Articles by S.G Provizer
As Long as They Can Blow: Interracial Jazz and Other Jive Before 1935
by S.G Provizer
The following is an excerpt from Stephen Provizer's As Long As They Can Blow. Interracial Jazz Recording And Other Jive Before 1935 (Self Published, 2023).
Continue ReadingOrnette Coleman: An Outsider Cracks the Egg
by S.G Provizer
Part 1 | Part 2 There are two ways a musician can make a significant impact on jazz. One is to mobilize virtuosity and knowledge to push the current boundaries of the music. There are a number who fall in this category, but unassailable examples are Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. The other way to make an impact is to bring an alternative approach powerful enough to challenge the entire pre-existing musical paradigm. Ornette Coleman was ...
Continue ReadingOrnette Coleman: The Territory And The Adventure
by S.G Provizer
Ornette Coleman: The Territory And The Adventure Maria Golia 368 Pages ISBN: #9781789142235 University of Chicago Press 2020 Ornette Coleman holds a singular place in jazz history. The seeds of change in jazz had been sewn by Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, John Coltrane and their cohorts, but Coleman's appearance at the Five Spot Café in 1959 kicked the process into high gear. Author Maria Golia's mise en scene of Coleman's life and ...
Continue ReadingFrank Sinatra: Myth, Reality and a Critic Standing in Line at Arby’s
by S.G Provizer
The mere act of re-releasing a 1960 Frank Sinatra album speaks to the fact that his name still creates ripples when tossed into the cultural pond; still has the power to inspire a reaction when other other vocal stars of yore have receded into distant memory. An ocean of ink has been spilled in portraits and musical criticism of the “Chairman of the Board," some of it merely respectful, most adulatory. Long ago, the rough, mafia-inflected edges were smoothed out ...
Continue ReadingDamien Chazelle's Netflix Show "The Eddy"
by S.G Provizer
I picked up the gauntlet and watched the eight episodes of the Netflix show The Eddy because it was promoted as being directed by Damien Chazelle, who wrote and directed the films Whiplash and La La Land. Chazelle is something of a bête noire for jazz people, who've been highly critical of his approach to jazz. I've always sensed in his films an oddly ambivalence relationship to jazz, even a whiff of pathology and I needed to investigate further.
Continue ReadingDrummer George Schuller Talks about Lee Konitz
by S.G Provizer
George Schuller performed as percussionist with the recently deceased saxophonist Lee Konitz on and off since 1992. I covered one of their last Boston concerts here. George has lived in Brooklyn since 1992 but is well-known in Boston. His father, Gunther Schuller, was a composer and musician of note and served as President of the New England Conservatory of Music from 1967-1977 and his brother Ed Schuller is an accomplished bassist. George is co-founder of the ensemble Orange Then Blue, ...
Continue ReadingJazz Snacks for the Pandemic
by S.G Provizer
Jazz fanatics are particularly egregious eaters—too busy listening to pay much attention to food. I believe this array of sweet treats will satisfy even the most ludicrously undeveloped jazz palates. Jack the Gummy Bear Baby Dodds Ruth Junior Cook Mints Chick Webb-lets Almond Joy Spring Twix Beiderbecke Pete Jolly Ranchers Tootie Heath Bars James Reese Europe Cups Bit-O-Honey-In-The-Horn Cheryl Bentyne Chewing Gum Charleston Chew Chasers Wee Dots Good and Plenty o' Nuthin' Eddie Lock-Jaw Breakers Milk Dud ...
Continue ReadingNew Media, Jazz and Camille Bertault
by S.G Provizer
A recent headline in Fortune.com read: “Why 'Success' on YouTube Still Means a Life of Poverty." Hundreds of thousands, even millions of views often result in meaningless royalty checks to musicians from YouTube (owned by Google). And yet, there are musicians whose videos on that platform, combined with a Facebook and Instagram presence, have either created or dramatically elevated their careers. While this is a much likelier scenario for a pop or a hip-hop artist, it has happened ...
Continue ReadingRemembering Claudio Roditi
by S.G Provizer
I knew trumpet player Claudio Roditi for many years and although years would pass between encounters, he made a deep impression. I was very moved by his recent death, as were so many in the jazz community. Claudio was Brazilian and a well-known musician in his country, but like a lot of jazz musicians outside America, he wanted to come here and make it in New York. His first port of call, in 1970, was Boston, where there ...
Continue ReadingRabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges
by S.G Provizer
Rabbit's Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges Con Chapman 240Pages ISBN: #9780190055288 Oxford University Press 2019 Alto and soprano saxophonist Johnny Hodges was one of the most singular voices in jazz. He didn't play the horn as much as sing through it. Hodges made a large, long-term contribution to the music, both as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and on his own. He was also a somewhat inscrutable, ...
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