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News: Recording

Harry Lookofsky: Stringsville

October 1, 2015

I'm not a big jazz violin guy. No matter how you slice it, the instrument reminds me of the guy in the movies who shows up at lovers' tables in restaurants. For me, the jazz violin is too high-pitched, squeaky and relentlessly annoying. Of course, my personal taste takes nothing away from the swing-era violin masters. ...

News: Obituary

Phil Woods (1931-2015)

September 30, 2015

Phil Woods, a highly accomplished alto saxophonist who married Charlie Parker's widow, developed one of the most signature sounds on the instrument in small-group and big-band settings, carried on the bebop tradition long after others had moved on, became an exquisite composer-arranger and was perhaps best known for his solo on Billy Joel's Just the Way You ...

News: Video / DVD

Bill Evans: Last TV Show

September 29, 2015

Less than three weeks before his death on Sept. 15, 1980, Bill Evans appeared on the Merv Griffin Show. He came out in a white suit, chatted with Griffin and then played his composition Your Story. The show aired on Sept. 23. Reader Gregory Lee had told me about this appearance some time ago and yesterday ...

News: Video / DVD

June Christy: Funny That Way

September 25, 2015

I'm still on a June Christy kick. I just love Christy's voice. In her sunny optimism, there's so much pain and hurt. I hear volumes of regret, disappointment and insecurity but determination to get beyond all of it. I'm sure part of it was a mess of fatigue from enormous amounts of stress while recording and ...

News: Recording

June Christy: Interlude, 1957

September 23, 2015

June Christy in the LP era has always been most closely identified with Billy Barnes' Something Cool, which she first recorded in mono for Capitol in 1953. I love the song about the hot-weather gal down on her luck who's nursing a bar drink because she has no place to go. Christy delivers the lyrics with ...

News: Video / DVD

Video: Northern Soul

September 22, 2015

When we think of soul, cities like Detroit, Memphis, Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles come to mind. But while soul is most assuredly an American art form, Britain also fell in love with the music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, developing a club scene with dance moves and fashion that lay ...

News: Interview

Interview: Randy Brecker

September 21, 2015

Randy Brecker turns 70 in November and has just released a new live album—RandyPop! (Piloo). The album features reimagined arrangements of pop songs by James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Donald Fagen. Joining Randy are Kenny Werner (p, arr), David Sanchez (ts), Amanda Brecker (v), Adam Rogers (g), John Patitucci (b) and Nate Smith (d). Randy ...

News: Video / DVD

Videos: Essence of Doo-Wop

September 18, 2015

There were hundreds of great vocal groups in the 1950s. Some were signed to major record companies but a majority recorded for small independent labels that came and went. Sadly, only a handful of groups made it to television, which was still in its infancy. Here are five that did: Here are the Platters... Here's ...

News: Recording

Serge Chaloff: March 1947

September 17, 2015

Once Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Curley Russell, Max Roach and other black jazz musicians pioneered bebop and began recording the revolutionary style in 1945, other gifted jazz artists of the period quickly figured out the new language. Among the most exciting and proficient bop groups of 1947 was the short-lived Serge Chaloff ...

News: Recording

The Metronomes: Something Big

September 16, 2015

To stand out and survive, jazz vocal groups in the 1950s and beyond had to have a certain amount of commercial appeal. Much of their success as recording artists and performers depended on their ability to harmonize, sound hip and connect with pop-minded audiences. This was as true of the Ink Spots and Mills Brothers in ...