🎧 Episode 110: Blue-Eyed Soul, West Coast Jazz & A Funky ’70s Reckoning

Episode 110 moves from smooth modern soul to cool-jazz precision before taking a sharp left into collaborative pop-funk and full-blown ’70s absurdity.Curtis opens with a rich, groove-driven track from Allen Stone’s APART era, leaning into heartfelt vocals and retro-leaning soul textures. Jonathan follows with a breezy yet intricate performance from alto legend Art Pepper, bringing West Coast jazz tone and melodic improvisation into the spotlight.In the category songs, Curtis highlights a Collaboration/Duet from Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities project—an era where jazz pedigree meets contemporary production and unexpected pairings. Jonathan then closes things out with a bold entry into Worst Of The ’70s, courtesy of Ohio Players—a track that is equal parts funky, bizarre, and impossible to ignore.Soul, jazz, big-name collaborations, and one delightfully questionable funk moment—Episode 110 covers a lot of ground.Audio note: Curtis’ microphone went rogue during this recording session. It’s been fixed going forward.Curtis Gross is a self-employed video editor.Jonathan Workman is an adult learning consultant based in Wichita, KS.---Make sure you are subscribed to Why Is This So Hard For You. Type Why Is This So Hard For You in your podcast provider, hit that subscription button, and leave us a five-star review. This will make it easier for other podcast listeners to find the podcast.---The intro music is the first 30 seconds of the Ornette Coleman tune "Song X" fed into AI software that attempts to output the song to a solo piano transcription. The outro music is the first 30 seconds of Sonny Rollins' version of the tune "St. Thomas" fed into the same software.