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Bill Watrous (1939-2018)
Bill Watrous, a jazz trombonist who came up in the 1960s just as jazz was fading and the trombone was transitioning into studio orchestras and funk-soul groups such as the Jazz Crusaders and Kool and the Gang, died on July 2, 2018. He was 79. Watrous's finest work was on ballads. His singing trombone style on ...
Bobby Valentin: Mind of a Master
The problem with the Spanish language isn't that Latin American immigrants who come to the U.S. don't learn English fast enough, as some in the government claim. It's that those of us who speak only English are missing out on a vast Latin cultural landscape and its rich history. Sadly, English-only jazz fans aren't considered a ...
Mike LeDonne: From the Heart
Mike LeDonne knocks me out. He's one of the only organists around today who fully grasps the 1970s soul-jazz idiom. Back then, there were seriously groovy Hammond players such as Leon Spencer Jr., Johnny Hammond" Smith, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Sonny Phillips, Charles Kynard, Charles Earland and Don Patterson, among others. All you had to ...
Herbie Mann with Oliver Nelson
Herbie Mann was a fascinating jazz figure. The flutist and saxophonist was a dominant player in the 1950s, recording prolifically as a leader and sideman, and always bringing tremendous swing and lyricism to his work. Both of Mann's parents were dancers, so his keen sense of time makes perfect sense. Tall and lean, he became the ...
John Coltrane: Both Directions
On March 6, 1963, saxophonist John Coltrane was at Rudy Van Gelder's recording studio in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. Between 1 and 6 p.m., Coltrane's classic quartet" recorded 14 songs, including two untitled Coltrane originals that were recorded just once. As I write in my Wall ...
Electrifying Track: The Eely One
In January 1959, tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb was teamed with fellow tenor player Eddie Lockjaw" Davis, organist Wild Bill Davis, bassist George Duvivier and drummer Arthur Edgehill on a Prestige album called Blow, Arnett, Blow. On The Eely One, a walking blues by Cobb, the tough tenors open the clutch all the way and snake through ...
Tito Puente's Cha-Cha-Cha
Yesterday, the temperature hit the mid-90s in New York. As the mercury climbed, thoughts turned to Tito Puente, the Les Brown of Latin dance music. In the 1950s, Puente was one of the so called Big Three" mambo dance kings—Puente, Machito and Tito Rodriguez. While Machito veered toward Latin jazz and Rodriguez, a vocalist, was a ...
Steve Lacy and Whitey Mitchell
Mention the soprano saxophone, and most people think first of Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, Pony Poindexter, John Coltrane and Dave Liebman. But in the 1950s and beyond, the artist who did more to demonstrate the instrument's versatility across multiple jazz styles was Steve Lacy. He began in the early 1950s as a New Orleans-style player, using ...
Dixieland Goes Progressive
Ever sit down to a meal and find yourself loving food you never liked before? Your change of heart often is the result of an ingredient or a special preparation that makes the dish downright delicious. It could be fish with an amazing mustard sauce or broccoli with caraway and toasted almonds. I'm that way with ...
Skip Martin: TV Jazz Themes
One of the first arrangers and bandleaders to take on Henry Mancini's music was Skip Martin (above). In the summer of 1958, Martin, one of the most prolific arrangers of the swing era, recorded TV Jazz Themes with his video all stars" for Los Angeles's Somerset label. The six Mancini selections on the album from the ...


