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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,…
BLISS IN BUSHWICK (Part One): JON-ERIK KELLSO, DAVE BLENKHORN, DAN WEISSELBERG, KEVIN DORN (Cafe Ornithology, February 15, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
Politics aside, here's another version of Berlin's RUSSIAN LULLABY, performed on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Cafe Ornithology, 1037 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn, by four of my heroes: Jon-Erik Kellso, trumpet; Dave Blenkhorn, guitar; Dsn Weisselberg, double bass; Kevin Dorn, drums. Stand back: serious rocking will take place: https://youtu.be/HxutUIXuk7U There will be more music from this…
SIDNEY CATLETT’S CATHEDRAL (1948) | JAZZ LIVES
"Most drum solos are wild fountains of noise," Whitney Balliett wrote. But one of the exceptions is our hero, Sidney Catlett (1910-51). He had an orchestral sensibility; he moves around his set, varying texture, rhythm, and sounds. Even more, I think of his playing having the kind of spatial and structural awareness one would expect…
“TWO ORDERS OF HAPPY, PLEASE”: MARC CAPARONE, ANDY SCHUMM, CHRIS DAWSON, STEVE PIKAL, JOSH COLLAZO, DANNY TOBIAS, JACOB ZIMMERMAN, MIKIYA MATSUDA (Jazz Bash by the Bay, March 1, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
Continuing our whimsical pre-flight series subtitled, "Why get on a plane? This is why!" I present two more psychically uplifting performances from the 2024 Jazz Bash by the Bay: perhaps unsubtly reminding those who can, to get themselves to the 2025 Bash. There's a common word in these titles, and if you don't feel that…
ON THE ROAD TO MONTEREY: DAVE STUCKEY, DAN BARRETT, CLINT BAKER, RILEY BAKER, JACOB ZIMMERMAN (Jazz Bash by the Bay, February 29, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
In forty-eight hours I will be on an airplane to California. I love "being there," but the process of "getting there" grows a little more arduous each time. And today, as I continue the process of wedging everything I think I will want into manageable luggage, I sigh. Cameras, cables, batteries, and then things like…
BENNY AMÓN’S NEW ORLEANS PEARLS: MARC CAPARONE, SAM ROCHA, JEFF HAMILTON (Bird & Beckett Books, San Francisco, March 1, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
The good stuff. Unfiltered, unadulterated, organic, cage-free, pasture-raised. That's drummer Benny Amón's New Orleans Pearls. For this occasion, they are Marc Caparone, cornet, vocal; Sam Rocha, double bass, vocal; Jeff Hamilton, piano. LOUISIAN-I-A / WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO? / MARIA ELENA / LET ME CALL YOU SWEETHEART / BUDDY BOLDEN'S BLUES / WHILE…
MAGIC TO THE HIGHEST POWER: “A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND”: MARTY GROSZ, JAMES DAPOGNY, ANDY SCHUMM, DAN BLOCK, HAL SMITH (Allegheny Jazz Party, September 13, 2015) | JAZZ LIVES
The archives yield treasures. And I am determined to share them with you. This Musical Offering is in honor of the ninety-fifth birthday of Martin Oliver Grosz. Photograph by Lynn Redmile. James Dapogny was the very definition of extraordinary, although he would have quickly made a witty retort if I had said that to his…
“ALL I CAN SAY IS ‘WHEE!’”: THE WIDE WORLD OF EDDIE CONDON’S FLOOR SHOW: TINY KAHN, BUDDY RICH, GENE KRUPA, JO JONES, BOB HAGGART, JACK LESBERG, BOB CASEY, GENE SCHROEDER, RALPH SUTTON, CLIFF JACKSON, JOE BUSHKIN, JIMMY JONES, FREDDIE SLACK, DICK CARY, PEANUTS HUCKO, SIDNEY BECHET, PEE WEE RUSSELL, CUTTY CUTSHALL, BRAD GOWANS, FRED OHMS, HOT LIPS PAGE, MAX KAMINSKY, BOBBY HACKETT, BILLY BUTTERFIELD, ROY ELDRIDGE, JONAH JONES, MUGGSY SPANIER, JIMMY McPARTLAND, TEDDY HALE, PETER NUGENT, BABY LAURENCE, KINGDOM CHOIR, ROSEMARY CLOONEY, SARAH VAUGHAN, BEVERLY ARNOLD, LIZA MORROW (1948-1950). | JAZZ LIVES
and This post will not be a defense of Eddie Condon, nor will it be an explanation of what he did. Neither of those should be necessary. Rather, it is a celebration of him, a hero of mine from the first records I bought in high school, which was some decades ago. And here I…
