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In this edition, due to a current and ongoing obsession with drummer Matt Wilson’s 2006 album The Scenic Route, Douglas Cole writes another poem in response to his experience listening to the track “Feel the Sway.”
...July 5th, 2025
Jazz has produced an impressive number of gifted child musicians. In this edition, David J. Rife writes about stories whose theme is World War II and jazz
...June 25th, 2025
Bob Hecht’s 26 song playlist features septets, and includes the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Rowles, Charles Mingus, Chick Corea, Art Farmer, and Cannonball Adderley.
...April 18th, 2025
Jerrice J. Baptiste’s 12-month 2025 calendar of jazz poetry winds through the upcoming year with her poetic grace while inviting us to wander through music by the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sarah Vaughan, Melody Gardot and Nina Simone. She welcomes April with a poem welcoming the promise of Spring, a time that “breaks icy borders to free wild rivers.”
...April 1st, 2025
Google “what is jazz-hop?” and the AI overview describes it is “a subgenre of hip-hop that combines jazz and hip-hop music. It developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.” In Mr. Vernon’s observation, he makes the case that it is also a subgenre of jazz.
...February 24th, 2025
free jazz
the perfect soundtrack
for chaos
Eric Dolphy
.on my mind
as I swing blue
Straight Up and Down
February 5th, 2025
In addition to co-leading a quintet with Zoot Sims, this tenor saxophonist may be best known as the man who replaced Herbie Steward as one of the “Four Brothers” in Woody Herman’s Second Herd. Who is he?
...January 14th, 2025
In this edition, Rife writes about the “quest” theme in contemporary jazz fiction, where long-lost instruments and rumored recordings take the place of more dramatic artifacts like the Holy Grail.
...January 14th, 2025
What are your hopes, anxieties, expectations for 2025? How do you see it playing out? 50 readers respond to the question, What one song best represents your expectations for 2025?
...January 2nd, 2025
A 25-song playlist that focuses on quartets, featuring legends like Miles, MJQ, Monk, Brubeck, and Sonny, but also those led by the likes of Freddie Redd, David Murray, Frank Strozier, and Pepper Adams.
...December 13th, 2024
In this edition, Rife writes about jazz novels and short stories that feature stories about jazz music’s international influence.
...December 10th, 2024
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the…
...November 27th, 2024
The author relates a story that led to his eventual friendship with the jazz greats Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy…
...November 23rd, 2024
For over 60 years, the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder devoted himself to the language of sound. And although he recorded everything from glee clubs to classical music, he was best known for recording jazz – specifically the musicians associated with Blue Note and Prestige records. Joel Lewis writes about his impact on the sound of jazz, and what has become of his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio.
...November 4th, 2024
The story – a short-listed entry in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction contest – is a humorous take on a septuagenarian attempt to resurrect a revival band,
...October 30th, 2024
In this edition, Rife writes about jazz novels and short stories that feature a theme of “mystery.”
...October 10th, 2024
An essay remembering the late jazz musician Michael “Dodo” Marmarosa, awarded Esquire Magazine’s New Star Award in 1947, and who critics predicted would dominate the jazz scene for the next 30 years.
...September 25th, 2024
A story about a Jewish kid coming of age in Alabama and discovering his identity through music, in particular the interstellar sound of Sun Ra.
...August 9th, 2024
In this fourth edition featuring excerpts from his book, Rife writes about five novels/short fiction that include stories about the interconnected cultures of jazz, dancing and nightclubs.
...August 6th, 2024
Like her or not, readers of this site will enjoy learning that Vice President Kamala Harris is a fan of jazz music. Witness this recent clip (via Youtube) of her emerging from a record shop…
...July 26th, 2024
Remembering the genius of the multi-instrumentalist who played with the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Miff Mole, and Joe Venuti
...July 25th, 2024
In this third edition featuring excerpts from his book, Rife writes about four novels/short fiction that include stories involving Louis Armstrong.
...July 9th, 2024
In this edition, Rife writes about four novels/short stories that include stories involving relationships between fathers and children.
...June 12th, 2024
David Rife’s essay/reviews about jazz-themed novels and stories. In this edition, Rife writes of three novels that explore challenges of the mother/daughter relationship.
...May 9th, 2024
The introduction is excerpted from Tad Richards’ terrific book that explores the small group swing artists who made music from bebop to rhythm and blues.
...April 5th, 2024
“Community Bookshelf” is a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share information about their recently authored books.
...March 29th, 2024
Jason Innocent’s experience with the pianist Abdullah Ibrahim’s new recording captures the essence of this artist’s creative brilliance.
...March 18th, 2024
Marginalized, itinerant
Brilliance barely compensated
You want to save them all; you
Particularly want to save him
February 22nd, 2024
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 is of the pianist/composer Mal Waldron, taken on three separate appearances at Bimhuis (1996, 2000 and 2001).
