About Gay Life (Free subscription) | yesterday
"I think everything should happen at halfway to dawn. That's when all the heads of government should meet. I think everybody would fall in love." - Billy Strayhorn Billy Strayhorn originally appeared on About.com Gay Life on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 12:46:14. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Malcolm Redfellow revivus (Free subscription) | 02/07/2010
Take the A Little clip , under three minutes, on the BBC website: It's the kind of "ain't-that-funny" thing that makes for newspaper column-fillers. Here, predictably, the Beeb does it to perfection. The Eighth Avenue Subway, the A-C-E line, is one of the self-imposed tasks every tourist to New York undertakes, along with the Empire State and the Brooklyn Bridge. First timers inevitably...
AfriClassical (Free subscription) | 02/05/2010
[Harlem Quartet ] Freep.com Posted: Feb. 4, 2010 BY MARK STRYKER FREE PRESS COLUMNIST “The 13th annual Sphinx Competition for black and Latino string players, which culminates with Sunday's finals concert featuring the Harlem Quartet and the Sphinx Symphony conducted by Anthony Elliott , has become a signature event in classical music. But beyond the competition -- which doles out more than $100,000...
St. Louis Jazz Notes (Free subscription) | 02/02/2010
The St. Louis-based independent label MAXJAZZ today announced plans for four new CD releases in the coming year. Guitarist Russell Malone ( pictured) will release his fourth project on MAXJAZZ, a studio recording of originals and standards with bassist David Wong and drummer and East St. Louis native Montez Coleman. Trumpeter Terell Stafford also will record again for MAXJAZZ, with his third date for...
Jazz & Blues Music Reviews (Free subscription) | 02/02/2010
David Hajdu (biographer of Billy Strayhorn) paints a wonderful portrait of pianist and composer Fred Hersch in a recent New York Times magazine feature : (excerpt) "Today, at age 54, after many months of rehabilitation and therapy, grueling effort, effective medical care, an almost irrationally defiant refusal to accept his problems as anything less than temporary distractions from his music and...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 01/22/2010
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed Best of New York by New York Magazine, and an invaluable New York institution by The New York Post, will continue its star-studded Winter/Spring 2010 season with the debut of the new band led by world-renowned saxophonist, flautist and composer DON BRADEN and MARK RAPP, one of Downbeat Magazines top emerging trumpeters. Their show at Feinstein's...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 01/12/2010
Angelica claims a spot as a superior quartet set--alto saxophone and a rhythm section--right at the very beginning, not with the Duke Ellington -penned title tune, but with a Billy Strayhorn gem, "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing." Italian saxophonist and jazz prodigy, Francesco Cafiso--just nineteen years old at the time this music was laid down--ignores the "never open with a ballad advice,"...
Later On (Free subscription) | 01/05/2010
A great jazz musician: Thelonious Monk: Blue Monk (Oslo, April 1966) Thelonious Monk – piano. Charlie Rouse – tenor. Larry Gales – bass. Ben Riley – drums. And here’s a bio: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D. G. Kelley A review by David Yaffe”You know people have tried to put me off as being [...]
Artmanjosephgrech (Free subscription) | 01/05/2010
There are only a handful of films about Jazz and Jazz musicians and one I had heard about and always wanted to see but only had opportunity to experience on Monday evening is Paris Blues with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sydney Poitier, Louis Armstrong playing 1960’s Louis Armstrong and the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The film has one major issue. The universal and everyday...
Suburban Guerrilla (Free subscription) | 12/30/2009
The Billy Strayhorn classic with Johnny Hartman on vocal, John Coltrane, tenor sax. McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, drums.
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 12/25/2009
Marcus Shelby Douglas Beach House San Francisco November 15, 2009 Fifteen jazz musicians gathered onstage at the Douglas Beach House (home to the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society) November 15 to perform numbers from Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn as well as original compositions by the orchestra's band leader, Marcus Shelby . The compositions were part of the yet-to-be-completed series of tunes...
Dartman's World Of Wonder (Free subscription) | 12/20/2009
In 1960, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn arranged their own adaptation of the classic Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. Changing the names of some of the movements to such titles as Toot Toot Tootsie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Flutes), Peanut Brittle Brigade (March), Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy), The Volga Vouty (Russian Trepak), Chinoiserie (Chinese Tea), Dance of the Floreadores...
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society (Free subscription) | 12/20/2009
Bob Brookmeyer turns 80 years old today. To anyone with any interest in large-scale jazz composition, Brookmeyer is a figure of near-idolatrous worship. He's earned his place in the pantheon of great large ensemble composers many times over, alongside figures...
Atlas Shrugs (Free subscription) | 12/12/2009
Charles Mingus Sextet featuring Eric Dolphy Take The A Train Take The A Train, tune of Billy Strayhorn interpreted by Mingus Sextet in Oslo. Charles Mingus Double Bass Eric Dolphy Bass Clarinet Dannie Richmond Drum Clifford Jordan Tenor Sax Jackie Byard Piano Johnny Coles Trumpet
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 12/09/2009
There's a brand new CD out featuring Don Braden on saxophone and flute, Mark Rapp on trumpet, GRAMMY nominated Gerald Clayton on piano, Sachal Vasandani on vocals, Rene Hart on bass and Greg Gonzalez on drums. The record is the brainchild of celebrated producer Billy Terrell and is comprised of modern, contemporary arrangements from the Billy Strayhorn songbook. The band is built upon the artist roster...
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