DJ Hairy Larry Presents Lisa Ahia Singing My Romance
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2023-09-03

Thanks Marty, today we're going to hear a female vocalist accompanied by a female pianist recorded in 2011 at Bebopalooza!

This Saturday I have a great show featuring top jazz pianists and female vocalists. So I got to thinking about what I have in the archives of Something Blue that will complement the show. And I came up with Lisa Ahia. I love the way she sings the song "My Romance" and I do have several recordings of it. But when I heard the version recorded right here at ASU, on October 15, 2011, I knew I had found what I was looking for. With Joy Sanford accompanying Lisa on piano the resulting recording is very sparse and perfectly rendered. A great song to go with a great show.

This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Taper’s Choice and Circles Around The Sun. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.

Taper’s Choice Live at Spoke Bicycle Cafe on 2023-08-05
archive.org/details/tc2023-08-05.sbd.akg414.logrippo.flac24

Circles Around The Sun Live at Bowery Ballroom on 2021-08-27
archive.org/details/cats2021-08-27.schoeps_mk4v_flac24

From The Archives Of Something Blue August 27 2023

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a rockabilly star from Sweden playing with The Great Larry Donn.

I had recorded Larry Donn before at Blues Fest so I knew how good he played. My friends Terry Carter and Philip Jackson were playing with him at the VFW and Terry told me that Wildfire Willie from Sweden was going to be at the show. I got permission from Larry Donn to record for Something Blue and the rest, as they say, is history.

It was a long time ago on August 18, 1993, at the VFW in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I was already recording and Wildfire Willie and I were talking in the green room while we listened to the show. Wildfire Willie said, “I can’t believe that I’m in Jonesboro, Arkansas, listening to the great Larry Donn.”

From The Archives Of Something Blue 2023-08-20

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear one of my compositions recorded at HairyLarryLand.

NJHB is the house band for the New Jazz In Jonesboro concert series. We were starting up the concerts again in the fall of 2018 and I had written a number of songs titled after concepts of contemporary physics.

So on July 28, 2018, we got together to read and record three of these pieces, “Cold Fusion”, “Quantum Blues”, and “Entanglement”. These songs make up the NJHB, “Quantum Blues” album.

We had Tyler Remagen on tenor sax; Spencer Rawlins, bass, and I’m on piano. We all live in the Jonesboro area and we were all students in the ASU jazz program at the time.

I was looking for album artwork and the circular images of particle accelerators attracted my attention. Kind of a physics mandala.

I found art quilts by Kate Findlay in her Hadron Collider Series and I loved the one called Atomic. I contacted Kate and got her permission to use her photograph of the quilt on the album. I will include a link to the quilt and the album cover art on the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.

Ok now, here’s NJHB playing my song, “Cold Fusion”, recorded at HairyLarryLand on July 28, 2018.

DJ Hairy Larry Presents NJHB Playing Cold Fusion
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2023-08-20

Thanks Marty, today we're going to hear one of my compositions recorded at HairyLarryLand.

NJHB is the house band for the New Jazz In Jonesboro concert series. We were starting up the concerts again in the fall of 2018 and I had written a number of songs titled after concepts of contemporary physics.

So on July 28, 2018, we got together to read and record three of these pieces, "Cold Fusion", "Quantum Blues", and "Entanglement". These songs make up the NJHB, "Quantum Blues" album.

We had Tyler Remagen on tenor sax; Spencer Rawlins, bass, and I'm on piano. We all live in the Jonesboro area and we were all students in the ASU jazz program at the time.

From The Archives Of Something Blue 2023-08-07

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear The Bluescaster playing acoustic blues at KASU Jazz Thursday.

Paul Nunis is The Bluescaster. I met him at Blues Fest. He played so well I immediately started playing his music on Something Blue. He was also active at The Arts@311 and a regular performer in the Jazz Thursday Jam Sessions.

Later Paul was a founding member of Bebop Beatniks, playing bass in my band for years until his solo career didn’t leave him with enough time to play as a sideman. He wrote “At The Speed Of Love”, the hit on the Bebop Beatniks album, “Leaves”.

He wrote songs all the time and we often shared new material at Angie Owens’ Songwriters Workshop.

Now, about that name Bluescaster. Electric blues is often played on a Telecaster or a Stratocaster so that’s one way of looking at it.

Paul and I both read a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy so that opens up another way to look at it.

He’s like a spellcaster, a bard who casts spells with his blues. That works for me because he’s a guitar wizard.

DJ Hairy Larry Presents Jay Shepherd Playing Blue Bossa
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2023-07-30

Thanks Marty, today we're going to hear a bossa, featuring two of my friends, recorded at the Delta Jazz Workshop.

Besides being a jazz clinic the Delta Jazz Workshop is a mini festival with five jazz concerts from Monday through Friday. You can't learn jazz without listening to jazz and since there's no music like live music you can't play jazz without listening to live jazz. So the nightly concerts are actually an integral part of the learning experience.

The concerts were also a great opportunity for me to record Northeast Arkansas jazz musicians for Something Blue. I mean, I was going to the concerts anyway so I might as well roll tape, I mean fill flash cards, the modern day equivalent of tape.

On July 12, 2016, it was Jay Shepherd's turn to bring his band and play. I've known Jay for years and he's played guitar with Bebop Beatniks and with NJHB. He plays stand out performances on the new Bebop Beatniks album, "Church" and he is also featured playing with NJHB on "Bop Soup" recorded at my Senior Recital.

Also featured on "Blue Bossa" is my friend Tyler Worsham on piano. He helped me many times at my recitals. He played at Trilogy For The Arts and he is featured on the NJHB album, "Blue Goose", recorded at New Jazz In Jonesboro in the Jonesboro Public Library.

Also playing on "Blue Bossa" are Terrell Montgomery, bass and Keyven Dunn, drums. All of these musicians were students at ASU.

DJ Hairy Larry Presents Jay Shepherd Playing Blue Bossa
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2023-07-30

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a bossa, featuring two of my friends, recorded at the Delta Jazz Workshop.

Besides being a jazz clinic the Delta Jazz Workshop is a mini festival with five jazz concerts from Monday through Friday. You can’t learn jazz without listening to jazz and since there’s no music like live music you can’t play jazz without listening to live jazz. So the nightly concerts are actually an integral part of the learning experience.

The concerts were also a great opportunity for me to record Northeast Arkansas jazz musicians for Something Blue. I mean, I was going to the concerts anyway so I might as well roll tape, I mean fill flash cards, the modern day equivalent of tape.

From The Archives Of Something Blue July 23, 2023

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear an Albert King song played at KASU Blue Monday.

When I first met Mike Dollins we were both promoting the blues on myspace. That’s right. We’re old.

Pretty soon he was contributing to Delta Boogie, keeping me up to date with the Little Rock Blues scene. Next thing you know he was coming up to Jonesboro to play at the Craighead Forest Bandshell and bringing his friends. Who soon became my friends.

I booked Hairy Larry and George in Little Rock and Mike Dollins was in the audience, enjoying the show. It was one of our best shows, too, with Suzanne and Fred joining us during the second set. I’ll include a link on the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.

Mike Dollins plays blues and jazz guitar. Playing with Mike at Blue Monday were Guido Ciardetti, bass and Brad Messer, drums. Their band name was The Cruize Brothers.

From The Archives Of Something Blue July 16 2023

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a Hank Mobley song recorded by ASU students at the Craighead Forest Bandshell.

The Common Time Quartet was Josh Carter, sax; Alex Ditto, guitar; Spencer Rawlins, bass; and Chris Isom, drums. They are all still playing music around here except Josh Carter who moved to Japan.

All four are excellent musicians and the Common Time Quartet performed every week at different Jonesboro venues. So I was very pleased to get to record their well rehearsed band at the Craighead Forest Bandshell.