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Charlie Parker: Now's the Time
In 1957, two years after Charlie Parker's death at age 34, Norman Granz's Verve label began releasing a series of albums called The Genius of Charlie Parker. They were eight, 12-inch versions of 10-inch albums issued on his Clef label in the early 1950s. The larger vinyl versions included alternate takes. One of those albums was ...
Jimmy Gourley: American in Paris
Jazz guitarist Jimmy Gourley spent much of his career in France, creating the impression for many jazz fans that he was French. He wasn't. He was born in St. Louis and grew up a high school band mate of alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. After Gourley's father bought him a guitar, Gourley picked up the basics by ...
Helen Merrill and Bill Evans
In February 1958, singer Helen Merrill recorded five tracks backed by Bill Evans, who was part of a superb quintet. The tracks would be their only studio recordings together. Evans would move on to the Miles Davis Quintet and Sextet that May and then form his own trio at year's end. Helen would spend 1958 and ...
Christo (1935-2020)
Lost this week in the flurry of shocking events in Minneapolis and on the nation's streets was the death on May 31 of environmental artist Christo Javacheff, known professionally as Christo. He was 84. With his wife, Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, Christo specialized in massive sculptural pieces that shrouded iconic architecture and intruded on landscapes ...
10 tracks: Niehaus and Brass
With the recent passing of alto saxophonist and arranger-composer Lennie Niehaus, I spent yesterday listening to his Stan Kenton and sideman sessions and arrangements. During this period, Lennie used a wonderful device on up-tempo arrangements, opening with a heavy, dark riff and then cutting the cord and letting the song float into bright swing. On ballads, ...
Greek Legend Manolis Mikelis
Today, jazz flourishes in Athens—or at least did before the virus lockdown. Many clubs dot the city, and gifted Greek jazz musicians perform there. Greek jazz greatness begins with a pianist whose name might be new to you—Manolis Mikelis. That's because Mikelis barely recorded, preferring to play live throughout Europe during his lifetime. Back in the ...
Lennie Niehaus (1929-2020)
Lennie Niehaus, a Los Angeles alto saxophonist and prolific composer for big bands and his own octet starting in the 1950s before moving on to television and Clint Eastwood-directed films, died May 28. He was 90. Lennie was one of the giants of the West Coast linear jazz sound. Along with Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Gerry ...
Lenny Breau: 7-String Swing
In August 1982, Canadian jazz guitarist Lenny Breau was in Nashville to record, of all things, a country album. Or rather, a guitar album with Western Swing sensibilities. For the studio session, Breau played a seven-string guitar and a six-string electric guitar. He was backed by the legendary Buddy Emmons on pedal-steel guitar, Jim Ferguson on ...
Bobby Spellman: Cool Revenge
The birth of the cool took place at 14 West 55th Street in Manhattan in 1947. There, at arranger Gil Evans's bare-bones apartment, musicians constrained by bebop's small-group limitations began meeting to develop a new sound. Inspired by Claude Thornhill's sighing sectional approach to orchestral jazz, the revolutionary arrangers included Evans, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, George ...
Jimmy Cobb (1929-2020)
Jimmy Cobb, a drummer whose sensitive, smoldering touch on Miles Davis albums such as Kind of Blue and Some Day My Prince Will Come gave the trumpeter's masterful sextet and quintet a sheer, elegant quality, died on May 24. He was 91. Jimmy began his recording career on Dinah Washington 78s in the late 1940s followed ...
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Interview
Lou Marini: A Solo Career Starting At The Age Of 80
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In Tribute To...
John Coltrane At 100: A Global Perspective
History of Jazz
John Coltrane in Detroit: A Brief History
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Detroit Jazz Festival 2026: A Gathering in a Great Jazz City
Interview
Jasur Khalilov: From Falak to Fusion
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Sequoia Snyder: Growing in the Light of the Masters
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