On his follow up to 2018’s The Optimist, Ryan Porter and his friends the West Coast Get Down are once again swinging for the fences and bring jazz into the spotlight for a whole new generation. Rehearsed and recorded in five-hour bursts in multiple locations, Force For Good is a fearless step forward into the future of American jazz that celebrates America’s greatest art form even as it challenges what came before it. Join us as we discuss Porter’s seemingly limitless talent, the normalization of jazz in the popular culture, and much more. 

The otherworldly jazz titan Kamasi Washington and his friends are back with a fittingly epic follow up his 2015 jazz odyssey The Epic, and the results are out of this world.

Eight years ago, before To Pimp A Butterfly, before The Epic, the West Coast Get Down was a rising force in the Los Angelas jazz scene...who recorded their epic work in Kamasi Washington's garage.

On The Optimist, WCGD trombonist Ryan Porter is unleashing some of the group's early work as scrappy young jazz savants and in the process revealing the heart of what drives its member's dominance of the music world to this day. Bandcamp's Marcus J. Moore joins Kevin and Marcus K. Dowling (Iconoclasm) as they dig in on this sumptuous slice of music history.

It's likely that we'll look back at 2017 as the year almost everything fell apart, downerism ruled the land, and we came very close to being broken as a people. 

But we didn't break. We made it. And on this final installment of ChunkyGlasses: The Podcast for 2017, we're discussing the music that lifted us up, dropped us down, and sometimes even showed us the way, but never, ever let us down.

Thanks for tuning in all year. We'll see you soon. Until then be good to your ears, but be better to your people...

Bolstered by the success of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly and his own, uh, epic 2015 release, The Epic, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, along with the rest of The West Coast Get Down have spent the past few years popularizing jazz to a whole new generation of fans. On Harmony Of Difference, Washington is digging deep and exploring smaller themes like the meaning of life and our place in the universe. Kevin and Marcus K. Dowling (Decades, Capitol Wrestling) sit down to discuss Kamasi's latest masterpiece and consider a few universal truths of their own.

PLUS! Aaron "Ab" Abernathy's new album Dialogue, is a potent statement about the state of America today as seen through Abernathy's unique perspective, and is one of the best, and most important albums of 2017. We've got a listen to one of its highlights, "Generation," which is sure to be a rallying cry for the struggles in this "new" America for years to come.

Besides being one of the founding members of the mighty West Coast Get Down, bassist Miles Mosley's resume (Kamasi Washington, Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill...) reads like a who's who of the biggest names in music. Earlier this year we reviewed his stellar debut solo LP, Uprising, and recently we had the chance to sit down with the master innovator before his ground shaking show at Songbyrd Music House right here in Washington, DC. Join us and get delivered some TRUTH about music, life, and existential excellence from one of modern music's most electric voices.

PLUS!  Cameron Graves (also a founding member of the West Coast Get Down) is one of the most innovative keyboard players on the modern jazz (or any) scene. On his new album Planetary Prince, he's pulling out all the stops and taking the listener on an intensely cosmic jazz odyssey...that also happens to be one of the best albums of 2017. Tune in, and drop out with the lead off track from this funk and soul infused triumph, "Satania In Our Solar System."

Eric Church is an OUTLAW and he's proving it by taking the fight to ticket scalpers and reclaiming 25K tickets for his upcoming world tour. OUTLAW. 

Bassist Miles Mosly has collaborated with some of the biggest and most creative names in music. Miles Mosely is a badass. Now Miles Mosely has made a badass album. We discuss. 

MANWOLVES may not be the reboot of the Wolfen franchise you've been waiting DECADES for, but they are a pretty groovy jazz/hip-hop/rock/funk outfit from Chicago who's starting to make a name for themselves. Dig it with their latest track "Sing Along."

2015 was a huge year for music, so obviously we had to make a huge podcast to wrap the whole thing up. In part two of our year-end blowout, Quinn, Paul, and Kevin share the music that gave them the most feels in 2015, then offer up some thoughts on the year to come, pull back the curtain a little on how to make a podcast, and do a dramatic reading of The Force Awakens for your pleasure.*

We’ve reached the end, but it’s only the beginning, so sit back, relax, and get your ears ready because here comes our final podcast of the year. It’s Episode 147 of ChunkGlasses: THE PODCAST – BEST OF 2015 EDITION - PART 2!

*That may not be treu