Monday 7.15.24
Night Train kicks off the week with a Featured New Release of the Week from the Planet D Nonet celebrating the music of Duke Ellington. This week we also remember trumpeter Jim Rotondi who passed away on July 7th– tonight with music from his recent release, Finesse, and with singer Irene Reid. There’s more music from July Featured Artist Al DiMeola (with Return to Forever) and we mark birthdays of veteran drummer Philly Joe Jones (with Bill Evans) and lyricist Dorothy Fields (featured in a special in hour two of the show).
Tuesday 7.16.24
More music tonight from Night Train July Featured Artist Al DiMeola (from his Opus album in hour one and as part of a Return to Forever special in hour two). We continue our week-long remembrance of trumpeter Jim Rotondi (this time with soul jazz organist Charles Earland). Birthday salutes tonight include West Coast Latin jazz pioneer Cal Tjader and Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete. And our Featured New Release of the Week is Planet D Nonet’s second volume in tribute to Duke Ellington.
Wednesday 7.17.24
SPECIAL: Night Train marks the birthday of jazz pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi with a two-hour special documenting his life with the help of Guaraldi biographer Derrick Bang, musicians, writers, and historians that crossed his path between the 1940's through the 1970's in San Francisco, and music from across his career. Though best known for the music he did for the Peanuts TV show, Guaraldi was a key figure on the Bay Area jazz scene and had a major hit with his version of “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.”
Thursday 7.18.24
SPECIAL: In conjunction with the July Al DiMeola/Jazz Fusion Feature, Night Train devotes tonight’s show entirely to jazz fusion sounds, classic and contemporary. We’ll hear selections from Miles Davis, Larry Coryell, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jean-Luc Ponty, John Scofield, and more – along with the first Return to Forever album with Al DiMeola and his first album under his own name.
