This Day in Music January 23, 1943 – Happy Birthday – Gary Burton!!

On this date in 1943, the great vibraphonist and one of my favorites Gary Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana. Whenever I have “One of those days” it’s usually the vibes of Burton that bring me back to a happier and more relaxed place. Some background and information on Burton from Wikipedia: Beginning music at six years old, Burton for the most part taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone.[2] He also began studying piano at age sixteen as he finished high school in Princeton, Indiana (56–60). Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as a main inspiration for his…

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This Day in Music – Jan 1, 1923 – The Great Milt Jackson was born!!

Today among all out celebrations of the start of a New Year we also celebrate the birthday of one of my favorites jazz artists vibraphonist Milt Jackson.  (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999) From All About Jazz…..we read that Milt Jackson was….. born Jan. 1, 1923, in Detroit, Jackson’s musical beginnings were in the neighborhood gospel churches as a pianist, guitarist, violinist percussionist and singer. He took up the vibraphone in high school. He moved to New York, played with Earl Hines and in 1945, joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band rhythm section, which also included pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray…

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Today in Music – Oct 26, 1956 – Vibist Marc Wagnon is born – Happy Birthday Marc!!

As I looked over the birthdays today at All About Jazz the first one that caught my eye was another vibist or vibraphonist (it is an either) Marc Wagnon. But then I got distracted by the career of Eddie Henderson and didn’t take time to write about Marc!! and once again my wife posted this on my timeline on Facebook and claims it relates to me! Now where were we, oh yeah Marc Wagnon – here’s what some folks think about Marc “Forward-thinking composing supported by spectacular musicianship.” John Barron, allaboutjazz.com “this is an exemplary set that delivers the goods on…

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Afro Blue – Two – The Original – The Cal Tjader Quintet with Mongo Santamaria!

“Afro Blue” was recorded for the first time live by  the Cal Tjader Sextet  on April 20, 1959, at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, with composer Mongo Santamaría on percussion, The track was included on Cal Tjader’s album Concert by the Sea, Part 1 released on  the Fantasy label. “Afro Blue” can also be found on a remastered collection of tracks from a variety of quintets led by Tjader; titled Latino, which was released by Fantasy in 1994. It received a four star rating at AllMusic from the Scott Yanow’s review: Vibraphonist Cal Tjader is heard leading five different groups throughout this CD but the identities of the flutists,…

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Night Owl Music – Into the Morning with Coltrane and Burton and “Afro Blue”

This afternoon my daughter, Elizabeth  called and was having car problems. The check engine light came on, the battery was dead and the steering locked up. We decided to have the car towed back here to be looked at, at my local gas station, In doing so, she was left without a car, so tonight I drove the other car down to her. She drove me back to my son Andrew’s house, half way between here and the University of Delaware, then he drove me home! I was all set for the trip down there, I had two genres on…

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Today in Music – 1924 – Happy 89th Birthday – Jazz Giant Terry Gibbs!

I’ll confess that when I think of the last name Gibbs, I think football -Joe Gibbs Hall of Fame coach for the Redskins, and not vibraphone. But that will probably change after learning today that one of the best jazz vibraphonist Terry Gibbs was born on this date in 1924!! Now I’ve written before that I love the vibes and the list of players in my library includes: Gary Burton, Bobby Hutcherson. Cal Tjader, Walt Dickenson, Stefon Harris, Dave Pike and a couple of others, but no Terry Gibbs. I think I’ve seen the name, but never heard the music….

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August 2013 Music – Part 1 -Vibes from Warren Wolf – Wolfgang

Over the last few days I’ve been listening to several new albums from several different genres. A new jazz album from vibraphonist Warren Wolf Wolfgang, an Americana album from a new supergroup Willie Sugarcapps, and a new bluegrass album from two artists that have been around a while and seem to be getting better with age Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby Live. These three albums were released this week and have joined my music rotation quickly, They’ve joined another album that’s been in the rotation for over a week now. The new album from jazz-blues guitarist Jeff Golub and organist…

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Lunchtime Music from The New Gary Burton Quartet – Guided Tour!

This morning I was preparing a report, so it was a jazzy kind of morning. When I turn to jazz while writing and organizing many times the artist is the legendary Gary Burton. Today I listened to his latest release Guided Tour. The album is his second release on Mack Avenue Records. (Note to self check out Mack Avenue Records, their name has come up a lot lately). Common Ground, Burton’s 2011 release was his first on that label and  featured the New Gary Burton Quartet. This Quartet reunites Burton with guitar star Julian Lage and adds drummer Antonio Sanchez and…

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Today (what’s left of it) in Music – Milt Jackson’s Birthday!

So for the longest time my favorite vibraphonist was Gary Burton and he still may be my favorite, but coming in a close second is Milt Jackson, who would have celebrated his 89th birthday today! From Wikipedia:  Milton “Bags” Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999) was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with several hard bop and post-bop players. A very expressive player, Jackson…

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Nighttime Jazz- Mike Freeman , Zonavibe “The Vibesman”

So this afternoon I was doing some work in the office so I turned to some jazz on the iPod. Last week I had added a  jazz vibes player Mike Freeman Zonavibe The Vibesman to the iPod so that was what I turned on. Once again if you’ve read any of my past posts you know that vibes are one of my favorite instruments, making Gary Burton and  Milt Jackson among others favorite artists, and now I may have to add Mike Freeman to the list!. Mike is known for his recordings of original music (ranging from jazz, Latinjazz, salsa, Brazilian,…

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