Results for "Al Hirt"

Al Hirt

A phenomenally proficient trumpet player, Al Hirt was one of the most successful instrumental recording artists of the 1960s. Perhaps modeling his genial stage personality after Louis Armstrong, Hirt was a tremendously popular performer, easily capturing the center of attention with his massive 300-pound, 6-foot-2 frame (among his nicknames were "Jumbo" and "The Round Mound of Sound") but holding it with his joyful spirit and jaw-dropping virtuosity. Although Hirt came out of New Orleans leading a Dixieland band, he never let himself get stereotyped in that narrow genre. He was honest about his choice of style, never calling what he played "jazz": "I'm a pop commercial musician," he once said

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra: Songs: The Music of Allen Toussaint

By JACK BOWERS

Allen Toussaint (1938-2015), a composer / producer who made his mark in the broad spheres of R&B, rock and roll, funk, country and pop music, may seem at first glance an unusual choice for a big-band jazz tribute. On the other hand, the New Orleans native never strayed far from the pivotal music of his home ...

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2018

By MARK ROBBINS

Yes, Virginia, there is jazz at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. From it's inception in 1970, George Wein, mastermind of the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, created a festival that was indigenous with New Orleans. Whether it was the music, food, arts and crafts everything was New Orleans. That first year ...

Mark Morganelli: Adds Club Owner To His Resume

By R.J. DELUKE

Mark Morganelli has long been known as a fine trumpet player and a promoter with years of experience in the jny: New York City area dating back to a jazz loft 39 years ago, through booking at the Village Gate, Birdland, morphing into his nonprofit Jazz Forum Arts organization known for the summer concert series he ...

Dave Zoller: Evidence - Music of Thelonious Monk

By PATRICK BURNETTE

Younger readers may not believe this, but there was a time when all-Thelonious Monk tribute albums were a rarity. During most of Monk's lifetime, musicians focused on a few of his best-known tunes ("Round Midnight" was--and remains-- the obvious favorite). But then Steve Lacy, Roswell Rudd, and other champions of Monk began to devote whole albums ...

Walt Weiskopf: All About the Sound

By BOB KENSELAAR

What is it that drives Walt Weiskopf? It's all about the music, all about the sound. He's reached a large audience in ten years of touring with Steely Dan. He's written a half dozen books on jazz improvisation techniques and methods, and he's taught at the Eastman School of Music, Temple University and New ...

Hey, George Frazier—I’m 10 Years Old Over Here

By BRIAN DUNN

I went a little crazy when I discovered jazz as an 8-year-old kid. I already played trumpet in the school band, but none of that music swung. My ears begged for something with more energy and urgency. The family record collection was of little help. We owned precisely five albums, the jazziest of which was Herb ...

The New Orleans Jazz Scene, 1970-2000: A Personal Retrospective

By CHARLES SUHOR

The New Orleans Jazz Scene, 1970-2000: A Personal Retrospective Thomas W. Jacobsen 208 Pages ISBN: 0807156981 LSU Press 2014 This article first appeared in the American Book Review (January-February 2015 issue). Full disclosure: I've long been an admirer of Thomas Jacobsen's writing, the catholicity of his musical ...

The Best Gig in Town: Jazz Artist at the White House 1969-1974

By C. MICHAEL BAILEY

The Best Gig in Town: Jazz Artist at the White House 1969 -1974 Edward Allan Faine 229 Pages ISBN: #9780985795245 IM Press 2014 There is something puzzling and curious about a book documenting jazz performances at the White House specifically during the Nixon Administration. A thoroughly divisive historical figure, ...