KCOU JAZZ
April 20, 2025
As severe wind formed in Mid-Missouri, a tornado of jazz radio flooded the 88.1 FM radio waves. Intertwined with interruptions from the National Weather Service, this particular mix was prepared for the weather above, with titles including “Windy,” and “Cast Your Fate Into the Wind.”
Songs with “Wind” in their titles.
Songs Included
Kiyoshi Sugimoto | Babylonia Wind (1972)
The title track of Kiyoshi Sugimoto’s Babylonia Wind is an experiment in jazz fusion that whirls like a tornado.
Its whipping introduction stirs both awe and unease, and cascading percussive patterns with plunging bass form the storm’s churning walls. Between drums and bass, Sugimoto’s guitar, Hideo Ichikawa’s electric piano, and the horns cry out in restless motion, colliding against each other in their fight to stay upright past the gale.
As its namesake suggests, “Babylonia Wind” feels elemental: tense, spiraling, and alive with electricity.
Penny Goodwin | Slow Hot Wind | Portrait of a Gemini (2016)
Emerging from the rubble of a storm, Slow Hot Wind takes a moment to find its footing. A minute-long introduction brushes flute, rattling percussion, and deep bass across the canvas before Penny Goodwin’s voice steps forward to steady the course.
A standout cut from Goodwin’s 2016 album Portrait of a Gemini, Slow Hot Wind drifts through layers of echoing vocals, impassioned piano, and wild winds, all resting atop a dense foundation of synth and crawling percussion.
The result is a slow, simmering exploration into the deepest corners of groove: humid, hypnotic, and alive with atmosphere.
Donald Byrd | Wind Parade | Places and Spaces (1975)
In a celebration of fusion jazz, Donald Byrd’s orchestral capabilities are on full display in Wind Parade.
Byrd carefully balances the softness of wind chimes, harp, strings, angelic vocals, with gritty piano, chunking electric bass, hissing percussion, and bright trumpet to create a lifting atmosphere high above the clouds.
A song where all musical voices work in harmony, Wind Parade’s effective use of bridges and varying rhythmic gauges bring together a trance-like piece.
Wes Montgomery | Windy | A Day In The Life (1967)
Against a sweeping string ensemble and moving congas, Wes Montgomery lays down a tight melodic exploration on Windy.
Vince Guaraldi | Cast Your Fate Into The Wind | Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962)
A gentle and hopeful melody with twangy, bluesy interruptions, Cast Your Fate Into The Wind was influential in defining Vince Guaraldi’s style for his later work in the Peanuts series.
Masayoshi Takanaka | A Fair Wind | (1977)
The second Japanese guitarist on this playlist, Masayoshi Tanaka’s take on “A Fair Wind” shreds a wave of surf jazz. Bright electric tones, crisp drumming, and steady bass carry the tune forward with a coastal edge. “A Fair Wind” is sunlit, tightly arranged, and propelled by Takanaka’s melodic command.