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Charlie Parker at 100: Part 3
In celebration of Charlie Parker's centenary on August 29, I'm spending the week posting on five major accomplishments by the alto saxophonist. On Monday, I posted about Parker's invention with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945 of a transformative genre of improvised jazz that became known as bebop. On Tuesday, I posted about Parker's popularization of high-speed and ...
Charlie Parker at 100: Part 2
Yesterday, in Part 1 of this series, I posted about the five reasons why Charlie Parker was such an important jazz figure. I also posted about his first accomplishment, the invention of bebop with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945. Today, let's look at the second reason—his ability to improvise fluidly at a high speed. Speed was essential ...
Charlie Parker at 100: Part 1
August 29 will mark Charlie Parker's centenary—the 100th anniversary of his birth. The alto saxophonist was a critically important revolutionary and remains essential listening today for five historical reasons: First, he helped invent bebop in 1945, a jazz form that shifted the focus from bands and bandleaders to individuals. Second, he helped invent a new way ...
Thad, Hank and Elvin Jones
It's not surprising that Thad Jones, Hank Jones and Elvin Jones were jazz musicians. What is astonishing is that all three were exceptional, each with a distinctive and accomplished playing and recording career. By my count, the three brothers recorded together four times, on Keeping Up With the Joneses (1958), Herb Geller's Gypsy (1959) and Elvin ...
Ed Sullivan: Jazz and Pop
Yesterday I posted a new YouTube video clip of Carmen McRae on The Ed Sullivan Show. Today, here are a nine more recent jazz and pop additions to the Sullivan YouTube channel: Here's Nancy Wilson singing Face It, Girl It's Over in 1968 Nancy told me when I interviewed her that she was pregnant when she ...
Carmen McRae: London, 1961
In May 1961, singer Carmen McRae was booked into London's popular Flamingo jazz club for a two-week run. The Flamingo, at 33 Wardour Street in Soho, was a dodgy basement nightspot that on the weekends remained open until 6 a.m. On the bright side, the club was known for its sterling sound system. Just over a ...
Hank Mobley: Soul Station
When I write, I often wish I had pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Blakey as my backing trio. I'd set them up in my office, and their swinging feel would motivate me to finish twice the work I set out to accomplish. While this isn't possible and wouldn't be even if they ...
J.J. Johnson and Bobby Jaspar
Tropical storm Isaias blew into New York around 11 a.m. yesterday, whipped things around and split at about 3 p.m. When it did, the sun came out and the 35-mph gusts began, cooling things off a bit. For some reason, I craved J.J. Johnson and his distinct, muffled trombone sound. The albums I turned to were ...
Earle Spencer: Early Progressive
The start of progressive orchestral jazz can be traced to the day Igor Stravinsky became a naturalized U.S. citizen in January 1946. The aristocratic Russian composer was at the forefront of modern classical music and long had ties to American classical institutions. After being sponsored for citizenship by actor Edward G. Robinson, Stravinsky was shrewd enough ...
Roy Ayers + Maceo Parker
Roy Ayers and Maceo Parker are two of my favorite jazz-soul and jazz-funk artists. Both recently released new albums. And both musicians started out as jazz players but invented new R&B forms during their careers—Ayers as a neo-soul vibraphonist and Parker as a bump-and-funk alto saxophonist. Their new albums are moody, funky and chill. Ayers is ...
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