Episodes

  • Aretha Franklin & Jazz 8:3:24 8.36 PM

    Aretha Franklin & Jazz 8:3:24 8.36 PM
    Aug 4 2024
    Photo: Ryan Arrowsmith
    Usage: Wikimedia CC BY 2.5

    According to Rolling Stone, young Aretha Franklin moved from Gospel to jazz in the early 60s. She sang a song entitled Nobody Like You. I love how she sang jazz, and I love how she played the piano. We know that she had a voice for pop, blues, gospel, and soul. And she sounded so great singing jazz. I like the way she pronounced and played around with words and singing. There's probably a name for that, but I don't know what you call it. Aretha Franklin must have had something on the inside to be able to carry out the sound that she had. To be able to sing and use her voice the way that she did.

    I'm Gail Nobles. Thank you for tuning in to Rhythmic Blue, and check out Aretha’s song Nobody Like You.
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    2 mins
  • Sade-Smooth Operator 7:15:24 9.00 PM

    Sade-Smooth Operator 7:15:24 9.00 PM
    Jul 16 2024
    Intro: Gail Nobles
    Photo: Thilo Parg - Own work
    Wikipedia Usage: CC BY-SA 3.0

    When I think of jazz, I think of Sade’s song Smooth Operator. It is a single from her debut studio album Diamond Life (1984). It was released as the album’s third single in the United Kingdom.

    In the United States, "Smooth Operator" was released in February 1985, serving as the album's second US single. The song became Sade's first top-10 entry in the US, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in May 1985. It spent 13 weeks in the top 40, and also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks.
    Although "Your Love Is King" remains Sade's highest-peaking single in the UK to date, "Smooth Operator" is the band's breakthrough single on the US charts, and their most successful single internationally.

    You’re listening to Rhythmic Blue. I’m your host, Gail Nobles.
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    2 mins
  • Prince & Jazz 12:26:23 5.50 PM

    Prince & Jazz 12:26:23 5.50 PM
    Dec 26 2023
    Intro by: Gail Nobles
    Photo: Yves Lorson from Kapellen, Belgium - Prince
    Usage: CC BY 2.0

    Hello, I'm Gail Nobles. Welcome to Rhythmic Blue.

    Believe it or not,Prince made a lot of music that sounded like jazz from his 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. He made a song titled Scrolling. It’s the fifth track on the album.

    From his 2015 album HitNRun Phase 2. He made a song titled Look At Me, Look At You.

    Prince has a 2009 album titled Lotus Flower. He has a single on that album titled Love Like Jazz.

    There are many more songs that Prince had made that sounded like jazz. He must have loved jazz music. Prince was a musical genius.

    It is said that Prince left behind an underground bank vault of music. He didn't want to give the recording companies the best stuff, and I don't blame him.

    It is said that Prince had his own record label title Paisley Park Records founded in 1985 which was distributed by and funded and part by Warner Brothers Records. It was started in 1985 following the success of the film and Purple Rain. Prince had the right idea.

    You're listening to Rhythmic Blue. Today’s topic: Prince and Jazz. Thank you for listening.
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    2 mins
  • Donna Summer-The Man I Love 12:2:23 2.12 PM

    Donna Summer-The Man I Love 12:2:23 2.12 PM
    Dec 2 2023
    Photo credit: torbakhopper - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gazeronly/7241232318/
    Wikipedia: CC BY 2.0

    On her 1980 TV special, Donna Summer performed a jazz medley. One of the songs she performed was titled The Man I Love. Music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin
    The Man I Love Comes from Donna's 1978 album Lve and More. Together “With I got It Bad” and “That Ain't Good”. Live and More is the first live album recorded by Donna Summer. The Man I Love is on side two, and it's the number 10 song on the album with I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good/Some of These Days (My Man Medley).

    Donna performed The Man I Love so well on her 1980 TV special with a red hat and long red dress with a feathered look. It was singers like Donna Summer that made me sort of listen to jazz because I didn't like jazz. I would see it on old black and white films like in the 1940s with all the piano playing and horn playing. But to see someone from my time that I loved like Donna Summer made me hear jazz. She helped me to listen and understand through her singing. Donna Summer was a sound of a different drummer with her voice to my ears introducing jazz.

    I'm Gail Nobles. Thank you for listening to Rhythmic Blue.
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    2 mins
  • Michael Jackson - I Can’t Help It 11:28:23 4.30 PM

    Michael Jackson - I Can’t Help It 11:28:23 4.30 PM
    Nov 28 2023
    Photo: Wikipedia Public Domain
    Story by: Gail Nobles

    Michael Jackson I Can't Help It 1979, The Jazz Style. It is a song written by Stevie Wonder and produced by Quincy Jones. It is a single or Michael’s Off-The-Wall album released by the Epic label in 1979. I heard Stevie Wonder performance live in studio on YouTube and Michael performed it well on his album Off The Wall.

    When I first heard the song in the early 80s, I thought the song was completely different from most of the songs Michael would sing. I Can't Help It was a song that wasn't sounding disco to me, and a song I wasn't expecting. I thought: “Hmm this is different.” And I had to listen to it a few times. I was learning about a different style. Mostly I knew disco. I learned a lot from Michael Jackson just by listening.

