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Tony Bennett: Pennies in '58
On Sunday, June 29, 1958, Tony Bennett appeared on the Steve Allen Show to sing two songs. The first, Young and Warm and Wonderful, had been released weeks earlier by Tony on Columbia and reached #23 on the Billboard pop chart. The second song is the one of much greater interest. Buried at 1:50 on the ...
Dennis Coffey: In the D
In 1972, guitarist Dennis Coffey had a hit with the funk-soul instrumental Scorpio, which reached #6 on the Billboard pop chart. He had been there many times before as a member of Motown's Funk Brothers house band. That's Coffey's wah-wah guitar on the Temptations' Cloud Nine, Ball of Confusion and Psychedelic Shack. Coffey also can be ...
Boy! What a Girl!: 1947
By 1946, African-American casts were making musical films geared for theater distribution nationwide, not just movie houses in African-American communities. In 1947, one independent production company, Herald Pictures, hired Arthur Leonard to direct an hour-long film called Boy! What a Girl!, starring bassist Slam Stewart, drummer Big Sid Catlett, the Brown Dots vocal group, singer Beryl ...
Horace Parlan: Solo Recordings
For much of his recording career, pianist Horace Parlan functioned as a spirited accompanist. He played with Charles Mingus in the late 1950s and then became a house keyboardist for Blue Note Records, appearing behind Lou Donaldson, Tommy Turrentine, Dexter Gordon, Stanley Turrentine and others. He also recorded with Tubby Hayes, Slide Hampton, Eddie Lockjaw" Davis ...
Three Sounds: Groovin' Hard
In the early 1960s, a growing number of lounges and clubs geared to young adults began emerging in Chicago. Some clubs such as the Playboy Club, which first opened in Chicago in 1960, pulled in white customers, while plenty of others were aimed at African-American audiences. All of these establishments began featuring jazz-soul trios, offering a ...
Martin Luther King + Jazz
Today in the States, it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday since 1986 but not observed by all states until 2000. I thought it would be fitting to hear seven jazz tributes to the civil rights leader and the movement. Each of the jazz pieces that follows is a heartfelt work rooted in the ...
Gene Kurpa: Drummer Man
To fully appreciate the power and bop of Gene Krupa's band and his drumming in 1947, I thought the full short of Drummer Man would do the trick. It features Carolyn Grey on vocal, Tommy Lucas on alto sax, Bill Baker on piano and one heck of a trumpet section that likely featured John Bello, Ray ...
Buddy Greco (1926-2017)
Buddy Greco, a solid swinging jazz pianist, a supper-club pop vocalist and probably the last surviving member of Benny Goodman's Undercurrent Blues" bebop band of 1948-49, died January 10. He was 90. Born in Philadelphia, Greco had his work cut out for him. His father was one of the country's leading opera critics and his mother ...
Buddy Bregman (1930-2017)
Buddy Bregman, a West Coast big-band arranger who could write with sensitivity and swing, and spent much of his career orchestrating music for leading jazz-pop singers, television and the movies, died Jan. 8. He was 86 and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Bregman was a nephew of songwriter Jule Styne, which is how he managed ...
Stan Hasselgard: How Great?
In November 1948, U.S. immigration laws required foreign nationals seeking residence and employment in the States to leave the country and renter, re-setting the legality of their stay under a new visa. If Swedish clarinetist Stan Hasselgard wanted to fulfill a new record deal with Capitol Records, he'd have to update his visa. One of the ...


