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Known as ‘Sweet Poppa Lou,’ Donaldson blended the lyricism of swing-era hornblower Johnny Hodges with the quick-fingered athleticism of bebop architect Charlie Parker.Lou Donaldson, a pioneer of soul jazz, has passed away. Known as “Sweet Poppa Lou” – a reference to the distinctive, honeyed tone he pulled from his alto sax – Donaldson blended the lyricism of swing-era hornblower Johnny Hodges with the quick-fingered athleticism of bebop architect Charlie Parker. More than anything else, though, Donaldson viewed himself as a crowd-pleaser: His music’s deep, bluesy soulfulness and emotional directness allowed him to connect with a wider audience than many of...

The legendary jazz drummer challenged the idea that a percussionist’s primary function was to keep time.Roy Haynes has passed away. He was the last surviving member of a small but elite cadre of drummers who rose to fame in the mid-1940s, introducing conversational elements into jazz’s rhythmic vocabulary and challenging the idea that a percussionist’s primary function was to keep time. Dubbed “Snap Crackle” by bassist Al McKibbon – purportedly in an approximation of his uniquely crisp snare drum sound – Haynes distinguished himself with his innovative use of cymbals, driving the groove while adding rhythmic commentary to what...

This relaxed, sensitive masterpiece is full of lyricism and warmth.On October 16, 1957, one of the great studio sessions of the decade took place in Capitol’s famous studios in Hollywood. The brilliant tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins spent much of the day and evening in the studios recording two separate albums with producer Norman Granz for Verve Records: The Genius Of Coleman Hawkins and Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster. The 52-year-old Hawkins was there, working with pianist Oscar Peterson’s regular trio of Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), and drummer Alvin Stoller. The musicians recorded twelve songs that were released...

Though he was never a household name, Golson was one of the most accomplished tenor saxophonists and composers of the 1950s hard bop era.Beloved jazz composer and saxophonist Benny Golson passed away on September 21st. Though he was never a household name like his high school friend John Coltrane, Golson was one of the most accomplished tenor saxophonists and composers of the 1950s hard bop era, known for his smoky, muscular tone and for penning tunes like “Whisper Not,” “I Remember Clifford” and “Killer Joe” — songs that married indelible melodies with subtle harmonic sophistication. During his seven-decade career,...

Two Hollywood legends will be in attendance at this year's Monterey Jazz Festival. Clint Eastwood will be presented with the inaugural Cultural Leadership Award on Sunday as part of the 67th annual Monterey Jazz Festival. Eastwood has been a longtime Monterey Jazz Festival board member and he will be given the award by his longtime friend Freeman. Monterey Jazz Festival at the Monterey County FairgroundsMonterey Jazz Festival returns to Monterey County for 67th year The presentation will be followed by "Eastwood Symphonic," a musical project led by Clint's son American jazz musician and composer Kyle Eastwood. The project features his...

Seen as a face-off between the old and new guards in jazz, Duke Ellington’s ‘Money Jungle’ album proved they were on the same continuum.First released in 1962 via the United Artists label, Duke Ellington’s collaboration with bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach, Money Jungle, was a momentous jazz summit. Though often seen as the moment where the old guard (Ellington) squared up to jazz music’s young lions (Mingus and Roach), the generational differences between its three participants are often exaggerated. Certainly, Ellington was entering his twilight years – he had just turned 63 – but Mingus, then aged 40,...

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in September 1957, ‘Blue Train’ is one of John Coltrane’s masterpieces.Recorded on September 15, 1957, John Coltrane‘s Blue Train is an album revered, cherished, and loved by many… and there are others who cannot quite see what all the fuss is about. I am firmly in the former camp. Granted, some controversy surrounds the recording and critics argue that both Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller have done much better work elsewhere. Yet such judgements seem overly harsh; this is, after all, a Coltrane album. Nonetheless, Billboard’s review of Blue Train was positive: “A provocative...

On August 18, 1962, The Duke Ellington Octet featuring Coleman Hawkins were in a New York recording studio, busy making an album for the Impulse! label. Impulse! was still a relatively new imprint at the time, having issued its first four albums in early 1961. Joining Ellington and Hawk were Ray Nance (cornet, violin), Lawrence Brown (trombone), Johnny Hodges (alto sax), Harry Carney (baritone sax, bass clarinet), Aaron Bell (bass), and Sam Woodyard (drums). The result was Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins, an album the New York Times described as “one of the great Ellington albums, one of the great...

This young lady has a voice that will take you back to early 50s. Humble, she started singing in her church choir and gained a following on TikTok. Dark hair, blue eyes and cute as can be. All you need is a scotch on the rocks sitting in a smokey nightclub and soak it al in.

