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Improvising the Classics: Interpreting Mozart
by Larry Slater
Mozart is one of those true musical geniuses revered as one the classical gods. Why are jazz musicians drawn to his music? The combination of his deceptively simple melodies and logical harmonic progressions allows jazz artists to mold these classic pieces into music that is recognizably jazz, yet still recognizably Mozart. Whether ...
Improvising the Classics: Roll Over Beethoven
by Larry Slater
Beethoven was a musical revolutionary. He transformed every musical form he used to create his body of music.The pianist and composer Jon Batiste said “Beethoven's work taps into a universal connective, magnetic truth in music." Beethoven was a master of motivic development, taking small musical ideas and expanding them into long and varied ideas, ...
Improvising the Classics: Jazz Goes Baroque
by Larry Slater
I love classical music almost as much as jazz. Like jazz, classical music is a big tent, spanning the entire musical spectrum from medieval chant to twelve tone atonality. Jazz musicians today get most of their music education in universities and colleges, and often in conservatories. A great many of today's jazz artists have ...
Celebrating A Century Of Charlie Parker, Part 1
by Larry Slater
The jazz world celebrated the centennial of Charlie Parker's birth in 2020. Parker is one of the select few musicians who justify the term '"genius." He was unquestionably one the greatest improvisers who ever played the music,. A critic for Downbeat wrote, “to say Charlie Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived ...
Guy Klucevsek And The Accordion Renaissance
by Larry Slater
Guy Klucevsek, one of my musical heroes, died in May 2025 at age 77.He was one of the world's most versatile and highly respected accordionists, and a major contributor to the accordion renaissance of the last 25 years.When you listen to his music, you need to forget everything you thought you knew ...
Lost and Found, Part 4: James P. Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald, Lennie Tristano & Hasaan Ibn Ali
by Larry Slater
This is the fourth and final hour of recent historic jazz discoveries. There are some amazing and inspiring stories of jazz sleuths who pulled out all the stops to discover long-lost music. The story of James P. Johnson's lost manuscripts ranks right up there with the most dedicated jazz archeologists. James P. Johnson is ...
Lost and Found, part 3: Rare recordings of Ellington, Ben Webster, Art Tatum and Gil Evans
by Larry Slater
There are so many Duke Ellington recordings available. How much undiscovered music of the band can there be? In this hour, you'll hear rarely heard gems from the Ellington discography. Music that's so rare, I doubt even die-hard Ellington aficionados have heard some of these tracks. The Duke Ellington Orchestra with Django Reinhardt at ...
Lost and Found, Part 2: Historic Jazz Recordings from the Swing Era
by Larry Slater
Lost recordings of the early decades of jazz are particularly rare and greatly valued, as the great soloists of the swing era were constrained by the length of the 78rpm shellac disc. Jazz fans and scholars were thrilled to learn about the Savory Collection, which was released in 2018. Bill Savory was a music ...
Lost and Found, Part 1: historic jazz discoveries
by Larry Slater
Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. The same might be said of distant and recent jazz recordings that have been discovered. Sometimes jazz archeologists find these rarities in the archives of defunct record labels, or buried unmarked at the vast Library of Congress. Several were in the hands ...
Last recordings of jazz greats in the 21st century
by Larry Slater
Creative artists rarely retire. Jazz musicians often continue to perform and record as they age. In this hour you'll hear the final musical statements of jazz musicians in the 21st century.The pianist Hank Jones, whose career spanned over 70 years, recorded his last session at 91. Charlie Haden and Carla Bley knew they were ...
