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Terry Teachout On 'Satchmo'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
As Terry Teachout was finishing Pops: A Life, his 2009 biography of Louis Armstrong, he had an idea. Realizing that Armstrong's final performance at the Waldorf in 1971 was an operatic moment—a meet-your-maker crescendo in the life of a great artist—Terry wrote a theatrical work where the trumpeter reflects on his life, and his white manager, Joe Glaser, adds his thoughts. The radical device was having the same black actor play both parts. The result is Satchmo at the Waldorf, ...
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Tommy Wolf + Fran Landesman
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
If many of today's jazz musicians and singers lack anything, it's curiosity. Talent they've got plenty of, but a deep interest in the past beyond what they already know about the music seems alien to their approach. Based on the CDs that cross my desk, the same two dozen standards are being recorded endlessly—At Last, Autumn Leaves, When Lights Are Low, Like Someone in Love, The Very Thought of You and so on. What's hurting the music isn't a lack ...
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Chicago Loves Bobby Broom
Source:
All About Jazz
By Don Howze When it comes to jazz, Bobby Broom is the quintessential jazz guitarist and composer. Like Wynton Marsalis, Broom stands true to the history and culture of the founding pioneers of the jazz genre. Broom's style of performing with the same delicate strumming and interpretation made popular by legendary jazz guitarists Wes Montgomery and Les Paul, has made him one of Chicago's favorite artists. Born in Harlem, raised on New York City's Upper West Side and later becoming ...
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Beryl Booker: 1946-54
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, there were more women in jazz than is customarily known or documented. We tend to think of jazz as men's music, with a smattering of women functioning primarily as novelty acts. Men also thought that way back then, making life doubly difficult for female artists. The view was perhaps best summed up by manager Joe Glaser's comment: “Who wants to come and hear three broads playing jazz?" [Photo above: Beryl Booker] Beyond Mary ...
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Rowles on Tatum
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Many stories about jazz heroes are apocryphal. This is one is true. One night in the late 1930s, Fats Waller And His Rhythm were playing at the Yacht Club on 52nd Street in Manhattan. Art Tatum, the other half of the Tatum-Waller mutual admiration society, came in to listen. When he first moved to New York, Tatum’s almost superhuman virtuosity at the piano had bowled over every pianist in town, including Waller. Introducing his friend to the audience, Fats said, ...
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Interview: Carol Stevens, Part 2
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Singer Carol Stevens has a terrific phone voice. It's identical to her singing voice in the late '50s—husky, feminine and full of character. Naturally, it was a pleasure interviewing her—both for the content and just to hear her articulate her points. Carol in the '60s and beyond continued to sing at clubs in New York and New England. She performed with Jimmy Giuffre and others. She also was married to Norman Mailer. But for this interview, Carol preferred to stick ...
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"Does Anyone Remember Conrad Gozzo?"
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
In response to the Rifftides post about the death of Al Porcino, reader Dick Vartanian sent a comment: I remember Al Porcino well and had deep regard for his playing. But does anyone remember a equally great countryman of his named Conrad Gozzo? Jack Greenberg responded with this: Everyone who is my age (70 years old) and plays trumpet remembers Conrad Gozzo. As the most sought after lead trumpet player in Hollywood up until his death in 1964, his recorded ...
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Interview: Carol Stevens, Part 1
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
About a year ago, I came across a fascinating album from 1957 by a female vocalist named Carol Stevens. The album was That Satin Doll (Atlantic). What made the album so interesting was that the singer spent a few songs using her voice as an instrument, tonally improvising along to the melody. Her timbre also was terrific—a husky, sexy, hurt sound that seemed to have survived a real-life film noir. And her phrasing curled around melodies like a curious kitty-cat ...
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