...January 23rd, 2024
“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his…”
...January 15th, 2024
The writer tells his story of playing guitar with a symphony orchestra, backing up jazz legend George Shearing.
...January 11th, 2024
A year-end compilation of jazz albums oft mentioned by a wide range of critics as being the best of 2023
...January 8th, 2024
In this excerpt from the Introduction to her book Becoming Ella: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song, Judith Tick writes about highlights of Ella’s career, and how the significance of her Song Book recordings is an example of her “becoming” Ella.
...December 5th, 2023
The phrase that brought to us
The Sunny Day
The Warm of the ocean
The Joy of observing of Life . . .
Not only our own but of a World of Dreams.
August 3rd, 2023
“Don Quixote’s Adventures in the World of Jazz: 200 Examples and a Few Remarks” reveals remarkable presence of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote in the history of jazz.
...June 26th, 2023
The author describes the emotional experience of listening to the music of Nina Simone
...February 24th, 2023
The authors of “Designed For Dancing” share examples of Cha Cha Cha record album covers that didn’t quite make the final cut in their book.
...January 10th, 2023
The authors of “Designed For Dancing” share three examples of record album covers that didn’t quite make the final cut in their book.
...December 5th, 2022
Producers Joel Dorn and Hal Willner discuss the album Amarcord Nino Rota, a tribute to Federico Fellini’s musical director
...October 31st, 2022
Producers Teo Macero and Bob Belden, and bassist Dave Holland talk about working with Miles Davis on his groundbreaking 1969 recording, Bitches Brew
...August 10th, 2022
In this edition, Jeff Gold writes about two Harlem night spots – The Apollo Theater and Club Baby Grand – and shares photographs and memorabilia from his collection.
...June 6th, 2022
The author recalls an eventful evening listening to a jazz singer at New York’s McAlpin Hotel in the early 1970s
...April 12th, 2022
In this edition, producer Bob Thiele talks with Michael Jarrett, author of Pressed For All Time: Producing the Great Jazz Albums from Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday to Miles Davis and Diana Krall about working with John Coltrane on his classic 1964 recording A Love Supreme
...February 19th, 2022
Gordon sat in the corner of the Red Sky Café and stared at his fingers as they slid across the fretboard of his Fender Stratocaster. They seemed disconnected from the rest of his body but hardwired to his brain. When he thought blue, they moved to his favorite notes. When he thought joy, a new series of chords and major scales opened up. He thought, played, listened, and watched.
...February 7th, 2022
In this edition, Gold writes about two Harlem jazz clubs – Connie’s Inn and Smalls’ Paradise – and shares photographs and memorabilia from his collection.
...January 23rd, 2022
In a dream,
I walked by
what once were
rows of brownstones,
along 52nd Street;
past the ghosts
of Jimmy Ryan’s,
Spotlite, The Onyx
and 3 Deuces.
November 30th, 2021
Friends remember Al Summ, whose love and appreciation of jazz showed up in a variety of ways. His artwork was found (and rescued) by his friends Dan Brown, Dave Watson, Bob Crimi and “Andy” – a.k.a. “The Gang of Four”.
This remembrance is a reminder of how jazz and its culture can touch the soul of an enthusiast, and a demonstration of a longtime, devoted friendship. I am proud to assist the “Gang” in sharing their heartfelt connection to their departed friend.
...November 24th, 2021
a thin man
speaking the talk
with low eyes
snake hands
soft pale skin
empty pockets
at a table
in the back
November 21st, 2021
Often described as one of the “great jokesters in jazz,” this trumpeter became a popular figure on the west coast who, in addition to playing with artists like Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Giuffre and Art Pepper, also starred in a short-lived TV series called Run Buddy Run. Who is he?
Don Ellis
Ruby Braff
Shorty Rogers
Red Rodney
Jack Sheldon
Al Hirt
...September 24th, 2021
My father played baseball
and was a hot prospect,
so the story goes,
pursued by the Braves
until the accident that left him
with eyes that saw two of everything –
“Tough to tell which ball to swing at,” he’d say.
July 31st, 2021
In this edition, Gold writes about Harlem’s Ubangi Club, and shares photographs and memorabilia from his collection.
...July 17th, 2021
Hawkins examines the relationship between the characters portrayed in the 2020 film Shirley, and the missed opportunity to include Ralph Ellison in the story
...July 13th, 2021
He hovers,
flesh and presence,
round the story of midnight jazz….
a single note hangs, suspended
in a cigarette-whiskey haze
as ears perk open, anticipate
the pleasure of surprise
June 24th, 2021
A photograph of Jimmie Lunceford and my dad in Sacramento, California; c. 1937
...June 11th, 2021
In this edition, Gold writes about New York’s Midtown Manhattan club Birdland, and shares photographs and memorabilia from his collection.
