Results for "JazzWax by Marc Myers"

Jazzwax List: 5 Live Sleepers

July 7, 2010

The 1940s and 1950s were golden decades for live concert recordings. Radio stations captured many live dates cleanly on transcription discs meant to be played later in different time zones. These eventually surfaced on LPs and CDs as interest in artists and jazz grew. In the LP era, concerts were routinely taped by record companies and ...

Jazzwax Summer Clip

July 5, 2010

The July 4th weekend is the summer personified, especially when the weather cooperates. The smell of burgers and corn on a charcoal grill, the sound of kids laughing and splashing, and a nostalgic tugging for the music of our youth are all part of the classic scene. Case in point: For nine weeks in the spring ...

George Wein on the Rebel Festival

July 3, 2010

Most people are unaware that in 1960, Newport, R.I., hosted not one but two jazz festivals. There was the big one that had been produced by George Wein since 1954. And there was a smaller, alternative festival put on by Charles Mingus. But after the riot of July 2, 1960, the smaller concert series known as ...

Newport Riot, 50 Years Later

July 2, 2010

As I write in the Wall Street Journal today (here), Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival riot. On July 2, 1960, upward of 12,000 teens and college students poured into tiny Newport, R.I., for a weekend of excitement. Unfortunately for the partying crowd, 16,500 jazz fans had already purchased all the tickets ...

Jazzwax Clip of the Day

July 2, 2010

Jazzwax Mindblowers (Vol. 10)

July 2, 2010

At the end of each quarter, I round up my favorite quotes from my interviews over the last three months. This feature is meant to give you a taste of what you might have missed in one convenient post. For others, it's a reminder of how great these musicians are or were. For the full interviews, ...

Jazzwax List: 10 Sax-Organ Combos

June 30, 2010

After my posts on Arnett Cobb and Lou Donaldson, I found myself with a severe craving for sax-organ combo tracks. So I started running through my library of reed and Hammond B3 albums trying to piece together a Top 10 list of favorites. [Pictured: Brother Jack McDuff] Halfway through, I realized the task was impossible. You ...

Harvey Lavine: The Goof and I

June 29, 2010

Tenor saxophonist and arranger-composer Al Cohn wrote The Goof and I in late 1946 or early 1947. The title of the bebop melody with I Got Rhythm sensibilities and On Moonlight Bay overtones was named for baritone saxophonist Harvey Lavine [pictured], who Cohn coined “The Goof" for being absentminded. But there were reasons why Lavine was ...

Interview: Stanley Kay (Part 2)

June 26, 2010

The late Stanley Kay told me he was most proud of two career highlights: being hired by Buddy Rich and founding the DIVA Jazz Orchestra. Let's cover the second one first: In 1990, Stanley was conducting a band in which Sherrie Maricle was playing drums. Taken with Sherrie's playing, Stanley asked her if other female jazz ...

Interview: Lou Donaldson (Part 3)

June 26, 2010

Between mid-1955 and the start of 1957, Lou Donaldson did not record for reasons he outlines below. Instead, he booked a long string of urban clubs across the country and toured them back and forth while fronting a quintet that included organist Big John Patton. Along the way, Lou became creatively comfortable with the sax-organ sound, ...