“THAT WAS SWELL!”: CHRIS CALABRESE AT THE PIANO (Jazz Bash at the Bay, Monterey, California, March 2, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
I first encountered the delightful pianist Chris Calabrese a decade ago when he was part of a trio with Eddie Erickson and Sue Kroninger. Chris was quietly amazing, but I had forgotten just how dazzling he is until his compact feature with Clint Baker's "Fabulous Baker Boys" at the 2024 Jazz Bash by the Bay…
“A LAND THAT’S FREE FOR YOU AND ME”: JON-ERIK KELLSO, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, NEAL MINER (The Ear Inn, February 2, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
Under the current regime, Irving Berlin would have been deported as an illegal alien. What a blessing that he came to "the golden land" when he did. Here is a hymn to generosity of spirit, to welcoming the stranger who will become precious, Berlin's RUSSIAN LULLABY, played memorably by the EarRegulars on Sunday, February 2,…
(More) STRINGIN’ THE BLISS: THE ALCATRAZ ISLANDERS: MIKIYA MATSUDA, JOHN S. REYNOLDS, CASEY MacGILL, DENNIS LICHTMAN, MATT WEINER, RILEY BAKER (Redwood Coast Music Festival, October 4, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
It wasn't "a musical trip to the islands" or anything with a hint of cliche, but this set was a transporting experience. I forgot that I was in the front row of a large hall at the Redwood Coast Music Festival when the Alcatraz Islanders took me away -- into a lovely world of lyrical…
“THE WONDER IS THIS”: JON-ERIK KELLSO, JAY RATTMAN, FELIX LEMERLE, NEAL MINER (The Ear Inn, February 2, 2025.) | JAZZ LIVES
"The wonder" has many facets to it. You'll hear a lovely pop tune (1929, Richard Whiting and Leo Robin) which used to be part of the common language, brought back with quiet understated lyrical swing. That happened on a cold Sunday night, February 2 of this year, at the Ear Inn, 326 Spring Street, Soho,…
ONE PRONOUN, PLEASE, PLUS POTATO | JAZZ LIVES
The antecedents. One: and the film version: https://youtu.be/VetLhsFZeuw?si=jjHMp-PvGFbBDSJF and Two: That's the memorable past (you can also find Henry "Red" Allen singing YOU and a hundred bands playing POTATO HEAD BLUES) but here's the glorious present, the Chicago Cellar Boys at the 2024 BixFest, expertly captured by videographer Laura Beth Wyman. The Cellar Boys are…
DON REDMAN, A MODERN MAN IN TOUCH WITH HIS EMOTIONS: JAMES DAPOGNY, ANDY SCHUMM, DAN LEVINSON, MARTY GROSZ, JON BURR, JOHN VON OHLEN (Allegheny Jazz Party, September 19, 2014). | JAZZ LIVES
James Dapogny, our beloved Prof., knew the hallowed jazz repertory was wider and deeper than the expected three dozen "classics," sometimes worn to shreds. He left us these gems. THE WAY I FEEL TODAY, with its intriguing composer credits: Don Redman, Howdy Quicksell, and Andy Razaf, isn't something you hear every day, evening, or year.…
“COMME C’EST DELICIEUX!” B.E.M.D. of JAZZ | JAZZ LIVES
Instantaneous translation: Prokhor Burlak, tenor saxophone; Jérôme Etcheberry, trumpet; Mathieu Meyer, piano; Raphaël Dever, double bass. Paris, France, February 12, 2025, 18th arrondissement -- How would I say "impeccable modern evocations of mid-Forties small group jazz" in respectable French? THAT'S MY WEAKNESS NOW, tipping a chapeau to Joe Thomas, Pete Brown, and of course Harry…
“A BIT OF FLUFF”: JAMES DAPOGNY, RANDY REINHART, SCOTT ROBINSON, DAN BLOCK, BILL ALLRED, MARTY GROSZ, JON BURR, PETE SIERS (Allegheny Jazz Party, September 11, 2015) | JAZZ LIVES
This one's dedicated to my man Matthew Rivera and the Hot Club of New York. If you're not familiar with the HCNY's good works, spreading joy and erudition through rare records as they were meant to be heard, latch on at hotclubny.org. As a matter of fact, if you are reading this post on Monday…
A “SWING CONCERT” FOR JOE SULLIVAN (April 18, 1937, Congress Hotel, Chicago) | JAZZ LIVES
