Jazz Music Blog

Marsalis and McBride: Jazz at Tanglewood

I slipped away from the control board in time to hear the Christian McBride Trio and Wynton Marsalis Quintet at Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood on Monday. Both sounded great, and it was a real treat

How Basie Won My Heart

Count Basie’s 108^th 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

Von Freeman, Chicago's Tenor Legand, R.I.P.

Von Freeman’s been on my mind lately. I knew the 88-year-old saxophonist was no longer in action, but he’d become so emblematic

Welcome Home, Jimmy Greene!

For nearly three decades, it's been my pleasure to tout the Greater Hartford area as one of the most fertile in the nation in developing home-grown jazz players who’ve gone on to wider renown.&nbsp

Evan Christopher on the Clarinet Road

Evan Christopher was back in New Orleans this week in time to don his "blacks and whites" for the

Duke Ellington was the envy of bandleaders far and wide for the privilege he enjoyed in presenting Johnny Hodges as a member of his orchestra for nearly 40 years. Notwithstanding a four-year

Steve Lacy: Grounded in Monk

I used to look forward to seeing Steve Lacy on his annual visits to the Iron Horse in Northampton. Few experiences made NoHo feel quite as cosmopolitan as an appearance by Lacy’s Paris-based

John Coltrane plays "Naima"

One of the first things I did when I began using I-Tunes ten years ago was create a playlist of ballads recorded by John Coltrane, and it remains one that I turn to often.

The Day Lady Died

Billie Holiday died 53 years ago today. I’ll play a couple of sets of her music in tonight’s Jazz a la Mode, including her appearance at Newport in 1957 where she was accompanied by Mal Waldr

Louis Jordan and a Cavalcade of Caldonia's

Louis Jordan’s birthday anniversary is this month. The saxophonist and clarinet player was born in Brinkley, Arkansas on July 8, 1908 and died in Los Angeles on February 5, 1975. After

Tony Bennett

The last time I saw Tony Bennett was on the stage of the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal a year ago.

Joel Frahm, Storytelling Tenor

One of the most exciting tenor duels I’ve ever witnessed took place between Joel Frahm and Jimmy Greene on a hot summer night in 2010. It was in West Hartford at Szechuan Tokyo, not exactly t

Louis Armstrong: Fourth of July Fireworks

Here’s a selection of Louis Armstrong clips in honor of his 112^th (traditional) birthday anniversary. Even though we learned 20 years ago that Pops was born on August 4, 1901, it’s

Dexter Gordon's Heroic Quest

Jazz has known a fair number of charismatic personalities throughout its history, but few as mythical or colorful as Dexter Gordon. In a multi-volume career that spanned a half-century, Gordo

30 Platters of Jazz Perfection

WFCR Music Director John Montanari has been letting his all-genres music flag fly on the Classical Blog at NEPR, and last week posted a list of his “individual musical selections that come as close

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