Kelly Sill
You never quite knew what Chicago bassist Kelly Sill was going to play (or what he was going to say). But you always knew that … Read More “Kelly Sill”
Mark Stryker
Mark Stryker is the author of Jazz from Detroit (University of Michigan Press), named Jazz Book of the Year in the 2019 JazzTimes Critics’ Poll. Inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2020, Stryker covered jazz, classical music, and visual arts for the Detroit Free Press from 1995 to 2016. He also grew up working as a jazz alto saxophonist.
Mark Stryker on social media
Joe Williams: Beyond the Blues
Everyone knows that Joe Williams sang the hell out of the blues, but do you know what else he sang the hell out of? Everything. … Read More “Joe Williams: Beyond the Blues”
Chronology: Sonny Greer and Sam Woodyard Drum for the Duke
Asked to choose Duke Ellington’s most valuable sidemen, most folks would likely start with Johnny Hodges, followed by any number of the additional cavalcade of … Read More “Chronology: Sonny Greer and Sam Woodyard Drum for the Duke”
Chronology: Kenny Dorham Drops a Sigh in 1961
Here’s a game I like to play that’s a variation on the familiar challenge of choosing favorite records to take to a desert island. I … Read More “Chronology: Kenny Dorham Drops a Sigh in 1961”
Chronology: Coleman Hawkins Reaches New Heights in the Late ’50s and Early ’60s
In spring 1963, when Coleman Hawkins was 58 and making some of the most astonishing music of his career, he gave a short but revealing … Read More “Chronology: Coleman Hawkins Reaches New Heights in the Late ’50s and Early ’60s”
Chronology: Grant Green, Larry Young, and Elvin Jones Move Organ Jazz Forward
Organ trios and quartets were ubiquitous by the mid-1960s. In African American neighborhood bars and clubs up and down the East Coast, throughout the Rust … Read More “Chronology: Grant Green, Larry Young, and Elvin Jones Move Organ Jazz Forward”
20 Years of Supporting Detroit Jazz
Terence Blanchard looked around the restaurant table and launched into a gentle sermon about jazz education in Detroit that was part homily, part pep talk, … Read More “20 Years of Supporting Detroit Jazz”
Chronology: Steve Lacy and the Influence of Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk
Steve Lacy was once a brilliant bebop player. Yet conventional wisdom says the opposite. Many have long argued that a key to the innovative soprano … Read More “Chronology: Steve Lacy and the Influence of Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk”
Chronology: Eight Great Jazz Soundtracks
Films that tell stories about jazz open a revealing window on the place and perception of the music within popular culture. See Kevin Whitehead’s compelling … Read More “Chronology: Eight Great Jazz Soundtracks”
Chronology: Remembering the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet
A short list of musicians I most regret never hearing live: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band with Louis Armstrong in 1923, the Duke Ellington Orchestra in … Read More “Chronology: Remembering the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet”
Chronology: Jim Knapp, the Best Big-Band Leader You Never Heard Of
There are two kinds of jazz listeners. Those who recognize Jim Knapp as a profound large-ensemble composer and arranger of uncommon imagination, depth, and expression—and … Read More “Chronology: Jim Knapp, the Best Big-Band Leader You Never Heard Of”
Chronology: Buddy Montgomery, a Little Brother Like No Other
Great individualists in jazz often constitute a School of One—musicians with such personal and idiosyncratic identities that they hover in a liminal state, anchored in … Read More “Chronology: Buddy Montgomery, a Little Brother Like No Other”
Chronology: A Look Back at the Career of Frank D’Rone
Frank D’Rone might be the finest jazz singer and balladeer most listeners have never heard of. At least outside of Chicago, where he was a … Read More “Chronology: A Look Back at the Career of Frank D’Rone”
Chronology: In Praise of Peter and Kenny Washington
Bassist Peter Washington was born in 1964 in Los Angeles. Drummer Kenny Washington was born in 1958 in New York. Despite six years and 2,800 … Read More “Chronology: In Praise of Peter and Kenny Washington”
Chronology: The Early Bebop Education of Howard McGhee
Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee, and Fats Navarro—the first three bebop trumpeters out of the gate—once crossed paths in Chicago. Navarro’s biographers Leif Bo Petersen and … Read More “Chronology: The Early Bebop Education of Howard McGhee”
Chronology: Quincy Jones in the 1950s
“Quincy’s a guy whose success actually overshadows his talent.” Bingo. That perceptive insight appears in Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones (2001), attributed to composer, … Read More “Chronology: Quincy Jones in the 1950s”
Chronology: Freddie Redd Steps Out of the Shadows
One day in 1959, pianist/composer Freddie Redd went to see alto saxophonist Jackie McLean with some new music and a unique opportunity. Redd had fallen … Read More “Chronology: Freddie Redd Steps Out of the Shadows”
Kenny Burrell: From Detroit With Love
Kenny Burrell had been mulling a concept record focused on the blues for about a year before entering engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood … Read More “Kenny Burrell: From Detroit With Love”
Fred Hersch: Songs Without Words
The recording industry may be on the brink of imploding, and while I’m not planning on shedding many tears, I do hope Nonesuch under executive … Read More “Fred Hersch: Songs Without Words”