Who Is Will Holland?

Will Holland can play guitar, bass, piano, organ, saxophone and more. His music is influenced by trip hop, soul, bossa nova, salsa, funk and traditional jazz. Unlike a lot of Nu Jazz, the bulk of his recordings are original with minimal sampling ("Will Holland).


Holland's father was an important part in helping his son get his music career started. How? Well, his father was a folk singer and had a background in computer programming. His father introduced him to home recording, which started his experimentation with music ("QUANTIC").

Holland records under aliases including: Quantic, Quantic Soul Orchestra and The Limb Twins and collaborates with vocalists including: soul singers Alice Russell and Spanky Wilson. Holland hails from Worcestershire, England, but would later re-locate to Colombia where he set up his own analogue recording studio ("Will Holland").

A collaboration with New York City DJ/Producer Nickodemus resulted in the very catchy and instantly likeable song, "Mi swing es tropical" that was featured in an Apple Ipad commercial ("Will Holland").


LINKS:
From the Ipad Commercial "Mi Swing Es Tropical": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa6R9Z576Yg

It's neat animation, but a little bloody, "Not So Blue": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBft8qY6caE

Featuring Alice Russell, "The Sound Of Everything": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBuL1J4qXGI


REFERENCES:
"Quantic." Retrieved from: http://www.quantic.org/biography

"Will Holland." Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Holland

3 years of Jazz Essentials

Hard to believe it, but Jazz Essentials has been on the air for 3 years! The show has gone through a lot of change since it first aired. 

Here's a quick story that helped to inspire the show's new direction: In radio we do something called airchecks. How an aircheck works is: your boss sits down with you and listens to one of your shows and critiques it. The show he was critiquing began with good ol' Bing Crosby (see pic. above) singing "Ol' Man River." My boss began yawning (he had the most pronounced yawn), he skipped ahead and skipped some more, until he heard the beat of "Rose Rouge" by St. Germain. Immediately, he lit up and exclaimed "play more of this stuff!"

When I began the show, the only Nu Jazz artists I was aware of were: Koop, Us3 and St.Germain (all who had achieved worldwide recognition and acclaim); these were the only Nu Jazz artists that were occasionally mixed in with the traditional jazz. Louis Armstrong, Diana Krall, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole and Pat Metheny were among the artists most played on my show in the first year. 



After a little research and digging, I discovered there was an abundance of Nu Jazz that was refreshing, memorable and simply put, fun!

In the second year of the show, more and more Nu Jazz was added until it became the dominant sound of the show. It is rare to hear Nu Jazz on the radio which further inspired me to push the show further in that direction. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on?

We will celebrate on the radio show this Sunday Morning 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 101.5 the HAWK. Click Listen Live at http://www.1015thehawk.ca/

I'm looking forward to another year of Jazz Essentials,
Thanks for listening and reading,
Karim Mosna

LINKS:
The song that got my boss excited, "Rose Rouge" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRpKKBmeqV4

BONUS: A little 'Bing', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XogekAqnkA

Duran Y Garcia

Uno, Due, Tre... They're an Italian trio whose music is chilled, yet has a catchy groove with a traditional jazz influence (Duran Y Garcia). Duran Y Garcia is signed to popular Italian label Irma Records who is also behind the soundtrack for the popular American TV Series "Sex and the City" (Duran Y Garcia).

LINKS:
"Round Midnight": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyESWmqly4g
"Old Fashioned Thief": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKMZD5Mvn5k
"Heavy Piano": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoVLruqld08
"Night In Paris": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SofSxKnpfEA

REFERENCES:
"Duran Y Garcia." Retrieved from: http://www.last.fm/music/Duran+y+Garcia

Mr.Scruff

His real name is Andy Carthy, his stage name was inspired by his scruffy facial hair, as well as his trademark loose-lined drawing style seen on his self-designed cover albums and music videos. Mr.Scruff has been DJing for 20 years mixing electronica, house, trip hop and nu jazz. He is known for his marathon sets which can last over 6 hours. As a resident DJ at Manchester Club, the Music Box, he sold tea with proceeds going to charity.  Mr.Scruff has since developed a reputation for being the DJ with the teashop and runs an online tea company, called "Make Us A Brew"("Mr.Scruff"). Does it get more British than that?

LINKS:

"Get A Move On" (Extended): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik--d9Nhcb8

"Donkey Ride": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLeD2ZdIXM0

"Kalimba": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uyF_RoXAQg

Crate Diggers Interview, Mr.Scruff talks about his discovery of electro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSje30D7BNY (10:35 to 11:22)

Crate Diggers Interview, Mr.Scruff on Analog vs. Digital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSje30D7BNY (19:19 to 21:30)

Crate Diggers, Mr.Scruff takes you through his record collection (FULL INTERVIEW):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSje30D7BNY


REFERENCES:
"Mr.Scruff." Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Scruff

Tosca

I foreshadowed this week's spotlight on my Kruder & Dorfmeister post from last week which ended with, "Dorfmeister also works on a side project that is also played on my radio show, Jazz Essentials called Tosca." 

Richard Dorfmeister and Ruper Huber met in school and would experiment with tape machines, Indian Music and poetry under the name Dehli9. The duo would separate and then regroup in 1994 under the name Tosca (Tosca(band)).

Tosca is generally categorized in the electronic subgenre called: downtempo. Downtempo music is generally chilled electronic music that in Tosca's case has a jazz aesthetic (Downtempo). 

To date, Tosca has released 6 highly critically acclaimed albums (Tosca(band)).

LINKS:
"Pyjama": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7JJAceB-s4
"Chocolate Elvis": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r7TMJBW61U
"Heidi Bruehl": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plzbsd-nC1w

REFERENCES: "Tosca (band)." Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosca_(band)

"Downtempo." Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtempo