Yonder," and trombonist Wayne Wallace - - with his Latin Jazz Quintet, and with singer Moy Eng. Plus: pianist Dave Miller and his trio celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of British jazz pianist George Shearing on the new album "Just Imagine."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, pianist Hiromi stretches out across a wide musical spectrum, on an album called "Spectrum." Hiromi's music has often been called "fusion," but she clearly has many sides to her talent, and the album "Spectrum," if hard to categorize, is easy to enjoy, and we'll do it on this show. Also: John Coltrane, a previously unissued 1964 recording, made for a Canadian film, on the new album called "Blue World," and a classic from his "Giant Steps" album. Plus: new music from pianist Bill O'Connell and his Afro-Caribbean Ensemble, and from trumpeter Wallace Roney, rooted in blues and wrapped in multiple rhythms.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, some moving songs from singer and multi-instrumentalist Carmen Lundy. Her new album "Modern Ancestors" will be featured - - some of these songs have rolled around in her head for a long time, and all seem to touch on the quality of our life experiences, albeit each in very different ways. We also have a track from the Chuck Corea Trio with Christian McBride on bass and Brian Blade on drums. "Trilogy 2" is the followup to their acclaimed 2014 album "Trilogy." We also have two songs with very long titles - - I'm allowing extra time in planning this show for the titles! - - one from pianist Leslie Pintchik and her trio, from the new live album "Same Day Delivery," and another from the Bill Cole & Untempered Ensemble recorded in 1986 in concert, from the newly issued release "Music For Yoruba Proverbs" featuring the late, great saxophonist Julius Hemphill.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, music from the soundtrack for the movie "Bolden," the film about the famously influential, and very elusive historical figure in jazz in the early twentieth century in New Orleans, Buddy Bolden, with Wynton Marsalis leading the band. We'll also hear Jelly Roll Morton playing Bolden's music and telling stories about him from 1938 Library Of Congress recordings. Plus, we have two new albums from great tenor sax players, Joshua Redman re-grouping his quartet from the early years of this century on a new album "Come What May," and Galician saxophonist Xose Miguélez riffing on a song his great aunt sang in a field recording in 1981 on his album "Ontology" - - plus the latest from drummers Kendrick Scott and Herlin Riley leading their bands on recent albums.

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a Special Presentation from Bluesnet Radio:
It seems like Dolly Parton is everywhere these days, but the songs on which she built her career - - many of which appeared on the country charts for years - - don't get played on country radio these days, and she doesn't sing them when she's on TV now. This special presentation from Bluesnet Radio is an hour of some of those songs, songs that offered country humor, rural wisdom, social commentary, a little melodrama, and a dose of good old-fashioned doom and gloom. Included are touching autobiographical songs like "In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)," songs that conjure thoughts of the lives of others, like "Daddy's Moonshine Still," a wild duet with her singing partner Porter Wagoner,  and tragi-comic songs like "I Don't Want To Throw Rice." What does she want to throw instead?? Find out, in this one-hour program "In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) - Good Old Songs From Dolly Parton," classic recordings by a truly unique artist, including her very first record at age 13, offered with informative, but light and brief, commentary.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, the latest releases from two band leaders with distinct sounds. Bassist Buster Williams and his band Something More offer energetic and audacious music on a new album called "Audacity," and we have the audacity to play several tracks from it on this show. The latest album from saxophonist Marcus Strickland and his band Marcus Strickland Twi-Life is "People Of The Sun," which we'll also explore. Strickland sometimes plays the smallest member of the saxophone family, the sopranino sax, but he gets a big sound from it, and draws rhythms from R&B and hip hop. We'll also hear from drummer Kobie Watkins and his Grouptet, a piece with a little bluesy undertow, from latest album "Movement."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, Christian McBride's work "The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait Of Four Icons." We'll hear several pieces from this mix of music and spoken word celebrating the civil rights movement, and Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, and Malcolm X, from an album issued this year. The work goes back to 1998, with a major revision/addition in 2010, which added a movement noting the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008. Also: John Coltrane's music written to the words of Martin Luther King Jr., based on the cadences of King's speech after the bombing of a black church in Birmingham AL in 1963 that killed four girls in the church. Plus: saxophonist Teodross Avery's interpretation of a Coltrane piece about his African roots.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, blues singer-scholar Pascal Bokar has a new album "American Trails." Bokar, author of a book about the role of West-African music in the development of blues and bluegrass, calls his music "Afro Blue Grazz." Also: a song about civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks from Christian McBride's masterwork "The Movement Revisited" with Sonia Sanchez speaking the words of Rosa Parks - - and 21 Blue, a 21st century blues band headed up by a professor of trumpet and composition doing a Howlin' Wolf hit. Plus, another "wolf" — vibraphonist Warren Wolf takes us in a new direction on his album "Reincarnation,"  and we have a couple of classically-tinged jazz pieces from pianist/composer Aaron Diehl from his latest album "The Vagabond."