    Thank you for listening to Rhythmic Blue, a show about jazz. I am your host, Gail Nobles.
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    2 mins
  • Joshua Redman 9:26:23 6.28 PM

    Joshua Redman 9:26:23 6.28 PM
    Sep 26 2023
    Photo: Hreinn Gudlaugsson - Own work
    Usage: Wikipedia CC BY-SA

    Music by: Gail Nobles

    Joshua Redman is the son of to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman. He is Jewish. He was exposed to many kinds of music at the Center for World Music in Berkeley, where his mother studied South Indian dance. His mother’s name is Renee Shedroff. He was exposed at an early age to a variety of musics and instruments and began playing clarinet at age nine before switching to what became his primary instrument, the tenor saxophone, one year later. Redman has said he is self-taught on the saxophone and has cited his father Dewey Redman, as well as The Beetles, and Earth, Wind and Fire as musical influences just to name a few.


    He was signed by Warner Bros. Records and issued his first self-titled album in the spring of 1993, which subsequently earned Redman his first Grammy nomination. He continued to develop his style throughout the 1990s, beginning with a sideman appearance on Elvin Jones' Youngblood alongside Javon Jackson, and following up with an appearance on his father Dewey's 1992 record Choices.

    Joshua Redman has a number of Albums. Joshua Redman, Wish, Freedom in the Groove, Timeless Tales ( For Changing Times) Beyond, and more.

    Redman has an album out for 2023 titled Where Are We featuring Gabrielle Cavassa.
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    3 mins
  • Cautious Clay - Ohio 8:13:23 1.50 PM

    Cautious Clay - Ohio 8:13:23 1.50 PM
    Aug 13 2023
    Music Intro by: Gail Nobles

    Photo by: Monika Cefis - Own work
    Usage: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

    Today I want to talk about Cautious Clay. He is a singer, songwriter, and record producer born in Cleveland Ohio. He learn music production at George Washington University by remixing beats for friends. His music style is influenced by hip-hop organic an electronic sounds. He plays multiple instruments including the saxophone, flute, guitar, bass, keyboard and drums.

    Cautious has a single out title Ohio which he performed live. I love the way he sings and plays the flute in that song.

    In 2017 he released a single Cold Cold War. It was the first single from his debut EP Blood Type. His second EP was called Resonance released in 2018. His third EP was called Table of Context which was released in 2019.

    Cautious released his first studio album Deadpan Love in 2021.

    In 2022 he released his fourth EP Thin Ice on the Cake, a collection of three singles previously release throughout 2022 with three new songs.

    I really love his single Ohio. It is the lead single from Clay’s first album to be released via Blue Note. Cautious Clay plays tribute to his home state on the new single. So check out his new single Ohio. ..
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    3 mins
  • Marlena Shaw 6:30:23 9.11 PM

    Marlena Shaw 6:30:23 9.11 PM
    Jul 1 2023
    Intro Song: Marlena
    Intro song performed & written by: Gail Nobles
    Keyboardist: Gail Nobles
    Vocals by: Gail Nobles

    Other songs by: Marlena Shaw
    Photo: Wikipedia/public domain

    Marlena Shaw was a variety of music. She was incredible. Jazz, Blues, Soul, & Disco.
    (Singing)
    That’s a song that sounds like soul & R&B by Marlena Shaw. But what about Jazz?
    (Singing It’s Stormy Monday)
    Now that’s Jazz.
    (Singing)
    I’m Satisfied! Marlena Shaw had some Motown talent.
    (Singing)
    It’s Better than Walking Out. She was about Disco too.
    Marlena could sing any kind of song.

    She began her singing career in the 1960s and is still singing today. Her music has often been sampled in hip hop music, and used in television commercials.

    Shaw began to make singing appearances in jazz clubs whenever she could spare the time. She got an audition with Columbia label talent scout John Hammond. Shaw did not perform well during the audition because she was too nervous. She continued to play small clubs until 1966. Her career took off in 1966 when she landed a gig with the Playboy Club chain in Chicago. It was through this gig that she met with representatives of the Chess Records music label, and soon signed with them. She released her first two albums on their subsidiary Cadet Records. A 1969 album track "California Soul", a funk-soul tune written by Ashford & Simpson and originally issued as a single by American pop quintet The 5th Dimension, later became a staple of the UK rare groove scene. This song has appeared in television commercials for Dockers, KFC, and Dodge Ram trucks. Unable to find her own style at Chess, she moved to the jazz-oriented Blue Note Records in 1972.

    In 1977 she released an LP Sweet Beginnings on Columbia. In 1982. Marlena recorded the Gary Taylor ballad Without You In My Life. In 1999, 2001, and 2007, Shaw was one of the performers North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. I’m Gail Nobles. I hope you have enjoyed today’s topic ….

    I'm Gail Nobles. I hope you have enjoyed today's topic ...

    https://www.bluenote.com
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    4 mins