Results for "Steven Cerra"

Steven Cerra

Shorty Rogers And His Giants

by Steven Cerra
August 27, 2025

Shorty Rogers--trumpet, flugelhorn, arranger--was born on April 14, 1924 and died November 7, 1994. Born Milton Rajonsky, Shorty was the biggest name in West Coast jazz. He studied in New York before going into the army, and on his discharge worked first with Woody Herman's First and Second Herds, and from there in the Stan Kenton ...

The Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950’s from Robert Gordon’s “Jazz West Coast”

by Steven Cerra
July 20, 2025

Originally published in London in 1986 by Quartet Books LTD, Bob Gordon's seminal work on the jazz styles and groups that developed primarily in Los Angeles in the 1950s has long been out-of-print and copies of it are difficult to obtain. In order to rectify this lack of availability, Bob Gordon has given me ...

The Jazz West Coast Style of Music: An Introduction

by Steven Cerra
May 23, 2025

I know it's hard to imagine with today's governmental overreach telling people what cars to drive, what bathrooms to use, and the highest personal, property and commercial taxes of any state in the nation, but California in the 1950s was a place of opportunities and possibilities. It's why my dad relocated the family from ...

Victor Feldman - Part 5: The Final Years, 1978-87

by Steven Cerra
February 20, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5Looking back to 1978, it's hard to believe that in less than 10 years, Victor would no longer be with us.Woody Herman was never out of Victor's musical life. His career in the States had begun when he joined ...

Victor Feldman - Part 4: The Artful Dodger, 1967-1977

by Steven Cerra
February 19, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 During the decade in question, due to the responsibilities of establishing myself in a career outside of music and because of the obligations of a growing family, I did not see Victor as often. Fortunately for me, he ...

Victor Feldman - Part 3: Miles & Beyond

by Steven Cerra
February 18, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 “His keyboard technique is above reproach and is matched by his brilliance on vibes and drums; his knowledge of rhythms and meters, and the possibilities inherent in combining melodic lines with percussion expressions, greatly expounds the sounds of any ...

Victor Feldman - Part 2: From Cannonball to Russia

by Steven Cerra
February 17, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5As to the title of this piece, I thought about calling it “Part 2: The Cannonball Years," but since Victor was with Cannonball for only less than a full year, I thought that might be overstating things a bit. I lived ...

Victor Feldman - Part 1: The Arrival

by Steven Cerra
February 16, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Mentioning my name in the same context as that of Gene Lees, the esteemed jazz writer, might be the height of presumption on my part, but in doing so in this instance, I intend to use it only as the ...