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Thelonious Monk in Paris, 1969
On December 15, 1969, pianist Thelonious Monk was in Paris on tour with Charlie Rouse (ts) Nate Hygelund (b) and Austin “Paris" Wright (d), with Philly Joe Jones (d) playing on Nutty and Blue Monk. Hygelund was still a student at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. And Wright was only 17. Monk had asked ...
Backgrounder: Freddie Redd's The Connection
In 1960, pianist Freddie Redd composed and recorded The Music From the Connection. The music was originally composed for Jack Gelber's 1959 New York play The Connection, about jazz musicians and drug addiction. Redd's music was performed on stage by Redd (p), Jackie McLean (as), Michael Mattos (b) and Larry Ritchie (d). The album for Blue ...
A Tribute to Paul Desmond and Jim Hall
Between 1959 and 1965, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond and guitarist Jim Hall (both above) recorded six quartet albums together that are still among jazz's most elegant small-group recordings. These albums are First Place Again (recorded in 1959), Easy Living (1963-'65), Take Ten (1963), Glad to Be Unhappy (1964), Bossa Antigua (1964) and Desmond Blue (1962), which ...
John Coltrane: Like Sonny
John Coltrane first recorded his composition Like Sonny during his initial recording session for Giant Steps, his debut LP for Atlantic, on March 26, 1959. The personnel on the first attempt: John Coltrane (ts), Cedar Walton (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Lex Humphries (d). But the song wasn't used on Giant Steps, which came out in ...
Eight New Stan Getz Video Clips
When Stan Getz plays his tenor saxophone, he awakens in you the same feeling of relaxation you get from a tropical breeze or a hot shower. His high, smooth tone instantly soothes your soul and clears your head. A stark and forever-puzzling contrast with Getz's erratic and sometimes cruel personality that left most musicians and singers ...
MLK Day: Eight for Freedom
Today in the U.S., it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday since 1986 to honor the slain civil rights leader and a holiday recognized by all 50 states since 1999. To remember Dr. King, I chose seven great jazz albums that express what King was fighting for. Let freedom ring: Here's Sonny Rollins's Freedom ...
Sonny Rollins: Bret Primack and Aidan Levy
In December, Aidan Levy published Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins (Hachette), a 784-page biography of the tenor saxophonist. Recently, Bret Primack, who interviewed Sonny on camera at length over the years, interviewed Levy on a range of Sonny-related topics: Here's Bret and Aidan on Coleman Hawkins... Here's Bret and Aidan on Don ...
Ugly Beauty: The Music and Mind of Ben Allison
by AAJ Staff
This interview was conducted by Paul F. Roberts and was first published at All About Jazz in September 2001. All of us have a story in our head-a myth of how a new jazz talent gets discovered. Here's how it goes: The young musician—let's call him “the Kid"-practices alone in his bedroom ...
Video: Ella Fitzgerald at the BBC, 1965
On May 8, 1965, the BBC broadcast a taped TV concert that Ella Fitzgerald had recorded earlier that year in front of a studio audience. She was joined on songs by her trio—Tommy Flanagan on piano, Keter Betts on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. There were no musician solos, other than during the intro and ...
An AAJ Interview with Ben Allison
by AAJ Staff
This interview, conducted by Allen Huotari, was first published at All About Jazz in September 1999. As history has taught us, it's not enough to be gifted with talent, one must live up to the burden that “potential" brings. Paradoxically and ironically, the blessing of having one's abilities recognized in public forum is the ...
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