Results for "JazzWax by Marc Myers"

Interview: Jimmy Cobb (Part 4)

January 9, 2009

After recording Quiet Nights in 1962, a Gil Evans session Miles Davis detested because of its light bossa nova feel, drummer Jimmy Cobb spent much of the 1960s recording with pianist Wynton Kelly in small group settings. In the 1970s, Jimmy recorded extensively with Sarah Vaughan and with jazz groups of varying sizes. In more recent ...

Interview: Jimmy Cobb (Part 3)

January 8, 2009

By 1960, drummer Jimmy Cobb was recording with different ensembles led by Miles Davis and John Coltrane.In between, Jimmy recorded with a range of singular artists, including pianist Bobby Timmons, whose cured funk-gospel sound would have a liberating effect on piano playing and jazz in general. During the months between 1959 and 1961, Jimmy's reputation as ...

Interview: Jimmy Cobb (Part 2)

January 7, 2009

Jimmy Cobb has always been in the right place at the right time. As a drummer in the 1950s who could drive big bands, invigorate quintets and sextets, and stir up trios, Jimmy's reputation for being a consummate jazz musician was established early. His concentration and easy-going nature won the respect of leading artists of the ...

Interview: Jimmy Cobb (Part 1)

January 6, 2009

There's a moment on Miles Davis' Stella by Starlight in 1958 that crystallizes drummer Jimmy Cobb's brilliance. It happens in a flash as Davis holds the final note of his trumpet solo and John Coltrane comes in on tenor saxophone. Typically, drummers don't get a chance to make that much of a difference on jazz recordings, ...

W.C. Handy Said It

January 3, 2009

"Then the depression came, and white people suffered the pinch along with their darker brothers. With us, of course, being broke and low-down is an old story. With us there has never been anything else but depression. We have known for years how to laugh under trying circumstances, how to go on living with nothing but ...

JazzWax FAQ: Questions Answered

January 1, 2009

Now that we've reached the end of one year and the start of a new one, I figure now is as good a time as any to tie up a few loose ends. In the past couple of months, I've received quite a few emails from new readers asking about JazzWax and how things work. Here, ...

Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008)

December 31, 2008

Freddie Hubbard, one of hard bop's most versatile and soulful trumpeters who in the 1960s appeared on one essential album after the next, died yesterday in Los Angeles of a heart attack. He was 70. Hubbard, like Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd and Booker Little, was an heir to Clifford Brown's searing, rapid-fire trumpet style. Often paired ...

Swinging 60s: Brit Girls Rule

December 30, 2008

In 1968, when I was a kid, my artist parents took me and my brother to London for a few weeks on a budget summer vacation. In retrospect, I wish they had taken us a few years earlier so I could have seen Swinging London at the height of its glory. But in 1968, I still ...

Oscar Peterson Said It

December 29, 2008

A Jazzwax Holiday Card

December 25, 2008

In the days ahead you won't be able to turn on the radio without hearing sticky holiday music fare that includes Jingle Bell Rock, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and Here Comes Santa Claus. So I figured I'd give you a break--not by sparing you holiday music but by presenting you with my 12 favorite video ...