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Backgrounder: Dodo Marmarosa — Dodo's Back!
Yesterday, I posted about pianist Craig Davis's new trio tribute to Dodo Marmarosa. I also promised you a fabulous Backgrounder album this week by Marmarosa. Well, why not today, since you probably still have Dodo on your in mind. Dodo's Back! is one of my favorites. It's elegant and pushy, with touches of George Shearing in ...
Craig Davis: Music of Dodo Marmarosa
Michael “Dodo" Marmarosa was a fascinating jazz pianist. Among the first pianists to master bebop in the mid-1940s, he had an accomplished, plush touch. As I wrote back in 2008, “Dodo was less aggressive than Bud Powell and more expressive and complex than Al Haig. He preferred a punctuating, full keyboard approach, developing ideas in the ...
Mose Allison: Live 1978
There are plenty of post-war jazz songwriter-pianists who work overtime to be with-it. Some come off as Beat poets and cool daddy-o's while others strain to be clever phrase-turners and honky-tonk players. For me, there are only two truly hip originals—Thelonious Monk and Mose Allison. Monk and Mose each had a distinct sound that was both ...
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Directed by Robert Wise and produced by HarBel, Harry Belafone's production company, Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) starred Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame and famed dancer Carmen De Lavallade as Kitty. The score is by composer, arranger and Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis. The soundtrack orchestra included Lewis (arr,cond); Bernie Glow, Joe ...
Julie London's Holiday Album, 2022
Once again, it's time for Julie London's Christmas album that never was. I started this tradition eight years ago because, for whatever reason, the singer never recorded an album of holiday favorites, just one side of a Liberty 45 in 1957. Why she'd release a single side but not a full-blown LP remains puzzling, to say ...
Thom Bell (1943-2022)
Thom Bell, a producer, arranger and songwriter who was one of the architects of the Philly Sound in the late 1960s and early 1970s and had hits with soft soul vocal groups backed by his engaging orchestrations, died on December 22. He was 79. Thom pioneered a movement that ushered in a new soul style that ...
Drums 'n' Brass: 10 Video Clips
More swinging brass you say? Hey, why not. With the holidays upon us, what better way to usher in the season than with killer drummers driving powerful big bands. Here are 10 video clips of great big band drummers plus one of the finest drummers of the post-war years who also was a crackerjack arranger. Here's ...
Take Five with Gene Ess
by AAJ Staff
Meet Gene Ess Award-winning guitarist, Gene Ess, draws upon a diverse background to form his unique style. Studying classical piano, Gene's early years were filled with the sounds of Beethoven and Chopin. Originally from Tokyo, Japan and growing up on a U.S. Air Force Base on Okinawa, Gene was simultaneously receiving a mix of influences: he ...
Four Maynard Ferguson Videos
What would the holidays be without brass. Here are a bunch of recently posted YouTube clips of Maynard Ferguson in action, including Christmas for Moderns, an Ed Sullivan Show performance in 1960 and a full album uninterrupted by ads [photo above of Maynard Ferguson and Rufus Jones on drums]: Here's the famed 1960 Maynard Ferguson Big ...
New Nancy Wilson Videos
There has been a surge of new Nancy Wilson videos going up at YouTube this year, especially in past few months. The majestic magnificence of Nancy only grows with time—her jazz feel, her soulful swing, her signature phrasing and how she operated her mouth to produce notes that belonged to her and her alone. Here are ...
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