Articles by Steven Cerra
Shorty Rogers And His Giants
by Steven Cerra
Shorty Rogers--trumpet, flugelhorn, arranger--was born on April 14, 1924 and died November 7, 1994. Born Milton Rajonsky, Shorty was the biggest name in West Coast jazz. He studied in New York before going into the army, and on his discharge worked first with Woody Herman's First and Second Herds, and from there in the Stan Kenton band of 1950-51. Besides his own trumpet playing, which was delivered in a bright, almost humorously optimistic yet contrarily low-key style, Rogers's ...
Continue ReadingThe Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950’s from Robert Gordon’s “Jazz West Coast”
by Steven Cerra
Originally published in London in 1986 by Quartet Books LTD, Bob Gordon's seminal work on the jazz styles and groups that developed primarily in Los Angeles in the 1950s has long been out-of-print and copies of it are difficult to obtain. In order to rectify this lack of availability, Bob Gordon has given me permission to represent this work as part of the ongoing Jazz West Coast column. At the outset, it is important to note ...
Continue ReadingThe Jazz West Coast Style of Music: An Introduction
by Steven Cerra
I know it's hard to imagine with today's governmental overreach telling people what cars to drive, what bathrooms to use, and the highest personal, property and commercial taxes of any state in the nation, but California in the 1950s was a place of opportunities and possibilities. It's why my dad relocated the family from New England in the closing years of that decade and as a budding Jazz musician, I took full advantage of it. But ...
Continue ReadingVictor Feldman - Part 5: The Final Years, 1978-87
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5Looking back to 1978, it's hard to believe that in less than 10 years, Victor would no longer be with us.Woody Herman was never out of Victor's musical life. His career in the States had begun when he joined Woody's band and he often expressed his gratitude to the Old Man for making it all happen for him. Victor once shared with me:
Continue ReadingVictor Feldman - Part 4: The Artful Dodger, 1967-1977
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 During the decade in question, due to the responsibilities of establishing myself in a career outside of music and because of the obligations of a growing family, I did not see Victor as often. Fortunately for me, he did appear regularly with his quartet at Donte's, a nightclub in North Hollywood that was a short drive from my home in nearby Burbank, ...
Continue ReadingVictor Feldman - Part 3: Miles & Beyond
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 “His keyboard technique is above reproach and is matched by his brilliance on vibes and drums; his knowledge of rhythms and meters, and the possibilities inherent in combining melodic lines with percussion expressions, greatly expounds the sounds of any group within which he works." (Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner) These eloquently phrased words of high praise for Victor Feldman were ...
Continue ReadingVictor Feldman - Part 2: From Cannonball to Russia
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5As to the title of this piece, I thought about calling it “Part 2: The Cannonball Years," but since Victor was with Cannonball for only less than a full year, I thought that might be overstating things a bit. I lived in San Francisco for most of the decade of the 1990s. And it was there on March 4, 1999, a typical, foggy San Francisco ...
Continue ReadingVictor Feldman - Part 1: The Arrival
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Mentioning my name in the same context as that of Gene Lees, the esteemed jazz writer, might be the height of presumption on my part, but in doing so in this instance, I intend to use it only as the basis for a speculative empathy that he and I might have in common. Because of his close and enduring friendship with Bill ...
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