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A Conversation About Jazz with Howard Mandel [From the Archives]
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Get people talking. Learn to ask questions that will elicit answers about what is most interesting or vivid in their lives. Nothing so...
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Stanley Turrentine: Texas or ... Pittsburgh? [From the Archives]
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“He said, ‘I'm Stanley Turrentine.’For whatever reason, I had never met him before, although I had certainly enjoyed his playing,...
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Les Brown and His Band of Renown Parts 1 and 2 [From the Archives]
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."I'll look in books and see almost no mention of Les. I don't think it's fair. Or right."- Frank Comstock, composer-arranger"Throughout...
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Jazz Film "Trove" - Ernest R. Smith
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.According to the obituary that appeared in the New York Times on April 14, 2004, Ernest R. Smith, was 79 years old at the time of his death and...
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Ella and Norman [ From the Archives]
© -Jazz Times; Tad Hershorn, University of California Press. Copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Any book on my life would start with my basic philosophy of fighting racial prejudice. I loved...
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The Stan Kenton Orchestra - Literally, A Moving Experience
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.I was digging around my collection of Stan Kenton recordings recently looking for something by stellar trombonist Carl Fontana during his...
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The Glenn Miller Years - Parts 1-7 Complete
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“... no artist should ever be evaluated other than by his intention. And Glenn Miller had no intention of leading a jazz band, despite the...
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Steve Slagle "Alto Manhattan"
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.As anyone who has been more than a casual visitor to these pages will attest, I am very attuned to drummers.Drummers often take me to new...
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Valery Ponomarev - On The Flip Side Of Sound - An Autobiography [From the...
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“If I had collected only one cent for each time I had to answer the questions: ‘How did you join Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers?,’ ‘How did...
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Sonny Rollins: The Man by Bob Belden
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.This interview appeared in the August 1997 edition of Down Beat. Sonny Rollins is still going strong and performing in concert halls all over...
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Billy Eckstine: The Evolution of The First Bebop Big Band [From the Archives]
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“BILLY ECKSTINE, ..., had a modern, swinging band during the mid-forties. He had been singing with Earl Hines for a number of years when one of...
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Joe Henderson's Adventures in Barber College
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“PARIS, 1 April 1998 - Miles Davis reinvented himself many times, in many shapes. His alumni include just about every influential jazz musician...
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Pres: The Story of Lester Young by Luc Delannoy
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Manhattan, March 19, 1959“Nearly three hundred people assembled in front of the Universal Funeral Chapel at the corner of Fifty-second Street...
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The Three Sounds "Groovin' Hard Live at The Penthouse, 1964-68"
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Another quality that Gene Harris garnered from his role models was an ethos of professionalism, of performance consistency … [Pianist Benny]...
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The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.To paraphrase Joseph Epstein’s comments about Literature in a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal, one doesn’t traditionally think of Jazz...
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Vito Price + Chicago = Beautiful Love [From the Archives]
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Vito Price isn't famous. He isn't the world's finest saxophonist. He isn't suffering from the pangs of public disapproval. He isn't a...
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Jesse Davis - High Standards
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“The nice thing about this record is the choice of material. Davis on alto along with Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Robert Trowers on trombone...
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Marty Paich [From the Archives]
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."Dans The Broadway Bit, I Get Boot Of You et What's New, il remet tranquillement en cause la conception usuelle du grand orchestre, car...
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Christmas Time Is Here for Charlie, Vince and Ralph
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Christmas time is here.Both the preparations for this festive time of the year and the song with that title which the late pianist Vince...
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Jake Langely - Diggin' In to Cheese Cake
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.At this point in my Jazz listening, when I come across a lengthy solo that has numerous elements in it that I haven’t heard before, I’m pretty...
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