Results for "Johnny Mercer"

The Music of Hoagy Carmichael, part 2

by Larry Slater
June 20, 2025

This is the second hour dedicated to the music of Hoagy Carmichael, the most jazz oriented of all the American songwriters. His output was remarkably varied, and without a signature style that characterized the theater composers like Jerome Kern or Cole Porter. Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including 50 that achieved hit record status. ...

Susan Hinkson: Just in Time

by Katchie Cartwright
May 10, 2025

In 2025, radio programmers are apt to carp about singers who continue to cover the Great American Songbook. There are new songs and songwriters to explore, they say, and it is true. But for lovers of mainstream jazz, the mellow sound of a sensitive balladeer like Susan Hinkson singing a gem like Harold Arlen and Johnny ...

Nicole Zuraitis: The Up and Down and Up Journey to Newport

by Mark Robbins
April 29, 2025

Nicole Zuraitis should receive a Grammy Award just for her laugh! It's deep, loud, energetic and a treat to hear. Not taking herself too seriously, her conversation is peppered with laughter while she talks about the high and lows of her travels from a struggling young jazz vocalist/composer to her surprising (to her) Grammy win. Her ...

Terry Gibbs Dream Band: Dream Band, Vol. 7: The Lost Tapes, 1959

by Angelo Leonardi
February 24, 2025

«Non credo che ci sia mai stata una band migliore di questa, compresa la mia». Mel Lewis espresse queste parole per la mitica orchestra che il vibrafonista Terry Gibbs guidò in California tra il 1959 e il 1961 e fu chiamata “Dream Band" per l'entusiasmo che suscitò tra i fortunati che l'ascoltarono dal vivo.

What’s Harder to Write, Poetry or Lyrics?

by Joan Merrill
January 15, 2025

Lyrics are often compared to poetry. Are they a form of “the poetic art?" Are they less “artistic?" Poetry has a romantic aura to it, whereas lyric writing seems rather plebeian (to borrow a word from “Cry Me a River"). Writing lyrics doesn't have the cachet writing poetry has. It isn't as cool. And ...

Danny Jonokuchi Big Band: A Decade

by Jack Bowers
October 15, 2024

For trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Danny Jonokuchi, the path to success--in music and in life--has never been smooth or trouble-free. Born with a congenital lung disease, Jonokuchi needed life-saving surgery while in high school to treat a collapsed lung, which caused him to put his trumpet playing aside, at least temporarily. Years later, and almost a ...

John Bauers

Sean Fyfe: Stepping Stones

by Pierre Giroux
May 8, 2024

In an era when the echoes of jazz legends resonate through the ages, pianist Sean Fyfe emerges as a torchbearer of the hard-bop tradition with his latest release Stepping Stones . This album is a testament to the power of collaboration, as Fyfe is joined by the dynamic ensemble of tenor saxophonist Dave O'Higgins, drummer Matt ...

Cannonball Adderley: Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972

by Mike Jurkovic
April 26, 2024

In his most natural setting--onstage alongside brother Nat Adderley--and accompanied by pianist George Duke, bassist Walter Booker and the trusty Roy McCurdy on drums, Cannonball Adderley pops and bops to all heart's content on Poppin' In Paris: Live at the Olympia 1972 . Appearing as part of the Paris Jazz Festival, the band holds ...

Chris Keefe: Opening

by Geannine Reid
January 31, 2024

Chris Keefe may be new to the jazz recording scene as a leader, but his debut album, aptly titled Opening (Zugzwangbebop Records, 2023), reflects his lifetime commitment to the intricate art of jazz. With an academic background from the New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music and performance credits alongside Joe LaBarbera and Antonio Sanchez, ...