Jazz

Bechet’s One-Man Band Sidney Bechet’s 117th birthday anniversary was on May 14, Fats Waller’s 110th on May 21, recent datelines that coincide with an anecdote I gleaned from an interview...

I’ve never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras proper, but my wife and I were in the Crescent City last year on the Feast of the Epiphany, better known as Twelth Night, the traditional start of the Mardi...

Father Gerald Pocock and Duke Ellington “Is God a three-letter word for love?” Reverend Gerald Pocock jotted that rhetorical question down on a piece of stationary when he was visiting Duke Ellington...

Thankfully, there’s plenty of jazz action in the Valley these days.  Here’s a heads-up on a few must-see events.  This week’s Iron Horse mailing alerted me to an appearance tomorrow night (Oct....

Was there a single jazz musician in the audience for the Kennedy Center Honors on December 3rd?  Besides Sonny Rollins, that is, who was one of the five honorees.  From what I saw on last...

I didn’t see Ornette Coleman until 1971 when he played the Saturday afternoon program of the Newport Jazz Festival with his old comrades Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell. It was fortuitous...

Peter Sokolowski sent along this delightful clip of Oscar Peterson with Dick Cavett earlier today.  Enjoy Oscar demonstrating for Dick Cavett a range of “stylistic trademarks” that’ll quickly enhance your...

Here’s a vivid display of the percussive effects that Herb Ellis wrested from the body of his guitar while playing with the Oscar Peterson Trio.  He utilized the technique on several...

I’m saddened to report that the Greater Hartford jazz community lost one of its most beloved figures on Friday night with the passing of Paul Brown at age 82. Brown’s career as a bassist brought...

Paul Desmond, whose 90th birthday anniversary was November 25, had an agreement with Dave Brubeck that precluded him from making freelance recordings with other pianists. That, as it turned out, was a...