Wayne Shorter Talks Saxophone and Saxophonists
This 1992 interview of Wayne Shorter by fellow saxophonist Mel Martin is wonderfully in-depth and revealing. Wayne talks about horns, meeting John Coltrane and Lester Young, joining Blakey and Miles and other early career highlights.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Sun Ship: The Complete Sessions: John Coltrane’s Musical Documentary
An in-depth look at this new release in The New Yorker…“The album Sun Ship captures that vast musical and moral change; the complete session documents it in action, like a sonic documentary film. It’s a treasure, a joy, and a revelation.”
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Five Great Samples of Jazz Clarinet
Just a feeling, but jazz may be on the threshold of a new age of ascendancy for the jazz clarinet. This NPR feature by clarinetist Ben Goldberg trains the spotlight on five premier practitioners of the jazz clarinet, from Sidney Bechet through Jimmy Hamilton, John Carter and Michael Moore, with examples of their work.
(Photo: Jimmy Hamilton, left, with Harry Carney; by William Gottlieb/The Library of Congress)
-Nick Moy
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Five Great Samples of Jazz Clarinet
Jimmy Garrison, After John Coltrane
Wow, a nice nod to Jimmy Garrison by Doug Ramsey, on what would have been his 79th birthday, plus a posted 1968 video of the Elvin Jones trio with Joe Farrell and Garrison. I had no idea there was any footage on this trio. A lovely discovery. I only worked with Jimmy Garrison once on an Archie Shepp album about a year before he died. For such a large talent on his instrument, he was modest and kind person.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreJohn Coltrane: Giant Steps
Wow, this is a riveting transcription of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” that unfolds as the music is being played. It reminds me how miserably I failed at being able to sight read and how thoroughly amazed I am at what Coltrane played and at how someone could commit it to musical notation in less than ten years of time! Have fun, watch this and be amazed.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Chicago Tenor Sax
Crownpropeller’s Blog is great and digging into vintage R & B that overlaps with jazz. Chicago was a major scene for such endeavors and this spotlight on the early work of tenor saxophonist Eddie Johnson contains some early ‘50s rareties. Of course, to fully appreciate Johnson’s work, one should check out his 1981 album Indian Summer (Nessa).
-Michael Cuscuna
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Saving the John Coltrane House in Philadelphia
This is a very cool article about Coltrane’s house in North Philly, where he lived from 1952 to ’58 when he moved to New York City. It’s gratifying to see the street named in his honor and the house declared a landmark. I lived in Philly from 1966 to ’70 and these photos remind me of what a three-story city Philadelphia was. I’m sure that’s no longer the case.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreJames P. Johnson: Stride Piano Master
“Riffs”, an OKeh recording from 1929, is a perfect example of James P. Johnson’s Harlem stride style. Bob Hilbert’s excellent notes to our ninth Mosaic release, The Complete Edmond Hall / James P. Johnson / Sidney De Paris / Vic Dickenson Blue Note Sessions, defines his playing as “…always accurate, sure and perfectly articulated, and it always swung. He had a beautiful touch, instantly identifiable to anyone familiar with his recordings, a powerful left hand and a right hand that ‘sang while it danced’, in the words of one critic”. Johnson was even more improvisational than some others in the stride style as Hilbert remarks, “Due to the complexity of stride piano, most performers develop patterns from which they construct solos. Recordings show that their ‘improvisations’ remain little changed from take to take. With James P., however, spontaneity was the rule”.
-Scott Wenzel
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View VideoStraight from Germany: John Scofield Trio
Hot (and we mean hot) on the heels of the interview the Daily Jazz Gazette just posted with guitarist John Scofield, comes this fresh video clip of Scofield’s trio, with organist Larry Goldings and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, recorded March 18 in Aschaffenburg. Thanks to Larry Goldings for the tip.
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Kenny Garrett Blows Them Away on emGiant Steps/em
Doug Ramsey recounts a tale of awe on watching this video clip of Kenny Garrett’s blistering solo on the John Coltrane classic Giant Steps. It’s the kind of story you would have expected to hear about Coltrane himself. Anyone who would play Giant Steps in public, at this tempo, naturally invites such comparison. Looks like Kenny Garrett can take it.
-Nick Moy
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