Scotsman.com (Free subscription) | 10/24/2009
Born: 7 January, 1935 in Glasgow. Died: 10 October, 2009, in Georgetown, Ontario, aged 74.
LondonJazz (Free subscription) | 07/05/2009
Here's a touching comment which I received this morning, about my post from last month about Twitter, and the picture of David Jean Baptiste . "Can't believe how people find so many wonderful things thru Twitter. I'm an eighty-four year old jazz fan who hung out with the Condon , Muggsy Spanier , Pee Wee Russell bunch a long time ago. Nice blog. Photo made me think of dear little Ernie Caceres."...
Rifftides (Free subscription) | 11/06/2008
Rifftides reader Ken Dryden writes: It's funny, but I discovered Joe Sullivan the same way I found out about Meade Lux Lewis, when rocker Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer) recorded one of his pieces, "Little Rock Getaway." Though...
Rifftides (Free subscription) | 08/07/2008
Dick Wellstood has been on my mind. Maybe it's because I heard Dave Frishberg play the piano the other night at The Seasons. Frishberg was in concert singing his inimitable songs and accompanying himself, but he opened up plenty of...
The Barnsby Blog (Free subscription) | 08/05/2008
RELAXING AT THE HARP. No, not relaxing at the Truro which is one of my favourite discs of Muggsy Spanier, but relaxing at the Harp where we listened from 1pm to well after 3pm. to the Sue Maclean Quintet with a distinguished pianist who lives at Sutton Coldfield. I sat next to his very young [...]
JSOnline (Free subscription) | 07/09/2008
Ralph Hutchinson crossed an ocean to find the music he loved, coming to America to be a jazz musician.
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 06/25/2008
For almost three decades, Nick's Steakhouse was revered as "the place" in Greenwich Village to hear classic, hot, improvised jazz. Music stands and orchestrations were banned from the stage. Muggsy Spanier led his group there, as did Bud Freeman and Eddie Condon. Booked for a one-nighter, Benny Carter stayed for five weeks. Fats Waller would drop by to play 'for fun,' and so did Jack Teagarden...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 12/03/2007
At the time this music was captured for posterity in 1965, trombonist Jim Robinson had been working as a professional musician for almost forty years. That work experience in the traditional New Orleans style--Robinson had previously worked under the leadership of both Bunk Johnson and clarinetist George Lewis--comes out here in a program of music both vigorous and joyful...
wordsandmusic (Free subscription) | 09/04/2007
Today we move to a new house, made slightly easier by the fact that it is in the same street as the old one. But things may well be interrupted for a while as I get internet connections sorted out. Maybe it will go smoothly... Gerry Mulligan with Chet – the famous quartet. 'I'm beginning to see the light.' Bounced in on bass, then a strangely truncated theme statement – like someone talking...
Rifftides (Free subscription) | 07/17/2007
From San Francisco comes word that Earl Watkins died early this month at the age...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 06/11/2007
Playing music which references much of jazz history, from early New Orleans collective improvisation through contemporary conservatoire-informed styles, Big Four uses similar instrumentation to soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet's 1940 quartet with cornetist Muggsy Spanier, guitarist Carmen Mastren and bassist Wellman Braud. It's no accident--the concept was suggested to alto saxophonist Max Nagl by...
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