Sun Ra and the Cornucopia House Band
There are certain works of art with which I wish I could have a conversation, so that I might express my gratitude for them. I … Read More “Sun Ra and the Cornucopia House Band”
Colin Fleming writes fiction and nonfiction on myriad topics—art, film, music, sports, literature, current events—for a wide range of publications, and talks regularly on radio and podcasts. His most recent books are an entry in the 33 1/3 series on Sam Cooke’s Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, a volume about the 1951 film Scrooge as the ultimate work of cinematic terror, and the story collection, If You [ ]: Fabula, Fantasy, F**kery, Hope. Find him on the web at colinfleminglit.com (where he maintains the unique online journal, the Many Moments More blog) and on Twitter @colinfleminglit. He lives in Boston and has contributed to JazzTimes since 2006.
Colin Fleming on social media
There are certain works of art with which I wish I could have a conversation, so that I might express my gratitude for them. I … Read More “Sun Ra and the Cornucopia House Band”
In the early autumn, I was heading back into the city of Boston on the subway from a leafy suburb where I had watched a … Read More “Up On the Corner, Out on the Street”
If the Fates of Jazz oversaw an accounting service that charted advanced metrics like the album that the most people had fallen in love with … Read More “Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue Clusters”
Put a “the” in front of a name and it acquires historical heft. The Thelonious Monk who entered New York City’s WOR Studios as Halloween … Read More “Thelonious Monk’s First Sessions”
Jazz films have a tendency to let you know that they’re very much about jazz. The medium—and the clichés associated with it—can become a hook … Read More “Dexter Gordon and the Truth of ’Round Midnight“
Jelly Roll Morton was the first musician of any kind—and what a kind he was—who made me ask myself, “Is this guy for real?” The … Read More “JazzTimes 10: Jelly Roll Morton’s Greatest Performances”
Inspiration takes all forms. The most common, when it comes to music, is a type of mimicry. The best, though, suggests a new direction. This … Read More “Sean Khan: Supreme Love: A Journey Through Coltrane (BBE)”
Recently I was at a café wrapping up a day by reading Edwardian ghost stories, bored by the music on the sound system and not … Read More “JazzTimes 10: Miles Davis’ Live Albums”
Conventional wisdom—and many people’s understanding of jazz history—asserts that John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme is the saxophonist’s masterpiece. Recorded in a single session with his … Read More “Highest Trane: John Coltrane’s World-Building Ascension“
A jazz musician’s legacy can be a multifarious slope. Sometimes it’s defined by contrasting stylistic paths that amalgamate into a career, as with Miles Davis. … Read More “The Other Scott LaFaro”
Sometimes I like to imagine I’m a workaday jazz musician from a very specific point in time. It’s May 1941 in New York City. I’m … Read More “Coda: Charlie Christian at Minton’s”
If the obvious titans of 1960s jazz—Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Ornette—are fingers that point the way forward, Eric Dolphy is the webbing at the base of … Read More “Coda: An Eric Dolphy Solo Masterpiece, “God Bless the Child””
Were it possible to measure the weight of a band’s sound, I’m not sure you could find a greater scale-tipper than the Count Basie Orchestra … Read More “Walter Page: Freedom Bass Dance”
There is an abiding paradox to the life of Billie Holiday, which is the core tenet of her art: In theory you should feel bad … Read More “Billie (Greenwich Entertainment)”
I was in a Starbucks recently, alone, after a long day of work. It was one of those early December evenings—say, 6:30—when it feels like … Read More “A Christmas Waltz with Duke Ellington”
World War II shut down large parts of the entertainment industry, including the recording segment. But Uncle Sam wanted to make sure that the boys … Read More “Art Tatum on V-Disc”
Were there a jazz rainbow—let’s call it a swinging rainbow—that ended in a pot of musical gold sufficiently effulgent as to immediately merit the word … Read More “Ella Fitzgerald: The Lost Berlin Tapes (Verve)”
It is November 26, 1945 in New York City, the Monday morning after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and producer Teddy Reig has arrived at the apartment … Read More “Charlie Parker, the Birth of Bebop, and America’s Greatest Recording Session”
Were you an ardent fan of hard bop, circa 1960, with an additional yen for progressive mages like John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, you might … Read More “Maria Golia: Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure (Reaktion)”
Louis Armstrong awoke one morning wanting to make some music, but when he sat in front of the mirror of his hotel bedroom—because he liked … Read More “The Day Louis Armstrong Lost His Color: A Short Story”
Times are seldom what one wishes them to be when the word “frontline” is commonly used. It suggests that a pernicious edge has encroached upon … Read More “Of “St. James Infirmary” and COVID-19”
We all know the big names of Blue Note Records—Coltrane, Rollins, Monk, Davis, Silver, Blakey, Hancock, Shorter, and so on—as well we should. But what … Read More “JazzTimes 10: Best of the Other Blue Note Artists”
Watching Ella Fitzgerald insist upon making her way from the streets of Harlem—and insist she does—to an outcome that anyone else would have thought beyond … Read More “Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (Eagle Rock)”
In the late 1950s, a time when jazz drumming was dominated by a powerhouse groove style, Jimmy Cobb was the sticksman to whom you turned … Read More “Mr. Elegant: Jimmy Cobb Reconsidered”
There is a motivic whirr to the blade of a helicopter that makes me think of the rhythmic pulses in the music of John Coltrane. … Read More “Of George Floyd and John Coltrane”
There are times I have watched the artful dissolves in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and wished there was a way to hang them on museum … Read More “Francis Wolff: Jazz Images (Elemental)”
If you came of musical age on rock & roll, as I did, and you then turned to jazz, chances are as high as a … Read More “A Voice With 10 Fingers: McCoy Tyner After Trane”
Miles Davis, an exacting man, excised many of Hank Mobley’s solos from the recordings they made at San Francisco’s Black Hawk club in April 1961. … Read More “Hank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70 (Mosaic)”
If you’re at all like me, a healthy serving of jazz helps you through the holidays. I love Christmas, but assorted right hooks and uppercuts … Read More “A Bessie Smith Christmas”
Jazz certainly loves its autumn leaves, going by its taste in standards. And its plaintive, twilight horns can sound like so many gusts of wind, … Read More “JazzTimes 10: Songs for a Jazzier Halloween”