This Day in Music – Dec 14, 1920 – Happy Birthday, Clark Terry!

Clark Terry passed away in 2015 at the age of 95. From Wikipedia: On February 13, 2015, it was announced that Terry had entered hospice care to manage his advanced diabetes.[20] He died on February 21, 2015.[21][22] Writing in The New York Times, Peter Keepnews said Terry “was acclaimed for his impeccable musicianship, loved for his playful spirit and respected for his adaptability. Although his sound on both trumpet and the rounder-toned flugelhorn (which he helped popularize as a jazz instrument) was highly personal and easily identifiable, he managed to fit it snugly into a wide range of musical contexts.”[23]…

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The Safari finds NYC Jazz from Brian Lynch Unsung Heroes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2!

The other day I was reviewing the Weekly Jazz Chart   and there at No 19 just below Dr Lonnie Smith was an Brian Lynch and his latest album Unsung Heroes Vol. 2. The tagline on the album is “a tribute to underappreciated trumpet masters” sounds like my kind of album! I went to Spotify found the album sat back and listened to some damn good trumpet playing. So now I needed to find out some more about Brian Lynch a trumpeter that I have not come across yet! From Wikipedia… Brian Lynch (September 12, 1956, Urbana, Illinois) is a Grammy Award-winning New…

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This Day in Music – December 11, 1938 – McCoy Tyner’s Birthday!!

Today McCoy Tyner celebrates his 75th birthday, Happy Birthday, McCoy. From his biography at Facebook, It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.  Alfred McCoy Tyner  was born on December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, He wad the oldest of three children and  encouraged to study piano by…

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On this Date in Music – December 8, 1928 – Organist Jimmy Smith was born!!

    On this date in 1928 the master of the Hammond B3, Jimmy Smith was born. I have been listening to Jimmy Smith’s music since he late 60s when I discovered Wes Montgomery and then Jimmy & Wes an album by the two masters that they released in 1966. I love to put on a Jimmy Smith album at work and well just let it flow!! So let’s have some morning music to start our Sunday and to honor Jimmy on his birthday. But first some background….. from AllMusic Jimmy Smith wasn’t the first organ player in jazz, but no…

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Today in Music – Dec 5, 1947 – Happy Birthday, Egberto Gismonti !!

Somewhere over the last several weeks I came across the name of Egberto Gismonti and even listened to his 1980 release Circense. From AllMusic guide…. This excellent release by Egberto Gismonti was conceived under the concept of a circus, an institution that has the ambivalent quality of being at the same time universal and regional; the “circense” tradition exists in almost all parts of the globe, but it is enriched by the smaller companies that keep struggling to survive in poorer setups, adding regional elements to the whole. It fits like a glove for the music of Gismonti, which also aims to…

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2013 Jazz from Cuba’s Roberto Fonseca – Yo! (that resonates here in the Philly Area)

                (Twin Sons of Different Mothers and times?) (tangentially speaking – about the headline the Yo – is usually followed by Adrian ….. here (ADD strikes again) Checking out the Roots Music Reports Jazz Chart this afternoon, I saw a name that interested me at number 12, right after the Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, was Roberto Fonseca and his latest album Yo. So the question before the house was who is this Roberto Fonseca and what does he play!! I download the album from Spotify and only got to listen to it on the…

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Today in Music – Dec 2, 1931 – Jazz Pianist Wynton Kelly was born!

On this day in 1931 jazz pianist Wynton Kelly was born in Jamaica. According to Wikipedia Wynton is maybe best know for the years he spent working with Miles Davis from 1959 to 1962. While that may be true for many listeners it’s not for me. I remember Wynton as a sideman for Wes Montgomery. If Jimmy Smith and Wes were the Dynamic Duo. Wynton and Wes were the Dynamic Duo 2 in my eyes and ears!! The son of Jamaican immigrants, Kelly was born in Brooklyn, New York.[1][2][3] He started his professional career in 1943, initially as a member…

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Today in Music – Nov 29 Part 1 – Happy Birthday – Chuck Mangione !

So today’s list of birthdays containing many artists who appear in my music library including: John Mayall who celebrates his 80th birthday today. Man, it seems like just yesterday I we were celebrating his 70th with that great concert album, Felix Cavaliere turns 69 (The Rascals) I have a couple of albums he recorded with Steve Cropper in my collection, and one of my favorite acoustic guitarists Jesse Cook celebrates birthday 49! So Happy Bithday Guys!! Finally the last one on the list is Chuck Mangionne. Though I only have one of his albums in my vinyl collection his big…

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Today in Music – November 28 – Happy Birthday Goh Kurosawa!

So I started this mornings birthday reviews at All About Jazz by looking for a younger jazz artists and one that caught my eye because of his name was Goh Kurosawa. I went to his page at All About Jazz where I read: ”It has been often said that to listen to Goh Kurosawa is to force oneself to abandon any notion of category or genre. While it is true that he flows effortlessly between flamenco, jazz, rock, samba and even classical, it should not be said that Goh has not firmly planted his flag in the fabled land of…

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A Night of Jazz starts with Walter Smith III and ends with Larry Goldings and I have a lot to listen to!!!

So last night I visit MOG and jumped around checking out jazz musicians,  it started with Walter Smith III Live in Paris which led to bassist Hans Glawischnig led to Antonio Sanchez, who actually appears in my library as he is part of Gary Burton’s Quartet and appears on his album Quartet Live. Antonio in turn led to Ari Hoenig.…Reading Hoenig’s biography at Wikipedia I saw that….. Since 2005 Ari has appeared with many of jazz’s finest up & coming guitarists such as Jonathan Kreisberg who’s a member of Ari’s Punk Bop Band and Israeli transplant Gilad Hekselman A trip to Gilad Hekselman revealed…

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