This is the grave of Billy Bang. Born in 1947 in Mobile, Alabama, William Walker grew up in The Bronx, where his family moved shortly after he was born, chasing opportunities not available to them in the South. Of course The Bronx was no great...
jazz
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.
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.
This is the grave of Clark Terry. Born in 1920 in St. Louis, Terry picked up the trumpet at a young age and was playing in local jazz bands when he was in high school. He grew up poor, like real poor. He was good...
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.
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..
The other night, I watched Shirley Clarke's weird 1985 documentary about Ornette Coleman. Ornette: Made in America combines the classic documentary form of showing a great musician in performance and going back to his home to reminiscence with bizarre experimental editing going back and forth...
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,.
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.
The great jazz pianist is gone, at the age of 81. Tyner's famous for his legendary work with John Coltrane at the peak of the saxophone master's career between 1961 and 1965. Somewhat oddly, Tyner's career is a bit hit and miss outside of that....
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.
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.