Patrick Forge's Podcast

I've always tried to keep my personal and professional life separate, but these days it seems the lines are increasingly blurred. It's no secret that much to my amazement and delight I've become a father again which accounts for my recent sabbatical from the radio. So, whilst I was reconciled to the idea of parenthood returning to the agenda despite my (ahem) advancing years, I never anticipated..... twins!!!! A double blessing for sure, but that's easily said by those who've never actually experienced the reality of dealing with two wee ones simultaneously! It's relentless, they sleep deprivation is a form of torture but mainly I'm just delirious, doolally and drunk on the delights of nappy changing, cooing, comforting and generally easing the passage of my identical twin boys into this world. Funnily enough when we eventually arrived home with the boys there was a record shaped package amongst the piles of bills and junk mail which turned out to be my copy of Malcolm Cecil's "Radiance". I've long been

Cosmic Jam Dingwalls 1.Eddie Jefferson - Jeanine 2.Benny Bailey - Little B 3.Vince Andrews - The One Who Loves You 4.Alive - Afreaka 5.Rimona Francis - Colours Of Excitement 6.Pharoah Sanders - Africa pt.2 7. Boy Kantindig - What I Feel 8. Doug Richardson - Salsa Mama 9. Norman Connors - Just Imagine 10.Wayne Henderson - Lady Bug 11.Victor Burghardt & Mike Barone Orchestra - Hardcore Samba 12.Ramsey Lewis - Slick 13.Irene Kral - Wheelers And Dealers 14.The Janet Lawson Quintet - Sunday Afternoon 15.Rafaella Renzulli Ensemble - Asking Eyes 16.Dee Dee Bridgewater - Afro Blue 17.Doug Carn - Higher Ground 18.Miami University Jazz Vocal Ensemble - Freedom Jazz Dance 19.Chaka Khan - And The Melody Lingers On ( A Night In Tunisia) 20.Raw Soul Express - The Way We Live 21.Earth Wind & Fire - In The Stone 22.NYCC - Make Every Day Count

Weather report; Spring is nestling happily between cool and warm, the way it should be, maybe a bit too dry for the farmers, April showers few and far between, happy days for cycling DJs. Unsurprisingly I start with a tune that references London in the first line, thank you Eska! Your Joni-esque warble at the opening of "To Be Remembered" eventually gives way to something far more full throated and (conventionally) soulful. However it's not just vocal stylings you've learnt from Ms. Mitchell there's something of the same conversational narrative lyric style in this song with it's prosaic mentions of text messages and planting trees. However that's more of a compliment than a gripe and the long awaited album doesn't disappoint, and there's so much that's just Eska. A good way to begin an opening sequence of tunes that have something of a questioning or searching quality in common. Joyce Elaine Yuille's "Chaos" and Liz Elensky's "Distractions" are both "jazz" songs that deal with the more uncomfortable side

This show ended up being broadcast twice as I had to reluctantly abandon last Sunday's show as something crucial and even closer to my heart needed my attention, so it went out again. I'd recorded this one at Forge Towers before I took a few days out on family business, so I thought It might sound pretty stale by the time I got round to listening back. But as I've edited now I've really enjoyed the experience. Nothing exceptional here, just regular Cosmic Jam business, spiced with a couple of all time favourites along the way. A first half hour dominated by the new grooves of Bill Laurance and Hiatus Coyote. Then we revive some Ed Motta, stirring great memories of when he spent some time in London hanging out. There's a Tania Maria tune which is chock full of all her trademark samba fuelled funkiness, some Latin funk from Roland Vasquez and souuuul from Leroy Hutson, and (Xian) flavour from James Vincent, (awesome outro!) and that tune about L.A. that somehow just occupies it's own territory. Second hour