...June 1st, 2021
A 50 song jazz playlist featuring countless great performances, including by Shirley Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and many others
...March 28th, 2021
An excerpt from Jeff Gold’s “Sittin’ In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s” focuses on Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom
...March 26th, 2021
. . In a 2009 Jerry Jazz Musician interview, Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, talks about the legendary composer/pianist who was a founding father of modern jazz. . . .Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an … Continue reading “A Black History Month Profile: Thelonious Monk, a founding father of modern jazz”
...February 22nd, 2021
In the heavy burden of snow,
when pearly whiteness covers the Earth’s soul,
when jazz music curtails our hearts,
it melts the ice inside;
February 17th, 2021
In this edition, producer John Koenig, saxophonist Sonny Rollins and photographer William Claxton discuss their roles in Rollins’ 1957 Contemporary Records album Way Out West with Pressed For All Time author Michael Jarrett
...February 8th, 2021
December has brought the tradition of year-end “Best Of” lists, and the consensus among critics is that – as difficult as it may be to understand given the challenging circumstances – 2020 was a banner year for new jazz recordings.
...January 2nd, 2021
The community of poets, writers, artists and photographers who have recently contributed their work and time to Jerry Jazz Musician to answer this question, “What one song best represents your experience with 2020?”
...December 29th, 2020
The author weaves the classic song “White Christmas” into a story about remembering and longing for better days
...December 11th, 2020
“Balboa,” a story by Matt Sweeney, was a short-listed entry in our recently concluded 54th Short Fiction Contest.
...September 22nd, 2020
I have to admit, Portland has kicked my ass this summer.
Two fires continue to rage here. I’m sure you’ve heard about this city’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations that have also sparked pesky vandalism by dozens of mostly White activists. While their activities seem banal enough – a dumpster fire here, a picnic table on fire there – this behavior shamefully threatens to commandeer BLM’s objectives and gives life to a cynical and evergreen pre-election message stoking White suburban fear. The vandalism tests the patience of even the most tolerant and hopeful of local citizens.
Now mix in the fires of climate change – hot, powerful winds fanning flames on a drought-laden state – and the result is living in, for now, the epicenter of the world’s worst air quality.
...September 17th, 2020
One of the many rewards of reading Will Friedwald’s comprehensive and lively biography of Nat King Cole, Straighten Up and Fly Right, has been rediscovering gems within the great singer’s expansive catalog. Thanks to Friedwald, I am reminded of Cole’s 1960 album, Wild is Love, an ambitious, electrifying (and “hit”) recording that could best be described as a concept album about falling in love.
...August 11th, 2020
Commentary concerning the current protests taking place in my city, Portland, Oregon.
...July 28th, 2020
…..I recently went on a two week road trip.
…..A few months ago such a casual bit of news would have aroused only the slightest interest. Select friends would display a polite enthusiasm, a question or two about the destination or accommodations would be raised, and perhaps a handful of pictures would even be endured.
...July 18th, 2020
In this edition, producer John Snyder recalls Sun Ra, and his 1990 Purple Night recording session
...June 25th, 2020
The following is a statement issued by two executives of Atlantic Records – Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang – announcing an initiative called #TheShowMustBePaused, “in observance of the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard.”
...June 2nd, 2020
Prominent artists and educators reflect on the pandemic and how they are spending their time during isolation and social distancing
...May 18th, 2020
Arizona State University historian and author Tracy Fessenden responds to the question; “During this time of social distancing and isolation at home, what are examples of the music you are listening to, the books you are reading, and/or the television or films you are viewing?”
...May 11th, 2020
The jazz guitarist Yotam Silberstein has created a series of online concerts called the “Quarantine Duos”, featuring gifted musical guest artists
...May 10th, 2020
Spelman College president Mary Schmidt Campbell responds to the question; “During this time of social distancing and isolation at home, what are examples of the music you are listening to, the books you are reading, and/or the television or films you are viewing?”
...May 8th, 2020
Journalist Joe Hagan and photographer Tim Davis respond to the question; “During this time of social distancing and isolation at home, what are examples of the music you are listening to, the books you are reading, and/or the television or films you are viewing?”
...May 5th, 2020
When I met her around 1990, I was an RN working in Seattle at the University of Washington Medical Center on the Rehab Medicine Unit. She was my patient, and I’ll call her…Marge.
...April 30th, 2020
Recording artist Bruce Cockburn responds to the question, “During this time of social distancing and isolation at home, what are examples of the music you are listening to, the books you are reading, and/or the television or films you are viewing?”
...April 18th, 2020
In this edition, producer Tom Dowd talks with Michael Jarrett about the genesis of Herbie Mann’s 1969 recording, Memphis Underground, and the executives and musicians involved.
