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Article: Building a Jazz Library

Mark Murphy: An Essential Top Ten Albums

by Peter Jones
August 25, 2021

Revered by jazz singers the world over, Mark Murphy is barely known to the general public--which is curious, since he enjoyed a recording career that lasted more than half a century, made 48 albums in his lifetime, and played thousands of gigs with hundreds of musicians from Norway to Australia. A notoriously mercurial and secretive character, ...

News: Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Count Basie

August 21, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Count Basie's birthday today! Bill Basie studied music with his mother as a child and played piano in early childhood. He picked up the basics of early ragtime from some of the great Harlem pianists and studied organ informally with Fats Waller. He made his professional debut as an accompanist for ...

Article: Take Five With...

Take Five with Thomas Manuel of The Jazz Loft

by AAJ Staff
August 17, 2021

Meet Thomas Manuel Jazz historian, music educator and cornet player Dr. Thomas Manuel holds the endowed Artist in Residence chair within the Jazz department at Stony Brook University. In addition to this he serves as a trustee to the Frank Melville Memorial Foundation, is a member of the Huntington Arts Council Decentralization Advisory Committee, and is ...

Article: Interview

Richard Brent Turner on Islam, Jazz and Black Liberation

by Lawrence Peryer
July 30, 2021

Richard Brent Turner is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the African American Studies Program at the University of Iowa. Since joining the faculty in 2001, Professor Turner has authored several books, including Jazz Religion, The Second Line, and Black New Orleans, New Edition (Indiana University Press, 2016), and Islam in the African-American Experience, ...

Article: So You Don't Like Jazz

Top Ten Kennedy Center Musical Moments

by Alan Bryson
July 10, 2021

It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb: “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage them, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers their tastes and sensibilities. This So You Don't Like Jazz column explores ways ...

Article: Interview

Ulysses Owens: Big Band, Big Sound

by R.J. DeLuke
June 29, 2021

Some jazz drummers, as remarkable as they may be and as successful as their careers are, just aren't suited to drive a big band. It's not for every percussionist. But every big band needs a good one or the effort will fall short. A ship needs a rudder. Ulysses Owens Jr., who started beating out rhythms ...

Article: Interview

Shai Maestro: Human, All Too Human

by Scott Krane
June 25, 2021

ECM recording artist and erstwhile pianist for bassist, Avishai Cohen, Shai Maestro is both a firebrand and a lightning rod. Human, his sixth record as leader and second for ECM, features Jorge Roeder on bass, Ofri Nehemya on drums, and, making his debut in Maestro's combo, Philip Dizack on trumpet. Creamy and richly layered, Human flirts ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Harold Danko, Count Basie & James Brandon Lewis

by Joe Dimino
June 20, 2021

From the young and talented \ we begin the 704th Episode of Neon Jazz with a track off James Brandon Lewis's Live at Willisau done some years back, but released in 2020. We also look into some impressive singers & performers releasing new music including Shelly Rudolph and Emi Makabe. We also include some big band ...

Article: History of Jazz

Clifford Brown’s Trumpet and One Summer in Atlantic City

by Arthur R George
June 3, 2021

Part 1 | Part 2 For 22-year-old trumpeter Clifford Brown, the summer of 1953 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was transformative. Playing with bebop elders, he cumulatively opened the door for what came next: a groove-oriented swinging style, in which small groups used structured arrangements like big bands, with room for improvisation, but less ...

Article: Extended Analysis

The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-66

by Skip Heller
May 28, 2021

Louis Armstrong officially returned to small band leadership May 17, 1947 via a triumphant concert at Town Hall that was less comeback than reaffirmation. It was even the dawn of his second great period, full of recordings that stood tall with his epochal 1920's output, and the subsequently-assembled Louis Armstrong and his All Stars would immediately ...