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Video / DVD

Post-Parker String Dates

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 12, 2015

The genius of Charlie Parker's studio recordings with strings in 1949, 1950 and 1952 for Norman Granz's Cleff label wasn't in the merging of jazz and fiddles. In Parker's case, that was something of a happy accident when he turned up at a Carnegie Hall recording session at the tail end of 1947 and asked to solo over Neal Hefti's Repetition. The real genius of Parker and strings is that he knew exactly what to do with them. Rather than ...

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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A most unusual "marching band"

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
October 10, 2015

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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Video / DVD

Jack McDuff: France, 1964

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 9, 2015

Video / DVD

Bill Evans: Last TV Show

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 29, 2015

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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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Evan Parker and Peter Evans

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
September 26, 2015

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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Video / DVD

June Christy: Funny That Way

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 25, 2015

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 / DVD

Video: Northern Soul

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 22, 2015

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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Video / DVD

Paul Desmond: Whimsy At Monterey

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
September 19, 2015

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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