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, music of McCoy Tyner, who died at age 81 on March 6th. Tyner is perhaps best-known as the pianist in John Coltrane's "classic quartet" playing on such albums as "A Love Supreme," considered Coltrane's signature work, though Tyner left the Coltrane group at the end of 1965, and made plenty of ground-breaking music in the decades following. We'll hear Tyner with Coltrane on "A Love Supreme," and visit several of his best works, though in just one hour, we can only scratch the surface. It's the music of a singularly gifted contributor to the world of music, an artist who found sounds in the piano not previously known, from the late, great McCoy Tyner.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we dig into the album "Trilogy 2," the long-awaited followup to the 2014 album "Trilogy" from the Chick Corea Trio, with Chick Corea on piano, Christian McBride on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. We'll play several selections from this wonderful live album, including much-loved compositions of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Also, two very different and highly creative versions of a classic Mongo Santamaria piece, one from saxophonist Sam Gendel, influenced by everything from ambient music to hip hop, and another from the post-modern chamber music ensemble Imani Winds -- and a betting strategy inspiring music, from pianist Denman Maroney.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, magical music from Azar Lawrence's stunning 1975 album "Summer Solstice," reissued on audiophile LP in the United States a few weeks before the winter solstice last year.  We also have the first two albums to come out in 2020 of the continuing album reissue series on pianist Erroll Garner from Mack Avenue Records, "Up In Erroll's Room" and "That's My Kick." These are the seventh and eight albums in the planned 12-disc series. Also: a band called Works For Me featuring rising star saxophonist Alexa Tarantino with their album "Reach Within."  Plus: a song from the new album from 91-year-old Chicago bluesman Jimmy Johnson, "Every Day Of Your Life."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, powerful and poetic music from trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire in a quartet setting from his new album "On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment." We'll hear several tracks fom this poetic and challenging new album. Also, some new blues, from Boo Boo Davis, a Mississippi bluesman working in Europe from a new electronica-influenced album with The ElectroBluesSociety, and from Joe Louis Walker from his new album Blues Comin' On. We have a selection from the new album from pianist Christian Sands, a song from the rock band Blind Faith, and a new single from the Christian McBride Big Band to mark the killing of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in June 1963; and a song from the second Jazz Is Dead album, featuring vibraphonist and funk-jazz poet Roy Ayers.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, new music from the great saxophonist, and singer, Maceo Parker, who was James Brown's right-hand man on stage, and worked with Parliament Funkadelic and many others. "Soul Food Cookin With Maceo" is Parker's first new album in eight years. We'll play several tracks from it. Also: singer Dena DeRose, a new album that includes some stunning duets with Sheila Jordan — we'll hear one of those — and we have new music from two pianists, Christian Sands, his captivating album "Be Water," and Canada's Zen Zadravec, plus the latest from powerful singer Ruthie Foster and her Big Band live in Austin, Texas, singing an anthem of the civil rights movement.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, music from a strong debut album from alto saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins. On his debut album "Omega," the 22-year-old saxophonist translates the African-American experience into telling and provocative compositions, We'll also hear Wilkins playing with vibraphonist Joel Ross from his 2019 album "Kingmaker," and tracks from two of Wilkins's mentors, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and pianist Jason Moran, who also is the producer of the album "Omega." Plus: a selection from someone Wilkins has performed with, pianist Gerald Clayton, recorded in concert at The Village Vanguard.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, a new album called "RoundAgain" from saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade, with great new music from this quartet who first performed and recorded together in the 1990s. Also The Black Art Jazz Collective — two strong selections from this unparalleled quintet, from an album called "Ascension" (not the John Coltrane piece). We'll also hear from saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins who evokes the history of a double lynching over a century ago with a piece from his debut album "Omega." Plus: posthumous releases from Jimmy Heath (a track featuring singer Cécile McLorin Salvant), and Ray Mantilla, who performs a song that was a huge hit for Ray Charles. We'll also hear the original, a capella demo recording of that one, from the writer of the song himself, Percy Mayfield.