Home Archive by category "Jazz" (Page 5)

Category: Jazz

This Date in Music – October 17, 1976 – Jazz Guitarist Gary Tu was born!!

When you listen to as many albums as I do over the course of a year, there are many that you forget, not because that they are not great, but because your mind can only remember so much! Anyway looking back at the albums that I wrote about on whatever day it is, serves as a good reminder! Today’s reminder is about jazz guitarist Gary Tu, who is celebrating his 38th birthday today. Here’s is last years post…… and Happy Birthday Gary!! (oh, by the way I’m listening to his album Looking East right now!!) Among the Jazz Artist who…

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This Date in Music – October 16, 1969 – Jazz Trumpeter Roy Hargrove was born!

Today is the birthday of another of the great musicians of the last 20 years, who I  discovered last year when I listened to his album Earfood– what’s new!! It’s what happens when you’re paying more attention to the past and not the present. Anyway, today is the 45th birthday of trumpeter Roy Hargrove. From All About Jazz…. Trumpeter Roy Hargrove was born in Waco, TX on October 16, 1969. Inspired by the gospel music he heard in church on Sundays and the R&B and funk music that played on the radio, Roy began learning the trumpet in the fourth grade. By…

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Jazz Artists of the Day – Lee Konitz and Pharoah Sanders on their shared birthday – October 13th!!

Two iconic jazz saxophone players share October 13th as their birthdays. one, alto sax player Lee Konitz, is considered one of the main figures in the cool jazz movement, although Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings throughout his career. The other, tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders is an important figure in the development of free jazz. Konitz recorded with Miles Davis  in 1949 and 1950 tracks that became the Birth of the Cool album. From Wikipedia.. The presence of Konitz and other white musicians in the group angered some black jazz players, many of whom were unemployed at the time, but Davis…

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Jazz Artists of the Day – Lee Konitz and Pharoah Sanders

Lee Konitz and Pharoah Sanders share an October 13th birthday    Lee Konitz And Pharoah Sanders   Two iconic jazz saxophone players share October 13th as their birthday. One, is alto sax player Lee Konitz. Konitrz is considered one of the main figures in the cool jazz movement. However, Konitz also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings throughout his career. The other,is  tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. Sanders is an important figure in the development of free jazz. In 1949 and 1950 Konitz was a member of Miles Davis’s band that recorded with the tracks that became the Birth of the Cool album. From Wikipedia: The…

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Oct 12, 1954 – Jazz Guitarist Ed Cherry was born! Oct 9th Dave Samuels’ birthday! Lots from Michael Bloomfield!!

On this date in 1954 jazz guitarist Ed Cherry was born. This morning I listened to his latest release It’s All Good and it is! Here’s what some folks say about Ed’s guitar work: “Ed is a great, soulful, swinging underrated player deserving of wider recognition.” – Bill Milkowski 1/13/11″ “An expressive instrumentalist, Cherry has a hip, melodic approach that is a refreshing contrast to guitarists who frequently resort to playing ‘finger music’, the execution of rapid streams of notes that serve no musical purpose other than to fill space”– Jim Ferguson: Jazztimes – 06/02 “Particularly dazzling – Cherry’s guitar…

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Exploring the Jazz of Post-Bop Drummer – Elvin Jones – Elvin!

Origianally Posted at FreeWheelin Jazz Safari – Sept 14, 2014 Among the Jazz birthdays on September 9th was post-bop drummer Elvin Jones. Jones was born in 1927 and was best known for his time with the John Coltrane Quartet.  Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan and was one of  seven children of Henry and Olivia Jones. His family was very musical and his two older brothers Hank and Thad both became respected jazz musicians. Hank was a pianist and Thad played trumpet and coronet. After  serving in the Army from 1946-49, Elvin moved to New York to make his way…

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Today in Music – Happy 50th Birthday – Victor Wooten (September 11, 1964)

Originally posted at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries….. So this morning as I was looking at the people born on this date, I thought how badly you must feel every year now as you celebrate your birthday on this tragic date. I think I’d celebrate either the day before or the day after, or maybe you just say, hey it was my day before you ruined it! Two names stood out Leo Kottke, born on this day in 1945 in Athens Ga. I didn’t know that Leo is one of those musicians whose music I should listen to more often!!…

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Orrin Evans – Live at Smoke – Liberation Blues – check it out!

I have heard Orrin Evans’ piano on a variety of albums over the last years but Liberation Blues on the Smoke Session label is really the first Evans album that his been in my rotation for any length of time. I can tell you it won’t be the last, and since his recording career includes 20 plus albums recorded as a leader since  it began in 1994, I have a lot more music to explore! Evans was born in Trenton, NJ and raised in the jazz rich city of Philadelphia, where he attended the Girard Academic Music Program. He continued…

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Today in Jazz – Wayne Shorter’s 81st Birthday! (Aug 25, 1933)

So you can probably count on you fingers how many musicians are still performing beyond the age of 80. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are  B.B. King and Tony Bennett, and when Wayne Shorter,  Wayne Shorter joined that group last year and this year Wayne will kick off a European Tour on October  16th in Croatia. Among the destinations are Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Portugl! Wayne was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25,1933. For some unknown reason, I know Wayne’s name, but until last year, I had not really listened to any of his…

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Cyrus Chestnut’s – Midnight Melodies – Jazz piano at it’s best!

So if you were the pianist for your Baltimore church the ripe old age of nine, grew up in a house where Gospel music was heard side by side with Thelonious Monk and Jimmy Smith, there’s a good chance that when you grow up, the music you compose may just be tinged with Gospel! Such is the case with Cyrus Chestnut. Cyrus is the child of McDonald (a retired post office employee and church organist) and Flossie (a city social services worker and church choir director.) McDonald was the son of a church minister, and the official organist for the…

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