New Stuff!
Its Donald’s first show on JazzÉIRE!. This show features all new releases for this Hot Box
www.jazzeireradio.com
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:46 — 88.9MB)
The Hot Box #097 – The Maybeck Recitals Part 2
After the great reaction to Hot Box 96, we decided to do a second edition devoted to the fantastic 42 volume series of solo piano recitals known as the Maybeck Series. Recorded over 6 years from 1990 to 1996, the concerts took place in the wood lined hall designed by the now iconic architect Bernard Maybeck, with just 50 seats in the audience and a perfectly tuned Yamaha grand piano.
Long unavailable on LP or CD it is now available on Spotify, but here Donald takes us through more of the stellar pianists who featured – Gerry Wiggins, Toshiko Akyoshi, Cedar Walton and more.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:30 — 5.0MB)
The Hot Box #096 – The Maybeck Recitals
The 96th edition of The Hot Box!
This an all-piano affair that marks the re-release (on Spotify) of all 42 albums recorded in the 90’s, of the solo piano recitals branded as The Maybeck Recitals. Recorded by the independent Concord Jazz label, they present a who’s who of jazz pianists of the last decade of the last century. The real biggies aren’t there – the Herbie Hancocks, the Oscar Petersons – perhaps Concord couldn’t afford their fees – but taken overall the recordings represent a diversity of brilliance. From stride to modernism.
In this edition we sample 9 of the players, from JoAnne Brackeen to Jim McNeely, and have cause to celebrate the amazing acoustics of the hall itself – lined with rosewood panels and an audience of only 50 – and the Yamaha grand piano at its centre. If the very best piano music is your bag, tune in to The Hot Box.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:05 — 69.9MB)
The Hot Box #095 – New Material XIV
The Hot Box 95: What’s in it?
Some great new music that’s what. Two from America, one from Belgium, and two from Ireland.
The album Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House was awarded to Daniel Cervigni who emailed Donald@jazzireland.ie, and now you can contact Donald to “win” the copy of Chick Corea’s Acoustic Band double album “Live”, which marks the second anniversary of Chick’s death.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:35:59 — 66.3MB)
The Hot Box 094 – Jazz in Italy
The Box goes abroad this time, heading south east to Italy, where some exceptional and distinctive jazz can be found. In this edition we highlight the marked attention to lyricism which informs so much Italian jazz, as though perhaps the traditions of Italy’s great classical tradition and opera lie beneath much of the contemporary jazz scene. We start however at the inception of jazz in Italy, banned as it was by the Fascist regime in the 1930s.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:10 — 67.7MB)
The Hot Box #093 – The Name Game
Why do some bands choose brand names rather than the name of their leader? A very brief investigation in the Hot Box #093.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:44 — 77.5MB)
The Hot Box #092 – Guitar All The Way
The 92nd Hot Box is hot with guitars all the way. And there’s a reason. The new album from Chicago-based guitarist Tim Fitzgerald. Better still, you could become the lucky owner of a copy. An album that has been Album of the Month in Downbeat with a four and a half star review! So check in to the Box and see how you could get lucky!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:33 — 69.2MB)
The Hot Box #091 – Christmas 2022
The 91st Hot Box takes a look at Christmas (already!)
A selection of jazz from all eras that celebrates or satirises Christmas from the personal collection of Donald Helme.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:40 — 66.0MB)
The Hot Box #090 – New Material XIII
A cornucopia of delights from new recordings makes up the 66-odd minutes of this edition, starting out with a track from one of the new jazz superstars.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:28 — 76.0MB)
The Hot Box #089 – All New Recordings
Tracks this time are exclusively (well almost) from brand shiny new albums. The exception sadly is another of those remembrance pieces, this time for the singer Tina May who died earlier this year.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:47 — 77.5MB)