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Results for "Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson"
Picking Up the Horn
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Sonny Rollins was in his apartment in Greenwich Village, six blocks from the World Trade Center, when the first plane hit. He pulled out his old black-and-white TV, which he hadn't used in years, and hooked it up just in time to see the second plane hit. He ran ...
A Haunting Miles Davis Film Score
Louis Malle's 1958 film Ascenseur pour l'échafraud (Elevator to the Gallows) is legendary for a number of reasons. It helped usher in the French New Wave film movement, it made Jeanne Moreau a star, and it has a haunting score by Miles Davis. The film is a crime drama about two lovers, Florence (Moreau) and Julien ...
Happy Birthday, Paul Gonsalves!
Paul Gonsalves, born on this date in 1920, was a tenor saxophonist mainly known for his long association with Duke Ellington. He was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, but his parents were of Cape Verdean heritage. As a child, he and his brothers played Portuguese folk songs on guitar for family gatherings. They also played “hillbilly" and ...
Big Band Ambassador
During the Cold War, the U.S. government sent artists--stars of all stripes--around the world to promote a positive image of the United States. This included jazz musicians. And while Louis Armstrong had a justified image as the “real ambassador," Dizzy Gillespie was the big band ambassador in 1956 on tours of the Middle East and South ...
Tickle the Ivories, Elmo
Elmo Hope, born on this date in 1923, was a self-taught hard bop pianist and composer who never achieved wide recognition but was influential on other bebop pianists. He was actually childhood friends with Bud Powell--they listened to classical music (J.S. Bach, in particular) together. Hope had a percussive style of playing that was generally rhythmic, ...
