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Bud Shank: Still Going Strong at Eighty-Two
by Jack Bowers
At a time when most of his contemporaries are content to relax on a couch or easy chair and watch their favorite TV programs and sporting events, alto sax superstar Bud Shank is on a roll. Hard on the heels of Graham Carter's splendid documentary of Shank's career, Against the Tide: Portrait of a ...
Checking the Calendar
by Jack Bowers
There are a number of exciting jazz events on the near horizon, which means there's lots of ground to cover. So let's get right to it. On October 9-12, Ken Poston and the Los Angeles Jazz Institute present “Big Band Fiesta," from Cuban Fire to Sketches of Spain, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Newport Beach, ...
Jazz Students Lend Helping Hands in New Orleans
by Jack Bowers
We begin with a heartwarming story courtesy of the July 27-August 2, 2008 issue of American Profile magazine headlined “Hometown Heroes: Jazzing Up the Big Easy." It's a moving account of how students at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, led by music director Jim Warrick, spent their spring break not on the beaches in ...
Yet Another "Dream Band"
by Jack Bowers
As there's not much happening jazz-wise this month, I thought it would be fun (not to mention controversial) to put together a “dream band" comprised of many of my all-time favorite players. Not based on big band tenure per se, even though all of these gentlemen (alas, there are no ladies) enriched many a large ensemble ...
Bob Florence: The Man Behind the Music / The Stage Door (Often) Swings
by Jack Bowers
The news arrived like an errant and unwelcome thunderbolt. Bob Florence had died on May 15, only five days before his seventy-sixth birthday. After the initial shock had worn off the question became, how does one process and evaluate such a distressing occurrence? How can one summarize in mere words so extraordinary a life? The answer ...
The IAJE's Collapse: What Happened?
by Jack Bowers
The truth is, we don't really know. What we do know is that in April, the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and will be turned over to a trustee, its assets parceled out to creditors. This deals a body blow not only to Jazz educators in this country but around ...
A Two-Trumpet Thunderstorm
by Jack Bowers
Betty and I returned home from a family visit to Illinois on St. Patrick's Day, just in time to see and hear one of the more electrifying jazz concerts presented in Albuquerque in quite some time. A fund-raiser for the Manzano High School jazz program, the concert featured our own Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra and not one ...
That's Ten Down, And...
by Jack Bowers
This month marks a milestone of sorts for yours truly, as it was ten years ago that I started reviewing (and writing this column) for All About Jazz. In that time I've submitted a few more than 1,500 reviews, which translates to around 150 per year. During those ten years I was also reviewing CDs (until ...
Pete Candoli (and Other Losses...)
by Jack Bowers
Through the years there have been a number of “family acts" in jazz, but not many in which the parent/offspring or siblings played the same instrument. An exception is the Candoli brothers, Pete and Conte, who not only played trumpet but did so with such creativity and talent that they are widely considered to be among ...
The "Stage Door" Really Swings!
by Jack Bowers
The “stage door" will be swinging off its hinges next May 22-25 when Ken Poston and the Los Angeles Jazz Institute present another of their semi-annual extravaganzas at the LAX Four Points Sheraton Hotel. “The Stage Door Swings" marks somewhat of a departure for Poston / LAJI, as the spotlight won't be focused, as it usually ...
