Time Magazine may feel differently, but I can’t see anyone making a claim on 2016 as their year more than the President of the Tenor […]
Wynton Kelly
On View With John Coltrane
Today is Wynton Kelly’s 85th birthday anniversary. He’s best known for his work with Miles Davis and as the pianist who played “Freddie Freeloader” on […]
Max Roach in Words and Music
What a find! Here’s the Max Roach Quintet, complete with an interview, at the Alhambra in Paris in 1960. Note the emphasis Max places on […]
Mose Allison 1927-2016
Musical Messages As a Kind of Delayed Fiction
Mose Allison, who died on November 15, four days after his 89th birthday, told NPR in 1986 that his songs could be grouped in three […]
Hampton Hawes and President Kennedy
From Watts to the White House, A Successful Bid for Clemency
“…I thought, that’s the right cat; looks like he got some soul and might listen.”
Phil Woods Elected to Downbeat Hall of Fame
Readers Poll Heavily for the Late Saxophonist
What Phil also remembered from that day [with Bird] was an experience that I think most young fans of jazz and blues discover, namely the accessibility of the masters. As Phil put it, “Here was one of the greatest musicians in the world. There was no presidium. There was no pretense. It was, ‘You want a piece of pie.’ What kindness!”