Two significant jazz musician birthdays came and went recently – Lester “Prez” Young’s 100th birthday was on August 27th, and Charlie “Bird” Parker’s 89th was on August 29th. These two genius musical minds were honored by two of our current crop of musical heavies. Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus spent the last six months […]
August 2009
Jazz writer Howard Mandel has started a campaign on Twitter to help dispel the myth that jazz is dying. Prompted by Terry Teachout’s Wall Street Journal article “Can Jazz Be Saved” that I wrote about here, Mandel decided to mobilize the jazz twitterati to see just how many people are actually going to see live […]
Yesterday was one of those days that was filled with anticipation. I received word from UPS that 7 boxes of my new CD were on the truck for delivery at 5am. It was hard not to sit on my stoop and wait for them to arrive all day, but I tried as best I could […]
This picture is just about the most beautiful thing in the world to me right now! At long last the new Jason Parker Quartet CDs are in transit and should arrive on my doorstep tomorrow. I have been able to listen to the music for a while now and you can too by clicking the […]
Every Friday on this blog is “Makin’ it Happen Friday”, where I feature another musician who’s found a way to make a living playing music. I am constantly inspired by others, and hope to pass that inspiration on to you. OK, so this week our feature is not actually one musician. But my fiance hipped […]
I’m thrilled to be part of the debut of the Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble tomorrow night at Lucid Jazz Lounge in Seattle. My good friends Michael Owcharuk and Nate Omdal put this group together after the very successful Slava concert last February. They have brought together some of the finest musicians and composers in the […]
NOTE: This post started as a reply on a thread at Trumpet Herald.com. The thread was referencing Terry Teachout’s Wall Street Journal Article “Can Jazz Be Saved?”, which I wrote about here. After posting my reply to the rather long thread I thought it deserved a post of its own. I hope this is the […]
Every Friday on this blog is “Makin’ it Happen Friday”, where I feature another musician who’s found a way to make a living playing music. I am constantly inspired by others, and hope to pass that inspiration on to you. I have had the pleasure of working with Beth Fleenor on a number of occasions, […]
Peter Hum over at Jazzblog.ca has become one of my favorite writers in the jazz blogosphere. He writes consistently thoughtful and insightful pieces on the issues we face, the music we play and the personalities that make up the jazz community. His latest post raises the question of why jazz is not appealing to a […]
Props to fellow Seattlites Blue Scholars who just announced a deal with Duck Down Records and Cafe Vita. What’s different about this deal is that the band has hired the label and will retain all rights to their music and control over all aspects of marketing and distribution. Caffe Vita will distribute their CDs locally, […]
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