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 Copyright ® Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved. This is reposted as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Sassy's birth. “What I am about to do really can't be done at all, and that is to do justice to Sarah Vaughan in words. Her art is so remarkable, so unique that it, sui generis, is self-fulfilling and speaks best on its own musical artistic terms. It is—like the work of no other singer—self-justifying and needs neither my nor anyone else's defense or approval. To say what I am about to say in her very presence seems to me even more preposterous, and I will ..read more

Lyrics by Johnny Mercer -  Sarah's accompanied by Don Costa & Orchestra and recorded in 1963. (Roulette Records) Was it in Tahiti Were we on the Nile Long, long ago, Say an hour or so I recall that I saw your smile I remember you You're the one who made My dreams come true A few kisses ago. I remember you You're the one who said "I love you, too," I do Didn't you know I remember, too A distant bell And stars that fell like rain Out of the blue. When my life When my life is through And the angels ask me to recall The thrill of them all Then I shall tell them I remember I remember y ..read more

 © -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved. I'm reposting this feature as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Blossom's birth. Listening to Blossom Dearie sing is like following the flight of a dandelion seed. Her feather-soft voice warbles and reels while a warm, breezy piano line buoys her gentle melodies. Despite Dearie’s pixie-like voice, her performances never lacked for emotional force, drawing crowds to jazz clubs and cabarets in London and New York for the better part of three decades. Dearie died on Saturday, February 7 [2009]. She was 82 ..read more

 Though the two musicians were very different in both life and music, they came together in 1972 to record this excellent, newly released album. By Will Friedwald April 20, 2024 Wall Street Journal Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. “Chet Baker and Jack Sheldon didn’t have much in common. The two trumpeters and occasional singers, who are heard together on the recently discovered, newly released “In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album” (Jazz Detective, out now), both emerged from the West Coast jazz scene of the early 1950s, but that’s where the similarity e ..read more

 Copyright ® Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved. “Stan Kenton was not the only 1950s big band leader who attempted to remake modern jazz in his own iconoclastic image. Sun Ra drew on an equally eclectic mixture of forward-looking jazz styles in the various recordings made with his large ensemble, the Arkestra — a band invariably described by the leader with one or more impressive descriptives attached (e.g., the Myth Science Arkestra or the Astro Infinity Arkestra). A certain extravagance permeated almost everything having to do with this artist.  Many jazz pl ..read more

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 © Introduction. Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved. “Mitchell was known for a fluent improvising style in which pulled-off (rather than plucked) notes in a typically low register (Mitchell used a retuned bass) suggest a baritone saxophone rather than a stringed instrument; Scott LaFaro was later sanctified for a broadly similar technique.” - Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed. “The basic sound of the Mitchell-Land group is one that the musicians find elusive of verbalization. "Hard" is an adjective that has been appl ..read more

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  Copyright ® John McDonough, copyright protected; all rights reserved. Michael passed away on April 19, 2024. His death is an immense loss to the Cuscuna family and the Jazz World. This article, which appeared in the January 2, 2024 issue of The Magazine, is posted as a tribute to his memory and as a way of saying “Thank You” to the many kindnesses he shared with the JazzProfiles blog. “Once upon a time, a tiny handful of early jazz critics wrote about rare old jazz records like priests talking about the Bible when most of the world couldn’t even read. Like the lonely tree in the for ..read more