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Don Joseph - Jazz Poet by Gordon Jack
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Don Joseph (1923-1994) merged jazz and poetry in his style. He was a cornet player of sweet sound and controlled passion, with the...
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Cal Tjader on vibes with Vince Guaraldi on piano, Al McKibbon, bass, Mongo Santamaria, congas and Willie Bobo, "sit down drums" and timbales.What a band!The tune is "Lucero" an original by Cal; IMHO...
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Balliett on Shearing
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.One of the reasons I created this blog was to celebrate my Jazz Heroes both literally, in the form of original pieces about Jazz...
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Revisiting Rob Pronk and The Metropole Orchestra [Metropole Orkest]
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.This feature is a mishmash [I've always wanted to use that word in something I wrote for the blog].It's compilation of a number of earlier blog...
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Shelly Manne - The Kenton Years - Part 1
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.With Shelly Manne joining the Kenton organization, Stan had found the final link that would enable him to expand the band's concept, to truly...
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Shelly Manne - The Kenton Years - Part 2
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."On the bandstand, Shelly was constantly tuning and re-tuning his drums. While calf drumheads are susceptible to change with varying humidity,...
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A Gerry Mulligan Reader: Prologue, Table of Contents and Introduction
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.What follows are the Prologue, Table of Contents and Introduction that I prepared for a proposed compilation of writings about Gerry...
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Shelly Manne - The Kenton Years - Part 3
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Bebop was causing the swing drummers fits because of the jabs and stabs required of the left hand and right foot — snare drum and bass drum —...
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Shelly Manne - The Kenton Years - Part 4
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.In 1947 the average factory worker made about fifty to seventy-five cents an hour — maybe $25 a week. Stan Kenton was paying Shelly Manne $200...
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Shelly Manne - The Kenton Years - Part 5
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.As the United States entered the year 1950 it had no idea that by June it would once again be at war — this time in Korea. The "post-war" years...
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Shelly Manne - The Kenton Years - Part 6
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Each time I delve into the career of drummer Shelly Manne, I come away amazed by the scope of his involvement in the modern Jazz movement that...
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Stan Levey: From Left to Right - The JazzProfiles Interview
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Bebop was causing the swing drummers fits because of the jabs and stabs required of the left hand and right foot — snare drum and bass drum —...
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John von Ohlen and "Maximum Rersonance" - The Modern Drummer Interview
"At first, you usually emulate the master drummers. They’re usually older than you, but not always. You imitate them because you haven’t found your own way yet. Then one day you’ll hear, for the first...
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Jeru and Chettie at The Haig - 1952
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.During my playing days, I sometimes thought that the only reason there was a tuxedo hanging in my closet was so that I could wear it to...
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Jeff Hamilton: Always in Good Time and In Good Taste
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.If you have an interest in Jazz drumming, Jeff Hamilton spoils you.He doesn’t follow a standard of excellence for good taste and drive in...
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The "Complete" Gerry Mulligan Sextet
© -Steven Cerra. Copyright protected; all rights reserved."In some ways I think Gerry was happier with that band [the sextet] than with any other. It had the elements of a big band with the elements of...
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PAUL DESMOND - by Joe Goldberg
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“There is also a Scandinavian version of the ever-famous story which Sir Walter Scott told to Washington Irving, which Monk Lewis...
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