Hey, y’all! Hope you’re doing your best. It’s Tuesday again, and we’re back on the air this week! Read on down to learn more about what we’re playing tonight on datafruits.fm!
A Minor Introduction To Some Datafruits Lore And The Holiday S.H.I.T. List
sigh Alright, look. I don’t often go into contextual details for these re-runs, but I think this one requires a liiiittle bit of an introduction.
A few years back, we had a little something runnin’ for the entire month of December that was doled down to us from the brass up at Shrimp Shake Co, called the Holiday S.H.I.T List. That’s an acronym, for the uninitiated. To wit:
"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender," i holler as i overturn the christmas tree and turn the December Programming List into the List Of S.H.I.T.
“We aren’t playing any Christmas music this month on The Jazz Program–the concept of Christmas records as a whole are something i abhor to the point that i have virtually none in my collection at all–but we DO have a very special ahem corporate mandate from the all-powerful shrimpy deities over at Shrimp Shake Co. that we have to do at least something goofy for The Holiday Season.”
“In fact, we have an entire list worth of mandates. An entire datatable worth of seasonal happenings that we have to divvy out in installments, lest we get our incredibly lucrative Internet radio paychecks in the form of Spicy Shrimp Shakes poured into a goo bomb and dumped in our mailbox again. It’s called the Seasonal Happenings Installments Table, and we’re taking one entry off of it every week this month and filling your radio with some holiday S.H.I.T.”
“…look man, you can complain if you want, but I’m still cleaning the habanero sauce and radioactive shrimp waste from last year’s “Christmas performance bonus” out of the cracks in the mail room door, and I reeeally don’t wanna do that again.”
– from Now I Have A Jazz Program, Ho-Ho-Ho - December 2023 Radio Calendar
…We have fun with it here at the Data Fruits.
Anywhoozles, I’ll be saving at least one of these Holiday Specials in case I need a night off in December, but in honor of Christmas In July, here’s one of the better re-runs from the 2023 Holiday S.H.I.T. List.
Talkie Time: Dragnet Does Christmas In July - Twenty-Two Rifle For Christmas / The Big Little Jesus
(This program schedule was originally aired December 19, 2023.)
"the only thing i ever give anyone for christmas is a FAT PACK OF L&M REDS. in fact, that's all i ever give anyone. i just stand by the corner by the First Presbyterian dressed as santa claus and chuck them at children. i'm banned from every single church potluck and they won't let me see my son anymore" --mister dragnet mans, probably
We had “We Had Jack Webb At Home” earlier on this month1, and now to avoid all you children kicking the back of my seat and screaming about how you wanna go to Actual Jack Webb and not Jack Regan because Jack Regan tastes funny….we’ve got Actual Jack Webb this week. Please stop throwing your crayons at me. I am trying to drive.
Next up on the S.H.I.T. list is everyone’s favorite police procedural (or at least the one everyone actually knows), the legendary Dragnet. Joe Friday and the boys drive around, solve crimes, and change the names of the people involved in them to protect the innocent.
We got a two-for-one Christmas special for ya today. Originally broadcast on December 21, 1952, our first pick “Twenty-Two Rifle For Christmas” is exactly what it says on the tin. Does anyone get their eye shot out?
…well, I’d say you have to tune in to find out, but considering this was one of the more infamous episodes of Dragnet for being one of the many times the writers pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the time by having outright child death in the script….yeah, yeah they do. Nice work, Friday. 10/10 police work.
After that, we’ve got yet another Christmas story courtesy of the S.H.I.T. list–“The Big Little Jesus”, which was originally broadcast two years later on December 21, 1954. Someone took the local Mission’s Jesus statue, and our boy Friday’s gotta go get it back–but not before griping about marriage and holiday cards or something, because you just aren’t a hard-boiled crime-solving mans if you don’t have seventy million reasons why you don’t get involved with trivial things like “christmas cards” or “marriage” or “family” or “basic pleasantries”.
Look, given the events of “Twenty-Two Rifle For Christmas”, I’m all for keeping Friday away from anything that might lead to him having children.
The Jazz Program: Gil Goldstein And Friends - Infinite Love (with Romero Lubambo) (1993) / Brooklyn Sessions (with Jorge Pardo) (2020) / Longing (with Bob Mintzer) (2007)
(This program schedule was originally aired December 19, 2023.)
The great Gil Goldstein, as he appears on the website of the fantastic Chiaroscuro Jazz Records homepage. I've been listening to their station a LOT lately, and you can thank them playing 'Boy Inside A Drum' for inspiring tonight's programming.
The music of Gil Goldstein needs no introduction, but like most jazz cats who made their living as session musicians Gil himself just might. Thankfully for you, we’ve got three records of his for you to give you a bit of a primer on this accordion virtuoso.
We can’t cover every fantastic record he’s played on in one evening, sadly–although I would highly recommend this article over on Jazzwax if you’d like an even more extensive primer, featuring ten selections by Gil himself–but we’ve got three of them that should give you a good introduction.
First off, we’ve got the 1993 Big World Music release “Infinite Love”, with Gil on piano and accordion and the fantastic contemporary Brazillian jazz virtuoso Romero Lubambo on guitar. Mixing bossa with modern smooth jazz influence, Gil and Romero start us off a smooth, smooth cocktail of latin-tinged color.
After that, we head to Brooklyn with the 2020 release–decidedly more recent than most of the stuff we play on the program!–“Brooklyn Sessions”. Featuring the stripped-down lineup of legendary Brazillian flautist & saxophonist Jorge Pardo Cordero, Gil himself on piano, and not too much else, this one is a fantastically intimate listen that showcases Gil’s mastery of accompaniment.
Finally, we’re heading back to the 90’s, with 1997’s “Longing”. Saxophonist Bob Mintzer takes point on this one, with our boy Gil floating his piano chords just below Mintzer’s cool, gentle waves.
All three albums are fantastic and go down smooth as butter. Hope you can join us.
That’s all for this week! We’re back to reruns as I shove about three books worth of trans masc biographies into my brain case for this month’s Clippings. Never fear–we should be back to regular programming and new jokes next week!
And no, I can’t make them better jokes. That’s not what we do here and you know it.
By the way: if you’re reading this the day of, and you can make it in tonight, you should come hang out in the chat with us on Datafruits! We’ve got a good crowd of folks in the chat every week, and whether you have a suggestion for a future show or just want to hang out and chat with fellow jazz enjoyers, you’re welcome here with us.
You’re all amazing and don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not. Stay safe out there, and I’ll see you back again next week. Same time, same station.
Footnotes…
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“This Month” being December of 2023. I’m pulling these “re-runs” directly from the old write-ups, mostly warts and all, and the week prior’s Talkie Time program was some Christmas-themed episodes of Jeff Regan, Investigator. ↩︎