John Coltrane’s sessions for the Prestige label proved to be supremely fertile and prolific, marking the saxophonist’s creative rebirth.It’s 1958 and John Coltrane is looking to rebuild his career. The reputation of the Philadelphia-raised musician, then 32, had seemed in serious jeopardy a year earlier, after his heroin addiction got him fired from Miles Davis’ group. As a rising star of the tenor saxophone – the man who had lit up a clutch of Davis albums recorded for both Prestige and Columbia during 1955-56 – the high-flying Coltrane seemed an indispensable component of the trumpeter’s band, but the shock of...

He played with such artists as Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, and had several successful solo albumsDavid Sanborn, an influential saxophonist, who found success across the genres of pop, R&B, jazz and more, died Sunday. He was 78. “It is with sad and heavy hearts that we convey to you the loss of internationally renowned, 6 time Grammy Award-winning, saxophonist, David Sanborn,” reads a statement on his social media accounts. “Mr. Sanborn passed Sunday afternoon, May 12th, after an extended battle with prostate cancer with complications.” SNIP “By the age of 14, he was able to...

Imagine a record label where the heads of preeminent brass (classical), jazz, and blues labels collaborated with Beezwax Records, LLC to issue one release per year in their respective genres. Imagine a record label whose A&R vetting was guided in part by a select group of visually impaired, eclectic audiophiles tilting toward the same. Imagine a record label that limits its market exclusively to a set of prequalified subscribers who eagerly await their next Beezwax Record, and when they get it it has their name on it. Imagine a record label that dovetails seamlessly with the manufacturers of physical...

We look back to a time when jazz was the dominant form of popular music and could be heard emanating from radio stations and concert halls around the world.Nowadays, in the second decade of the 21st Century, jazz may seem to many a marginalized music. Of course, it goes without saying that there are still musicians who have risen out of the jazz ghetto, crossed over, and sold humungous amounts of records to the mainstream public – think Gregory Porter and Diana Krall, in recent times – but on the whole, jazz music no longer makes the bestseller lists. But...

Beezwax Records was established in 1997 as a sole proprietorship dedicated to the recording and distribution of brass, jazz, and blues music. Their home base is Elkhart, Indiana, where more brass instruments have been manufactured than anywhere else in the world. When the first Beezwax Record came out on October 31, 1997, it was in CD form. It was also date stamped, serialized, embossed, personalized, and registered into a database as a way to honor the passion that exists between artist and audience. The same holds true for the tens of thousands of CDs that were shipped since that day....

‘Getz/Gilberto’ is now a jazz classic, but when it was recorded no one expected it to become one of the best selling jazz albums of all time.As the five musicians, one of whom was accompanied by his wife, arrived at A&R Studios in New York City on Monday evening March 18, 1963, none would have guessed that they were about to give jazz an almost unprecedented shot in the arm with Getz/Gilberto. Jazz was still, at this point, closer to the mainstream of popular taste, but it was still a minority interest. Stan Getz and João Gilberto were, however, about...

The only studio album he recorded for Blue Note is one of jazz’s most important albums.The crowning glory of Eric Dolphy’s career was 1964’s earth-shaking Out to Lunch, the only album he recorded for Blue Note. The cruel irony was that he didn’t live to see its release. Out to Lunch neither bound itself to bop nor fully embraced free-blowing. It was its own particular beast, arriving at the forefront of what some called the New Thing in mid-’60s jazz. The players – Dolphy on alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard...

McCann also discovered Roberta Flack, while his music has been sampled by hip-hop stars such as Nas, Snoop Dogg and A Tribe Called Quest.Les McCann, the Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who discovered a young Roberta Flack, and whose own works have been sampled by countless hip-hop artists, died on Friday, December 29, at the age of 88. Born Leslie McCann on September 23, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, the musician would become one of jazz’s “most gifted and influential artists,” according to a statement from Kevin Gore, president of Global Catalog, Recorded Music for Warner Music Group. McCann’s family...

The iconic poster boy for the West Coast cool school, Chet Baker left a profound mark on jazz in his 40-year career.When the body of Chet Baker was found, crumpled and bloodied, on an Amsterdam pavement on Friday, 13 May 1988, beneath the third-floor window of the hotel where he was staying, at first no one recognized him. Years of drugs and alcohol abuse had rendered the 58-year-old unrecognizable from the clean-cut young man who, in the early 50s, with his chiselled good looks, was perceived as the iconic poster boy for West Coast cool jazz. Though Baker’s death was...

Paul Desmond (alto sax), Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass) and Dave Brubeck (piano) Live in Belgium, 1964 One of the most iconic Jazz songs of the 1950s/1960s. The song's title came about when drummer Joe Morello asked the sax player, Paul Desmond, to write a song in 5/4 time, rather than the conventional 4/4 or 3/4. Morello played an unforgettable drum solo in the middle of the song.

They told her "You can't play Jazz with a bag pipe." She replied, "Hold my Scotch." Absolutely fabulous. Is she lip sincing with the bag pipes and you are hearing a sax? You decide.