Tried though I might to have been the harbinger of Spring last Sunday, fairly inevitably seven days later I'm braced by wintry raw as I'm scudding down the Old Kent Rd. As I write the seasonal change seems to be trying to assert itself again,as nature endeavours to claw its way free from that cold embrace. Even so, around this time of year we tend to start anticipating Summer, contemplating the seemingly impossible shedding of layers, days on the beach, and nights filled with sweet festival sounds..... If you're thinking of heading anywhere this Summer look no further than the tremendous Southern Soul Festival in lovely Montenegro, the line-up is hard to resist.... Whilst the new website is under construction you can check the Facebook, still a few early bird tickets left, grab 'em!! https://www.facebook.com/events/299599816915683/ Whilst on such topics before we get in to the broadcast stuff, a couple more nights to check... A Friday night which bodes of great things... less than a 100 tickets left , so p

Pinch punch first of the month, tis the season of the mad March hare. Days getting brighter, staying lighter, then in a few weeks the clocks go back, and hey, we're living in a different world. All of which may seem like a strange rumination if you're living in Kuala Lumpa or even L.A., but life in a temperate zone like London pivots around such seasonal adjustments. It had been a raw day, windy, with the last throes of Winter wreaking havoc with anyone dressing according to how the day looked from behind glass. After nightfall everything usually calms down, though there had been an aberrational thunderstorm after the sun had gone down, a brief freak-out of nature. However by the time I was riding South the roads had by and large dried, with just the odd puddle to swerve reminding me of the earlier deluge. So onwards and upwards for The Cosmic Jam. You know what? I'm so grateful to everyone that commented here or on my Facebook page after my mild crisis of confidence last week, all those positive affirmation

It's probably just as well that when I received the audio file of this week's show the bit at the beginning about having a cup of medicinal mushrooms to drink (chaga), was missing. Of course this was a source of much hilarity to Ross Allen, and nuff jokes abounded in the studio about Cosmic Jam/mushrooms/magic/hippies, which begs the question, am I? A hippy, that is... well I do drink medicinal mushrooms, am more or less vegan, love a bit of yoga/chi gong/meditation, however I don't wear tie-dye, smoke weed, or say "cosmic" much except in the context of the show. Hippies, if such a concept or subcultural group makes any sense in this day and age doubtless do come in many guises, and who's to say what kind of music they should like? In my experience a lot of those who ostensibly advocate the modern version of the "hippy" credo have pretty awful taste in music...psi-trance? Dodgy ambience with clichéd beats? It may be "cosmic", but it also lacks the soul and expansiveness that I search for in life and music. S

Arriving with barely a minute to spare from The Bussey Building where I'd witnessed a stunning show from Brian Jackson & The New Midnight Band, this was a Cosmic Jam that once again came together in a hurry but I don't think suffers in the slightest as a result. Sometime the most spontaneous.... Native Dancer have a great name ( I think) even if it's cribbed from Wayne Shorter (the album he made with Milton Nascimento no less), and the music is also worthy of that audacious theft. Though a name is all they've borrowed, all the other elements are sufficiently scrambled as to remain traceless, though I'd venture there's everything from broken beat to Joni Mitchell, Weather Report to pop woven in to their sound. Most of the rest of the show isn't quite so contemporary, but next week I'll definitely be playing some/a lot /all of the new Rebirth album which had me seriously mesmerised this afternoon...... Big album alert. However the Intuit collaboration with Andy Bey definitely deserves a reboot as it's someth

Back in the groove for a new year, a mild enough Sunday night to make for an enjoyable ride South, and the unexpected pleasure of having X-Press 2 legends Rocky & Diesel live in the Mi-Soul studio standing for the wandering Ross Allen, (as hence he shall be known!). I was excited to be kicking off with a "new discovery" that my girlfriend, the wondrous DJ Launette, had been more on the case tracking down than myself, though if truth be told we'd both heard Andrew Ashong play it at one of the Penge "Jazz In A House" parties. A vocal version of "Teen Town", which is an immediate winner, especially if like me you're a fan of both Weather Report and jazz harmony vocal groups. Anyway it was a nice way to kick off a new year, which hopefully will have plenty of thrills in store, musically and otherwise. However for the opening salvo of 2015 I loaded up some retro bullets, some not so old and others relatively ancient. Going off at a slight tangent from the norm, this edition of the "jam" has less soulful vocals,

