Subscribe When Bobby Hackett visited England in 1974, he did a long interview with Max Jones, later printed in TALKING JAZZ. This passage continues to resonate with me: If I hear a song, I know how I want it to play. I kind of make it a rule that if it’s by a good composer, I’ll aim for a faithful interpretation, not change too much ‘cos he knew more about writing it than I ever will. So a soloist to me is an interpreter. How did the writer wish the song to sound? That’s the way I try to make it sound. If I’m playing a Cole Porter tune I don’t want it to sound like Birdland — that would be ..read more

Subscribe JAZZ LIVES (henceforth “this jazz blog”) and its creator (henceforth “CEO”) wish to indemnify themselves against any legal action that could be taken by a reader / viewer due to any physical injury or damage to personal property presumed to be the causal result of the musical presentation that follows. By continuing to read this jazz blog and by clicking on the videos below, the reader / viewer assumes total liability for any physical manifestation of excitement, such as, but not limited to, being blown out of the chair and into the next room because of violent rhythmic excitement ..read more

Subscribe Yes, Ellington, authentically, down to the grease and funk: expertly performed by Nick Rossi’s Jazzopaters at Mr. Tipple’s in San Francisco, on April 20, 2024. The flawless video is by Sunny Tokunaga. THE MOOCHE was a dance, an Ellington standby for forty-five years. The wonderful musicians are Nick Rossi, banjo, leader; Patrick Wolff, alto saxophone, clarinet; Colin Hancock, cornet; Victor Imbo, trombone; Nathan Tokunaga, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet; Kamrin Ortiz, baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet; Rob Reich, piano; Clint Baker, double bass; Riley Bake ..read more

Don’t think. Just watch this. This post is about the delicious new CD by Ian Hutchison, BOP FOR DANCING. And you don’t have to be an elite dancer to savor the music or purchase it. I, who worry about tripping over invisible obstacles, have been having the time of my life with this vibrant sweet inventive communal music. If you’re already straining at the leash, skip the words that follow and meet me here. Getting this music for yourself is more important than passing the JAZZ LIVES final exam. But some details for those who have hung on nobly. Or those who have been to Bandcamp, done the nee ..read more

Subscribe This is the third set of three performed by this wonderful hot band at the 2024 Jazz Bash by the Bay in Monterey, California. The crowd loved them, and other crowds will have the opportunity through this year and the future. You can see the first set here, and the second, here. I’ll wait if you need to catch up. The superb videos are by the indefatigable Sunny Tokunaga, whose YouTube channel is full of delights. For this set, the band was Andy Schumm, cornet; Brandon Au, trombone, vocal; Nathan Tokunaga, clarinet; Jeff Barnhart, piano, vocal; Bill Dendle, banjo; Mikiya Matsuda, st ..read more

Subscribe These ruminations are provoked by several previously-unseen bits of jazz ephemera for sale on eBay. My parents didn’t particularly like jazz, although they kindly tolerated their son’s obsession with it. (My father did say, before I had a checking account and would give him twenty dollars to write a check for that amount so I could buy new records, “Can’t you save your money?” but it was a wistful request, not a roar.) But I was alive when these events were happening, my parents were healthy, and we lived about an hour outside Manhattan. Oh, well. The emotion-charged pieces of pape ..read more

Subscribe One of the nicest things about being a self-employed independent contractor-blogger (say that three times fast) is that I only write about music I enjoy, and return to. I had not heard of guitarist Joe Wittman, but I certainly know and admire double bassist Daniel Duke and drummer Keith Balla. And before I heard a note of this disc, I visited Joe’s website, and read these words: “Joe certainly is born to be blue. His original tunes all expand upon the foundation of the blues, but in ways unexpected and always musical. Light on his feet, his guitar playing reflects the swinging his ..read more

Subscribe The trail of home-grown jazz recordings winds back more than a hundred years, if you begin with the 1926 Earl Baker cylinders. If you’ve never heard them, they are impressive. Here’s one: Recording jazz outside the studio, in a club or your living room, became easier as technology progressed. We have hours of home-recorded radio broadcasts, some smaller amount of living room jam sessions, perhaps more done on site in clubs. It is obviously the smallest fraction of what was performed. In our time, we have reel-to-reel magnetic tape (coming after wire recorders), disc cutters, casse ..read more

James Dapogny at Jazz at Chautauqua, September 2014. Photograph by Michael Steinman. Subscribe Any session with Professor James Dapogny was special and needs to be preserved. In this case, he’s nearly hidden behind the piano, but his sound and swinging energy are vividly present. This music took place at the jam-session-before-the-festival on Thursday night, the festival being the Cleveland Classic Jazz Party, the successor to Jazz at Chautauqua. I have the happiest memories of those weekends, where musicians and civilians mingled at meals and at the open bar and sheet music table, where the ..read more

Subscribe This is news. Nancy Harrow in the recording studio. Nancy Harrow is not only one of our finest, most honest singers. She is also a composer, dramatist, a visionary blessed with an expansive imagination. But she is also a realist, someone who not only observes but sees deeply into the heart of things as they are. I have the honor of knowing her, of conversing with her, of hearing her sing. But it still came as the most delightful shock when I saw this email from her this morning, “Last week I recorded a new song I had just written and I wanted to send it to you to see what you thi ..read more