I just came across this great podcast tonight that celebrates the artistry and recordings of John Coltrane. Each episode features a musician who provides commentary and insight into the music of Trane. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the episodes! You can get it here iTunes or Traneumentary

My photo was selected for inclusion in the newly released third
edition of the Schmap New York Guide: Birdland

Jazz Bakery
Tonight we had the opportunity to hear Benny Golson at the Jazz Bakery in LA. His quartet included Bill Cunliffe on piano, Roy McCurdy on drums and Bob Magnuson on bass (I remember Bob playing a couple of times with a big band I was in some years ago). What a great quartet! We were treated to excellent renditions of After You’ve Gone, Body and Soul, and Coltrane’s Mr. PC.

I had heard that Benny was a great story teller and we were not disappointed tonight. He related the story about how he got the phone call from Steven Speilberg asking if he was available for a part in the movie The Terminal. The movie starring Tom Hanks is about a man who comes to the United States to complete his father’s collection of autographs by the jazz musicians pictured in the classic 1958 photo known as “A Great Day In Harlem“. Turns out Speilberg and Hanks are both jazz fans.

Benny also shared a story about how his friend John Coltrane started out as an alto player and how it was that he switched over to tenor. He has another Coltrane story on his website that’s pretty funny.

This was my first time to the Jazz Bakery which is located in the old Helms Bakery complex. It was an excellent venue for jazz and I will definitely be going back in the future.

g80 10/8 pg25-8

[tags]jazz, golson, coltrane[/tags]

Maynard Ferguson

Originally uploaded by Frank Reyes.

When I was in NYC recently I had the opportunity to see Maynard Ferguson and his band perform at the Blue Note. The last time I heard him perform live had to be well over 25 years ago! Although he was 78 years old he still put on a good show that night. I was surprised to hear today that Maynard passed away earlier this week.

[tags]jazz, music, maynardferguson[/tags]

Pandora is a great streaming music service that allows you to create radio stations based on your music preference. Works really well – you should check it out. Here’s how their site explains what they do:

“Can you help me discover more music that I’ll like?

Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs.

We created Pandora so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you.”

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Pandora, jazz, music