What's new on WDCB? ... with Paul Abella

Here's what's new on WDCB this week...

Eddie Henderson – Shuffle and Deal (Smoke Sessions)

Trumpeter Eddie Henderson has certainly had a storied career, from hanging out with Miles Davis as a teenager, to playing with Herbie Hancock in the 70s, a career resurgence in the 90s, and some great albums in the past 20+ years. So, when a new Eddie Henderson album comes out, I get excited. And when the album has an all-star crew like Donald Harrison (alto sax), Kenny Barron (piano), Gerald Cannon (bass) and the legendary Mike Clark (drums), you’re bound to sit up and notice. There’s a nice mix of material on here, from standards ("It Might As Well Be Spring", "God Bless the Child"), and modern day classics (Kenny Barron’s "Cook’s Bay") to some really nice original material from Henderson ("Shuffle and Deal").

Maceo Parker – Soul Food (The Funk Garage)

Alto Saxophonist Maceo Parker might be best known as one third of the JBs, James Brown’s legendary backing band in the 60s and 70s. But he’s also a fantastic jazz saxophonist whose sound pulls the best elements from jazz and R&B. The jazz tunes on Soul Food are tremendous – Maceo gives us glimpses of the JBs ("M-A-C-E-O"), Ray Charles ("Hard Times"), classic 60s pop-jazz ("Grazin’ in the Grass") and more. If you like your jazz funky, or your funk jazzy, you will love hearing Soul Food on WDCB.

Chicago Soul Jazz Collective – It Takes a Spark to Start A Fire (self-produced)

The Chicago Soul Jazz Collective is a crew of top-notch Chicago musicians - John Fournier (tenor sax), Marques Carroll (trumpet), Amr Marcin Fahmy (piano), Larry Brown, Jr (guitar), Andrew Vogt (bass) and Keith Brooks (drums) - who got together and released one of my favorite albums of the year. Rooted deeply in the sounds of Horace Silver, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine, looking forward with foot tapping, head bobbing grooves, and featuring guest appearances from Nicholas Payton and Raul Midon, It Takes A Spark to Start a Fire is bound to be a favorite of most everyone on the air at WDCB. You’ll be hearing a bunch of this one.