Jazz

George Avakian in 2003 One of the first album covers to grab my attention as a kid was Ambassador Satch. Released in 1956, it pictured Louis Armstrong in a formal cutaway jacket, contrasting gray...

Today is George Coleman’s 78th birthday.  We’ll hear the Memphis native in tonight’s Jazz a la Mode. I last saw Big George on November 17 in Hartford; while his gait has slowed a bit, he was...

I can’t help but think of George Frazier when Richard Nixon comes to mind. Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of our 37th President’s resignation. I followed the Watergate hearings closely,...

Gerald Wilson died on Monday at the age of 96. The renowned trumpeter and bandleader was an active performer and recording artist until a couple of years ago, so he covered a lot of ground, and as an arranger...

Geri Allen Geri Allen died on Tuesday (June 27) at 60, only a day or two after word got out that she was in grave health. I didn’t know Geri beyond a few brief off-stage greetings at the Knitting...

The earliest memory I have of hearing jazz was a Schaefer Beer commercial that ran during Boston Red Sox games in the late fifties and early sixties. The ads began with a voice intoning the name of a celebrity...

Is there a little tension between Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt at the beginning of this concert?  Does Dizzy tell Stitt to back off during his solo on the opener, “Blues After Dark”? ...

If a change of scene is what you need ‘long about this time of year, the Punta Del Este International Jazz Festival in Uruguay may be good for what ails you.  Tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart has played...

Over the river and through the words…for Jazz?  Lydia Maria Child’s directions to grandfather’s house may come to mind on your drive to the Cultural Center at Eagle Hill in Hardwick, MA tomorrow for...

We’ve just closed the book on another summer of jazz at musically-rich festivals in New England, New York, and Montreal.  I remain impressed with how the annual fests at Newport, Tanglewood, Litchfield,...