So it was a full moon on Saturday night, but to the naked eye that pale orb didn't look any less replete come Sunday, which prompted me into a fully vocal, soulfully stretched salvo of musical niceness for The Cosmic Jam. Though I never tire of jazz, sometimes it's good to have a few less notes.....lol. Focussing on songs, singers, grooves and less abstract emotions the full moon soul session strays from the beaten path into territory of blue eyed brilliance and boogified danceability with a distinctly jazzy undertow, I love all kinds of Soul music, but I'm not one to dwell on the heartbreak and angst laden side of the tracks, this is (mainly) happy music to lift us beyond the cloying cold of these humdrum winter days. (Obviously not applicable if you're reading this on the other side of the world or in the tropical zones). Keeping it just about 100% vinyl I strapped a selection of vintage goodies on my back and braved the bitter streets of London to deliver this edition of The Cosmic Jam. Maybe these wintr

Ross Allen is something of a wanderer these days, which means that I get the call for extra duties on Mi-Soul on a Friday morning. If I wasn't such a "radio tart" this might be a bridge too far , but I not only love doing radio but I also love cycling to South London, though it must be said that the ride south early on a Friday morning is as different as my selections tend to be when I'm standing in for Ross. Actually it could be even more different as I've contemplated digging out some hip-hop for one of Ross' shows, but it doesn't really get much further than pulling out a couple of tunes and deciding that I'm not really feeling it at the moment. Maybe because it would end up being like something of a lament for hip-hop's classic era, lost values etc etc. Of course there's a dominant strain of vintage music on all my shows, but I tend to think of whatever I'm currently getting into as being just that....current! So it's a relatively jazz-free zone, at least by my standards, there's the odd solo, harmoni

Horace Silver, an earthy man who made spiritual music and a spiritual man who made earthy music. It's impossible to conceive of the Blue Note label without the contribution of Silver, he's pivotal, essential, inspirational; the lynchpin of the legacy, the godfather of the dynasty. From his pioneering hard-bop beginnings, through his definitive sixties soul-jazz masterpieces to his much misunderstood seventies output. Horace Silver is the tree, the jazz tree, the firm roots, the splaying branches, the foliage that changes with the seasons, he is the gateway, the conduit, the welcoming voice, the musician who exemplified all that was great about jazz, seeking, exploring and soulful, yet never alienating or obtuse, always humble and giving. I swerved a couple of obvious choices in this selection, particularly the tune for which Horace is best known, the mighty, magnificent "Song For My Father". Not because I don't care for it, or that I've tired of it, on the contrary; in fact when my own father passed away I

Summer's hotting up, Wimbledon, The World Cup, festivals galore, it's the season for love, fun and music. So, despite my reservations concerning the political and social ramifications of The World Cup in Brazil, and despite the (inevitable) demise of Hodgson's England it would seem somewhat churlish if not downright rude to forsake the opportunity of celebrating a branch of the world's music tree that I've grown particularly fond of over the years. Though I have to say I'm more of an enthusiast than an export and this is a personal selection that barely scratches the surface of Brazil's rich and diverse music culture. Furthermore my focus is by and large on vintage music, the inspirational sound of Brazil in the classic era of MPB that continues to inspire a new generation of music makers who are now in the vanguard of the renaissance of those great traditions. The first section is samba in slightly purer form without getting down into the deep folkloric nitty gritty, (which I could have done!!), there are

A damp, dank and overcast Sunday in London, feeling that atmospheric pressure, a bit of a low, trying too keep my head above the clouds all the same. I was wondering what kind of Cosmic Jam I'd be assembling for later on when I get a phone call from If Music's Jean Claude Thompson, informing me that the legendary Wayne Henderson had passed away…. now I didn't want to get ensnared in a debacle like the recent misreporting of Horace Silver's demise. However it soon transpired that the news had come via Bobbi Humphrey's Facebook page and a kindred Texas musician was unlikely to be dealing with rumours, so it was true, another phenomenal talent had passed away. It strikes me as I write this once again that every time such a figure departs this mortal coil, we are all the more impoverished, gradually we're losing a generation of musicians who came through the travails of a very different America, steeped in the traditions of the Deep South, in the music of the church, and in the pioneering spirit of jazz in the

