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Winard Harper ___Drummer Winard Harper is passionate about jazz. "This music is powerful," he says. "It can do a lot of good for people. If they'd spend some time each day listening to it, we would see many changes in the world."
Come Into the Light
Float Like a Butterfly Little Sunflower * Read more about Winard Harper
Lena Horne,
1917 - 2010
Stormy Weather
Hank Jones,
1918 - 2010
Willow Weep For Me, a 1994 Carnegie Hall performance
Benjamin Hooks,
1925 - 2010
Gene Lees,
1928 - 2010
Dorothy Height,
1912 - 2010
_________ Think About It
"To some will come a time when change itself is beauty, if not heaven."
- Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1869 - 1935 _________ Today's Gift Idea Lithographs and Giclees by Barbara Freeman
Chet Baker
_________ Recently Published
*
James Gavin, author of Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Stormy Weather, by Lena Horne
Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend
David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues
W.C. Handy
St. Louis Blues, by W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues Band
* If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be?
Among those participating in the twelfth edition of Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion are Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Billy Cobham and Esperanza Spalding
Gary Bartz
* Graham Lock and David Murray, co-editors of Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film and The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art
The Death of Bessie Smith, by Rose Piper
* In the twenty-seventh edition of Great Encounters, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, tells the story of Handy's first recording session, and his meeting with James Reese Europe
W.C. Handy * Marybeth Hamilton, author of In Search of the Blues
Leadbelly
* Trudy Carpenter is the winner of the Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction contest. Her story is called "Bumps Out Then Bumps Back "
*Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton: An online photo exhibit
Milt Hinton
Laughing At Life, by Milt Hinton
*Ben Ratliff, author of Coltrane: The Story of a Sound
John Coltrane
Giant Steps
* Ralph Ellison biographer Arnold Rampersad, on the complex life of the author of Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
* In cooperation with The Jazz Image author Lee Tanner, Jerry Jazz Musician presents "Masters of Jazz Photography," this month featuring the work of Jerry Stoll
photo of Pee Wee Russell and Gerry Mulligan by Jerry Stoll
* Up From New Orleans: Life Before, During and After Katrina -- A conversation with transplanted New Orleans musicians Devin Phillips and Mark DiFlorio
Devin Phillips
* An Online Story of Jazz in New Orleans, with an introduction by Nat Hentoff
Jelly Roll Morton
New Orleans was a free and easy place, comments by Jelly Roll Morton
* Now in the Art Gallery The Art of James Allen _________
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_________ Heroes...We all had them. For years, we have been asking the guests we interview to talk about theirs. You can read them at our Heroes page. Now, we invite you to write about the person you recall being your own childhood hero. All submissions are published... Willie Mays _________ Coming Soon Interviews with Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne author James Gavin, and Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Genius ...ensure you won't miss any of this (and much more in the works) by subscribing to our newsletter. _________
"The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet."
- Mark Twain
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Cool Titles
Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era by Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts
Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era
by Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts
Natural Selection: Gary Giddins on Comedy, Film, Music, and Books by Gary Giddins Judgementby the Pete Zimmer QuintetDown or Up Radiant Blueby Anton SchwartzSlightly Off Course
Natural Selection: Gary Giddins on Comedy, Film, Music, and Books
by Gary Giddins
Judgementby the Pete Zimmer QuintetDown or Up Radiant Blueby Anton SchwartzSlightly Off Course
Judgement
by the Pete Zimmer Quintet
Down or Up
Radiant Blueby Anton SchwartzSlightly Off Course
Radiant Blue
by Anton Schwartz
Slightly Off Course
Listener supported KPLU Radio of Tacoma, Washington is quite possibly the best jazz station in the country. We are proud to offer their 24 hour jazz programming. Listen!
Jazz A - B - Z:
An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits
by
Wynton Marsalis
_____
Illustratred in full color by Paul Rogers
With biographical sketches by Phil Schaap
_____________________________________________________
In Jazz A - B - Z: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits, Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz composer Wynton Marsalis harmnonizes his love and knowledge of jazz's most celebrated artists with an astounding diversity of poetic forms.
A is for "almighty" Louis Armstrong, whose amazing artistry unfolds in an accumulative poem shaped like a crescendo. As for sax master Sonny Rollins, whose "robust style radiates roundness," could there be a better tribute than a rondeau? From simple blues (Count Basie) to a complex pantoum (Charlie Parker), from a tender sonnet (Sarah Vaughan) to a performance poem snapping the rhythms of Art Blakey to life, Marsalis celebrates the spirit of twenty-six stellar jazz performers and showcases the same number of poetic forms. Matching Marsalis's musical cadences note for note is the bold, poster-style art of Paul Rogers, whose vibrant nostalgic feel is displayed from cover-to-cover -- artistic tributes to beloved performers whose music still resonates throughout the world.
