Hot Box #128 – Piano and more piano……

A nudge from a listener in Scotland prompts Donald Helme to put right an omission: marking the centenary of the great Oscar Peterson.

It’s something of a home game on this edition of The Hot Box, with Donald Helme spending most of the hour in the company of Irish musicians, drawing on recordings both new and from the archives.

As the new movie Everybody Digs Bill Evans launches in cinemas around Ireland, The Hot Box grabs the opportunity to immerse you in Evans’ music. Whilst an hour can only provide a snapshot of the considerable output from one of jazz’s truly great innovators, it enables us to evaluate his contribution to jazz during his too-short life.

Join Donald Helme on this edition of The Hot Box as he celebrates the life and music of one of jazz’s most influential figures, Miles Davis, marking what would have been the legendary trumpeter’s 100th birthday. From his groundbreaking innovations in bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz and jazz fusion, Miles Davis reshaped the course of modern music and continues to inspire generations of musicians and listeners alike.

Whilst enjoying the multitude of styles that compose the repertoire of jazz today, many fans have long decried the disappearance of Bebop in favour of crossover music and other listener-to-listener styles. There is some evidence though that things may be changing, and one piece of that evidence is the emergence of some bands playing music closer to bop or hard bop style.