Jazz

Coleman Hawkins was the subject of a beautifully filmed studio session taped in Brussels in 1962. The film was made following Hawk’s appearance at a festival in Dinant, Belgium, the birthplace of...

Published November 22, 2017 at 11:56 AM EST Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Coleman Hawkins This rare footage of Coleman Hawkins playing “I Wish I Were Twins” was discovered...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Hawkins was the subject of a beautifully filmed studio session taped in Brussels in 1962. The film was made following Hawk’s appearance at a festival in Dinant, Belgium,...

Ella Fitzgerald made no secret of her admiration for the Boswell Sisters, and for Connee Boswell in particular. “When I was a girl,” said Ella, “I listened to records by all the singers, white and black,...

Connie Kay Lately I’ve grown accustomed to hearing Joe Lovano and other bandleaders introduce drummers as players of “drums and cymbals.” Connie Kay, a cymbals master who was born 90...

My YouTube find of the weekend is this film of the Count Basie Orchestra in London in 1965.  It’s a BBC production, and it’s first rate for audio, video, and the performance itself.  As one wag...

Notwithstanding his bold efforts on behalf of integration and civil rights, Norman Granz’s name was often uttered in derisive tones when I began listening to jazz in the late sixties.  As the man...

Count Basie’s 108th birthday anniversary is today.  He made his first recordings as a sideman with Walter Page’s Blue Devils in 1929, and his last in 1983, the year before his death at age 79. ...

I wrote about the new Tadd Dameron biography here on February 21, his 96th birthday anniversary, and featured his music that night in Jazz a la Mode.  I was impressed by the numbers of listeners...

In memory of the NEA Jazz Master and friend to “King Louis” Of the many levels of appreciation I have for the self-described “jazz advocate” Dan Morgenstern, first and foremost...