...April 1st, 2020
Interviews with three outstanding, acclaimed writers and scholars who discuss their books on Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter, and their subjects’ lives in and out of music. These interviews – which each include photos and several full-length songs – provide readers easy access to an entertaining and enlightening learning experience about these three giants of American popular music.
...March 27th, 2020
While preparing for an interview this week with Dominic McHugh. co-editor of The Letters of Cole Porter, I have immersed myself in Porter’s music, which has long been inspiration for a multitude of jazz recording artists.
...February 25th, 2020
I will accept this one day. I won’t have a choice.
The way I spent my time in San Francisco not finding
the Saint John Coltrane Church,
January 18th, 2020
In this edition, producer Creed Taylor tells Jarrett about the recording session and marketing strategy for the 1962 Verve album by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba.
.
...November 16th, 2019
2008. On the seafloor of the Stockholm archipelago near Ingarö the tides swept a body not yet dead back and forth, in eddies of dust that tornadoed up into black, cold water. Jazz had missed its chance again.
...November 15th, 2019
His style is unique, expressive, bombastic, heavy and rolling. He became one of the most famous drummers, making vast contributions to the hard bop and post-bop jazz movements. He had great influence on all the jazz musicians he played with, but more importantly, they influenced him.
...October 24th, 2019
The rain had simply just stopped, as suddenly as it had started, with only an occasional leftover droplet now falling from a street sign or lamppost. Some made it to the sidewalk where they joined the puddles in tiny splashes; others were interrupted in their descent, hitting the folded newspapers held overhead by those caught without an umbrella.
...October 21st, 2019
A recently released jazz album of significance is Abdullah Ibrahim’s The Balance (pictured), a distinctive and brilliant integration of contemporary exploration with the traditional nod to those who have influenced him over the years – in particular Ellington and Monk.
...August 30th, 2019
In a brilliant August 20, 2019 essay posted on the NPR website titled “Billie Full of Grace,” Professor Fessenden, author of Religion Around Billie Holiday,writes about the effect the convent reformatory Billie Holiday attended as a young woman – Baltimore’s House of the Good Shepherd – had on her life, and on her singing.
...August 22nd, 2019
In this edition, Michael Jarrett interviews producer John Snyder about the experience of working with Ornette Coleman at the time of his 1977 album Dancing in Your Head for Horizon Records — a division of A & M Records (under Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss)
...July 26th, 2019
The shimmering bulb of the brown Long Island sunset was barely enough to illuminate the silently flailing figure in the water. The flaming ball stared down at the commotion from beneath its skin of smog, but the girl simply picked the loose sand up in her hands, running the granules through her stubby fingers, fascinated by the way it felt on her palms, but irritated by how it stuck under her bitten nails.
...July 22nd, 2019
I have not heard
all the jazz
or understand
it all.
July 16th, 2019
On a couple of days, stretched that to a week, yeah,
that’s how you gonna be.
Akin to the ravaged beauty
that serenaded jazz clubs in late 70’s France.
March 7th, 2019
He must
have been separated
from a herd of boys
thus he was lost
in his early ‘20’s
blue jeans and an old J & L mill jacket
from Goodwill
February 26th, 2019
. . . . In an interview originally published on Jerry Jazz Musician in 2003, Rosa Parks biographer David Brinkley talks about the life of “the first lady of the civil rights movement,” whose refusal to move to the back of the bus in 1955 led to the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott , the … Continue reading “A Black History Month Profile: Rosa Parks”
...February 16th, 2019
in the Cincy club
drowning Gary’s vibes.
Stan asked them to stop.
January 19th, 2019
. . . . I am having time to listen to new music more regularly these days, and finding great pleasure in many of the “grooves.” (Full disclosure…investing $10 per month in a Spotify account — while not the sensual experience of laying the needle on the vinyl — effortlessly gets your ears to … Continue reading “On the Turntable — January, 2019 edition”
...January 7th, 2019
. . “If you can dance at all, you can dance to [Guy] Lombardo’s music,” the Metronome writer George T. Simon wrote in 1942. The Lombardo band’s popularity was once so immense and widespread that he set attendance marks wherever he went, including at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom. His appeal came despite what Simon described as … Continue reading “Guy Lombardo, “about as artistically creative as the average comic book””
...January 1st, 2019
FOR CHET BAKER, TRUMPET PLAYER, AT AGE TWENTY FOUR I saw a picture of you, in 1954 on the today t.v. show with host dave garroway. you both looked so happy. dave held up his own trumpet too. your trumpet playing was being witnessed & … Continue reading ““For Chet Baker, Trumpet Player, at Age Twenty Four” — a poem by Alan Yount”
...December 7th, 2018
Click here to read about plans for the future of Jerry Jazz Musician.
”4tet at Fiesta” by Catherine Lee
The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work.... Catherine Lee reads her poem at its conclusion
Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem
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