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McKENNA THE BOLD: A DAVE McKENNA ADVENTURE (Jazz at Chautauqua, September 12, 1997) | JAZZ LIVES
I think that DEEP PURPLE (music by Peter DeRose, lyrics by Mitchell Parish) is one of the great underrated masterpieces of melancholy nostalgia, right alongside STARDUST, which gets far more attention. When I think of that 1938 song, one version that comes to mind is Bing's: https://youtu.be/NFYnGXv05Tg?si=CDapjyYSjaiPSx5r and then Don Byas' (with Buck Clayton and…
WHATEVER “THAT WAY” IS, PLEASE DON’T BE IT: DAN BARRETT, JOE WILDER, HARRY ALLEN, DAVE McKENNA, JAMES CHIRILLO, BOB HAGGART, BOB COUSINS (Conneaut Lake Jazz Festival, Friday, August 26, 1994) | JAZZ LIVES
I wish someone had interviewed saxophonist-composer-arranger Edgar Sampson to ask him precisely what he meant by the suggestion or entreaty, DON'T BE THAT WAY, which had that title in 1934 when Sampson was part of Chick Webb's reed section. That was before Mitchell Parish added lyrics and before Benny Goodman took credit for part of…
MAKE ROOM ON THE BOOKSHELF FOR JAMES P.! | JAZZ LIVES
The marketing people would call a post like this "time-sensitive," so I will be quick -- as quick as James P. Johnson playing CAPRICE RAG or IF DREAMS COME TRUE. The superb scholar and writer Scott E. Brown, THE authority on James P., has been working for years on the second edition of his biography…
LOVE-NOTES: KEITH INGHAM, JOE WILDER, DAN BARRETT, CHUCK WILSON, BOB REITMEIER, FRANK TATE (Jazz at Chautauqua, Saturday brunch, September 29, 2006) | JAZZ LIVES
The great jazz musicians understand that sweetness is an essential part of the music: not always easy to perform but making possible a deep emotional connection between artist, song, and audience. And Joe Boughton wanted to hear sweet ballads just as much as he wanted to hear fifteen musicians roar through ROSE OF THE RIO…
SWING’S THE THING: JON-ERIK KELLSO, DAVE BLENKHORN, DAN WEISSELBERG, KEVIN DORN (Cafe Ornithology, February 15, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
This was a wonderful evening of music, hot and serene by turns, performed by Jon-Erik Kellso, Puje trumpet; Dave Blenkhorn, guitar; Dan Weisselberg, double bass; Kevin Dorn, drums -- at Cafe Ornithology, 1037 Broadway (at the corner of Suydam Street), Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. I've already posted a rocking [apolitical] RUSSIAN LULLABY from that evening.…
CHRISTMAS EVE IN NEW ORLEANS: DUKE HEITGER, DAVID BOEDDINGHAUS, TOM SAUNDERS, PART ONE (Steamboat Natchez, December 24, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
It was a wonderfully atmospheric scene: cruising down the Mississippi River from New Orleans, with some of the best music imaginable, from Duke Heitger, trumpet and vocal; David Boeddinghaus, piano; Tom Saunders, tuba. Here's the first part of the joy. Fud Livingston's melancholy I'M THROUGH WITH LOVE, taken as a more cheerful affirmation: https://youtu.be/FzhNs9I8fwk PAPA…
“GET HOT OR GO HOME!”: MARTY GROSZ, JON-ERIK KELLSO, BOB HAVENS, BOBBY GORDON, JOHN SHERIDAN, VINCE GIORDANO, KEVIN DORN (Jazz at Chautauqua, Saturday night, September 18, 1999) | JAZZ LIVES
Martin Oliver Grosz, of Berlin, Germany; Douglaston, Long Island, and other locales, born 1930, is a born sparkplug in the way Walter Page and Sidney Catlett were. Put him in a reasonably-decent band and everything improves; put him among his peers and friends and the music soars. Add to his rhythmic vigor his song choices…
IT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT (May 8, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
I hope these faces are familiar to you. The sounds they create are precious. The glories of small-group improvisation by artists who listen deeply to one another: the Danny Tobias Quartet, which is Danny, trumpet, Eb alto horn; Jay Rattman, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet; Felix Lemerle, guitar; Jen Hodge, double bass. No tricks, no coy…
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE: The DANNY TOBIAS QUARTET at WINNIE’S JAZZ BAR, PART THREE (DANNY TOBIAS, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, JEN HODGE, Thursday, April 17, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
