Billy Strayhorn Would Be Only 110 Today
Happy birthday to super-composer Billy Strayhorn, who was born on this day in 1915. Billy Strayhorn is best known as the composing partner of Duke Ellington; together they created classic …..
Posts tagged: Jazz
Ella Fitzgerald’s flirtation with reefer songs
It’s Ella Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday this week. Just as Fitzgerald’s career was taking off, jazz was under attack for its purported connection to drug culture. If she wanted to become a mainstream superstar, she needed to make a choice.
Woody Allen Has a Strange New Hobby
Woody Allen revealed something strange about himself in an interview with The Guardian last month. Can you pick out the famous director’s new hobby from this list of otherwise phony items? Woody Allen spends …..
Rudy Van Gelder, Engineer of ‘That’ Jazz Sound, Is Dead
(Photo for The New York Times by James Estrin) Here’s one of those obituaries for someone you never heard of who turns out to be a giant: audio engineer Rudy Van Gelder, …..
Valentine’s Day Special: Esperanza Spalding Plays ‘Overjoyed’
The super-bassist plays one of Stevie Wonder’s most hopeful love songs at the White House.
Dave Brubeck Obituary
Jazz great Dave Brubeck has died from heart failure, a day before his 92nd birthday.
Juan Luis Guerra Biography: New!
Juan Luis Guerra won another Latin Grammy this week. Read our new biography of this Dominican star.
Amazing Saxophone Performance by Colin Stetson
Watch Montreal’s Colin Stetson play “Judges,” an incredible performance on the bass sax.
Happy Birthday, Eric Dolphy!
Jazz great Eric Dolphy was born 20 June 1928. He died in 1964, nine days after his 36th birthday. Listen to some music and see a photo gallery.
Here’s the Bill Evans Omelette
While we’re talking about Bill Evans, let’s look at a jazzman’s favorite breakfast.
Bill Evans Plays Jazz in a Living Room in Finland
The Bill Evans Trio did a little gig in Helsinki in 1970, with hip Scandanvians all around.
Midwest Music Weekend: Nashville, Brazilbilly, and Salmon P. Chase
It’s been a musical Labor Day Weekend for the Who2 midwest HQ. Friday it was a jazz lunch at Cincinnati’s handsome Mercantile Library, with singer Kathy Wade and pianist Ed Moss:Historical homey Salmon P. Chase looked on with (presumably) approval: