Jazz on the Beach 240 & Blues Beach 101: Abdullah Ibrahim, Goldings Bernstein Stewart, Itamar Borochov, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Horace Silver, Blues Beach Goes Country
'The temperature's rising, It isn't surprising...'
We’re having a heat wave here on the Kent coast, thankfully the sea breezes are taking the edge off, and I hope you’re keeping cool wherever you are. This week’s playlist includes some terrific new releases, and leading the way is a track from one of the top contemporary organ trios, featuring Hammond B-3 organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein & drummer Bill Stewart. Dissipation Blues is from their latest album Rhombus (Smoke Sessions, 7th August), and was written by Peter Bernstein with a nod to the classic Hesitation Blues. They’ve been doing this together for over 30 years, and just keep swinging. Bernstein’s guitar tone and phrasing continue to be a thing of wonder.
The sleeve notes for Rhombus were written by Leo Sidran, who was on great form behind the drums with his father Ben Sidran at Ronnie Scott’s last week. Here’s Sidran senior’s terrific jazz club existentialist rap on The Groove is Gonna Get You, from Been There, Done That (Live Around the World) (1975-2015) (Unlimited Media, 2018), that’s too good not to play once again. If you don’t know this, it’s great advice to live by. Or you can just dance to it.
An unexpected new release pleasure is Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz’s album Quiet Nights (Hammer Recordings, 29th May), featuring saxophonist Greg Osby and guitarist Bill Frisell. It’s really fresh, almost all first takes and went down in just a few hours. Here’s the playful Jammin’ in the Children’s Corner, a tune originally written for Dave Liebman, with Osby playing soprano saxophone.
The great South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim died last week, may his memory be a blessing. Gearbox Records released his last three albums, and I first met him in London eight years ago at the beginning of that relationship. I wanted to play a track from The Balance (Gearbox Records, 2019), recorded at RAK Studios in London by Tony Platt, so here’s Ibrahim leading his group Ekaya on the reworking of his classic Nisa. There were all sorts of problems on the day, ranging from musicians’ jet lag to missing instruments, but between Tony and producer Darrel Sheinman they managed to capture the magic on an extraordinary album.
It felt appropriate to follow Nisa with a landmark ‘60s South African jazz recording, so here’s Dedication (To Daddy Trane & Brother Shorter) from the Mankunku Quartet’s Yakhal’ Inkomo (World Record Co, 1968), with tenor saxophonist Winston ‘Mankunku’ Ngozi, pianist Lionel Pillay, double bassist Agrippa Magwaza and drummer Early Mabuza. I resisted playing the famous opening title track, but if you don’t know it, listen here.
There’s new music from the brilliant Israeli trumpeter Itamar Borochov with Lubavitch, an enticing first taste of his just announced album Imanu (coming in September). I loved his last album Arba which came out three years ago and am looking forward to hearing more from this one. Borochov has a very distinctive sound, incorporating maqams, the microtonal melodic modes of the Middle East.
Two absolute ‘70s gems… following on from last week’s version of Mr Clean by Freddie Hubbard, here’s the deeply funky original from pianist Weldon Irvine’s Liberated Brother (Nodlew Music, 1972). Next comes the altogether more cosmic world of pianist Lonnie Liston Smith with the beautiful title track from Exotic Mysteries (Columbia, 1978).
Gone way too soon at only 49 years old is trombonist and tuba player Ronell Johnson of the mighty Preservation Hall Jazz Band, with whom he played for 30 years. He was a huge part of the band’s sound and spirit, equally at home at The Pres in New Orleans and spreading their joyful spirit around the world.
Here’s the ferocious Santiago from the album So It Is (Sub Pop, 2017), featuring the band still buzzing from their trip to Cuba in 2015. If your (wrong) impression of Preservation Hall is a musty New Orleans museum of old music, you need to hear this.
We’re hard boppin’ this week to pianist Horace Silver’s Shoutin’ Out from Silver’s Blue (Epic, 1957), with trumpeter Joe Gordon, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, double bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Kenny Clarke. If you remember the original 1971 signature tune of Anglia TV’s Sale of the Century presented by Nicholas Parsons, composer Peter Fenn was surely influenced by this tune and the horns in particular. (The later signature tune with those awful syndrums pinging didn’t cut it).
And finally, it was great to see so many of you last night at Middle Street Coffee in Deal for our second Jazz Kissa. Great records, delicious cocktails, good company and plenty of conversation made for another memorable evening. It’s wonderful to see Jazz on the Beach extending beyond the radio and bringing people together to discover, listen to and talk about music. We’ll be back at the end of August, and I hope to see many of you there.
To listen to this week’s Jazz on the Beach, click below:
Or listen back on Mixcloud:
Jazz on the Beach #240 24th June 2026
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Santiago
Sam Barsh - Green Chimneys
Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein & Bill Stewart - Dissipation Blues
Florian Arbenz - Jammin’ in the Children’s Corner
Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya - Nisa
Mankunku Quartet - Dedication (To Daddy Trane & Brother Shorter)
Lonnie Liston Smith - Exotic Mysteries
Itamar Borochov - Lubavitch
Jun Iida - The Final View
Your Brother’s Keeper & Gary Bartz - Mantra
Horace Silver - Shoutin’ Out
Emmet Cohen - Budo
Ben Sidran - The Groove Is Gonna Get You
Big John Patton - The Yodel
Jimi Prasad Orchestra - Mudra of Infinity
Weldon Irvine - Mr. Clean
Robert Lowe - Back to Funk
Randy Ingram - My Foolish Heart
Blues Beach
The blues is taking a short break this week, so let’s ‘keep it country’ with the best of the two Blues Beach Goes Country shows from a couple of years ago. You’ll hear western swing from Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and Spade Cooley, Bakersfield classics from Merle Haggard and Don Rich, juke joint swing from Wayne ‘The Train’ Hancock, truck driving music from Paul Davis, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen and Jerry Reed, Texas outlaws Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, classics from Cowboy Copas and Hank Williams, train songs from Johnny Cash and the Everly Brothers, and plenty more besides.
To listen to this week’s Best of Blues Beach Goes Country, click below:
Or listen back on Mixcloud:
Blues Beach #101 25th June 2026
The Best of Blues Beach Goes Country!
Merle Haggard & the Strangers - Mama Tried
Waylon Jennings - Lonesome, Ornery and Mean
Willie Nelson - If You’ve Got the Money I’ve Got the Time
Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs
Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen - Semi Truck
Paul Davis - Six Days on the Road
Cowboy Copas - Feelin’ Low
Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special
The Everly Brothers - I’m On My Way Home Again
David Allan Coe - Take This Job and Shove It
Junior Brown - My Wife Thinks You’re Dead
Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris - Ooh Las Vegas
Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys - New San Antonio Rose
Spade Cooley - Oklahoma Stomp
Wayne Hancock - Slingin’ Rhythm
Rose Maddox - Heart of a Country Song
Hank Williams & his Drifting Cowboys - Honky Tonkin’
Jerry Reed - East Bound and Down
Steve Young - The White Trash Song
Johnny Bond - Hot Rod Lincoln
Don Rich & the Buckaroos - Buckaroo
Listen live to Deal Radio: click here
Jazz on the Beach broadcasts every Wednesday evening from 10:00 PM to midnight (UK time), repeating on Monday morning from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM (UK time).
Blues Beach broadcasts every other Thursday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (UK time).