Category: American Music History

• October 5, 2021

  Summer Reading List 2021

  

  Mingus Speaks by John Goodman, Mister Jelly Roll by Alan Lomax, The Man That Got Away by Walter Rilmer, Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West by Phil Pastras
• October 13, 2020

  Jazz and Trains: A Connected History

  

  The American railroad system as a driving force for cultural exchange
• September 27, 2020

  Solo Transcription: Lou Donaldson’s “Minor Bash”

  

  A close look at a Lou Donaldson solo transcription and how it relates to moments in jazz history
• May 28, 2020

  Cab Calloway and Minnie the Moocher

  

  My thoughts on Cab Calloway and his appearance in The Blues Brothers
• September 28, 2019

  Four – Is There More To It?

  

  Did one of Miles Davis’ most popular tunes borrow ideas from a Tadd Dameron ballad?
• September 21, 2019

  Jitterbug Waltz

  

  The history behind Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Watlz” and some of the finest renditions of the tune
• September 15, 2019

  Meet the Gellers

  

  The story of jazz “power couple” Lorraine and Herb Geller
• August 30, 2019

  Summer Reading List 2019

  

  My great summer reads – Mary Lou Williams, Billie Holiday, Angela Davis, and more
• August 24, 2019

  Willene Barton: An Overlooked Link in the Big Three Tenor Legacy

  

  It baffles me how this incredible saxophonist hasn’t gotten her dues
• August 19, 2019

  I Know That You Know

  

  A deep dive into one of my favorite tunes from the Great American Songbook