time 4 spoops from ur favorite talking radio cat
Hey, y’all! Hope you’re doing your best. It’s Tuesday again,and wouldn’t you LOOK at the MONTH?
That’s right, it’s once again time for our October Spoopy Programming Block, where I make the entire slot into its own running theme night for the entirety of Halloween month!
We’ve got some great radio dramas and some interesting jazz-adjacent records picked out to get you all into the Halloween spirit this year, so read on down to learn more about what we’re playing tonight on datafruits.fm!
those secret messages, of course, were somethin' along the lines of "oooOOooh You wilL tunE inTo dAtafRuitS doT eFf Emm foR taLkiE tIem anD The jAZz ProgRam EverY tuEsdaY ooWOOOWwowoww spoopy spooooopy".
Talkie Time Gets Spoopy With It, Part 1: The Shadow – Caverns Of Death / Death From The Deep
We last heard from the often-poster-boy for old-time radio, The Shadow, back in February for our koff Valentine’s Day episode, where I insisted on playing multiple episodes about death in commemoration of a holiday built for lovers.
…look man I get nihilistic when i’m single for too long okay
Anyways, in celebration of the aforementioned Spooky Month festivities (and for the sake of having something thematic to pair with our Jazz Program selections for the evening), we’ve got two more episodes of Orson Welles and friends doing their best “spoopy mans” impressions for you tonight.
First up, it’s “Caverns Of Death”, originally aired on August 21, 1938. In this one, a very well-informed professor leads a bunch of students into a giant cavern with a bottomless pit called “The Temple of Vulcan”. You can probably take a wild guess or two as to how well that turns out.
After that, it’s “Death From The Deep”, originally aired on April 3, 1938. Pirates have come back (probably from the dead or something), and now they have submarines for some reason. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), our playboy Lamont Cranston is slightly smarter than your average modern-day billionaire, and does not try piloting his own submarine with an X-box controller to go find ’em.
What evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows, and he’ll tell you all about it tonight on datafruits.fm. Come tune in.
The Jazz Program Gets Spoopy With It, Part 1 : Tisjizi Munoz – Death Is A Friend Of Mine / Breaking The Wheel Of Life And Death
a Very Spiritual Man, you understand
His website refers to him as the “guru of jazz guitar” and as a “guitar shaman”, and insists that his work is “not entertainment, inner-attainment.™” (And no, I did not add in that ™ for laughs.) His selected press photos are all of him in vaguely spiritual attire with the most glorious mustache you’ve ever seen this side of the Maggot Stomp roster. And his general air is that of a wayward cult leader, torn right from the celluloid reels of an A24 cult horror flick.
With all that in mind, you’d think Tisjizi Munoz would be more of a jazz goof than one of the most interesting living guitar virtuosos. If so, I pity you, my child, for you have been lead astray.
Munoz’s catalogue spans several decades, and has seen him work with the likes of Rashied Ali, Pharoah Sanders, and many other of the most glowing examples of spiritual jazz. (And that aforementioned goofy website? Yeah, it’s chock full of those cats and more singing his praises.)
His tenure as a band leader has seen him fascinated by the more knife-edged side of the spiritual path, and this evening we’ll be taking a look at two of his meditations upon the trip down the River Styx we all must take in time.
Also, here's the cover art for Breaking The Wheel. Y'know, in case you needed further reason to tune in and see exactly how crazy the Guru gets with his recordings.
First up, it’s Death Is A Friend Of Mine, a behemoth of a two-CD set released on Anami Music in 1996. Featuring Bernie Senensky, Don Pate, and Bob Moses backing him up and a slew of standards from the likes of Davis, Coltrane, and Jobim dotting the track list amongst his original compositions (including a fantastic rendition of Coltrane’s Giant Steps), this hour-and-thirty-minute romp is one of the most heady pieces of jazz recorded in the ’90s in my opinion.
After that, it’s Breaking The Wheel Of Life And Death, released once again on Anami Music in 2000, and featuring the fantastic Rashied Ali on drums, Don Pate on the bass, and legendary jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell (who will get her own show on this program one day) at the keys.
The reaper’s got all of our numbers and we ain’t gettin’ any younger, so come hang out an’ meditate upon the practice of death with us this evening on The Jazz Program.
That’s all for this week! Thank you so much for reading, and I do hope you enjoy tonight’s show.
Speaking of which: 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: on datafruits dot fm..