Kyle Kellams: It's the holiday season. Maybe you're like me and there's some people on your list you just don't know what you want to get them for Christmas or the holidays. Rob Wells, host of The Jazz Scoop, heard every Saturday night on 91.3 KUAF, is here to help. Rob, first, welcome back to the show.
Rob Wells: Kyle, Thank you for having me. I appreciate it very much.
Kellams: And now you've got this shopping list here. How did this come about?
Wells: Okay, Kyle, I did not conceive of this episode as a Christmas shopping. I'm not. I'm not kidding. It began, oddly enough, a number of years ago. I was in a Smithsonian record store in Washington, D.C., and I overheard a conversation up at the cash register. It was kind of a quiet day, and the person talking was saying how he had just was at the Smithsonian to record his memoirs. And his name was Jon Hendricks, the famous jazz vocalist.
So I went up to Mr. Hendricks. I said, ‘You're the Jon Hendricks who's playing at the Blue Note in New York tomorrow night, right?’ So he knew that I was, like, kind of following, you know. I said, ‘Well, Mr. Hendricks, we're here in a record shop. I'm trying to find some gifts for my friends. What should I buy?’
He told me to buy Big Maybelle Smith. Have you ever heard of Big Maybelle Smith?
Kellams: I have, I have indeed, yes.
Wells: Maybe we ought to just cue up Big Maybelle Smith here and check her out.
(Vocals from Big Maybelle Smith.)
Kellams: I love that you went up to him and asked for the recommendation.
Wells: Absolutely. And he was very kind. And so this idea just kind of got in my head when I was interviewing, you know, these various jazz musicians over the summer and asked them all the same question at the end, you know, this Jon Hendricks question: If we were in a record shop, what would you have me buy? The recommendations were very wide-ranging, from an obscure Herbie Hancock disco song to a beautiful classical piece to a very challenging avant-garde piece I'll talk about here in a bit.
Kellams: Okay.
Wells: But one of the people I interviewed was this vocalist, this rising star named Ekka Benguela, and she's a Juilliard grad and is beginning to sing with Jazz at Lincoln Center. You know, she's a big deal. She had some wonderful suggestions.
“Jean DuShon is one of the unsung greats and one of my unsung heroes. I would say her debut album Make Way for Jean DuShon. I believe that's a 1964 album. Um, she's just, I mean, swinging on that on that album. She does The Best Is Yet to Come. She does Night Song, she does Early One Morning, which I've just kind of, um, put into my set now. She does, like, a lot of, um, amazing standards, a lot of amazing music, and her voice is absolutely incredible.”
Wells: She likes The Best Is Yet to Come, but we're going to play Hitchhike.
Kellams: Okay, okay.
(Hitchhike by Jean DuShon plays.)
Wells: Make Way for Jean DuShon, 1964. So I was really surprised by the response I got from Bobby Sanabria, great Latin jazz drummer in New York. He's a longtime college professor, and he leads this fantastic band, you know. So here was Bobby Sanabria’s selection.
“Well, if you were new to jazz, I'd tell you right away. Go back to the blues. Start with the blues. And I'm talking about Lead Belly. Yeah. And Blind Man Jefferson. And then I tell you, go see the movie Sinners. Then from there, go, uh, start going to Louis Armstrong. Yeah. And you know who was the first true virtuoso that was recorded on wax?”
Kellams: What I love about this is that it's a familiar artist, but maybe not a tune that's familiar to a lot of folks.
Wells: So, taking Bobby Sanabria's recommendation, here's Louis Armstrong, Back O’ Town Blues.
(Back O’ Town Blues by Louis Armstrong plays.)
Kellams: Louis Armstrong, Back O’ Town Blues, one of the recommendations that Rob Wells has picked up through the year of 2025 from some of the great jazz folks that he's interviewed.
Wells: I had to run. I wish we had more time because I'm dying to play some Lead Belly, too, you know? But Bobby, I mean, he's telling us to go back to the blues. I thought that said a lot about the depth of his knowledge. And, uh, he's just an amazing character.
So not everyone really kind of, like, got this question. And, uh, I was surprised by the response from Christian McBride. So let's check this out.
“Well, I need to know what your vibe is. You know, like, kind of, what are your musical proclivities, you know. You know, are you more of a big band person or are you more of a straight-ahead jazz or fusion?”
“We play it all on The Jazz Scoop. We play free jazz, we play big band, we play small stuff, we play super bass, we play, you know, all that.”
“Well, you know, this really happened to me one time. Uh, I had the great honor of serving as Queen Latifah’s musical director for one summer.”
“Wow.”
“And, uh, she said, you know, Christian, my jazz cred is not bad, but. I want to get it stronger. Can we go to a record store? You turn me on to some stuff. I said, sure. I had a list of ten recordings that I thought were essential, and we wound up leaving with about forty.”
Wells: So we didn't answer the question, but he gave us a great story about Queen Latifah.
Kellams: There you go.
Wells: Adam O'Farrill. I'm very fond of him as both a person. You know, he's looking out for KUAF. That was one of the questions he asked me — how we were doing.