So we are definitely feeling the coming of Spring, the greening of the Earth now easily visible, the blossom on the trees, the energy builds, the coming of new life, the breath of the universe. Well this is the Cosmic Jam, what do you expect, a treatise on the benefits big pharma? No we're dedicated to a more holistic approach in case you hadn't realised. I for one am certainly feeling the benefits of a change of diet recently and adopting an even healthier lifestyle, not that I was wallowing in a trough of fast food and bad habits before!! Does this have an effect on The Cosmic Jam… well I hope a beneficial one if any. Positivity abounds at Forge towers of late, and we're enjoying the music more than ever, I suppose if anything I've had a bit of soulful renaissance, in that it's the SOUL that's tipping my balance, but JAZZ is still there in abundance, perhaps in the not too dim and distant I'll do a dedicated Jazz Jam just to renew my faith. Not that Jazz doesn't gets look in in this week's selection far fr

By popular demand. No more nostalgia!! All killer no filler!! Big love P. Eddie Kendricks - My People Hold On Moodymann - The Thief That Stole My Sad Days - Ya Blessin’ Me Alison David - Dreams Come True Louie Vega ft. Raul Midon - Cerca De Mi Freil - West Of Motebe (restless soul sonic mix) Sylvia St. James - Motherland New Sector Movements - Feel The Spirit (Afro History pt.2) Reel People - Second Guess Donald Byrd - Wind Parade Steely Dan - Peg Billie Holiday - You’ve Changed Herbie Hancock - Tell Me A Bedtime Story Raphael Saadiq - Skyy, Can You Feel Me? Kamaal The Abstract - Even If It Is So Marvin Gaye - Where Are We Going? Mos Def - Umi Says Maze - Twilight Larry Heard - Missing You J- Live - Them That’s Not Roni Size - Daylight Kaidi Tatham ft Carleen Anderson - Rideaway Getaway Stevie Wonder - Too High The Jackson 5 - It’s Great To Be Here

Thanks to the vagaries of jet-lag, I'm penning this little missive from Okinawa where it's hotter than July and I'm spending time with my daughter which fills me with glee. It's been a very hectic few days/weeks and I'm glad to be having a break from music for at least a wee while, but of course I'm coming back to London via Tokyo and I'm relishing the opportunity to be playing at my favourite club once again. I'm a fan of Shibuya's The Room not just because the proprietor, Shuya Okino, is a great friend, but because it really is the best little club in the world, with little being the operative word! So before bailing out for a break I managed to gather my resources for a tribute to George Duke, who sadly passed away on August 5th. I contemplated for a while whether this selection should take up the whole two hours, or just be a section of the show. However on reflection George Duke has touched me so deeply with some of his music over the years that really it was a no-brainer; yet a tribute to George cou

In the wake of the great jazz trumpeter's death I'd been a little dismayed that Donald Byrd was being celebrated by my Facebook friends mainly for the his 70's recordings with the Mizell Brothers. Of course these are all amazing tunes, and I love them as intensely as anyone. Way back in the 90s I was asked by Blue Note Japan to choose an album from the catalogue for re-release in Japan, and I chose Places ANd Spaces, at a time when the Mizell Brothers recordings had not yet gained the formidable reputation they deservedly have today. However Donald Byrd had already enjoyed a prodigous career that went back to 1955, almost twenty years before he stepped in the studio with the fusion pioneers. So it was my intent to play a greater breadth of Byrd's works on the show whilst not ignoring his later crossover material. I'd even lined up "Lovin' You" and "Love Has Come Around" for the closing sequence. However I arrived at the studio and launched into my selection following the usual bit of banter with messrs Allen