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... brief news ...
Russell Scarbrough publishes notes that he made while contemplating a book about cornetist, composer, and bandleader Thad Jones. For Jones' centenary he shares these notes which touch on his biography, his musical education, his work with Charles Mingus over the years, his time with the Count Basie Orchestra, working as a studio musician in New York, the ill-fated "Basie/Thad" record of 1965, the formation of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra in early 1966, Thad's move to Copenhagen in 1979 and the rumors around it, the band Eclipse that Thad had formed in Denmark, teaching gigs all over Europe in the early 1980s, his return to the U.S. to lead the Basie Orchestra after Basie had died, as well as his death of bone cancer in 1986 (Transitional Technology). Morgan Enos remembers Thad Jones as well (London Jazz News).
Ricky Riccardi reminds us of the recordings Louis Armstrong made with the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band 100 years ago (Louis Armstrong House). --- Lewis Porter continues his series on the recordings made by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band with young Louis Armstrong in 1923, this time focusing on Lil Hardin's piano (Playback with Lewis Porter). --- John Edward Hasse remembers Louis Armstrong's first visit to the recording studio 100 years ago as well and tells the story of the Gennett label in Richmond, Indiana, and its impact on jazz history (Wall Street Journal). --- And Marcus A. Woelfle re-listens to "Chimes Blues", recorded 100 years ago by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band with young Louis Armstrong on second cornet (BR Klassik).
Lewis Porter streams an interview that Swedish journalist Claes Dahlgren took with pianist Andrew Hill in 1966 and clears up that despite Hill's claim to have been born in Haiti and thus having "this Creole thing" in him he was actually born in Chicago, Illinois (Playback with Lewis Porter). --- Michelle Mercer talks to David Breskin, author of a 1981 interview with the late Wayne Shorter about how that interview came about, and she reprints that interview originally published in Musician magazine in July 1981 (Call and Response).
Victoriah Szirmai listens to a new release of pianist James Booker recorded live in East Berlin in December 1976, and reflects on the reception of blues in East Germany which started when Karlheinz Drechsel booked Lippmann+Rau's American Folk Blues Festival for GDR performances (Berliner Zeitung). --- Stefano Esposito talks to guitarist George Freeman about his earliest musical experiences on Chicago's South Side, hearing T-Bone Walker, about his start on the guitar, about performing with Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday, as well as about wanting to record one day with just a violinist (Chicago Sun-Times).
Richard Duckett talks to pianist Omar Sosa about the piano as an "extension of my body, soul, spirit, heart", and reports about "Omar Sosa's 88 Well-Tuned Drums", a new documentary by filmmaker Soren Sorensen (Worcester Magazine). --- Anthony Tidd talks to bassist Scott Colley about the beginning of his musical career as a teenager in Los Angeles (Premier Guitar).
Julia Goldberg talks to trumpeter Delbert Anderson about his quest into the role Native American musicians played in the history of jazz, as well as about his use of Navajo spinning songs in his music (Santa Fe Reporter). --- Marc Myers talks to pianist Gene DiNovi (JazzWax). --- Lewis Porter shares Pierre Crepon's research about Archie Shepp's involvement with the Mobilization for Youth organization in the 1960s (Playback with Lewis Porter).
Giovanni Russonello talks to musicians, scholars and critics about their favorite recording of pianist Mary Lou Williams. Responses come from Helen Sung ("Roll 'Em"), Courtney Bryan ("Taurus"), Fredara Hadley ("St. Martin de Porres"), Jason Moran ("Night Life"), Tammy Kernodle ("A Grand Night for Swinging"), Seth Colter Walls ("St. Louis Blues"), Carmen Staaf ("Olinga"), Daphne Brooks ("It Ain't Necessarily So"), Ethan Iverson ("Little Joe from Chicago"), Cory Smythe ("Lonely Moments"), Damien Sneed ("What's Your Story Morning Glory"), Giovanni Russonello ("Black to the Blues"), and Brandee Younger ("Ode to Saint Cecile") (New York Times). Ethan Iverson adds a transcription of "Little Joe from Chicago" on his own blog, and shares his thoughts about boogie-woogie played either on the piano or with a big band (Transitional Technology). -- Stephen Kallao visits Denton, Texas, to find out why this town has become a major jazz education center with its collegiate jazz program that started 75 years ago as the first in the US (NPR).
Ted Gioia tells the story of Mac McCormick's biography of blues guitarist and singer Robert Johnson, just published after 50 years (The Honest Broker). --- Christoph Irrgeher talks to trumpeter and author Sven Regener about writing novels, writing songs for the band Element of Crime, and having taken up the trumpet again in a jazz trio (Wiener Zeitung).
Jesse Steinmetz finds that Boston has a long and celebrated jazz history but is lacking in "dedicated jazz venues" today (WGBH). --- Lewis Porter reprints a 1986 Miles Davis interview in Andy Warhol's Interview magazine (Playback with Lewis Porter). Porter also discusses a recording project with compositions by Thelonious Monk, arranged by Benny Golson and played by brass ensemble plus bass and drums around John Coltrane and argues why the proposal might have been rejected (Playback with Lewis Porter). And Porter reports about a reunion album with Miles Davis and John Coltrane planned for 1967 that never happened because Trane died in July of that year (Playback with Lewis Porter).
Vinnie Sperrazza explores the legacy of Max Roach's legendary percussion ensemble M'Boom (Chronicles). --- Michelle Mercer remembers two articles she had written about jazz in 2002 and 2017 that touched upon the subject of sex or sexism and the reactions she received (Call & Response). Michelle Mercer also celebrates Herbie Hancock for his birthday with a brief interview clip about a piece from the album "River: The Joni Letters" (Call & Response).
Ted Gioia looks at the decline and fall of the hit instrumental song over the decades (The Honest Broker). Gioia also reflexts about jazz as romantic music (The Honest Broker). --- Ethan Iverson tells the story of recorded music from 78s to streaming services and asks about improvements (or not) (The Nation).
Julian Wolf talks to German saxophonist Günther Fischer about his career in former East Germany, about his longtime collaboration with singer Uschi Brüning, as well as about his road to jazz and to the saxophone (Sächsische Zeitung). --- Both Zachary Wolff (New York Times) and Nate Chinen (The Gig) attend the premiere of Terence Blachard's opera "Champion" at the New York Met that tells the real-life story of the boxer Emile Griffith.
Jill Rosen reports about a showcase at the Baltimore Museum of Art documenting Billie Holiday's childhood years in Baltimore, Maryland (Johns Hopkins Magazine). --- Tobias Lehmkuhl attends a concert by bassist William Parker in Berlin and is not completely convinced (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). |