Here are my first two postings of delicious music from that night. https://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2025/05/05/kindred-spirits-in-jazz-more-from-the-danny-tobias-quartet-at-winnies-jazz-bar-part-two-danny-tobias-jay-rattman-felix-lemerle-jen-hodge-thursday-april-17-2025/ And some delicacies from the third set. Did I mention that this Quartet will be playing tomorrow, Thursday, May 8, at Winnie's Jazz Bar (66 West 38th Street, Manhattan, New York City -- in the Refinery Hotel) beginning at 7:30? Consider it…
REMEMBERING THE KANSAS CITY SIX: KEITH INGHAM, HOWARD ALDEN, NICKI PARROTT, RANDY REINHART, SCOTT ROBINSON, BOB REITMEIER, JOHN VON OHLEN (Jazz at Chautauqua, Saturday evening, September 18, 2004) | JAZZ LIVES
If I ever had to pose the rhetorical question, "What good are recordings?" the 1938 session evoked here would be one of my first answers. I remember very clearly in 1971 purchasing an lp on the Mainstream label, possibly in reprocessed stereo, titled PREZ, that had the sides by the Kansas City Six, for which…
KINDRED SPIRITS IN JAZZ: MORE FROM The DANNY TOBIAS QUARTET at WINNIE’S JAZZ BAR, PART TWO (DANNY TOBIAS, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, JEN HODGE: Thursday, April 17, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
Here's the first delicious plateful from this band on April 17: https://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2025/05/02/they-make-it-look-easy-the-danny-tobias-quartet-at-winnies-jazz-bar-part-one-danny-tobias-jay-rattman-felix-lemerle-jen-hodge-thursday-april-17-2025/?preview_id=75050&preview_nonce=0427d72729&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=75058 And another wonderful offering. YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF ME: https://youtu.be/HWulvFOSTqc CHEEK TO CHEEK: https://youtu.be/fWtsTqMR4Bc The rare and mournful SPRING IS HERE: https://youtu.be/TN7QrjctuV0 NINE-TWENTY SPECIAL (named for 920 on the AM dial, not the time of night): https://youtu.be/k4h5DOJ9-ts Stunning, deep: PEE WEE'S BLUES: https://youtu.be/nU6TRkr9vnQ…
A BRILLIANT INTERLUDE: DICK HYMAN in RECITAL (Jazz at Chautauqua, Saturday evening, September 18, 1999) | JAZZ LIVES
Here is a brief but thrilling solo recital by the ever-astonishing Dick Hyman, then a mere 72, presented at Joe Boughton's Jazz at Chautauqua on Saturday night, September 18, 1999. Joe introduces Dick, who then plays I'M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY, HAVE YOU MET MISS JONES?, CLAP YO' HANDS, and his own THINKING ABOUT BIX.…
THEY MAKE IT LOOK EASY: The DANNY TOBIAS QUARTET at WINNIE’S JAZZ BAR, PART ONE (DANNY TOBIAS, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, JEN HODGE: Thursday, April 17, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
When four congenial and intuitive artists come together to play as if they've been rehearsing for months, you know something special is happening. And it did, at Winnie's Jazz Bar on 38th Street in Manhattan, Thursday, April 17, 2025. The Danny Tobias Quartet played three delightful sets of music and I was honored to be…
A FRIDAY NIGHT IN NEW YORK: JIMMIE ROWLES at BRADLEY’S (70 University Place, October 21, 1977) | JAZZ LIVES
Bradley's, the jazz club created and nurtured by Bradley Cunningham and later by his widow Wendy, was more than legendary. I was there only once (as a shy graduate student with a small budget) but it was there I heard the magical Jimmie Rowles at close range. I've written elsewhere that it was a date…
“ON A COCONUT ISLAND”: ALCATRAZ ISLANDERS at the REDWOOD COAST MUSIC FESTIVAL (MIKIYA MATSUDA, DAVE STUCKEY, JONATHAN STOUT, NATE KETNER, MATT WEINER, JOSH COLLAZO: October 4, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
Beautiful swinging unusual music that's utterly charming. I'll leave it to Mikiya to explicate, but, for this set, the Alcatraz Islanders are Mikiya Matsuda, steel guitar; Nate Ketner, tenor saxophone; Josh Collazo, drums; Matt Weiner, double bass; Jonathan Stout, guitar; Dave Stuckey, guitar, vocals. HOW'D YA DO?: https://youtu.be/I4mcnQtDx0k BLUE LEI: https://youtu.be/US16Gz4hRmo ON A COCONUT ISLAND:…
