I hope that all of you appreciate what a GOLDEN ERA we are living in regarding reissues and newly undiscovered historical recordings. When I first got into jazz, there were just records albums and a few labels that reissued anything…
Category: No One Asked My Opinion, But…
JAZZ CLUBS: STILL THE BEST DATE IN TOWN
You would think that LA is THE place to take your spouse or whatever-you-want-to-call-it-these-days, but the pickings are surprisingly slim. There are a ton of movie theatres, but gimme a break; they all show basically the same movies. Hanging out…
IT’S TOP TEN TIME!!!
Basically, there are two lists of people: those who make lists, and those who don’t. Badda Boom! Me, I LOVE lists! On my refrigerator door used to be a picture of Fredric Chopin next to one of Franz Liszt, and…
TOP REASONS TO LOVE THE SEASON!
Yes, it can be commercialized, but SO WHAT?!? There’s something about the Christmas season that is special. Yes, you have Chanukah, Kwaanza and a bunch of other holidays that vie for attention, but the Big Cheese of holidays is on…
A MONTH OF GIVING THANKS
Isn’t it amazing that almost every holiday has a song except Thanksgiving? What’s THAT all about?!? There’s even songs for The Great Pumpkin, thanks to Charlie Brown. Why do we give Thanksgiving such short shrift? Thankfulness is one of the…
‘TIS AUTUMN
My wife and I just got back from the New England States of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to 1) go to a “destination wedding” 2) take in a game at Fenway Park and b) catch at least a part…
GET RHYTHM!
Even Johnny Cash sang about it. You gotta have that drive that makes you want to dance if you care about people listening to music. Concerts (and church, for that matter) were intended for CELEBRATION, not CEREBRATION. A soloist is…
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
NAMES! One of the things I loved to do as a kid is to scour over my Baseball Encyclopedia and learn the names and nicknames of baseball players. Why would I do that, and what did I learn? Well, different…
The Virtues of Jazz
(Here’s a piece by a new contributor, Douglas Groothuis) Any jazz aficionado knows the musical virtues of jazz, whether they are a musician, a jazz writer, or simply a committed jazz listener. In classical Western thought (that is, in the…
A BOWLFUL OF BLESSINGS
Does anything exemplify Los Angeles more than the Hollywood Bowl? OK, maybe Dodger Stadium, Pinks Hot Dogs and Tommy’s Burgers (let’s not go there with In ‘N Out). But still, a summer night taking in the sounds of the LA…