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DAVE PELL by Gordon Jack
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Gordon Jack is a frequent contributor to the Jazz Journaland a very generous friend in allowingJazzProfilesto re-publish his...
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No New York - No Bebop, by Buddy DeFranco
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.It’s very rare that socio-cultural change can be attributed to one cause. Usually many influences come together to produce...
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Lionel Hampton, vibes, Buddy DeFranco, clarinet, Oscar Peterson, piano, Ray Brown, bass and Buddy Rich drums.
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The Complete Lionel Hampton Quartets and Quintets with Oscar Peterson on Verve
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Even during his ten successful years with Decca Records from 1941-1950, Hampton claimed that “all the time I was tuned into what...
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Gary Foster, The Peacocks and A Timeless Place
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.One of the most wonderful things about maintaining this blog is all the great musicians who “drop by” the editorial offices of...
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JazzLife - Hollywood and Los Angeles by William Claxton
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.The following is the distinguished photographer William Claxton’s “take” [point-of-view] on the West Coast Jazz scene as published...
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Pinheiro Ineke Cavalli - Turn Out The Stars - The Music of Bill Evans
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“I can recall quite vividly the very first time I heard Bill Evans play. I was about seventeen years old and had already been...
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Thinking in Jazz - "Seeing Out A Bit"
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“It all goes from imitation to assimilation to innovation. You move from the imitation stage to the assimilation stage when you take little...
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Learning to Improvise - "Conversing with the Piece"
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.I think the first time I was ever aware of improvising to music was when I noticed an Uncle who whistled stuff that was vaguely familiar,...
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Storytelling Ability - "Thinking in Jazz"
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.I have yet to find a better book at explaining what goes into making Jazz than Paul Berliner’s Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of...
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Storytelling in Jazz: Composing in the Moment
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“After you initiate the solo, one phrase determines what the next is going to be. From the first note that you hear, you are responding to what...
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Learning Jazz Through Osmosis - Early Performance Models
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Musically, Jazz can’t be taught, but it can be learnedWe all learn differently.When it came to Jazz, learning more about it became a burning...
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A Very Structured Thing: Jazz Compositions as Vehicles for Improvisation
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Jazz is not just, "Well, man, this is what I feel like playing." It's a very structured thing that comes down from a tradition and...
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Freddie Redd - The Thespian
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Freddie Redd died on March 17, 2021. He would have been 93 on May 29th. The editorial staff at JazzProfiles is re-posting this piece as a...
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The Undiscovered Dave Brubeck Quartet - Part 1
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Dave Brubeck’s tunes and songs dotted the American musical landscape during the second half century of the 20th century and beyond....
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