Every weekend there are innumerable live gigs played for music fans of every persuasion. One of the redeeming aspects of social media is that musicians and fans can share a taste of these...
The term “brass band” calls to mind John Philip Sousa or Dixieland jazz. The boys Mark Knopfler sang about in Sultans of Swing, wouldn’t be interested.“They don’t give a damn about any...
Instead of old (or dead) guys let's focus on someone who is not a guy—old, dead, or otherwise. Jane Monheit fits that bill and you might even spot her name on the marquee at your local jazz club....
Sorry for the lateness of this weeks playlist. Our subject this time is another guitarist named Grant Green. I have to admit that I really wasn't aware of Green until we started looking for music...
James is on travel this week, so the bigwigs in the Phantom Sway C Suite tagged me with this week's Jazz for Nonbelievers playlist. And when I say "tagged", I mean "sent two large men with baseball...
This week’s post isn’t going to have a lot of commentary since my computer is acting like Tito Puente beat on it like a rented timbale. I’m phone blogging, but since I’m working on a little...
One of the cool things about jazz is that percussionists can front their own band instead of playing in relative anonymity. Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa and others...
Julian "Cannonball" Adderly reportedly got his nickname not from being round and explosive but from having a sizable appetite. Guys called him "cannibal" which eventually evolved into the less grisly...
I hope everyone enjoyed last week's post and playlist featuring Herbie Hancock. This week we move from the keyboard to the unique guitar mastery of Wes Montgomery. Jazz is best experienced live but...
Herbie Hancock is a name that should be familiar even to you jazz haters. Like last week's subject Hugh Masekela, Herbie Hancock crossed over into other genres and even landed a track or two on the...
