Are There Really Mistakes in Jazz?
The audio here is a fun exercise with vibist Stefon Harris and his quartet with pianist Christian Sands. The exercise is making what might be considered a mistake and turning it into an opportunity. A really remarkable little clinic. The video is also a wonderful performance.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Shirley Scott on Piano Jazz
A very cool 1992 conversation between Marian McPartland and Shirley Scott, using words and pianos. Shirley was the queen of the organ with historic work in the ‘60s with Eddie Lockjaw Davis and then husband Stanley Turrentine. A wonderful sweet person and a kick-ass musician.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Maria Schneider Records Her New Orchestral Songs with Dawn Upshaw
Composer and leader Maria Schneider covers new creative terrain in her latest project, a set of orchestral songs she wrote and recorded with the great singer and new music proponent Dawn Upshaw. Schneider and Upshaw talk about their collaboration, and the new ground they each explored, in this interview with Leonard Lopate.
-Nick Moy
(Photo, L-R: Dawn Upshaw, Maria Schneider. Credit: Jimmy and Dena Katz)
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LaMonte Young and his Masterpiece
New music composer LaMonte Young, routinely named in the company of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley as one of the fathers of American minimalism, may have outdone them all in terms of sheer scope, demand for concentration, and potential for profound revelation in his six-hour plus masterpiece The Well Tuned Piano. Tom Service offers this encouraging and helpful guide to what he calls “one of the great achievements of 20th-century music.” (Also, read about how the paths of Young and Eric Dolphy crossed.)
-Nick Moy
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Documentary: Duke Ellington The Band Leader
In this “Jazz Profile” program over NPR stations, host Nancy Wilson devotes two shows on Duke Ellington as composer. His brilliance extending from popular standards to suites is well known and this feature is a worthy document of his enormous talent.
-Scott Wenzel
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Unknown (well, almost) Don Byas
Once Don Byas left the States for Europe (with Don Redman’s band in September of 1946) it was no turning back. He had found more freedom financially, musically and personally. And although he had made some outstanding records before his departure, Byas blossomed improvisationally while overseas. In 1948 he found himself in Spain, living in Barcelona and enjoying a lower cost of living and absorbing a robust lifestyle. Recently, a recording made for His Master’s Voice surfaced and is the subject of a Crownpropeller blog.
-Scott Wenzel
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Remembering Bebo Valdes, Cuban Music Titan
The Latin jazz world lost one of its key figures with the passing of Bebo Valdes on March 22 at age 94. Valdes, one of the greatest pianists in the history of Cuban popular music, drew gracefully from such disparate sources as Yoruba, western Baroque music and Tatum to forge his unique and deeply influential voice. Larry Blumenfeld tells us more about the impact Valdes registered on Latin music as we know it today.
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Chico Freeman Remembers his Father, Von Freeman
Von Freeman anchored a generation of Chicago musicians on the forefront of a key period, on fertile ground, in the development of American improvisational music. Von Freeman’s bracing sound and singular voice spoke for themselves, but in this profile in JazzTimes, Chico Freeman (pictured above) adds his perspective on his father’s persuasive mentoring of a host of Chicago musicians — including one young musician in particular.
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Buddy Rich, NYC, New York, 1954
From Morrison Hotel Gallery comes this surreal Bill Gottlieb image of Buddy Rich. Surreal because I expect to see Rich’s drumsticks as one big blur! A case in point is this excerpt of “West Side Story”.
-Scott Wenzel
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