I KEEP GOING BACK TO JOE’S (TWO): DAN BARRETT, JON-ERIK KELLSO, DUKE HEITGER, RANDY REINHART, JAMES DAPOGNY, BOBBY GORDON, SCOTT ROBINSON, VINCE GIORDANO, ARNIE KINSELLA (Jazz at Chautauqua, Saturday, September 18, 2004) | JAZZ LIVES
Hot music animated by kindness: an unbeatable combination. What follows is a half-hour of joyous music made possible by the late Joe Boughton and his children Sarah Boughton Holt and Bill Boughton: a Saturday-night set from Joe's blissful weekend in Chautauqua, New York. In this case, the magical creators are Dan Barrett, trombone and leader;…
“WHEN DID YOU LEAVE HEAVEN?”: MEL POWELL and DICK HYMAN AT THE KEYBOARD (Floating Jazz Festival, October 23, 1986) | JAZZ LIVES
In my courting days, whether through timidity or discernment, I never cultivated a pickup line. But this song is endearing, simultaneously sweet and hip ("Where did you park your wings?"). Here's Tony Martin, from the film, so you can hear Bullock's clever lyrics: https://youtu.be/gdptKMMHplc?si=1DQBdEQbFqKJGgcp Louis, irresistibly (that opening trumpet chorus is divine): https://youtu.be/i1wkFqct_Lc?si=h3fbICRT0RNWYYNG Mel Powell,…
I KEEP GOING BACK TO JOE’S: DUKE HEITGER, BOB BARNARD, MARTY GROSZ, DAN BARRETT, PHIL FLANIGAN, JEFF HAMILTON (Jazz at Chautauqua, Saturday, September 17, 2005) | JAZZ LIVES
The Joe I am referring to is not a mythical figure in a song title, but the extraordinary Joe Boughton. He didn't play an instrument, but he made music possible by organizing concerts and jazz weekends that were memorably warm and lavish. Below, he is happily in his element, flanked by Dick Hyman and Milt…
MAGICAL SOUNDS IN SOHO, CONTINUED: JON-ERIK KELLSO, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, NEAL MINER (The Ear Inn, February 2, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
Sunday, February 2, 2025, was a magical night at The Ear Inn, 326 Spring Street. But those who know are used to such wonders. The EarRegulars have been blessing us for nearly eighteen years of Sunday nights at this exalted place. The splendidly lyrical quartet that night was Jon-Erik Kellso, Puje trumpet; Jay Rattman, alto…
EDDIE’S SOUNDTRACK FOR SUNDAY (1944) | JAZZ LIVES
Thank you, Irving Berlin. Eddie Condon and friends loved to improvise on popular songs that had classic merit, and EASTER PARADE was one of them. Here are three versions from his wartime concert series. September 23, 1944 (Bobby Hackett, Miff Mole, Pee Wee Russell, Ernie Caceres, Jess Stacy, Eddie Condon, Sid Weiss, Gene Krupa): https://youtu.be/pTKawgH11WI?si=APzKSB2OSR-8qjO-…
PRECIOUS SOUNDS ON THE RADIO: SONNY STITT, JIMMIE ROWLES, JACK SEWING, BOBBY DURHAM (La Grande Parade du Jazz / Nice Jazz Festival, July 6, 1979) | JAZZ LIVES
The business of "reputation" -- why some artists are raised in the hierarchy of praise and attention while others are ignored or even reviled -- is mysterious at best. The saxophonist Sonny Stitt doesn't get the fair evaluation his work of nearly four decades deserves. He has been categorized as a Charlie Parker imitator, and…
MISS EVA KNOWS HOW: EVA TAYLOR WITH MAGGIE’S BLUE FIVE (March 1976) | JAZZ LIVES
If you were to look at jazz in coolly actuarial terms, you might notice that although there is a middle ground of musicians who fit the average in terms of life expectancy, there is a curious abundance at each end of the bell curve: on one end, Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmie Blanton, Charlie Christian; on the…
THE MARTY GROSZ-JAMES DAPOGNY BACK ROOM HOT NINE: RANDY REINHART, DUKE HEITGER, BOB HAVENS, DAN BLOCK, BOBBY GORDON, ANDY STEIN, ARNIE KINSELLA (JAZZ at CHAUTAUQUA, September 18, 2008) | JAZZ LIVES
Marty Grosz by Lynn Redmile. I am honored to present to you some forty minutes of creative hot music of the finest kind, by Marty Grosz, guitar, vocal; Duke Heitger, trumpet; Randy Reinhart, cornet; Bob Havens, trombone; Bobby Gordon, clarinet; Dan Block, tenor saxophone; James Dapogny, piano; Andy Stein, baritone saxophone; Arnie Kinsella, drums. Thursday…
FOR THE LOVE OF LOUIS: BOB BARNARD, DUKE HEITGER, BOB HAVENS, BOBBY GORDON, KEITH INGHAM, FRANK TATE, PETE SIERS (Jazz at Chautauqua, September 15, 2007) | JAZZ LIVES
