I recently saw the documentary, “Jaco:The Film.” Most everyone knows that Jaco Pastorius was an electric bass virtuoso. He was sort of like the Jimi Hendrix of electric bass. But his life was a short and tragic one. He lived fast, played hard and died young as the saying goes. Seeing the film made me think of a childhood friend […]
Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987) Read More »
Tomorrow (June 15) marks the 48th anniversary of Wes Montgomery’s premature death. Wes has left a considerable legacy with the albums he recorded for Riverside, Verve and A & M records. Recently some previously undiscovered recordings have come to light and are being issued. The most recent being One Night in Indy (with The Eddie Higgins Trio). This live recording
Wes Montgomerey (1923-1968) Read More »
Dinu Lipatti was a Romanian classical pianist and composer. Though he recorded relatively little, some of his recordings (his Chopin Waltzes for example), are considered classic. What people don’t readily recognize is that he was a very good composer. His “Concertino in Classical Style” is probably the best known of his works but even this piece is seldom heard. I
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As I get older, and hopefully wiser, it has become apparent to me how the best solution to any given problem is simplicity. As a musician and writer of songs it has become self evident that the key to any memorable piece is the “tune.” Simplicity is a primary ingredient in this case but because the public has heard nearly
It’s about the “tune” Read More »
Joe Pass (1929-1994) is one of the finest jazz guitarists in history. There is little dispute about that. His solo guitar recordings are exemplary but my personal favorite Joe Pass records are “Intercontinental ” recorded June of 1970 in Germany with Kenny Clare and Eberhard Weber and “In Hamburg” which was recorded 1990-1992 with big band and orchestra. The fact
Joe Pass (my favorite recordings) Read More »
As we are nearing the anniversary of Django’s death I stumbled upon a photo of him coming down the steps of his small “caravan”. He was dapper and happy and it was obviously early in the day following a late night at a gig or a party. The small trailer he so proudly stepped out into daylight from looked very