In cooperation with Candlewick Press, Jerry Jazz Musician presents a gallery of six impressions from this colorful and vibrant book, featuring a poem by Marsalis, the work of Rogers, brief biographies by jazz historian and Jazz at Lincoln Center curator Phil Schaap, and sound samples of the musician's work.
Copyright © 2005 Paul Rogers
The Song is You, by Wynton Marsalis
"Lady Day"
Lazy, listless, languishing longly
laying low and all alone.
Losing at love and living. I'm
lost in life....Lost and left alone.
Last-ditch lyrics idle on a low frequency, liminal song.
It's a Lady.
Lady Bountiful leading the lilting lullaby,
Lady of the Lake with letter-perfect delivery,
Ladies Luna and Sol, luminous as the day is long,
It's Lady Day.
She lavishes loving-kindness on a lonely lament.
Languid becomes luscious; lackluster, luxuriant.
Limp becomes lively; a little -- a lot. And
laughter lifts longing
all because a relentless lady loosed liquid life
on lines of mulish melody and lugubrious language
to deliver me from lasting lovelessness.
Should I laud my lady with gold leaf clusters?
With a lavaliere of lapis lazuli
or lotus and lilac poems?
Well, let me applaud Lady Day in song:
Always will I love you and love to always love you.
Excerpted from Jazz A - B - Z: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits
Text copyright © 2005 Wynton Marsalis
King Oliver is assured a place in history because he was Louis Armstrong's mentor. But he earns his own spot in the jazz pantheon by his music. Oliver's wizadry was essential to the emergence of jazz. His early solo work is the prototype: King's improvisations replace the song's melody but follow its form. It's still done that way today.
Chimes Blues, by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, 1923
JAZZ ABZ: AN A TO Z COLLECTION OF JAZZ PORTRAITS. Illustrations copyright © 2005 Paul Rogers.
During the Swing Era, Fats Waller was as popular as any jazz figure. Born five years after the Duke, Fats would write as many standards and have even more big hits than Ellington. His singing and sense of humor were the equal of Satchmo's. And nobody played Harlem Stride piano better than he.
Ain't Misbehavin', 1929
Although Billie Holiday lacked the awe-inspiring elements expected in singers, she is the jazz vocalist. Her definitive emotional power even reaches the hearts of many who appreciate her alone among jazz performers.
Them There Eyes, 1938
Lester Young, a tenor saxophonist, was the primary soloist in the original Count Basie Orchestra and Billie Holiday's favorite accompanist. "Prez," as Young was known, helped relax the rhythm of jazz, while creating an entire style for the tenor sax and improvising some of the most inspired and melodic phrases in jazz history.
Just You, Just Me, 1943
Charlie Parker, displaying virtuosity and a new sense of the beat, improvised strings of notes that revealed a deep knowledge and insight into harmony. Parker's style is the core of BeBop, the new jazz of the 1940s and the style that dominates to this day.
Now's the Time, 1945
"Jeru" just might be the most significant figure in the Cool School of jazz. Gerry Mulligan combined the rhythmic relaxation heard in the Swing Era and coupled it to the emphasis on technique and display of harmonic knowledge common to BeBop. That's Cool Jazz, and Gerry was cool.
Black Nightgown, 1960
JAZZ ABZ: AN A TO Z COLLECTION OF JAZZ PORTRAITS. Illustrations copyright © 2005 Paul Rogers. Text copyright © 2005 Wynton Marsalis. Biographical sketches copyright © 2005 Phil Schaap. Reproduced by permission of the publisher Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.
About Paul Rogers
Paul Rogers has more than twenty-five years of experience as an illustrator and poster artist. His clients include the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Pixar Pictures, the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Warner Brothers Studios. He created the official poster for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2002 and 2004, and also for Super Bowl XXXVII. His work has won awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Association of Illustrators/London, the Society of Illustrators/New York, American Illustration, Communication Arts, Graphis Poster, and Print. His drawings and paintings have been exhibited at the Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans and the Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery in Pasadena, California. He recently joined the faculty of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
About Phil Schaap
Jazz historian Phill Schaap serves as curator of Jazz at Lincoln Center. As an educator, he has taught jazz at the graduate level at Columbia University and Rutgers University, and he continues his academic teaching career at Princeton University. Schaap has been broadcasting jazz on the radio for thirty-five years on WKCR and has won Grammy Awards for historical writing, producing, and audio engineering.
JAZZ ABZ: AN A TO Z COLLECTION OF JAZZ PORTRAITS.
Illustrations copyright © 2005 Paul Rogers. Text copyright © 2005 Wynton Marsalis. Biographical sketches copyright © 2005 Phil Schaap. Reproduced by permission of the publisher Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.
