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Take Five with Meg Okura

by AAJ Staff
Meet Meg Okura Hailed as the queen of chamber jazz (All About Jazz)," Tokyo-native Meg Okura is a Grammy-nominated jazz composer and violinist based in New York, known for her music praised by The New York Times as grandiloquent beauty that transitions easily from grooves to big cascades to buoyant swing." Ms. Okura leads her 10-piece ...
Backgrounder: Jazz Sounds From Peter Gunn

One could argue that Henry Mancini picked up where Bill Holman left off. As noted earlier this week, Bill's arrangements for recordings captured the sound of 1950s Los Angeles' jazzy cool, with his charts clutch-shifting like brand-new cars cruising the region's many freeways. Mancini's music, by contrast, was for TV and the movies, and captured the ...
17 Favorite 1950s Clips by Bill Holman

As an arranger, the late Bill Holman} knew how to set 'em up and knock 'em down. His arrangements always began with a relatively simple melodic idea, which he then whipped up into a flaming meringue, holding dear to the original concept. He loved to put the reeds in play, setting them off with call-and-response harmony ...
Take Five with Pianist Marta Karassawa

by AAJ Staff
Meet Marta Karassawa Marta Karassawa, a Brazilian pianist and arranger, graduated from Berklee College of Music and formed the Marta Karassawa Quintet in 2001, bringing to light the nostalgia of the great jazz quintets of the '40s and '50s. With it, she performed on the stages of various clubs and festivals. Now, completely revamped, she leads ...
Bill Holman: (1927-2024)

Willis Bill" Holman, a three-time Grammy-winning arranger, composer and saxophonist and one of the last-surviving orchestrators who shaped West Coast jazz in the early 1950s, died May 6 in his sleep of natural causes. He was 96. Influenced most by Gerry Mulligan's arranging and the sound of Count Basie's band, Bill began writing for Kenton just ...
Pat Senatore: Groovin' in Rome

At the start of his recording career in 1961, bassist Pat Senatore played in Stan Kenton 's band, both on the road and in the studio. You'll find him on Adventures in Standards and Adventures in Jazz for Capitol. In 1962, Pat joined Les Brown's band and played on TV shows. Then in early 1965, Herb ...
Charles Mingus: Peggy's Blue Skylight

About an hour and 45 minutes north of Manhattan sits the village of Millbrook, N.Y. In the 1960s, a sprawling American Queen Anne mansion just outside the village became something of a counterculture landmark. Built in 1912, the house and the 2,500-acre estate was acquired at the start of the 1960s by the twin sons of ...
Backgrounder: Larry Young - Into Somethin', 1964

Larry Young was unlike any organist who preceded him. Rather than channel the Black church, he was more influenced by R&B and John Coltrane's tenor saxophone and chord changes on original pieces. One of Young's best middle-period albums—between his early soul-jazz recordings and his modal, avant-garde LPs—is Into Somethin', his first leadership work for Blue Note. ...
Take Five From Aaron Irwin

by AAJ Staff
Meet Aaron Irwin Critically acclaimed saxophonist, multi-woodwind player, and composer Aaron Irwin is a compelling voice of his generation. Known as a lyrical alto saxophonist and a compelling original composer" (The New Yorker), Irwin is a sought-after commodity in the New York jazz scene. Aaron Irwin celebrates his latest project: (After) (Adhyâropa Records, 2024). His ninth ...
The David Frost Show: 1969-1972

The David Frost Show debuted in the U.S. in 1969 and lasted until 1972. It was broadcast in color from New York and was produced by Westinghouse's Group W Productions for syndication, airing three days a week. What made the show special, in addition to featuring an intelligent host, was the diversity of guests and their ...