Geek+Nerd (Free subscription) | yesterday
I recently completed the Holiday Mix CD and Recipe Swap over on Swap-bot . I was super pleased with what my partner Alyson sent to me. The mix is a perfect combination of classics, and new to me songs that I now love. I thought I would share the playlist and recipe that I received here: Alyson's Holiday Mix 1. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - Preacher Lee 2. Cha-Cha All the Way - Capitol Studio 3. Deck...
About Last Night (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
As Fats Waller would say, the joint is jumpin'! I'll start with David Margolick's two-page review of Pops: A Life...
New English Review/The Iconoclast (Free subscription) | 11/30/2009
Watch, and listen, here. ...
Rambles from my Chair (Free subscription) | 11/29/2009
I was tempted to do a slightly different rambling post this time. Instead of telling folk what I had been doing I thought I’d list the things I ought to have done. My ‘To do’ list. One advantage of that would be that it might spur me on to get some of the things achieved. Then I looked at the list. I looked at the weather and I looked at my cup of coffee and I thought “no chance”....
New York Times (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
Wil Haygood’s biography of Sugar Ray Robinson captures the great midcentury boxer’s grace and power as well as it’s been captured.
Isomatic UK Weblog (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
This evening we went to the George & Dragon in Thames Ditton to see the John Barnes quartet, comprising John Barnes (baritone sax, alto sax, clarinet, vocal), Alan Berry (keyboard), Mick Durelle (bass guitar) and Don Cook (drums). Guests were Kim Martine (vocals, pictured with John), Ivor Tyler (drums) and John Lang (trombone). Our favourite numbers were: 1) S'Wonderful , written by George Gershwin...
LondonJazz (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
It wasn't very Islington. You could sense a deep intake of breath as a smart Friday-night Kings Place full house caught its first sight of Antonello Salis (photo credit : Fabio Presutti). A bright yellow bandana, and in its shade the impish weather-beaten face of a Sardinian approaching 60 (the salt got into his surname too). A black singlet revealing an awful lot of toned- if not exactly youthful...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
European Jazz Jamboree Berlin, Germany September 18-24, 2009 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, the global appreciation of Germany's jazz is arguably finally getting its due, with no small help from the European Jazz Jamboree (EJJ). In its sophomore year, EJJ has quickly garnered attention throughout Europe, and now the States, too, is (and/or should be) taking notice. Founded and run by entrepreneur...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
I tend to avoid tribute albums. Barring a handful of gems, among them Louis Armstrong's salutes to Fats Waller and W.C. Handy, most miss the mark because they try too hard to one-up or mimic the subject of their adulation. One of the rare exceptions is Tom Talbert's Bix, Duke, Fats. Recorded in 1956 for Atlantic Records, the album features dynamic arrangements by Talbert for three different studio...
Wolfgangs Vault (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
Download for $7.98. Listen to Jimmy Smith Trio performed at Newport Jazz Festival on July 4, 1959
bebop spoken here (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
Mike Durham (tpt/vcl/narration), John Crocker (Ten/clt), Keith Nichols (pno/vcl), Keith Stephens (bjo/gtr), Bruce Rollo (bs), Pete Soulsby (dms). A tried and tested formula by the musicians involved pleased another well-attended session at Trinity Church , Gosforth - this time held in the church itself to enable Keith Nichols to play "Sugar" on the mighty church console. The evening, devoted...
bookofjoe (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
Above, the headline of Terry Teachout's appreciation in today's Wall Street Journal of the master. Up top, Tatum in a 1954 TV performance of Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays." From the article: ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• For the critic, the word "best"...
bebop spoken here (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
... a Fats Waller tribute with Keith Nichols, John Crocker, Keith Stephens, Mike Durham, Bruce Rollo and Pete Soulsby. Tonight's recital is in the actual church rather than the centre to enable 'Fats' Nichols to recreate some of Waller's work on the 'Mighty Wurlitzer'. Another 3 figure audience is anticipated so the Gosforth Gang are doing something right in their promotion of 'The Devil's Music'....
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Dick Katz, a pianist, record producer, educator and writer whose knowledge of jazz from the stride-piano era to 1960s modernism made him a valuable presence on New Yorks jazz scene for six decades, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 85. The cause was lung cancer, said his son Jamie. Mr. Katzs piano idols were soloist royalty: Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Fats Waller. But he was a more reserved musician,...
Some Came Running (Free subscription) | 11/10/2009
I don't normally do this sort of thing, as it's always struck me as too-easy blog fodder, but I have to admit that my iPod shuffle put together a particularly nice playlist at the gym this a.m. 1: "Rub 'Til...
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