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, the latest album from pianist Lisa Hilton, with a band she's been working with for some years. The album is called Chalkboard Destiny, and we'll explore its energy and stylistic mobility with a few selections from it. Also, Amber Weekes sings an Oscar Brown Jr. song that has been at a point of controversy between Brown's family and the President, and two classic R&B songs that spell it out about being a woman, W-O- M- A-N, a cover of an Etta James classic from Sister Lucille (a band with no one named "Lucille" in it) and a great tune from Christine Kittrell from 1962. Plus: two songs in three languages from agile singer Aubrey Johnson, from her new album Unraveled, and flutist Andrea Brachfeld with a new album of Brazilian music, Brazilian Whispers.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, much of our time will go to the album "Palo Alto" — Thelonious Monk and band in concert at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto CA in 1968 — finally available for us to hear fifty-two years later in 2020. We'll hear Monk play stretched out versions of several of his classics. The show was booked by Danny Scher, then a high school student, and recorded by a janitor at the school, whose name seems forgotten now. We also have a Monk piece from his 1963 album "Monk's Dream," and two Monk tunes from Chick Corea in concert on his new live, solo album, "Chick Corea Plays." It's the music of Thelonious Monk in this hour of Blue Dimensions.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, new music from pianist Eldar Djangirov and his trio on the album "Rhapsodize." Although his name sounds like the English word "elder," Eldar started as a child prodigy, and is now only in his early 30s. Also: some bluesy sounds from the band Ginetta's Vendetta, led by trumpeter and singer Ginetta Minichiello on a new album "Pocketful Of Cool" (she plays a pocket trumpet), and, Gerry Gibbs plays all the instruments on "Emotional Pandemic," an album he wrote and recorded after the COVID-19 virus closed the concert venues and clubs. Plus: trumpeter Avishai Cohen and his band Big Vicious, taking on Beethoven.

In this hour of Blue Dimensions, some music that offers just the right mix of spirit, soul, and brain for these unsettling times of a global pandemic. We'll hear from South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini (N-DooDooZOh  MAHK-A-TINI) and his band with some soul-touching music on their album "Modes Of Communication: Letters From The Underworlds." Makhathini was strongly influenced by McCoy Tyner, who died on March 6th, and we'll play a couple of things featuring him as well, in the band he was most well-known for, the John Coltrane "classic quartet," from their poignant 1964 album "Crescent."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, some music that offers just the right mix of spirit, soul, and brain for these unsettling times of a global pandemic. We'll hear from South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini (N-DooDooZOh  MAHK-A-TINI) and his band with some soul-touching music on their album "Modes Of Communication: Letters From The Underworlds." Makhathini was strongly influenced by McCoy Tyner, who died on March 6th, and we'll play a couple of things featuring him as well, in the band he was most well-known for, the John Coltrane "classic quartet," from their poignant 1964 album "Crescent."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, three new albums from the world's busiest oud player, Gordon Grdina, each with a different band configuration, and each combining elements of Middle Eastern music and jazz in Grdina's unique way. The albums include "Safar-E-Daroon," "Nomad," and "Resist," all issued in 2020, and each offering Grdina a different band configuration - - a trio, a septet, and a quintet. We also have a newly issued single from the late blues singer Wee Willie Walker, recorded a few days before he died in November 2019, joined by a great vocal group, The Sons of The Soul Revivers. We'll open up the album "You Can't Lose With The Blues" from pianist Lafayette Harris Jr., and play a couple of tracks, including his version of a remarkable and much-loved Percy Mayfield song - - and we'll play Mayfield's original 1950 recording of the song too. Plus: the latest from pianist Christian Sands, from his album "Be Water."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, a new album "Cry Out" — strong new blues songs from singer and songwriter Kat Riggins — whose songs take us from the crossroads in the delta to the streets of the city. We'll hear a classic Robert Johnson blues song and Kat Riggins's sequel. We'll also play several selections from a great debut album, "Omega," from saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, and we have a track from the final album of the wonderful percussionist Ray Mantilla, called "Rebirth," issued posthumously this Spring — plus new music from guitarist Bill Frisell and his trio.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions — they are named after the goddess Artemis, a super six-woman band offering a strong self-titled album. Artemis consists of Renee Rosnes on piano, Anat Cohen on clarinet and bass clarinet, Melissa Aldana on tenor saxophone, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Noriko Ueda on bass, and Allison Miler on drums, We'll hear several pieces from it, including a song with guest vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. We'll also play a couple of tunes from the album "Emergency Exit" from Throttle Elevator Music, the band from which saxophonist Kamasi Washington became well-known, with Erik Jekabson on trumpet as well. Cindy Blackman Santana's new release is called "Give The Drummer Some," and we'll do just that. Plus: music from trombonist Conrad Herwig's album "The Latin Side Of Horace Silver," and the album "Palo Alto," a previously unreleased concert recording of Thelonious Monk and band from a show at a high school in 1968.

