Pianist, singer and songwriter Mose Allison was born November 11, 1927 in Tippo, Mississippi. He took piano lessons when he was five, grew up in the country, and picked cotton as a child. After two years in the Army and earning an English degree from Louisiana State University, he moved to New York in 1956, […]

In 1971, the great bassist-composer Charles Mingus was making a comeback after several years off of the scene. At a Oct. 31, 1971 concert in Rotterdam, Holland which was part of the traveling Newport In Europe Festival Mingus welcomed the veteran Duke Ellington trumpeter Cat Anderson to his group for a version of “Perdido.” At […]

Bassist Henry Grimes passed away on April 15, 2020 at the age of 84. He was born Nov. 3, 1935 in Philadelphia, playing violin, tuba and English horn before settling on the bass while in high school, and he studied at Juilliard. His technical and creative skills along with his versatility were recognized early on […]

Alto-saxophonist and leader Phillip Wells Woods was born on November2, 1931 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Woods began seriously playing alto when he was 12, soon working locally. After moving to New York in 1948, Woods studied with Lennie Tristano, attended both the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard (as a clarinet major), and in 1954 worked […]

Cannonball Adderley was one of the best and most influential alto-saxophonists of all time. During the late 1960s when jazz in general was having difficulties on a commercial level, Adderley led one of its most popular bands, evolving from bebop to a funkier variety of jazz. From Oct. 31, 1971, Adderley is featured leading his […]

Jimmy Smith was arguably the most important organist in jazz history. In the mid-1950s he took what had formerly been thought of as a novelty instrument and, through his mastery of the blues, jazz standards, and ballads, made the organ into a popular and important musical force, influencing virtually every organist to come up since […]

Trumpeter, bandleader and composer John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born on October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina. The last of nine children in a poor family, Gillespie originally played trombone, switching to trumpet when he was 12. He won a scholarship to an agriculture school (the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina) where he had […]

Pianist, composer and leader Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe was born on October 20, 1890 in New Orleans, Louisiana. While Mortons later claim to have invented jazz in 1902 was hogwash, he was certainly one of its earliest giants. He started off playing guitar and trombone before settling on piano when he was ten. Morton performed in […]

The only time that Stan Getz and Donald Byrd were filmed together Tenor-saxophonist Stan Getz and trumpeter Donald Byrd both had long careers that overlapped for at least four decades. Despite that, they rarely crossed paths and were only documented playing together on one occasion, which was fortunately filmed. In Germany on July 29, 1958, […]

Saxophonist and composer Lee Konitz was born on October 13, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. Konitz asked his parents for his first instrument after hearing Benny Goodman on the radio. One of jazz’s premiere alto sax stylists, Konitz appeared on Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, Stan Kenton’s City of Glass, and numerous other influential projects. […]