Dustin Hoag
Musician | Producer | Educator
In this episode, the Jazz Imposters play it cool with the tune, Killer Joe. We trace the career of the songwriter, Benny Golson, and throw in some bonus trivia on Quincy Jones, who regularly featured this tune with his big band. With a little help from our returning guest, we also expound on how to keep a simple arrangement from becoming too monotonous.
The Jazz Imposters take on their most contemporary tune to date, Juju, composed by a living legend, Wayne Shorter. Thankfully they'll have some help on the keys from a special guest in this episode.
I Got Rhythm, the tune that launched a thousand . . . more tunes. The Jazz Imposters find out what makes this song so special that it became the framework for countless contrafacts. Learn what that word means and more on this episode!
Aaron and Dustin review the newly released documentary film, Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes.
How did a pop song written for a musical in 1937 become such a hugely influential jazz standard that may have helped shape one of the most innovative bop records over 20 years later? The Jazz Imposters discuss that as well as the masterful composing of the Rodgers and Hart songwriting team that brought this song to life.
In what was a revolutionary year for jazz, 1959, Charles Mingus’ album “Mingus Ah Um” was no exception. However, while some were solely interested in breaking new ground, Charles Mingus made sure to do so while also reflecting and paying homage to his predecessors. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat serves as a musical eulogy to the greatly revered saxophonist, Lester Young, and at the same time displays Mingus’ flair for non-traditional harmony and composition.
Miles Davis is one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. We only scratch the surface of his momentous career with a look at an early composition that became an enduring jazz standard, Four. This tune marks the transition of Davis to a frontman and also coincides with his conquering a serious heroin addiction. We touch on the prickly nature of this forward-looking composer, juxtaposed to the pleasant nature of this composition.
The Imposters take a crack at a unique tune by the visionary Thelonious Monk, a true artist of jazz music at the forefront of the bebop era. Epistrophy literally became the theme song for the birth of bop, and in many ways embodies the impetus to break free of the swing era and move into the unexplored musical frontiers of improvisation.
Bossa Nova exploded on the scene in the early 1960’s due in large part to the release of the album Jazz Samba in 1962 and the chart-topping single, Desafinado. The gang tries to capture the essence of the style, while acknowledging the mastery of the musicians who brought it to American audiences, most notably Stan Getz.
John Coltrane was a titan of jazz whose contributions to music still leave us wonderstruck every time we listen. In this episode we dip our toe into an earlier tune off of his first album as a bandleader, Chronic Blues (1957). We break down the 12-Bar Blues form and how this song utilizes it in a unique way, alluding to Coltrane’s personal struggles and stylings as a musician at this time in his life. Andres switches over to the Baritone Sax to create the more raw and aggressive sound that characterizes the feel of the main riff and solo sections.