In this hour of Blue Dimensions, drummer Quincy Davis in his second appearance as a band leader, in septet, quintet, and trio configurations on his recent album "Q Vision." We'll hear a piece from each setting he plays in, with some great bandmates including vibraphonist Warren Wolf, saxophonists Dayna Stephens, Myron Walden, and JD Allen, and pianist Xavier Davis. We'll also hear selections from saxophonist Teodross Avery's album "Harlem Stories: The Music Of Thelonious Monk," several Monk pieces beautifully interpretted and arranged by Avery, and we'll play two solo pieces from Monk himself as well. Plus: music from bassist Derrick Hodge, something from his album "Color Of Noize," some very colorful music for sure.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, a tribute to the late pianist Harold Mabern, who died at age 83 in 2019, including a recently-issued posthumous album with Mabern in the band, headed up by bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and including Mike Clark on the drums. The album "Thank You Mr. Mabern" is a great gift to fans of the blues-rooted pianist from Memphis, who remained busy in his later years with a number of fine albums on the Smoke Sessions label, including a live performance at Smoke in New York City. We'll hear music from that album and two others from Harold Mabern, including a song featuring singer Gregory Porter.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, three super pianists. The album "25 Years" is a career-retrospective album from Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon, including some of his work with the SF Jazz Collective, and with his own Afinidad quartet. We also have several pieces from a sparkling new album, "Sure Thing," from pianist David Kikoski, on which he works with just one band member, bassist Boris Kozlov, in a close and intimate duo project. Also, a track from pianist Lisa Hilton's latest album "More Than Another Day," with her longtime bandmates, Luques Curtis on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, the new album from organist Dr. Lonnie Smith includes some great live recordings from 2017, but also an interesting connection in the studio with singer Iggy Pop, doing a classic song by Donovan. We'll play several tracks from this album, which is called "Breathe," including one about tracks - - railroad tracks, we think. Also: saxophonist and flutist Charles Lloyd and the Marvels offer uplifting music on their new album "Tone Poem," and we'll check out trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's new album "Griot: This Is Important!" too.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll feature two albums, the album "Jazz Is Dead 6," where the Jazz Is Dead producers Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge join up with venrable saxophonist Gary Bartz. We'll also hear songs from Castro Coleman better known as "Mr Sipp, The Mississippi Blues Child" from the new album "Sippnotized." Plus: a track from the wonderful album "Mosaic" from saxophonist Rahsaan Barber, and one from guitarist Larry Newcomb with his son Jake Newcomb on bass, an album called "Love, Dad" - - and, something from Charles Lloyd on alto flute, from the album "Tone Poem," the third album from Charles Lloyd & his band The Marvels.

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, "The Q Sessions" - - a new release from the great bassist Christian McBride in a quartet setting made for QoBuz, a company that focuses on audiophile quality sound recordings. We'll hear two very special selections from the album, with saxophonist Marcus Strickland, guitarist Mike Stern, and drummer Eric Harland on board. We'll also hear McBride on bass with sparkling pianist Benito Gonzalez, from Gonzalez's new album "Sing To The World" - - and,  after more than two and a half decades, an Afrobeat-influenced band, the Lunar Octet, has released a new album following a reunion a few years earlier. We'll hear a piece from it. Plus: a new single from the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, and John Pizzarelli's solo guitar take on the music of Pat Metheny, on the album "Better Days Ahead."

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In this hour of Blue Dimensions, we'll highlight two new albums, one from guitarist Charlie Apicella working with a trio and also doing some solo performances, an album called "Classic Guitar," featuring inventive new renditions of some old classics of jazz and R & B. We'll hear several selections from the album, and several from the album "Future Stride" by pianist Emmet Cohen, who does both classics and originals, and is joined on some pieces by saxophonist Melissa Aldana and trumpeter Marquis Hill. Plus: new music from trumpeter Dave Douglas, from his album "Marching Music," and from and guitarist Jorge Garcia, who grew up in Cuba listening to rock music from the US on the radio, taking on a rock hit from 1971 in his own special way, all in this hour of Blue Dimensions.

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