The magnificent pianist Joe Sullivan was diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was thirty, and it put him out of action for almost two years. (Treatment with antibiorics did not begin until 1944.) He had worked with the Bob Crosby band for only a few months. A month later, an even larger concert was held in…
LOCKED DOORS and SILENCES | JAZZ LIVES
Here are two points of view expressed by poets of unequal stature: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter . . . (John Keats) Sharing is caring. (Barney the Purple Dinosaur.) Most human beings have some possessiveness, necessary if we are to survive. We want to find our shoes where we left…
MAKING IT NEW, AGAIN: DANNY TOBIAS, JACOB ZIMMERMAN, CHRIS DAWSON, MIKIYA MATSUDA, JOSH COLLAZO (Jazz Bash by the Bay, March 1, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
In the little corner of the jazz world that I call home, happily, some standard or "classic" tunes appear and re-appear. IF I HAD YOU, JUMPIN' AT THE WOODSIDE, LINGER AWHILE, INDIANA, MY GAL SAL, ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET, and more. You can make your own list. Sometimes four bars of SATIN…
ETERNALLY NICE: The ALDEN-BARRETT QUINTET with RUBY BRAFF at the NICE JAZZ FESTIVAL, featuring CHUCK WILSON, FRANK TATE, JACKIE WILLIAMS (July 11, 1990) | JAZZ LIVES
Ruby Braff was very fierce about who he would and wouldn't play with, so often he created gatherings of unimagined beauty and synergy. I had read about this magical encounter, and am delighted that the music was recorded by French radio: here it is in glowing fidelity. The quintet co-led by guitarist Howard Alden and…
THE STREETS OF CHICAGO (1944, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
In 1944, Art Hodes recorded a blues he called CLARK AND RANDOLPH: his soulful evocation of a jazz band in a piano line. Hear the annunciatory first phrase? That's a trumpet, announcing the mood. The descending line that answers it? The trombonist's rejoinder. And more. I woke up with this line in my mental jukebox,…
STRINGIN’ THE BLISS: THE ALCATRAZ ISLANDERS (Part One): MIKIYA MATSUDA, JOHN S. REYNOLDS, CASEY MacGILL, DENNIS LICHTMAN, MATT WEINER, RILEY BAKER (Redwood Coast Music Festival, October 4, 2024) | JAZZ LIVES
This Bay Area group of brilliant lyrical individualists is led by Mikiya Matsuda on lap steel guitar. For this occasion, the "superband" included the inimitable John S. Reynolds on guitar and vocal; Casey MacGill, ukulele, cornet, and vocal; Dennis Lichtman, clarinet and fiddle; Matt Weiner, double bass; Riley Baker, drums. Their first set at the…
ON WITH THE DANCE: The CLOUD DROPS at the STORMY WEATHER JAZZ DANCE FESTIVAL (JONATHAN DOYLE, JACOB ZIMMERMAN, RAY SKJELBRED, MATT WEINER, JOSH ROBERTS, D’VONNE LEWIS, WALTER CANO, JEROME SMITH) | JAZZ LIVES
Thanks to double bassist and videographer Matt Weiner, we can now swing out at a Seattle, Washington dance (December 29, 2024, and January 1, 2025). Here's the wondrous band, The Cloud Drops, with inspired arrangements by Doyle and Zimmerman: Jonathan Doyle, tenor saxophone and clarinet; Jacob Zimmerman, alto saxophone and clarinet; Walter Cano, trumpet; Jerome…
TAKE TWO: JAZZ BASH BY THE BAY (Monterey, California, March 6-9, 2025) | JAZZ LIVES
A long weekend of inspired music in comfortable surroundings in a congenial California city. There you have it. Details here. From left, Danny Tobias, trumpet and Eb horn; Josh Collazo, drums; Jacob Zimmerman, clarinet and alto saxophone. Just three of the jazz heroes who will enliven the Bash. When I wrote my recent post about…
WORDS (AND MUSIC) TO LIVE BY: JOHN LEWIS, BARNEY BIGARD, CLARK TERRY, EDDIE DANIELS, KAI WINDING, JIMMIE MAXWELL, VIC DICKENSON, JOE NEWMAN, SLAM STEWART, BOBBY ROSENGARDEN (Nice Jazz Festival, July 15, 1977) | JAZZ LIVES
Seventeen minutes of pure Ellington-favored Mainstream joy, performed live at the 1977 Nice Jazz Festival: a new discovery, thanks to our friend Franz Hoffmann. The title? A philosophical statement by Ellington's short-lived trumpet star, James "Bubber" Miley, who did so much to give the Ellington orchestras their first aesthetic identity, the "jungle" sound. Nearly a…