The clarinet has been an endangered species for most of the last 50 years, and despite much admiration for modern-day exponents such as Anat Cohen, it remains on the outer fringes of jazz. Hot Box takes a look at clarinet from the heyday of Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet and Jimmie Noone through to today’s most admired exponent, Anat Cohen. Some critics have suggested its decline is due to the difficulty of playing it: “It was invented by three people who never met each other” was the comment of Basie band sax player Frank Wess!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:18 — 57.9MB)

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After the great reaction to Hot Box 108’s focus on big bands, we felt that a second dip into this big reservoir of music was advisable, if not inevitable. Some of the best ever herein!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:44 — 59.3MB)

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Big Bands! A selection of recordings of big bands modern and not-so modern.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:10 — 59.7MB)

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Stimulated by the upcoming release of John Donegan’s album Light Streams featuring his Irish Sextet, Hot Box 107 checks out some new releases, and a couple of returns to recent albums for a second look.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:21 — 54.3MB)

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Hot on the heels of a little exploration of the role of the Hammond organ in jazz (HB104) a listener suggested we take a look at the role of another “minority” instrument in jazz music – the vibraphone. So we have. Starting at the beginning we hear from Lionel Hampton through to some modern-day masters like Warren Wolf and Stefan Harris. And we find Roger Beaujolais along the way. Who?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:55 — 57.6MB)

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This edition of the Hot Box is comprised 9 pieces of new material, with all of it coming from USA and Canada.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:44 — 58.3MB)

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In which we devote over an hour to the Hammond organ! In vogue during the 1960s and having star exponents like Jimmy Smith, and latterly Joey DeFrancesco, the Hammond B3 occupied a secure slot in instrumental jazz. Has it lost that?

Hot Box this time is Organic!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:10 — 62.4MB)

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Tony Bennett died on July 21st, aged 96, representing in a very real sense “the end of an era”. Across much of the history of crooning and singing jazz, Bennett succeeded in transferring a reputation amongst older fans of the Great American Songbook to an entirely new generation. He never lost his conviction that good music, good songs would eventually triumph.
Hot Box 103 peeks into his enormous catalogue………

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:45 — 53.8MB)

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Some jazz journalists have been using phrases like “the end of an era” since the death of Wayne Shorter and Ahmad Jamal. In this Hot Box we pay tribute to a few of the jazz greats who have left us in recent years…….or stopped performing.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:48 — 56.6MB)

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As the title suggests, this is a new record for the hot box. Five fantastic tracks, one hour show! Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) kicking things off with 13 minutes of magic.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:07 — 58.7MB)

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