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1

Article: New York Beat

Steve Miller and Jimmie Vaughan at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Read "Steve Miller and Jimmie Vaughan at Jazz at Lincoln Center" reviewed by Nick Catalano


No matter what the style where African-American influences and developments upon the modern music scene have been pervasive--work songs, ragtime, jazz, stride, and boogie-woogie, the most important contribution has been the Blues. The country Blues as heard by pioneers such as Robert Johnson, The City Blues epitomized by Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Rhythm n' Blues ...

4

Article: Album Review

Sue Sheriff: Better Than Anything

Read "Better Than Anything" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


It was in one of those art pieces often used to close an hour out on National Public Radio where a jazz vocalist was being interviewed about the durability and longevity of the “Great American Songbook." The singer remarked that as long as listeners age and have life experience, the standards composed between 1920 and 1960 ...

1

News: Recording

New Release "Angels" by Andy Scott, Featuring Cyrus Chestnut, Dezron Douglas And Evan Sherman

New Release "Angels" by Andy Scott, Featuring Cyrus Chestnut, Dezron Douglas And Evan Sherman

Andy Scott is a jazz singer… but that’s like saying Al Pacino is an “actor” and Julia Childs a “cook.” Scott comes from the tradition of the classic ballad/American Songbook style but he’s not “retro”—like the best singers he melds the best of the past with the immediacy of the Eternal Now, with an eye on ...

25

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Stan Getz

Read "Stan Getz" reviewed by Mark Barnett


The story of Stan Getz (1927-1991) has to begin with Lester Young. Before Young, tenor sax players seemed awash in testosterone. Their sound was full, rich, deep, blown hard out of the instrument's lower registers, with emotion pouring out in lavish swoops and honks. Then along came Lester. In the post-war 1940s, he invented a new ...

10

News: Performance / Tour

Spirit Of Abbey Lincoln Invoked Through Up And Coming Jazz Singer's Theatrical Tribute And New Album Release

Spirit Of Abbey Lincoln Invoked Through Up And Coming Jazz Singer's Theatrical Tribute And New Album Release

For two weekends in March, up and coming jazz singer-songwriter Kosi, accompanied by a four-piece band of world class musicians (Brendon Biagi, Aron Marchak, Christopher Hall, and Isaiah Pierce), will be performing a tribute to recently departed jazz icon Abbey Lincoln at the WOW Cafe Theater in New York City. This tribute, called Ghosts Appearing through ...

14

Article: Album Review

Danielle Reich: While We Were Dancing

Read "While We Were Dancing" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


The Austin Texas satellite of the Houston Jazz Mafia, vocalist Danielle Reich, follows her debut recording This Year's Kisses (Self Produced, 2011) with a stripped-down recital right out of the heart of the Great American Songbook. Reich pares down her piano-led standard hard bop quintet to a guitar-driven (capably played by Mitch Watkins) trio. “Less is ...

1

News: Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today! “Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her ...

2

News: Music Industry

Philadelphia Music Alliance To Celebrate Billie Holiday Centennial As 1st 2015 Inductee On Philadelphia Music Walk Of Fame

Philadelphia Music Alliance To Celebrate Billie Holiday Centennial As 1st  2015 Inductee On Philadelphia Music Walk Of Fame

PHILADELPHIA, PA: As a special birthday gift to the woman widely considered to be one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century, The Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame is proud to welcome Billie Holiday as its newest inductee today on the 100th anniversary of her birth in the City of Brotherly Love. Billie Holiday, ...

15

Article: Year in Review

2014: The Year in Jazz

Read "2014: The Year in Jazz" reviewed by Ken Franckling


The year 2014 turned out to be a year noteworthy for its numbers. Newport turned 60, Blue Note turned 75, International Jazz Day's third edition featured 900 events in more than 190 countries. The jazz world lost seven of its NEA Jazz Masters, and New Orleans trumpeter Lionel Ferbos died at 103. Sad but not unexpected, ...

11

Article: Book Excerpts

On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom

Read "On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom" reviewed by Dennis McNally


The following is an excerpt from the “Spirituals to Swing" chapter of On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom by Dennis McNally (Counterpoint Press, Berkeley, 2014). Danny Barker, who in the 1930s was Cab Calloway's guitarist, told a particularly revealing story of working at the Nest Club, a Harlem ...


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