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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A most unusual "marching band"
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
From the looks of things, fitting everyone on stage may be a tight squeeze when MarchFourth! comes to St. Louis to play an all-ages show on Monday, October 19 at the Old Rock House. Formed in Portland, OR for a Mardi Gras gig in 2003, the group includes stilt-walkers, acrobats and dancers, as well as up to five percussionists and six brass and wind players among its lineup of 15 to 20 musicians and performers. Their accomplishments to date include ...
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Bill Evans: Last TV Show
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Less than three weeks before his death on Sept. 15, 1980, Bill Evans appeared on the Merv Griffin Show. He came out in a white suit, chatted with Griffin and then played his composition Your Story. The show aired on Sept. 23. Reader Gregory Lee had told me about this appearance some time ago and yesterday emailed to let me know that someone had just put it up on YouTube. Here's Evans on TV on Aug. 23, briefly, followed by ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Evan Parker and Peter Evans
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Today, let's spend a few minutes with saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Peter Evans, who will give a duo performance to kick off New Music Circle's 2015-16 season next Friday, October 2 at Joe's Cafe. (Both men also will take part in a free workshop/Q&A at 11 a.m. the next day (Saturday, October 3) at Foam.) Parker is a 71-year-old Englishman who began his career in the 1960s, at first briefly emulating the cool stylings of Paul Desmond and Lee ...
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June Christy: Funny That Way
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I'm still on a June Christy kick. I just love Christy's voice. In her sunny optimism, there's so much pain and hurt. I hear volumes of regret, disappointment and insecurity but determination to get beyond all of it. I'm sure part of it was a mess of fatigue from enormous amounts of stress while recording and touring with Stan Kenton between 1945 and 1950. The following is one of my favorite vocal videos and is rarely comes up in YouTube ...
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Video: Northern Soul
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
When we think of soul, cities like Detroit, Memphis, Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles come to mind. But while soul is most assuredly an American art form, Britain also fell in love with the music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, developing a club scene with dance moves and fashion that lay the groundwork for glam and synth pop. Known as Northern Soul, the Brit movement was the reverse of the British Invasion as American vinyl ...
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Paul Desmond: Whimsy At Monterey
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
How many times did the Dave Brubeck Quartet perform “Take Five?” Hundreds? Maybe thousands. No one other than Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello would know for certain, and it’s unlikely that any of them kept a scorecard. “Take Five” is the annuity that keeps on giving to the American Red Cross, Desmond’s legatee. Noel Silverman, the executor of Desmond’s estate, informed me this morning that royalties, mostly from “Take Five,” have given the Red Cross upwards of ...
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Videos: Essence of Doo-Wop
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
There were hundreds of great vocal groups in the 1950s. Some were signed to major record companies but a majority recorded for small independent labels that came and went. Sadly, only a handful of groups made it to television, which was still in its infancy. Here are five that did: Here are the Platters... Here's Fred Parris and the Five Satins... Here's a cover of the Tymes So Much in Love by the Spidells... Here are the ...
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