A Conversation with Rufus Reid
I once said that having Kenny Burrell in the studio is like having your best friend there. He is so kind, helpful and professional. The same could be said of Rufus Reid, with whom I was in the studio often during his years with Dexter Gordon. Rufus was the rock, the foundation in that group and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. This lengthy 1997 interview chronicles his career from his early Chicago days.
-Michael Cuscuna
(Photo by Daniel Sheehan, EyeShotJazz)
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Duke Ellington: Highlights of his Late Style
Observers of great musicians often point to a “late style” — a final burst of creativity as an artist nears the end of life. And so here, David Brent Johnson’s NPR feature offers five examples highlighting the late period of Duke Ellington, making the case that proximity to death — in this case, the loss of Billy Strayhorn — fueled Ellington’s last urgent outpouring of productivity. Infused, I’d say, with the distinctive genius that marked Ellington’s work throughout his remarkable career.
-Nick Moy
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Read MoreCannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and Philly Joe Jones: with Lenny Bruce
This is an amazing kinescope of a television show that I’ve never heard of before. Lenny Bruce introduces Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and Philly Joe Jones, then talks about a painting that he photographed at the Museum Of Modern Art which is then shown in sections as the band improvises a very cool blues.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Thelonious Monk Live with Steve Lacy: a Rare Musical Moment
If you’ve never heard this Philadelphia radio broadcast of Thelonious Monk with Charlie Rouse, Steve Lacy, John Ore and Roy Haynes, by all means click on it now. It’s a great performance. Lacy adds a wonderful dimension to the group. Too bad that his association with Monk didn’t last longer.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Rare Miles Davis Live
Josh Jones’s blog on Open Culture about live Miles Davis material from the ‘60s, when he was at the peak of his powers, includes some rarities, including a great 1969 Antibes/Juan-Les-Pins performances of “Milestones,” “Footprints” and “‘Round Midnight” by the quintet with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. The complete audio of their two days at Antibes is in Live In Europe 1969, the second box set in Miles’s Bootleg Series on Columbia.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreCharlie Haden and the Liberation Music Orchestra
From Charlie Haden and his Liberation Music Orchestra, on its 1987 tour, comes this fervent rendition of Nkosi Sikeleh Afrika, the South African hymn adopted as pan-African liberation anthem. What a band: Paul Motian, Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, Geri Allen and Ken McIntyre among them; a formidable assemblage of Charlie Haden’s partners in musical and moral commitment.
-Nick Moy
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Django and Nuages
Doug Ramsey celebrated what would have been Django Reinhardt’s 103rd birthday by posting the gorgeous 1940 version of his “Nuages.” It is really remarkable that in an era when European jazz musicians were trying to imitate the American innovators, that Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli developed an original music that was as rooted in French and Gypsy culture as it was in American jazz. A nice bonus is a video of the Aaron Diehl Quartet, with Warren Wolf on vibes, burning on an extended version of John Lewis’s “Django”.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MorePat Martino: Sunny with John Scofield
One of the great things about jazz festivals is that the odds of seeing people on stage who don’t normally play together are greatly increased. Here, John Scofield joins fellow guitarist Pat Martino’s trio for a slick version of Bobby Hebb’s “Sunny.” This is a study in contrast in both sound and concept from these two master guitarists.
-Michael Cuscuna
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How Jazz Photographers Work: What’s Really Happens Behind the Shutter
We all marvel at the artistry of a great jazz photograph, but we sometimes have to nudge ourselves that there’s a lot more behind landing a great music photograph than just pressing the shutter button. In this NPR feature, WWNO’s Eve Troeh shadowed working photographer Skip Bolen around the recent New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. This sounds crazily cross-sensory, but listen to how this photographer worked his craft.
-Nick Moy
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Jazz in New York: Keeping the Flame Alive
I may be prejudiced because he’s been my friend for 40 years, and my roommate for two of them, but I think Todd Barkan is one of the great keepers of the flame for jazz. He opened and ran the beloved Keystone Korner for ten years, and later built Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola from scratch into the venue it is today. Now a freelance club producer, Todd’s tireless efforts are the subject of this Wall Street Journal article by Pia Catton.
-Michael Cuscuna
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