Home Archive by category "Music" (Page 17)

Category: Music

Exploring the Jazz of Post-Bop Drummer – Elvin Jones – Elvin!

Origianally Posted at FreeWheelin Jazz Safari – Sept 14, 2014

Among the Jazz birthdays on September 9th was post-bop drummer Elvin Jones. Jones was born in 1927 and was best known forElvin_Jones_3 his time with the John Coltrane Quartet.  Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan and was one of  seven children of Henry and Olivia Jones. His family was very musical and his two older brothers Hank and Thad both became respected jazz musicians. Hank was a pianist and Thad played trumpet and coronet. Read More

Today in Music – Happy 50th Birthday – Victor Wooten (September 11, 1964)

English: Victor Wooten playing his bass guitar...

English: Victor Wooten playing his bass guitar at the Belly Up, 2006-03-04. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Originally posted at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries…..

So this morning as I was looking at the people born on this date, I thought how badly you must feel every year now as you celebrate your birthday on this tragic date. I think I’d celebrate either the day before or the day after, or maybe you just say, hey it was my day before you ruined it! Read More

Orrin Evans – Live at Smoke – Liberation Blues – check it out!

I have heard Orrin Evans’ piano on a variety of albums over the last years but Liberation Blues on the Smoke Session label is really the first Evans album that his been in my rotation for any length of time. I can tell you it won’t be the last, and since his recording career includes 20 plus albums recorded as a leader since  it began in 1994, I have a lot more music to explore! Read More

This Day in Music – September 4, 1968 – Stations in Chicago and around US refuse to play Stone’s “Street Fighting Man”!

So this morning I was checking what happened on this day in music, when I came across this item at About.com: Oldies Music….Street Fighing Man

1968: Anticipating a protest firestorm at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, Chicago bans the new Rolling Stones single, “Street Fighting Man,” from its airwaves. The song calls for “fighting in the street” and a “palace revolution.” More at Oldies-About.com Read More

Today in Jazz – Wayne Shorter’s 81st Birthday! (Aug 25, 1933)

Wayne ShorterSo you can probably count on you fingers how many musicians are still performing beyond the age of 80. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are  B.B. King and Tony Bennett, and when Wayne Shorter,  Wayne Shorter joined that group last year and this year Wayne will kick off a European Tour on October  16th in Croatia. Among the destinations are Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Portugl! Wayne was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25,1933. Read More

Cyrus Chestnut’s – Midnight Melodies – Jazz piano at it’s best!

So if you were the pianist for your Baltimore church the ripe old age of nine, grew up in a house where Gospel music was heard Cyrus Chestnutside by side with Thelonious Monk and Jimmy Smith, there’s a good chance that when you grow up, the music you compose may just be tinged with Gospel! Such is the case with Cyrus Chestnut. Cyrus is the child of McDonald (a retired post office employee and church organist) and Flossie (a city social services worker and church choir director.) McDonald was the son of a church minister, and the official organist for the local church in Baltimore, Maryland, where Chestnut grew up. He started to teach Cyrus to play the piano at three years old and Cyrus hasn’t looked back. At nine he also enrolled in the prep program at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and then it as on to Berklee College of Music in Boston. At Berklee Cyrus earned a degree in jazz composition and arranging. Cyrus says this about his musical compositions…. Read More

Exploring the Music of the Amazing Rashaan Roland Kirk on his birthday! (August 7, 1935)

Rashaan Roland KirkOver the years I have heard the name Rashaan Roland Kirk and have listened briefly to his music. Since I was not really a big fan of  improvisational and avant-garde music, I most generally avoided his music! But last year, I discovered the album Kirk’s Work, when I was researching Jack McDuff‘s music and was really, really impressed by the album. So today, on the 79th anniversary of this inventive and influential musician, I thought that it was a good time to explore the man and his music. Read More

Today in Music – August 6, 1957 – Harmonica and Vibes Virtuoso Hendrick Meurkens was born!!

Live at Bird's EyeOn this day, August  6, 1957  vibraphonist and chromatic harmonica virtuoso Hedrick Meurkens was born to Dutch parents in Hamburg, Germany. Meurkens was listed on today’s birthday list at All About Jazz as a harmonica player . When I went to Spotify to listen to his music, I started with his new release Junity, which opens with a nice rendition of The Beatles “Blackbird”. I listened to a few more tracks and then went to the next album his 2011 release Live at Bird’s Eye. As I listened to the album, I thought. boy, he sure is nice to give that vibes player so much time! Well, I thought he is pretty damn good! After I listened a little more and really liked the album, I went to Hendrick’s website, where I read that……. Read More