Life has been busy. Artificial Intelligence tells me the adage “man plans, God laughs” is a Yiddish proverb: “Der mentsh trakht, un got lakht.” Who knew? While I may not believe in the actual wording, I do understand the sentiment. Fortunately, my health has been good, so that hasn’t been an issue. All of which is to say that most of the time that I’ve had to devote to my passion for jazz and jazz collecting has been put into my radio show and podcast. As I said, I love doing the radio show, so that’s not a problem. But I do sometimes feel guilty about not writing more frequently here at JazzCollector.com, especially when I go through the emails I’ve saved and realize that I’ve been saving some of them for more than half a year. In any case, I will try to catch up now, even if some of the conversations with readers are too dated to do anything about. Read more
Favorite Blue Notes, One More Once
I figure if I keep writing about Blue Notes and putting Blue Notes in the headline, I’ll start scoring well on Google and all of a sudden the many people who have abandoned Jazz Collector in the past year or so will come charging back. Or not. In any case, to follow up on yesterday’s post and some of the comments, I’ve narrowed down my list of Top Ten Blue Notes and I believe I can settle soon on a Top Ten. Seven of them are known because they were on the list I began compiling in February 2010 (More Blue Note Favorites, Courtesy of Downbeat). Hard to believe that was nearly 16 years ago. My tastes haven’t changed in all those years. Read more
Favorite Blue Notes, One More Time
So, speaking of my radio show/podcast, I’ve been thinking for a while about doing a show titled “My 10 Favorite Blue Notes.” Three things have stopped me so far: 1. It’s not so easy to identify my 10 favorite Blue Notes; 2. Even if I did identify them, would I want to take them out of the house, bring them in the car, and place the vinyl on the turntables/needles in the radio station’s studio; and, 3. I recall a Downbeat issue from several years ago in which a variety of musicians were asked to name their 10 favorite Blue Notes. I wanted to consult with that issue before doing the show. It would give me more interesting fodder to discuss. My Downbeat collection is sitting up in my attic and combing through them all to find a single issue would be a bit of a hassle. Of course, it might not be necessary to comb through all of them, now that there is this thing called the internet and this other thing called artificial intelligence. So this morning I got up early and did a search: Downbeat 10 Favorite Blue Notes. What came back was fascinating. Read more
Duets, Anyone?
It’s been a while since I’ve done a “regular” post. But as you can see, I’ve been very busy doing my two-hour radio show and podcast every week. Listenership at Jazz Collector is way up, but readership is way down. I love doing the radio show and it is really helping me extract more pleasure from and appreciation for my collection. I have no intention of slowing down there. But I would like to do more writing on Jazz Collector now that we are heading into the winter doldrums here in the lovely Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts. One way to do that is to combine my passion for doing the radio show with a renewed commitment to do more writing. So, let’s see how it goes, starting now. Read more
Podcast: Who’s That Lady, Part One
This week’s theme: Songs that have the name of a woman in the title. Eclectic, but fun. And some great music. Featured artists include Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Connie Kay, Percy Heath, Eddie Jefferson, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Rushing, and many more.
Podcast: Jazz USA, Part Two
This week’s theme: More jazz tracks that reference U.S. cities and states. Featured artists include Tal Farlow, Gerry Wiggins, Ray Brown, Chico Hamilton, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, Milt Jackson, Wynton Kelly, Percy Heath, Art Blakey, Richie Cole, Bobby Enriquez, Shelly Manne, Bruce Forman, Bob Magnusson, Dave McKenna, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Sonny Stitt, Ray Brown, Jo Jones, Dexter Gordon, Bud Powell, Pierre Michelot, Kenny Clarke, and more.
Podcast: Jazz USA, Part One
This week’s theme: Jazz tracks that reference U.S. cities and states. Featured artists include Al Cohn, Barry Harris, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Rouse, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, Rosemary Clooney, John Oddo, Richie Cole, Bruce Forman, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Nancy LaMott, Freddie Redd and many more.
Podcast: Hal Perlman Centennial, Part Two
This week’s theme: Part two of a two-part celebration of my father’s 100th birthday. Featured artists include Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Carmel Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Brown Jr., Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Randy Weston, Cecil Payne, Lockjaw Davis, Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance, and many more.
Podcast: Hal Perlman Jazz Centennial, Part One
This week’s theme: Part one of a two-part celebration of my father’s 100th birthday. Also a reminder to read Song For My Father from the Jazz Collector archives. Featured artists include Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, Tal Farlow, Buddy DeFranco, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Red Garland, Bobby Timmons, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly, Modern Jazz Quartet, Jimmy Smith, Richie Cole, Kenny Burrell, and many, many more.
Podcast: The World of Jazz
This week’s theme: Songs that reference cities and countries around the world, i.e., St. Thomas, Barbados, Spain, Tokyo Blues. You get the hint. Featured artists include Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Horace Silver, Junior Cook, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Harold Land, Richie Powell, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day, Chick Correa, Stanley Clarke, Joe Farrell, Airto, Flora Purim, and many more.
April is Jazz Month