Be prepared to stand up and put your hand over your heart, for the love of Louis. This performance comes from the 2007 Jazz at Chautauqua weekend, the loving creation of our friend and benefactor, Joe Boughton. The brilliant musicians here are Bob Barnard, cornet, leader; Duke Heitger, trumpet; Bob Havens, trombone; Bobby Gordon, clarinet;…
HOWARD DIETZ and ARTHUR SCHWARTZ SAY “DRESS FOR SUCCESS”: JOHN S. REYNOLDS, DAWN LAMBETH, DANNY TOBIAS, JACOB ZIMMERMAN, CHRIS DAWSON, MIKIYA MATSUDA, JOSH COLLAZO (Jazz Bash by the Bay, Monterey, California: March 7-8, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
John S. Reynolds explains: one must be properly dressed to succeed at life, in love, in general. Dawn Lambeth offers her own version of this encouraging sartorial sermon: both songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, lyrics and music. GOT A BRAN' NEW SUIT (1935) was recorded memorably by two well-dressed men, Fats Waller and…
DREAMS COME TRUE! (Part Two): THE DANNY TOBIAS SEPTET (DANNY TOBIAS, DAN BLOCK, SCOTT ROBINSON, STEVE ASH, FELIX LEMERLE, JEN HODGE, ALEX RADERMAN at Winnie’s Jazz Bar, March 14, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
My title is no overstatement. Here's the first set, for ecstatic proof. The people (photograph RSG Studios): The place: That's one view of Winnie's Jazz Bar, 63 West 38th Street, New York, NY 10018 (646) 846-9063. Cozy, friendly, with very nice food and drink. But on March 14, delightfully imaginative and swinging music transformed this…
PLEASURE UNALTERED BY TIME: JOHNNY VARRO, BUCKY PIZZARELLI, RICHARD SIMON, EDDIE METZ (San Diego Jazz Party, February 22, 2014) | JAZZ LIVES
Milk spoils, cheese turns to mold, paper crumbles, photographs fade. But certain things are stronger than time. One of them is a good rhythm section rocking through a song that once was familiar but now has a certain novelty. So I present to you a compact delightful interlude from almost a dozen years ago. It…
A SWEET SERIOUSNESS: LISA RICH, “LONG AS YOU’RE LIVING” | JAZZ LIVES
A friend said to me, "You appreciate singers. Have you heard Lisa Rich's new CD, LONG AS YOU'RE LIVING? It's very impressive." And I am impressed. There's a story behind it -- of recovery and perseverance -- but the story is hand-in-hand with the music Lisa and friends create. You can hear samples here. What…
“THE UNNAMABLE QUARTET”: DAN BARRETT, MARC CAPARONE, JEFF HAMILTON, MIKIYA MATSUDA (Bird and Beckett Books and Records, San Francisco, March 29, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
That's Dan Barrett, trombone; Marc Caparone, cornet; Jeff Hamilton, piano; Mikiya Matsuda, double bass. Their title is not the result of collective identity theft; it just says something about their sense of humor. Sometimes the music I love is an hour away by Uber or car. Often, it requires an airplane trip and a long…
PIANO PARADISE AND MORE: “CLASSIC VANGUARD JAZZ PIANO SESSIONS” (Mosaic Records, 6 CDs) | JAZZ LIVES
I know I am not the only person who's been waiting for this set for decades. It's immensely gratifying (the Mosaic way!) because it features imperishable recordings by lyrical swinging pianists often overshadowed by more famous names, and those pianists in congenial and surprising contexts. The pianists are Ellis Larkins, Sir Charles Thompson, Mel Powell,…
FIVE MINUTES OF BEAUTY: BOBBY GORDON, JOHN SHERIDAN, MARTY GROSZ, HAL SMITH (Jazz at Chautauqua 1995 or 1996) | JAZZ LIVES
Eddie Condon would say that this music comes in the ear like honey, and who would argue? Something so pretty, from Joe Boughton's own mixtape of favorites -- a performance of the Jimmy McHugh classic I MUST HAVE THAT MAN (you know it from Billie, Duke, Hackett, Benny, Mel Powell, and many others). This took…
DREAMS COME TRUE! (Part One): THE DANNY TOBIAS SEPTET (DANNY TOBIAS, DAN BLOCK, SCOTT ROBINSON, STEVE ASH, FELIX LEMERLE, JEN HODGE, ALEX RADERMAN at Winnie’s Jazz Bar, March 14, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
My title is no overstatement. The people: The place: That's one view of Winnie's Jazz Bar, 63 West 38th Street, New York, NY 10018 (646) 846-9063. Cozy, friendly, with very nice food and drink. But on March 14, delightfully imaginative and swinging music transformed this pleasant space into an oasis of inspiration. One of the…
