Jazz BBQ: Songs For A Summer Grill
Rib festivals are in full swing. The smell of charcoal-fired delicacies wafts through backyards, beaches, and parks. As long as the weather's warm, why cook indoors? After you slap some barbecue sauce on your menu items of choice — be they meat-based or sculpted out of tofu — it's time to toss everything on the grill, let the fire do its work, and get down with these grill-friendly jazz tunes.
For more entries in this summer's weekly It's Time to Party: Summer Songs series, click here.
Jazz BBQ: Songs For A Summer Grill
Bobby Watson
- Artist: Bobby Watson
- Album: From the Heart
- Song: Wilkes BBQ
As a kid, saxophone ace Bobby Watson used to hang out at Wilkes BBQ, his grandparents' barbecue place in Marion, Kan. He must have had a great time there, because his love shines through in the appropriately titled "Wilkes BBQ," which doubles as the lead track from Watson's newest album, From the Heart.
Purchase Featured Music
- "Wilkes BBQ"
- Album: From the Heart
- Artist: Bobby Watson
- Label: Palmetto
- Released: 2008
Jack McDuff
- Artist: Jack McDuff
- Album: Prestige Years
- Song: Hot Barbeque
Shouts of "Hot Barbeque!" are interspersed through Jack McDuff's good-time jam of the same name. McDuff's organ and George Benson's guitar are enough to keep listeners dancing over to the grill to grab some of their own. Don't get burned.
Kenny Burrell
- Artist: Kenny Burrell
- Album: Midnight Blue
- Song: Chitlins con Carne
Vegetarians can ignore the title of "Chitlins con Carne" and just enjoy the music. A bit of Ray Barretto's conga leads the way into jazz-guitar legend Kenny Burrell's classic blues tune.
Purchase Featured Music
- "Chitlins con Carne"
- Album: Midnight Blue
- Artist: Kenny Burrell
- Label: Blue Note
- Released: 2007
Jimmy Smith
- Artist: Jimmy Smith
- Album: Very Best
- Song: Back at the Chicken Shack
The well-known organ jam in "Back at the Chicken Shack" is originally found on the album of the same name, but The Very Best -- a compilation of some of Jimmy Smith's best Blue Note Records work -- functions as a good place to find more good grooves.
Purchase Featured Music
- "Back at the Chicken Shack"
- Album: Very Best
- Artist: Jimmy Smith
- Label: Blue Note
- Released: 2005
Dinah Washington
- Artist: Dinah Washington
- Album: Definitive Dinah Washington
- Song: Me and My Gin
Every good barbecue should wind down with a cold beverage and a bluesy song for singing along. When you're heading for the liquor cabinet, though, don't even think about messing with Dinah Washington's gin. Listen to "Me & My Gin" and you'll know why.
More From This Series
It's Time To Party: Summer Songs
The Party's Over: Songs For Summer's End
Here's a mildly reflective playlist to honor the occasion, arranged in order of wistfulness.
It's Time To Party: Summer Songs
Heavy Metal Kegger
Listen to these five inebriating anthems, raise your plastic cups high and let the debauchery begin.
It's Time To Party: Summer Songs
Summer Can't Last Forever: Songs For Farewell
Hear four songs that admit the painful truth about summer: Even the best times won't last.
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