Jazz Articles about John Bunch

Werner Klemperer: Colonel Klink Swings World War II

by Ken Dryden
April 1, 2023

Werner Klemperer was a veteran actor who escaped Germany with his family prior to the start of World War II. Classically trained as a violinist and the son of noted conductor Otto Klemperer, he played Colonel Klink, the bumbling commandant of Stalag XIII on the 1960s television series “Hogan's Heroes," and was occasionally featured in the program playing violin badly. But what many viewers didn't realize is that he also picked up a love of jazz in his youth and ...

John Bunch: The John Bunch Trio Plays the Music of Irving Berlin (except one)

by John Fidler
March 28, 2009

If it takes a while to notice that there's no drummer on The John Bunch Trio Plays the Music of Irving Berlin (except one), that's OK. Recalling the classic Nat King Cole Trio, Bunch's music embraces the same combination of tradition and freshness, of rock-solid technique and flight-of-fancy exploration. Tradition might be the watchword for this 12-song set from the American songbook, but how then could the austere yet fervid playing of two jazz veterans in their ...

John Bunch

by Laurel Gross
January 11, 2008

Pianist John Bunch has a lot of fantastic memories playing with such jazz luminaries as Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Eddie Condon, Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa and as accompanist, musical director and conductor of major orchestras for Tony Bennett, but he recalls another “unforgettable" moment that wasn't so great.Even at 86 and still a working musician, that recollection smarts. The image that sticks in his mind, when he thinks about it, is the face of the rather ...

Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen: Heavy Juice

by Ken Franckling
December 5, 2004

This CD has been a recording waiting to happen for twenty years. Back then, highschooler Harry Allen joined Scott Hamilton on stage at the Newport Jazz Festival for a cameo performance with the George Wein-led Newport All-Stars. Allen grew up in Rhode Island, which also claims Hamilton as a native son. And Hamilton certainly was a role model as Allen blossomed then—and fast became a welcome young player on the New York swing jazz scene.They've had occasional chances ...

Scott Hamilton & Harry Allen: Heavy Juice

by John Kelman
July 12, 2004

Strangely enough, recordings pairing tenor players are not unusual. Sonny Rollins did it with John Coltrane on Tenor Madness ; more recently Joe Lovano with Joshua Redman on Tenor Legacy ; even Chris Potter did it with Joe Lovano on a few tracks on Vertigo. Why this particular variation of saxophone is more conducive to teaming up is a mystery, but it always seems to work. Now Scott Hamilton has come together with next generationer Harry Allen for Heavy Juice ...

John Bunch: English Songbook

by Mark Corroto
October 25, 2003

An admitted supporter of free jazz and the avant guard of music, I felt like a lurker as I pushed the play button on jazz piano traditionalist John Bunch’s recording of the British songbook. After a couple of tracks, I was hooked and an instant fan of this octogenarian master.

Bunch, born in Indiana, began playing jazz before WWII and continued his career after a stint as a POW. His career took him from Woody Herman, Buddy Rich ...

Harry Allen: Love Songs Live!

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 2001

Two words are about all that are needed to sum up the singular talents of swing–based tenor saxophonist Harry Allen — smooth and consistent, each of which aspect of his charismatic persona is abundantly present on this compilation of love songs recorded in concert between 1993 and ’96. I’m not fully conversant with Allen’s influences but Stan Getz had to be one of them (listen, for example, to Jobim’s “Once I Loved”). Others, he says, include Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins ...