Articles by Dirk Sutro

Birth of the Bass: Blanton Inspired a Line of Successors

by Dirk Sutro
July 31, 2007

Listen Jimmy Blanton brought jazz bass into the modern era in 1940 with his Ellington recordings including “Pitter Panther Patter" and “Jack the Bear," proving that the big instrument could move through the music like a sleek animal. In the decades that followed, dozens more jazz bassists picked up Blanton's innovative vibe, from beboppers like Tommy Potter to bassist/composer Charles Mingus and more recent master improvisers such as Scott LaFaro and Mark Dresser. But the music speaks ...

Unsung Heroes of Jazz Harp

by Dirk Sutro
February 5, 2007

Listen Saxophones and trumpets are familiar stars of modern jazz, but a few brave souls have utilized unlikely instruments such as accordion (Renzo Ruggieri), bagpipes (Rufus Harley), and bandoneon (Astor Piazzola), as well as the ethereal harp of Dorothy Ashby. In the 1950s, Ashby proved that this classical instrument could also swing. She wasn't the first jazz harpist, but she was the first to record as a leader, and to show how the harp, a relative of ...

Mezz Mezzrow

by Dirk Sutro
November 20, 2006

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Mezz Mezzrow was the hippest of white hipster jazz musicians in 1920s Chicago and 1930s New York. He was a respected player as well as a scenester who hung with both black and white musicians. Mezzrow's autobiography Really the Blues was a real discovery for me. It has a vibe of authenticity I've not found in other accounts of those times--he captures what it was really like to hit the clubs and late-night jams, to hang out offstage after ...