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Johnny Mercer - Part 1
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Mercer was a successful jazz singer with a distinctive, engaging style; he cultivated a relaxed manner of delivery, which emphasized his...
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Elmo Hope: A Jazz Composer Of Significance
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“… Hope had a strong gift for melody, enunciating themes very clearly, and was comfortable enough with classical music to introduce elements of...
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Larry Goldings – “Caminhos Cruzados” - Mais Uma Vez [Portuguese for "One More...
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“With a decade [now, more two decades] of playing together under their belts, Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart must form one of...
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Tadd Dameron - A Career Overview
In Search of Tad(d) Dameron by Ian MacDonald - 9.12.2014© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“... Dameron is a much underrated performer who stands at the fulcrum of modern...
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Lenny McBrowne and the 4 Souls
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.There once was a time in the Land of Jazz when it seemed like everywhere you looked, small Jazz combos came together, played a few club...
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Johnny Mercer - Part 2
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Johnny Mercer was the only member of the "And then I wrote" bunch who didn't need the protection of a piano when he got up in front of an...
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Ella at 100 by Will Friedwald
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.The following appeared in the April 24, 2017 edition of the Wall Street Journal.“In 1958, Frank Sinatra recorded Billy Strayhorn’s classic...
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The New York Trio on Venus
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.The title of this piece should read - “The New York Trio on Venus Records” - but I thought it was more fun this way .By way of background,...
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Lester Koenig: Good Time Jazz and Contemporary Records [From the Archives]
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.I will always be infinitely grateful to Lester Koenig for the many wonderful Jazz recordings that he brought into my life over the years.On the...
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Carmell Jones: Remarkable and Resilient
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“… Carmell had the ability to blow everyone out of the studio, but it was not his nature….”- Todd Selbert“… he was a native of the...
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Capp Pierce Juggernaut - Big Band Power and Precision
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.For some musicians, big bands are a way of life.For others, they are a way to waste time, tantamount to “sitting in a section, counting...
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J.J. Inc. – A Look at the Music of J.J. Johnson
© -Steven Cerra. Copyright protected; all rights reserved.At a point in the development of recording technology when you could still do such things, I literally wore out my copy of trombonist J.J....
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Sir Eric Ineke - The Hardbop Knight
[C] Steven Cerra. Copyright protected; all rights reserved. This feature grew out of the following correspondence from Dutch Master Drummer - Eric Ineke“Dear Steve,I've just sent you a compilation CD...
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Ted Gioia on Charles Mingus - "The History of Jazz"
“..., viewed cumulatively, Mingus's efforts from the late 1950s represent a landmark accomplishment. His mature style had now blossomed into full-fledged artistry, and was evident in the music's...
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Buddy Rich - The Harvey Siders Interview
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.For someone who’s time in the Jazz World had begun almost 30 years earlier, it’s difficult to understand how significant the “starting point”...
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Dave Pell - 1925-2017: R.I.P.
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Dave Pell, one of the last of those musicians associated with the West Coast style of Jazz that developed primarily in California from about...
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THE GERRY MULLIGAN SEXTET by Gordon Jack
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Gordon Jack is a frequent contributor to the Jazz Journal and a very generous friend to these pages in his allowance of JazzProfiles...
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Johnny Mercer - Part 3
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Johnny had nerve, what denizens of the theater world called moxie. That becomes obvious in any examination of his early life. This nerve was...
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Legrand Jazz Revisited
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Legrand Jazz was one of those recordings, to use pianist’s Barry Harris’ phrase, that helped me “see out a bit” [in other words, to get beyond...
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Conrad Herwig - Lately
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.People ask me, ‘How did a kid from Hawaii grow up to be a professional jazz trombone player?’ For me, the answer is simple. There’s just...
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