Articles by Larry Slater
Remembrance 2025, part II: Gordon Goodwin, Al Foster, Jack DeJohnette, Hal Galper & Ray Drummond
by Larry Slater
This is the second installment of a tribute to jazz masters who left us in 2025.The composer, arranger, pianist and bandleader Gordon Goodwin lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in December of 2025, just shy of his 71st birthday. Goodwin's Big Phat Band, an 18-member ensemble consisting of some of L.A.'s finest jazz musicians, gained remarkable popularity for its combination of classic swing and contemporary jazz.The drummer Al Foster died in May 2025 at 82. Miles ...
Continue ReadingRemembrance 2025: Jim McNeely, Chuck Mangione, Andy Bey, Eddie Palmieri and Hermeto Pascoal
by Larry Slater
Every year the jazz world loses some major artists and 2025 was no exception.In this hour, we remember the composer and arranger Jim McNeely, one of the most distinguished large ensemble jazz composers of his generation.Hermeto Pascoal was a Brazilian artist who defied classification. He became a favorite of audiences around the world, though he was never particularly well known in the US. Known in Brazil as “The Sorcerer" and “The Mad Genius," he wrote more ...
Continue ReadingImprovising the Classics: Chopin Jazz
by Larry Slater
The pianist Ted Rosenthal once commented, “Many jazz pianists began their musical education studying classical piano. Why let those years go to waste? The classical repertoire contains a goldmine of material for the jazz pianist."Frederic Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the piano, and his flexible sense of time appeals to jazz musicians. Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson both quoted Chopin in their improvisations, while Bill Evans and Brad Mehldau reflect some of Chopin's sensibilities. Chopin had a unique ...
Continue ReadingImprovising the Classics: Interpreting Mozart
by Larry Slater
Mozart is one of those true musical geniuses revered as one the classical gods. Why are jazz musicians drawn to his music? The combination of his deceptively simple melodies and logical harmonic progressions allows jazz artists to mold these classic pieces into music that is recognizably jazz, yet still recognizably Mozart. Whether or not you listen to classical music, a great deal of Mozart's music is instantly recognizable when jazz musicians transform them into vehicles for ...
Continue ReadingImprovising the Classics: Roll Over Beethoven
by Larry Slater
Beethoven was a musical revolutionary. He transformed every musical form he used to create his body of music.The pianist and composer Jon Batiste said “Beethoven's work taps into a universal connective, magnetic truth in music." Beethoven was a master of motivic development, taking small musical ideas and expanding them into long and varied ideas, just like the art of improvisation.In 1998, Elvin Jones, the legendary drummer who anchored John Coltrane's quartet, was a guest artist at ...
Continue ReadingImprovising the Classics: Jazz Goes Baroque
by Larry Slater
I love classical music almost as much as jazz. Like jazz, classical music is a big tent, spanning the entire musical spectrum from medieval chant to twelve tone atonality. Jazz musicians today get most of their music education in universities and colleges, and often in conservatories. A great many of today's jazz artists have a deep appreciation for classical music, and on occasion use the melodies from the classical canon as springboards for improvisation. Improvisation was ...
Continue ReadingCelebrating A Century Of Charlie Parker, Part 1
by Larry Slater
The jazz world celebrated the centennial of Charlie Parker's birth in 2020. Parker is one of the select few musicians who justify the term '"genius." He was unquestionably one the greatest improvisers who ever played the music,. A critic for Downbeat wrote, “to say Charlie Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived is a bit like saying the Mona Lisa is a well-known painting."The author and jazz critic Gary Gittins said, “It's difficult. to ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevsek And The Accordion Renaissance
by Larry Slater
Guy Klucevsek, one of my musical heroes, died in May 2025 at age 77.He was one of the world's most versatile and highly respected accordionists, and a major contributor to the accordion renaissance of the last 25 years.When you listen to his music, you need to forget everything you thought you knew about the accordion. Klucevsek's music simply defies categorization, and though he never considered himself a jazz musician, he collaborated on a number of jazz ...
Continue ReadingLost and Found, Part 4: James P. Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald, Lennie Tristano & Hasaan Ibn Ali
by Larry Slater
This is the fourth and final hour of recent historic jazz discoveries. There are some amazing and inspiring stories of jazz sleuths who pulled out all the stops to discover long-lost music. The story of James P. Johnson's lost manuscripts ranks right up there with the most dedicated jazz archeologists. James P. Johnson is best known as the inventor of stride piano and the composer of the singular piece of music that came to symbolize the 1920s in ...
Continue ReadingLost and Found, part 3: Rare recordings of Ellington, Ben Webster, Art Tatum and Gil Evans
by Larry Slater
There are so many Duke Ellington recordings available. How much undiscovered music of the band can there be? In this hour, you'll hear rarely heard gems from the Ellington discography. Music that's so rare, I doubt even die-hard Ellington aficionados have heard some of these tracks. The Duke Ellington Orchestra with Django Reinhardt at Carnegie Hall. A home recording of Ben Webster on clarinet. Duke Ellington's late great extended work “The River." Also featured are Art ...
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