“THIS MUST BE THE PLACE!” | JAZZ LIVES
My title is the cheerful way Joe Venuti would announce his arrival on Bing Crosby's radio show. And THE PLACE is the Redwood Coast Music Festival, heralded above. I think the astonishing array of artists and music speaks for itself. I wouldn't miss it, and I've posted and written a great deal about it over…
TAKE AS NEEDED: CHRIS DAWSON, DAVE STUCKEY, MIKIYA MATSUDA, RILEY BAKER, NATE KETNER, DAN BARRETT (Jazz Bash by the Bay, March 8, 2025). | JAZZ LIVES
Swing might not save us from darkness, but its only side effects are grinning and rhythmic undulations. Here are two fine practitioners of this healing art: pianist Chris Dawson and guitarist-singer Dave Stuckey, caught very recently at the Jazz Bash by the Bay in Monterey, California. And in this performance of Don Redman's CHERRY, captured…
“ROSE OF THE RIO GRANDE”: BOB BARNARD, JON-ERIK KELLSO, RANDY REINHART, DUKE HEITGER, BOB HAVENS, DAN BARRETT, BOBBY GORDON, BOB REITMEIER, DAN BLOCK, SCOTT ROBINSON, JOHN SHERIDAN, VINCE GIORDANO, MARTY GROSZ, PETE SIERS (Jazz at Chautauqua, September 28, 2007) | JAZZ LIVES
The jazz parties created and maintained by Joe Boughton always began and ended with a hot-jazz spectacle featuring two bands onstage, left and right, in his delighted evocation of the jam sessions at Eddie Condon's. Here's a ferociously rewarding one from Jazz at Chautauqua, September 28, 2007, on Harry Warren's early vision of the American…
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, AT THE EAR INN: JON-ERIK KELLSO, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, NEAL MINER (326 Spring Street, Soho, New York City, February 2, 2025). | JAZZ LIVES
A true or false test for those who know and feel this music. All of the great performances of the classic jazz / venerable popular song repertoire have already been done and can't be improved on. The familiar standards in that repertoire are so worn-out through inferior repetition that they no longer have any validity.…
“FRANKIE NEWTON, LOST AND FOUND,” by MATTHEW RIVERA (The New York Review of Books, March 19, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
Matthew Rivera, who many of you know as the guiding spirit of the Hot Club of New York, is also a fine researcher and compelling writer. He has spent a good part of his young life fascinated by the trumpeter / painter / thinker Frankie Newton, and the result of his deep inquiries can be…
ONCE UPON A TIME, DOWNSTAIRS: JON-ERIK KELLSO, EVAN ARNTZEN, ARNT ARNTZEN, JARED ENGEL (Cafe Bohemia, October 24, 2019) | JAZZ LIVES
A bit of vibrant history, either so close or light-years away, depending on perspective. In a now-mythic period between September 2019 and March 2020, this oasis existed on Barrow Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. A dark flight of stairs led to a venerable basement room devoted to jazz. Thursday nights were given over…
IT’S GOT THAT SWING: DANNY TOBIAS, DAN BARRETT, JACOB ZIMMERMAN, CHRIS DAWSON, JOHN S. REYNOLDS, MIKIYA MATSUDA, JOSH COLLAZO (Jazz Bash by the Bay, Monterey, California, March 8, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
The three artists in my snapshot above look very serious, but don't let that fool you. They made the most joyous music at the Jazz Bash by the Bay, last weekend in Monterey, California. From left, Danny Tobias, trumpet; Dan Barrett, trombone; Jacob Zimmerman, clarinet. And I have eight minutes of uplifting evidence to share…
JOE BOUGHTON BROUGHT US SUMMERTIME: JON-ERIK KELLSO, RANDY REINHART, DUKE HEITGER, BOB BARNARD, DAN BARRETT, BOB HAVENS, SCOTT ROBINSON, DAN BLOCK, BOBBY GORDON, BOB REITMEIER, JOHN SHERIDAN, VINCE GIORDANO, MARTY GROSZ, PETE SIERS (September 28, 2007) | JAZZ LIVES
Joe Boughton, who created opportunities for so much good music, is the guiding spirit of this post. The impetus -- not that Joe is ever very far from my thoughts and memories -- is a conversation I had with the gloriously talented Andy Schumm last weekend at the Jazz Bash by the Bay in Monterey,…