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Victor Feldman: A Career Overview
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.[The editorial staff at JazzProfiles posted the following as a five-part feature in early 2009. Ever since that time, we’ve wondered how it...
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Books on Bud Powell: Bebop, Budism and the Beyond
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Why do I care when Powell was hospitalized or how his stay meshes with his performing and recording schedule? Not because of a morbid...
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Tad Shull - Deep Passion in the Land of the Jazz Tenor Saxophonist
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.My introduction to Tad Shull’s big, blustery and boisterous Jazz tenor saxophone sound came from two CD’s he made for Gerry Teekens’ Criss...
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A Portrait of Bud Powell: Dance of the Infidels" by Francis Paudras
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."A heartfelt and deeply involving portrait. This often tragic tale, written with sincerity and affection, gives an inside look at an amazing...
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The Shark’s Pretty Teeth: Pops on Mack The Knife
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.The following by Terry Teachout appeared in the July 28, 2017 edition of the Wall Street Journal.How Louis Armstrong turned a song about the...
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Pat Martino: First Impressions
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“The guitar has its own mystique. The most ancient of instruments, it is the most pervasive in contemporary music. Those who mastered its...
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Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.At one time or another many, if not most, Jazz musicians want to try their hand at playing in a big band.When you are in one that clicks,...
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Grant Green: The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.I know I’ve shared this view before, but it bears repeating. Over the years, my enjoyment of Jazz has been considerably enhanced by the wise...
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Go Slow - The Life of Julie London by Michael Owen
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."Beautifully crafted and stunningly researched, this entertaining biography of Julie London reminds us of why she matters, now and for always....
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"Grazie!" - Marco, Enzo, Lorenzo and Matteo
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.By way of background Marco Pacassoni graduated cum laude from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" a music conservatory in...
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The Cal Tjader - Stan Getz Sextet
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Getz’s session with Cal Tjader looks forward with some prescience to the bossa nova records that were to come. Certainly the coolly pleasant...
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Dutch Jazz Guitarist Jesse van Ruller: From Amsterdam, Bilthoven and Utrecht
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Jesse van ruler is an old soul whose musical personality is firmly embedded in the here-and-now, he plays the lingua franca material with...
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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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More Mulligan
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved“And Gerry Mulligan lived through almost the entire history of jazz. It is against that background that he should be understood.”- Gene Lees The...
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Communicating With JazzProfiles
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.I use Blogger as the platform to format and publish JazzProfiles. It’s free of charge and very compatible with other applications that Google...
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Duke Jordan: Flight to Europe
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“His style is an amalgam of Art Tatum and Bud Powell, the parts not always cohering with absolute authority. A player of great facility, he may...
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Remembering The Mastersounds
Appearing as it did on 5/31/2008, this feature was one of the blog's earliest. And despite the difficulty in navigating the Blogger platform to "leave a comment," this feature has garnered a dozen...
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OSIE JOHNSON: An Undistinguished Distinctive Drummer
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“In studio work, you’re always under the gun. You’re expected to play the parts right no matter how difficult they are …. It’s a matter of...
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"John Cassavetes" by Tim Hagans and the NDR Big Band
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“John Cassavetes was a jazz director, a visionary who knew that all humans desire love and acceptance. He understood that our life actions are...
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On "Expedition" with Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Our goal has been to approach the music without a score or any preconception; to be as fully present as possible, "riding the moment," and...
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