Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 21: “The Blue Truth”

In this edition, the poet riffs on Oliver Nelson’s classic 1961 album The Blues and the Abstract Truth as if a conversation between conductor and players were caught on tape along with the inner monologue of some mystery player/speaker of the poem.

Community Bookshelf #3

“Community Bookshelf” is a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books and/or recordings. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so (March – September, 2024)

“The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” – a short story by Vishwas R. Gaitonde

The story – a short-listed entrant in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest – explores the notion of where dreams end and reality begins through the lives of three people living in New Orleans

Jazz advocate Dan Morgenstern, 1929 – 2024

The esteemed jazz advocate Dan Morgenstern, whose many years in the world of jazz criticism and scholarship included a stint as editor of  DownBeat  and as the director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers, will be remembered for his advocacy of Louis Armstrong’s late career work, and for his amazing life story, which began as a young boy having to flee Vienna with his family in 1938, in the wake of Hitler’s arrival.

The Sunday Poem: “If Requests Are Being Taken” by Terrance Underwood

If ever
I am subjected to
Further medical exploration
& something
Identified as Bio
Is discovered

Excerpts from David Rife’s Jazz Fiction: Take Two – Vol. 5: “Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime”

A substantial number of novels and stories with jazz music as a component of the story have been published over the years, and the scholar David J. Rife has written short essay/reviews of them. In this fifth edition of excerpts from his book, Rife writes about three novels that include stories about Scott Joplin, the primary forerunner and significant influencer of jazz

Four poets, four poems…on John Coltrane

John Coltrane was the absolute
the decorated, the preternatural
and acknowledged master of what fury
can pour out of the body of a saxophone.

Memorable Quote….Abraham Lincoln, on labor

“If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor…”

The Sunday Poem: “Playing Sonny Rollins Loud in the Car” by Daniel W. Brown

Hurrying to a dental appointment
I didn’t want to go to in the first place
an interminable red light and honking traffic
and the curve where people merge
20 MPH faster than necessary
four lanes into two

“Like a Girl Saying Yes: The Sound of Bix” – an essay by Malcolm McCollum

The first time Benny Goodman heard Bix Beiderbecke play cornet, he wondered, “My God, what planet, what galaxy, did this guy come from?” What was it about this musician that captivated and astonished so many for so long – and still does?

“Duos – Two of a Mind” – a playlist by Bob Hecht

In this new edition of extensive jazz playlists, the award-winning jazz producer and scholar Bob Hecht presents a 31-song playlist of historic and contemporary duo performances that exemplify the essence of jazz as a conversation between individuals – an open exchange between equal partners.

“Black Magic – 1960’s” – a short story by Gavin Kayner

In this story – a finalist in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest – a Black magician reveals his life’s complexity to a white therapist who questions his ability to address it.

Interview with James Kaplan, author of 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool

The esteemed writer tells a story about the jazz world before, during, and after the 1959 recording of Kind of Blue, and how the album’s three genius musicians came together, played together, and grew together (and often apart) throughout the experience.

The Sunday Poem: “Stompin’ at the Savoy” by DH Jenkins

Sheets of music laid across a checkered table cloth
spread out like streets across the city.
Like the quarter notes on page one, a crescent moon
is seen rising in the ink dark sky.

Jazz History Quiz #174

This pianist was Billie Holiday’s regular accompanist during her last two years (1957 – 1959), and also played in the Eric Dolphy-Booker Little Quintet that recorded extensively at New York’s Five Spot in 1961. Who is he?

The Sunday Poem: “somewhere near the major-minor seventh” by j. lewis

cohen says there are major falls
and minor lifts that come before
the fourths and fifths and i suppose
he’s probably right, most likely right
but this is not about some hallelujah

“Invariable Thelonious” – nine haikus by Terrance Underwood

Scattered discordant
Symbols woven into lines
Across blank white pages

The Photographs of Giovanni Piesco: Leroy Jenkins

Beginning in 1990, the noted photographer Giovanni Piesco began taking backstage photographs of many of the great musicians who played in Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, that city’s main jazz venue which is considered one of the finest in the world.  Jerry Jazz Musician  will occasionally publish portraits of jazz musicians that Giovanni has taken over the years. This edition features portraits of the eminent free jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins, taken at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis on January 4, 1999.

The Sunday Poem: “Weary Blues” by David Rudd

Woke up this morning to the Bugle Call Rag,
Straight no chasers made my head real bad.

Nothing left for breakfast … goodbye pork pie hat,
Dressed with chilies (ah um) – never hotter than that!

Short Fiction Contest-winning story #66 — “Not From Around Here” by Jeff Dingler

The author’s award-winning story is about a Jewish kid coming of age in Alabama and discovering his identity through music, in particular the interstellar sound of Sun Ra.

A book excerpt from Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records, by Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder

In this excerpt, the authors write extensively about music instruction and appreciation records dealing with the subject of jazz.

“Adrian Rollini Lives” – an appreciation, by Malcolm McCollum

Stating the genius of the multi-instrumentalist who played with the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Miff Mole, and Joe Venuti

Pianists and Poets – 13 poems devoted to the keys

From “Fatha” Hines to Brad Mehldau, poets open themselves up to their experiences with and reverence for great jazz pianists…

If You Want to Go to Heaven, Follow a Songbird – Mary K O’Melveny’s album of poetry and music

While consuming Mary K O’Melveny’s remarkable work in this digital album of poetry, readings and music, readers will discover that she is moved by the mastery of legendary musicians, the wings of a monarch butterfly, the climate and political crisis, the mysteries of space exploration, and by the freedom of jazz music that can lead to what she calls “the magic of the unknown.”

A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Spring/Summer, 2024 Edition

In this, the 17^th major collection of jazz poetry published on Jerry Jazz Musician, 50 poets from all over the world again demonstrate the ongoing influence the music and its associated culture has on their creative lives.

On turning 70, and contemplating the future of Jerry Jazz Musician

Thoughts on embracing a new stage in life, and where I hope to go next with Jerry Jazz Musician

Interview with Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz, authors of But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?: An Oral History of the 60’s Girl Groups

Little is known of the lives of many of the young Black women who – in the Girl Groups of the ‘60’s – sang, wrote, created, and popularized their generation-defining music, and even less about the challenges they faced while performing during such a complex era, one rife with racism, sexism, and music industry corruption.  The authors discuss their book’s mission to provide them an opportunity to voice their meaningful experiences so crucial to the evolution of popular music.

Interview with Tad Richards, author of Jazz With a Beat: Small Group Swing, 1940 – 1960

Richards makes the case that small group swing players like Illinois Jacquet, Louis Jordan (pictured) and Big Jay McNeely played a legitimate jazz that was a more pleasing listening experience to the Black community than the bebop of Parker, Dizzy, and Monk. It is a fascinating era, filled with major figures and events, and centered on a rigorous debate that continues to this day – is small group swing “real jazz?”