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Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra, 1946-'49
In 1946, Dizzy Gillespie figured out how to get an elephant to dance on an overturned shot glass. As one of bebop's creators, Gillespie was at heart a big-band man and yearned to lead one. While he initially launched bop as a small-group form, Gillespie wanted to see if it could be leveraged credibly for 15 ...
Gene DiNovi, Today and Yesterday
Gene DiNovi is a gorgeous jazz pianist. One of the early New York players in the mid-1940s who had figured out bop, DiNovi at 15 was pulled up to the bandstand at the Spotlite Club on 52nd Street by Dizzy Gillespie in 1944 to play bop behind him when his pianist went missing. Then Charlie Parker ...
Frank Socolow in the 1940s
Despite enjoying a lengthy career, Frank Socolow recorded only two leadership sessions—one in 1945 and another in 1956. The paucity of recordings under his own name was likely due to his workload playing on other artists' recordings. Socolow had mastered bebop early in 1945, which made him a sought-after player by bands that embraced the new ...
Louis Stewart: Out on His Own
One of my favorite jazz guitar albums has been reissued. Out on His Own was recorded by Irish guitarist Louis Stewart in Bray, Ireland, between November 1976 and January 1977. Instead of one Louis, you get two. It's a solo album but he accompanies himself by overdubbing on eight of the album's original 13 tracks. The ...
Take Five with Tamar Sagiv
by AAJ Staff
Meet Tamar Sagiv On May 9th, 2022, Tamar played her debut concert in Carnegie Hall. She started her cello studies at the age of 8 with her teacher Uri Chen in the Kfar Blum Music Center, a small village in the northern part of Israel At 14, she moved to Jerusalem to study at the Israeli ...
Stella Stevens: Too Late Blues
Stella Stevens, who died last week at age 84, was all set to be a serious movie star in the early 1960s when the youth culture cut in. As a beach-blanket blonde, she wound up cast in many cute films aimed at the teenage market along with Westerns and secret agent movies. Her most recognizable role ...
Documentary: Ron Carter - Finding the Right Notes
Ron Carter got off to a big start. His first recording session was playing bass on Ernie Wilkins's The Big New Band of the '60s, in March and April 1960. The band included Clark Terry (tp,flhrn); Richard Williams and Charlie Shavers (tp); Henderson Chambers (tb); two unknown trombonists; Earle Warren (as); Zoot Sims, Seldon Powell and ...
Documentary: Bill Crow, Jazz Journeyman
What do the following five recordings have in common? Stan Getz Plays (1951), the tenor saxophonist's first for Norman Granz's Clef label, which would soon become Verve. Here's Stella by Starlight... Al Haig's Isn't It Romantic from Jazz Will O' the Wisp (1954), one of the pianist's most beautiful trio albums. Go here... Jackie & Roy's ...
Al Haig and Bud Powell
Yesterday, I posted about Al Haig playing on early bebop recordings in New York with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Which begs the question, did Haig conceive of his style on his own or was he influenced by other New York jazz pianists besides Art Tatum? The answer is a little of both. As Carl Woideck, ...
Al Haig: Invitation
Al Haig was a fascinating and mysterious pianist. Haig's style was an elegant synthesis of hard-core bebop and lounge, which means he had an extraordinary technique. And his bop recordings are so early—at the start, in fact—that Haig and Bud Powell most likely influenced each other through mutual visits at Harlem clubs. Today, Haig is largely ...
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