The long-form jazz composition \u2014 spanning the jazz suite and symphonic works - is said to have blossomed during the Harlem Renaissance, as early as James P. Johnson. Duke Ellington grappled with the form for a good part of his career. Composers in the jazz realm often coupled long-form compositions with grand themes in black history. This NPR survey samples five examples of long-form jazz composition, including excerpts from Ellington’s Black Brown and Beige, Oliver Nelson and a haunting piece by Wadada Leo Smith, honoring Rosa Parks.

-Nick Moy

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In this brief audio clip from an interview with WKCR’s Phil Schaap, Harry “Sweets” Edison recalls how being a new man in a band can be a blessing but also can have its share of confusing moments.

-Scott Wenzel

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Helen Merrill, a wonderful, intimate singer whose discography includes collaborations with Clifford Brown, Gel Evans and Steve Lacy, appears on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. They perform a number of duets and talk about Clifford Brown among other jazz topics.

-Michael Cuscuna

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The astute Howard Mandel in his Jazz Beyond Jazz blog wrote a wonderful essay on Wayne Shorter the composer, culminating with his February 1 Carnegie Hall concert with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a magnificent, adventuresome orchestra that plays without a conductor. Shorter performed four pieces with his quartet and the chamber orchestra. What the article does not mention is that everyone piled into Avatar Studios the next day to record this material as Wayne Shorter’s second album since rejoining Blue Note. His first, Without A Net, was just released several weeks ago.

-Michael Cuscuna

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At the very dawn of jazz recording, with echoes of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band still in the air, very few musicians were able to capture a fresh new sound until the flood gates opened with the blossoming of Louis Armstrong. Naturally, there were exceptions like Sidney Bechet or Earl Hines, but, for the most part, it was the powerful virtuosic display of Armstrong that made the Roaring 20s the era of “hot jazz”. It wasn’t long, however, before another highly individual talent emerged.

On February 18, 1924, less than a year after Armstrong cut his first records, a young cornetist from Davenport, Iowa named Bix Beiderbecke made his recording debut. By the late twenties he had ushered in a striking new approach to the jazz solo concept by making it cool. His improvisations were more relaxed, melodic, and graced with inspirations from impressionistic and modern tonal composers including Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky and the lesser-known Eastwood Lane. His tone has been likened to that of a bell or a mallet on a chime; Eddie Condon said Bix’s tone was like a girl saying “yes”.

His brief and troubled life became legendary and emblematic, inspiring a best-selling novel and a full-length motion picture. What’s important is that Bix remains one the most musically brilliant figures of any period in jazz.

- Alan Goodman, Mosaic Records Brochure

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Certainly one of the outstanding websites dedicated to a musician is that of BixBeiderbecke.com. Launched in 1999, the website’s host is Albert Haim and he does an outstanding job of presenting Bix that bring awareness to this pure genius and legend in a vast array of settings: a virtual radio station WBIX, a highly informative forum (which I have participated in), photo gallery, discographies, recorded interviews of musicians who knew and played with Bix and so much more. It’s a trip worth taking and once there you’ll be back again and again.

-Scott Wenzel

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