Cowboy justice and FM radio

First, let me sing the praises of a fine new album, Cowboy Justice, by Ben Allison. If you're looking for jazz that's hip and modern, very listenable, and yes, good to dance to, check it out. Allison, apparently one of the many fine young musicians haunting the clubs of Manhattan, slams the standup with Latin, funk and straight ahead lines. This recording features a quartet rounded out by guitar, trumpet and drums -- not your typical combo, but very cool.

The group is kind of Dave Douglas meets Bill Frisell, but on a night when they're not trying to be so complex. Maybe that's unfair to Frisell, but Douglas has an academic bent sometime and Allison's group never strays in that direction. The trumpeter/guitar duo is very tasty, especially when Allison puts his deep, woody tone to work with some Latin rhythm. Like piano meister Andrew Hill, he knows how to use Latin lines in non-Latin songs.

The guitarist makes nice use of being electrified to have a modern tone with some mild effects that give it kind of a rock sound. It's in the ballpark of Frisell's Telecaster sound.

It's always nice to hear a fresh, if not groundbreaking, jazz group. Enjoy!

Which brings me to the other part of this blog: How the heck did I find these guys?

On the radio.

Remember when you used to rely on the DJ to find you music that you would like? If you're under 35, probably not. Once upon a time...

So I heard a cut from this CD (Tricky Dick) on The Jazz Brunch, WFNX's Sunday morning jazz show. DJ Jeff Turtin may not be the truest steward of jazz, but his deliberately commercial eclecticism -- he touches base with standards, big names, fusion, Latin, funk and a few other things every Sunday -- served me well here.

Jeff has turned me on to Susana Bacca, Cassandra Wilson, and probably some others. I also can trust him to get a listen to new tracks from known favorites, before I go out and buy them. Not 30 seconds of the mp3 file, but the whole track. This is why I've been listening to him for 15 years or so. Not because he has the best jazz show, but because he makes the most effort to educate me in a wide variety of stuff. Thanks, guy!

I also give FNX props for keeping the show. Once upon a time, it was one of those underground FM stations, affiliated with the Boston Phoenix, which once upon a time was the hip paper in town. Now it's mostly club listings and classifieds, and the radio station plays "alternative rock," which generally includes a fair amount of metallic stuff I'm purely not interested in. However, against all odds, they retain the Jazz Brunch and I say "thanks."

Satellite radio helps to fill the gap in the FM band, but it really is quite the opposite of what I am referring to. XM, at least, gives you a lot of little pigeonholes you can fly between as your mood changes. But what if you're a true music lover?

Few true music lovers are stuck in one genre. They like heart, soul, talent and they often like it in multiple flavors. It's so much work now keeping up with the wide, wide, world of all this music, with no one to help guide us as we're driving down the highway.

Bring back real radio!