Jazz

On Friday, the New Orleans-born saxophonist Charles Neville, who makes his home in Western Massachusetts, was profiled in the Hampshire Life supplement of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  To the question,...

Chick Webb’s early death has tended to obscure the status he enjoyed among his peers during his lifetime. Best known for discovering Ella Fitzgerald, who recorded about 50 sides with Webb’s orchestra,...

I noticed a little row on Facebook yesterday over the extent to which Chico Hamilton’s affiliation with cool jazz was emphasized in his obituaries this week.  The Times, for one, headlined its...

A Grammy-Winning Tour de Force by His Trio I chuckled this morning reading an article touting the bassist Christian McBride for this Grammy-winning solo on what the writer referred to as “a tune called...

Paul Arslanian Pianist Paul Arslanian and the late bassist Dave Shapiro satisfied a long overdue need in Valley jazz circles when they established the Jazz Workshop series two years ago at Green Street...

60 Years of Collaboration Clark Terry and Quincy Jones in 2014 Clark Terry’s willingness to share his musical gifts and insights has made him one of the most beloved figures in jazz history. The widely-reported...

Clark Terry’s family announced this week that the 94-year-old trumpeter has entered Hospice care. Clark’s health challenges, some of which I’ve documented in previous blogs, have continually widened the...

Farewell to a Paragon of Positivity Clark Terry died on Saturday, February 21. The trumpet great was 94, and had been in declining health for several years, though by all accounts his ebullient personality...

I sent get well wishes to Clark Terry this morning, and thanked him for the trumpet playing he’s delighted music lovers  with since the 1940’s. I had the pleasure of sitting with Clark at the Newport...

Here’s a pair of telling stories that I thought you’d enjoy from Clark Terry’s richly anecdotal memoir, Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry, which I wrote about last fall in this blog entry. These...