This is the grave of Tommy Dorsey. Born in 1905 in Mahanoy Plane, Pennsylvania, Tommy Dorsey grew up in a musical family. His father was a local bandleader and he trained his children in music, not on
This is the grave of Joyce Alexander Wein and the future grave of George Wein. Born in 1928 in Boston, Joyce Alexander was not that far removed from slavery, as two of her mother’s older sibling
Early in the film series, we looked at the Duke Ellington film Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life. Let’s return to the great one tonight with the 1933 short, A Bundle of Blues. It’
I’ve been very busy and that is why I haven’t been blogging much. That also means I haven’t been able to explore the outer reaches of historical film much lately. But I think this Da
The Criterion Channel presently is streaming the 1981 Ron Mann documentary Imagine the Sound, probably the foremost film ever made on the free jazz scene. It features four greats–Cecil Taylor, A
Tonight’s film is the 1935 Duke Ellington vehicle Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life. Directed by Fred Waller, who was a director of short films, it highlights Ellington’s new com
This is the grave of Jean-Baptiste “Illinois” Jacquet. Born in 1922 in Louisiana, Jacquet and his parents moved to Houston when he was young. His father was a bandleader, though he didn
This is the grave of Stéphane Grappelli. Born in 1908 in Paris, his mother died young. But his father, who was an Italian writer, knew Isadora Duncan and when he was drafted into World War I by the I