Results for "Gene Lees"

Gene Lees

Born: February 8, 1928

An Uplifting Tragedy: Everybody Digs Bill Evans

by Peter Jones
September 16, 2026

In July 1961, 25-year-old bassist Scott LaFaro was killed in a car accident in upstate New York. Four days earlier he had accompanied Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz Festival, and a few days before that, he had made the legendary Village Vanguard live recordings with the Bill Evans Trio Trio that were released as Sunday ...

John Pizzarelli: Dear Mr. Bennett

by Pierre Giroux
March 28, 2026

John Pizzarelli has long been one of the most refined interpreters of The Great American Songbook, a musician who understands that this repertoire thrives not only on reverence but also on personality, swing, and storytelling. With Dear Mr. Bennett, Pizzarelli offers a heartfelt tribute to the incomparable Tony Bennett, whose phrasing, warmth, and commitment ...

Wilma Baan: Look At Me Now!

by Neil Duggan
August 8, 2023

Originally from The Netherlands and now settled in the UK, vocalist Wilma Baan's story is one of perseverance. Mid-way through her singing career in the '80s, she was diagnosed with a condition that meant gradually worsening hearing loss. Although she could still hear high tones, she had little choice but to pause her career. Fortunately, in ...

Werner Klemperer: Colonel Klink Swings World War II

by Ken Dryden
April 1, 2023

Werner Klemperer was a veteran actor who escaped Germany with his family prior to the start of World War II. Classically trained as a violinist and the son of noted conductor Otto Klemperer, he played Colonel Klink, the bumbling commandant of Stalag XIII on the 1960s television series “Hogan's Heroes," and was occasionally featured in the ...

Jon Hendricks: An Essential Top Ten Albums

by Peter Jones
September 16, 2021

Considering he reached the ripe old age of 37 before recording an album, Jon Hendricks' jazz legacy is remarkable. Although a singer, in his head he was more of an instrumentalist. When he improvised, he would imitate the tenor saxophone, the flute, the trombone, or the double-bass. His professional singing career lasted from 1932, when he ...

Bill Evans: Time Remembered (The Life and Music of Bill Evans)

by Troy Dostert
March 7, 2017

Bill Evans: Time Remembered (The Life and Music of Bill Evans) A Film by Bruce Spiegel 2016 In the opening segment of Bruce Spiegel's splendid Bill Evans documentary, Time Remembered, Evans explains in an early interview: “Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that all I must do is take care ...

Female Vocals 2017 I – Cynthia Hilts, Judith Nijland, Andrea Claburn, Sandy Cressman, Lisa Biales

by C. Michael Bailey
January 30, 2017

Take a day off and the recordings pile up and bury you. Female jazz vocals continue to dominate recordings with no indication on letting up. Most these recordings are very good and deserve recognition. So here is my picayune effort to address a few of them. Cynthia Hilts Lyric Fury

Paul Winter Sextet: Count Me In

by Duncan Heining
October 13, 2016

The Paul Winter Sextet might just be one of the best early sixties groups you never heard. Their story, and that of their leader and altoist Paul Winter's, is certainly one of the most remarkable in jazz. Had some director made a film of the Sextet's short life, jazz buffs would have scoffed at the conceit. ...

Paul Jost: The First Thing is Heart

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 12, 2015

Even for a musician who has been playing and singing since age six, Paul Jost has just come through one exceptional year. First, he released his debut with The Jost Project, Can't Find My Way Home (2013, Dot.Time Records), featuring the leader on vocals, harmonica and guitar, with drummer Charlie Patierno, double bassist Kevin ...