Articles by Joe Alterman
Music as Survival: Trumpeter Louis Bannet's Chilling Ultimatum at Auschwitz
by Joe Alterman
Before the war, violinist and trumpeter Louis Bannet was a celebrated jazz musician in Holland, often called “the Dutch Louis Armstrong." Once, before the war, he heard a knock on his dressing room door. “So you're the Dutch Louis Armstrong?" a deep, raspy voice said. “It's nice to meet you. I'm the American one." And just like that, he and Louis Armstrong jammed the night away. Then everything changed. Arrested and sent to Auschwitz, Louis Bannet faced a ...
Continue ReadingJazz in Nazi Germany: The Music That Wouldn’t Die
by Joe Alterman
This article was originally published on Moment Magazine. Music, at its core, is freedom. It cannot be caged by ideology or controlled by propaganda. The Nazis understood that, which is why they tried so desperately to suppress it, to twist it, to erase it. And yet, even in those darkest of times, music found a way to persist--not as a passive relic, but as an act of defiance and expression, a refusal to be silenced. And ...
Continue ReadingTyree Glenn / Hank Jones Quintet/Sextet: Complete Recordings
by Joe Alterman
In the history of jazz, few pianists have been as prolific as the recently deceased Hank Jones. His tasteful and subtle playing is documented on literally thousands of recordings. Many of them are today known as jazz classics--benchmarks to the greatness of this music--and Jones' playing and support on all of them were crucial in creating those historic, beautiful and legendary legacies.For whatever reason, many of Jones' recordings have long been either forgotten, out of print, or very ...
Continue ReadingKeith Jarrett / Charlie Haden: Jasmine
by Joe Alterman
Keith Jarrett, like Sonny Rollins, is quite hard to pin down. Like the iconic saxophonist, for many years now, the equally legendary pianist has been leaning towards the songs of his youth, and even earlier. Compared with their song choices of, say, twenty years ago, it would seem that these players have become more conservative over the years; that is, however, simply not true. Again, like Rollins, Jarrett's improvisations have evolved through the years, with an even greater searching and ...
Continue Reading
