Due to circumstances beyond my control, this will be an abbreviate preview of tomorrow’s program. I apologize, but please give a listen.
The Front Line
According to New Orleans’s WWOZ, A Closer Walk website, in a post entitled Musical Threads in Early Jazz, https://acloserwalknola.com/historical-context/musical-threads-early-jazz/, “In New Orleans-style jazz, the term “front line” refers to three melody instruments. The first voice or lead melody is usually the cornet or trumpet, though some early jazz bands used the violin. The second voice, or obbligato, is usually the clarinet, but can also be the violin or saxophone. The third voice is most often the trombone. The interaction of the three instruments creates a melodic polyphony, which is in contrast to the solo melody statements of modern jazz styles, which came after New Orleans jazz in the mid-1920s.”
Today, according to several jazz dictionaries and common usage, the Front Line refers to any combination of trumpets, saxophones, and trombones, as well as cornets, flugelhorns, and other melody instruments. While I certainly play many legendary and recent front line musicians on the Classic Jazz Edition of Morning Brew, it has been a while since I devoted an entire program to featuring them. Yes, we have featured pianists, bassists, new releases, big bands and vocalists recently. Now it’s time to celebrate some trumpeters and saxophonists, with a few trombonist thrown in for good measure. More specifically, we will concentrate on 21st century artists and releases. A few entered the scene by the mid 1990s, but continued to develop over the last two decades.
I won’t mention specific artists or tunes because as of now, I have picked out way more disks than I can possibly get to tomorrow. You will just have to tune in 5:00 – 8:00, WPFW 89.3 FM, listen online, or catch up on the archives.
Lastly, tomorrow’s program is the last before our 2020 mid-winter fund drive begins. On the 13th we will do a pre-Valentine’s Day Program (baci). The following week will be a pre-Mardi Gras program. The last program of the drive is TBD,
