Art Farmer “Red Cross”
Art Farmer was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on August 21, 1928. When he was 4, his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Farmer learned to play the piano and violin when he was in elementary school. Later, when he joined his school marching band he was assigned to play the sousaphone. He also played the [...]
George Benson “Affirmation”
George Benson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 22, 1943. He started performing at the young age of 8. Then he sang, danced and played the ukelele in a nightclub. As a teenager he performed in rock bands. Then he was exposed to jazz. He names Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian and Django [...]
Keith Jarrett “Mandala”
Keith Jarrett was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on May 8, 1945. He started playing the piano when he was 3 and performed in his first concert when he was 6. The concert ended with two of his compositions. Jarrett studied classical music, but was very interested in jazz. In his late teens he turned down [...]
Charles Mingus “Flowers for a Lady”
Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona in 1922, but spent most of his childhood years in the Watts area of Los Angeles. He tried playing the trombone and the cello before finally settling on the bass. Mingus was influenced by gospel music at a early age. His family attended church regularly and his mother [...]
Oscar Peterson and Clerk Terry “Donna Lee”
I’m late posting today so I don’t have time to write a bio. There are so many great musicians on this that I wouldn’t know who to write about anyway.
Check out this really fast performance of “Donna Lee”.
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra “Only for You”
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was formed in 1966. Both musicians had recently stopped touring and settled in New York. The orchestra was not originally intended to be a permnament thing but their first performance at the Village Vanguard went so well that they became a regular Monday night fixture there.
Thad Jones left the [...]
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon is considered to be the first be-bop tenor player. Born in Los Angeles in 1923, he started playing the clarinet at 13, the alto sax at 15 and the tenor at 17.
Dexter Gordon would sometimes recite the lyrics of a tune before playing it. In an interview at the end of the [...]
Weather Report “Black Market”
Here’s a live performance of “Black Market” from 1978. I hear this all the time in my house because my husband likes to practice to it.
Ben Webster “Old Folks”
Ben Webster studied the violin in elementary school. Later he taught himself how to play piano and played with a few bands. After hanging around with Budd Johnson for some time, one day he asked him, “How do you run a scale on that thing?” Budd Johnson showed him how to play a C scale [...]
Sonny Rollins “Alfie’s Theme”
I found the Alfie cassette in my father’s moldy smelling cassette bag that he kept under the television. I listened to it constantly alone in my room. Sometimes I’d even pretend to play along even though at the time I didn’t play any instrument.
I especially liked Alfie’s Theme. I also wondered who Alfie was. I [...]