And, uh, so he's a trumpeter and he's on tour with Hiromi, and he came up with some stuff that's way out in left field, you know. Um, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, because he does play some pretty heavy, avant-garde stuff from time to time. And, you know, he's a very versatile musician. He plays all sorts of styles. But this is what Adam O'Farrill had to say.
“Well, the first one is, uh, it's an album. The first one that comes to mind is an album called Async by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Um, I think it came out in 2016, I want to say, or 2017, and it completely, completely, completely altered the way I look at music and the way I look at sound, the way I look at composition. Um, just really huge for me personally.”
Wells: Are you ready for Ryuichi Sakamoto?
Kellams: I don't know.
Wells: Okay, hold on to your hat. Here we go.
(Composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto plays.)
Kellams: Here's what I love, though. When you're asking some of these artists, it's like their opportunity to pick something that we wouldn't think of, right?
Wells: Oh, absolutely.
Kellams: You asked me this question years ago, and I think I came up with Miles Davis Kind of Blue. Okay, that's an easy one.
Wells: Well, it's 100% accurate.
Kellams: Yeah. Yeah, but I like these answers.
Wells: I like this, too. It gave me a lot of insight about his music.
Kellams: But, uh, what album is that from, by the way?
Wells: Uh, that's from Async. Async, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Yeah, but his next pick was something I think was a little bit more that we could agree on. Right?
“Uh, another album, Porgy and Bess, Miles Davis.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah. It's probably — I mean, I love there's so much, there's so much by Miles that it's hard to pick one. But that one I think is just really special. He sounds amazing on it. He really, um. I don't know. I just think it's brilliant how he manages to kind of translate the emotionality of that piece, like Porgy and Bess, into his horn and obviously with Gil Evans, you know, and like his arrangements and like, kind of like nothing is lost. And in fact, I think some is gained in kind of translating it to this big band and, you know, kind of extended.”
“Well, the Gil Evans arrangements are incredible. They're amazing.”
So yeah. Adam O'Farrill nailed it. Here's Miles Davis and the Gil Evans Orchestra, "It Ain't Necessarily So”.
(“It Ain’t Necessarily So” by Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra plays.)
Kellams: Miles Davis and the Gil Evans Orchestra, "It Ain't Necessarily So”, one of the recommendations Adam O'Farrill gave Rob Wells this year. You asked several musicians, what should you buy in a record store?
Wells: Miles would go on to record Kind of Blue after that album. You know, so I'm going to wrap up with Ron Carter, the great bassist. He threw us a real curveball here.
“Coleman Hawkins, Body and Soul. Great. Yeah. That's one that's a hit record. Back in the day, they only played half the melody, which is amazing to me, you know. Uh, Miles Davis Kind of Blue. The record's only 37 minutes long, and it's still the biggest, biggest jazz record today. Uh, my record, Piccolo. The first real successful two-bass band so far that they've come up with yet. And for a non-jazz record, Edward Elgar, Nimrod. It's a great piece for a six-minute piece of a classical orchestra playing a melody, and they're playing all the notes.”
Wells: Yeah. So he drops this classical gem in our laps, you know, and we got to play it. It's, uh, this version is Leonard Bernstein conducting the BBC Orchestra, performing Edward Elgar’s Nimrod (Enigma Variations).
(Edward Elgar’s Nimrod [Enigma Variations], Leonard Bernstein conducting the BBC Orchestra plays.)
But he wasn't finished with me yet. So at the end of the interview, he threw down this challenge.
“Now, when I see you in a record store, I'm asking you, what record would you buy for me?”
“What I buy for you?”
“Yeah, yeah. Don't tell me now. Just take it through.”
“Oh, I'll think it through. I'll send you a note of your choice.”
“I'll see. I'll see you. The width and breadth of your chances here.”
“Yeah, I'll. I'll send you a note with a follow-up.”
“Please, yes.”
“I'll debate this with my wife.”
“No no no no no no no. I answered you without that kind of help, man.”
“Oh, come on, I gotta get the wife involved.”
Kellams: Okay, so what do you think about that?
Wells: Well, it's a decision I'm not going to take lightly. Ron Carter wanted to see what I made of, you know. And I thought about it. Even thought about going to the Church of John Coltrane to pray for divine guidance, you know?
Kellams: Right.
Wells: And I kept true. I did not consult my wife, although she agreed my pick was quite good. Mhm. So, Ron Carter, when I see you in a record store, I'm going to buy you a copy of this 1957 album on Verve Records. Recorded in Los Angeles and New York. I'm going to buy you a copy of Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook.
Kellams: You don't have to buy me a copy because I got this. This is one of the all-time greats. What do you want to play on it?
Wells: Oh, we're going to play the most smoking version of Cottontail you've ever heard in your life.
Kellams: I love it. So, Rob, this autumn, you've given us, you know, highlights from the Newport Jazz Festival, highlights from your conversation with Ron Carter. Now this. I hope that you come back in 2026 with more.
Wells: I'll be coming back. I love being on the show and thanks for having me.
Kellams: The Jazz Scoop, every Saturday night. Rob Wells, thanks for being here. Merry Christmas, happy holidays.
Wells: Happy new year. Merry Christmas to you.
(Cottontail by Ella Fitzgerald plays.)
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
