Although Dizzy Gillespie was the first bop musician to record with strings, in 1946, it was Parker’s two 10" LPs that caught the public’s attention and, indeed, started a...
With the advent of bebop the trombone might have suffered the same relative decline as the clarinet but for two virtuosos - J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding. Their early...
It is said that to copy from one person is plagiarism. To copy from two is research.
I have consulted Dan Morgenstern and Jim Burns, two of the few writers...
If an antidote to apathy consists of work and proselytizing, then bassist, composer, bandleader, activist and organiser William Parker embodies that antidote. Cisco Bradley has achieved much in simply...
Sixty years ago saxophonist Don Byas loved Basie, Ellington and Gillespie but was less keen on Stan Kenton, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, and Buddy Tate's rhythm section. First published in Jazz Journal March 1961
Nothing could be more unlike a jazz musician's life than a weekend break in Cornwall, especially if the musician is black and even knowing there's a well-known jazz club...