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Joe Henderson: The Complete Blue Note Studio Sessions
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.In Down Beat, the guitarist John Scofield was quoted explaining what's so special: "Joe Henderson is the essence of jazz..... He...
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The Creative World of Stan Kenton - Part 4
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."There were three principal writers when I was on the band (1970-72): Willie Maiden, Ken Hanna and Hank Levy. We were playing such...
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‘Another Land’ by Dave Holland Review: Songs for a Summer Afternoon
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Holland has been spoken of in the same breath as the legendary Scott LaFaro; he shares the American’s bright, exact intonation,...
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Hall Overton by Art Lange
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Here’s another essay from Art Lange’s “A Fickle Sonance” column on the www.pointofdeparture.org website, an online musical journal...
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Seeds in the Swing Era from "Modern Jazz" by Morgan and Horricks
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“The swing musician wanted to be the individualist in his solo work—to have instrumental ability wedded to a natural feeling for...
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Part 1 - The Real Ambassadors by Ricky Riccardi and Mosaic Records with an...
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.HIGH HOPES FOR BROADWAY“In 1959, while Brubeck's manager was obsessively planning a tour to Australia and New Zealand, Dave and...
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Part 2 - The Real Ambassadors by Ricky Riccardi and Mosaic Records with an...
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“When Brubeck agreed to appear at the fifth annual Monterey Jazz Festival [1962], it seems that a performance of The Real...
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The Classic Interview: Gerry Mulligan by Les Tomkins
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“ALTHOUGH I have interviewed Gerry Mulligan recently concerning more current events, my original meeting with him, backstage at the...
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Milt Jackson [1923-1999] - A Vital Force on the Vibraphone
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Improvisation is raised to the level of an art when it involves two factors which pull the performer in opposite directions:...
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Nelson Riddle: American Music’s Artist Behind the Scenes - by John Edward Hasse
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Appeared in the June 2, 2021, print edition of The Wall Street Journal as 'Nelson Riddle’s Backstage Brilliance.'Few members of the...
View ArticleMichel Petrucciani--Looking Up
Michel Petrucciani’s original composition Looking Up (Petrucciani M. , Music, 1989) is a bright piece filled with joy and positivity. It became one of his most well-known songs and he even played it on...
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Michel Petrucciani: A Career of Urgency - “L’Enfant Terrible"
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Imagine if you will, a young boy watching television with his parents four years after his birth in 1962. The setting is Orange,...
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Michel Petrucciani: A Career of Urgency The Owl & Concord Years
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.In January 1999, a week after the death of Michel Petrucciani from a pulmonary infection at the age of thirty-six [36], Mike Zwerin...
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