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Jim Levendis: The Big Band Project
by Jack Bowers
Jim Levendis knew that time was running out. In his mid-seventies, the veteran Philadelphia-area trumpeter and educator had contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), the effects of which were rapidly sapping his energy and ability to function. As the disease progressed, Levendis confided in Len Pierro, a band mate in the Ward Marston band, that there was ...
Pianist Joe Block: At the Start of His Big Bang
by Victor L. Schermer
According to cosmologists, our universe started as a tiny speck and within a fraction of a second exploded into a huge ever-expanding space with all the galaxies, stars, and planets condensing out of the dispersed matter within it. This picture of the origins of the cosmos provides an apt metaphor for the way in which some ...
Mary Ellen Desmond: Comfort and Joy 2021
by Victor L. Schermer
Mary Ellen Desmond Comfort and Joy Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany Philadelphia, PA December 12, 2021 Mary Ellen Desmond is one of the most treasured Philadelphia-based vocalists, and for more than a decade she has provided the inspiration for and fronted the same top ...
Temple University Jazz Band: Without You, No Me
by Jack Bowers
When his friend, colleague, mentor and confidante Jimmy Heath died in January 2020, trumpeter Terell Stafford's first impulse was to find a way to honor and remember the renowned Philadelphia-born saxophonist. As Stafford is director of the Temple University Jazz Band, also in Philadelphia, an obvious way would be to record a tribute album, which Stafford ...
Three Seasoned Saxophone Pros
Last week, Danilo Morandi in Switzerland sent along YouTube clips of two senior tenor saxophonists who played their tails off locally. I added a third. One of these saxophonists is Larry McKenna, a Philadelphian who spent six months in Woody Herman's road band starting in 1959 before devoting much of his career to playing locally. I ...
The Len Pierro Jazz Orchestra: The Third Quarter
by Edward Blanco
Flourtown, PA native Len Pierro unveils one monster big band album that will be reverberating well beyond the boundaries of Pennsylvania and from radio studios throughout the jazz landscape for quite a long time. The Third Quarter is The Len Pierro Jazz Orchestra's recent offering and what an offering of fresh original compositions and re-imagined jazz ...
The Len Pierro Jazz Orchestra: The Third Quarter
by Jack Bowers
Any big-band album that opens with a rollicking Four Brothers-style saxophone soli is all but guaranteed to capture one's ear and interest. As it turns out, the buoyant “Fill in the Gap," on which the sax section sparkles, is but the first of many sonic delights on The Third Quarter, a marvelous new CD by Philadelphia-based ...
You're It!
By Mike Melito
Label: Cellar Music Group
Released: 2020
Track listing: You're It; These Foolish Things; Blondie's Waltz; What A Difference A Day Makes; I'll Let You Know;
For Heavens Sake; Afternoon In Paris; You've Changed; Fried Pies.
I Wish I Knew
Label: Lydian Jazz
Released: 2020
Track listing: The Great City; I Wish I Knew; It Could Happen To You; I’ve Grown Accustomed to
Your Face; Poinciana; Alfie; Hello Young Lovers; The Shadow of Your Smile Ev’ry
Time We Say Goodbye; In a Mellow Tone; You Go To My Head; The Party’s Over.
The Third Quarter
By Len Pierro
Label: WalkingPath Records
Released: 2020
Track listing: Fill In The Gap; If I Should Lose You; As We Know It; In Earnest; Time To Go; The Third Quarter; Cottage 2; No More, No
Less; Jitterbug Waltz; Uncle Pep; Voyage.
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