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Claus Ogerman - "A Reminder of Finer Things"
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“The problem is that … [Claus Ogerman] knows too much, if there is such a thing as too much knowledge, about all kinds of music, and uses it...
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Cal Tjader: San Francisco to Portland with Seattle a Bust
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.1962 was the year of the Seattle’s World Fair and that summer found me heading up to a gig in The Emerald City by way of two gigs in San...
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"Where's The Melody" By Martin Williams
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."A short, model primer on jazz, in which Mr. Williams triumphantly makes a difficult subject seem difficult and absolutely comprehensible....
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MandelMusic: A Tribute to Johnny Mandel
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“The ability to write melody is mysterious. There are trained arrangers and composers who lack it, and untrained musicians who have it. Two of...
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Benavent, Baker and Ineke Create an "Opening"
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.When I first received my copy of Openng, the instrumentation - tenor sax, bass and drums - brought me back to my first listening of Sonny...
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Part 1 of Jazz Repertory: Raymond Scott's Music, The Chesterfield...
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.THE METROPOLE ORCHESTRAconducted by Jan Stulen andfeaturing THE BEAU HUNKS SAXTETTE“We Yanks are long accustomed to the irony that it often...
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Part 2 Jazz Repertory - The Beau Hunks Saxophone Soctette
This feature is a continuation of the Jazz Repertory theme initiated on JazzProfiles with an earlier piece on The Raymond Scott Chesterfield arrangements commissioned and performed by the Paul Whiteman...
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Brubeck at Oberlin
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.*****... This is incredible music, jazz or whatever, and you should buy it. — Neil Tesser Down Beat“Jazz At Oberlin was an enormous...
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A Brief History of Improvising by Whitney Balliett
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Reeds and woodwinds master player Gary Foster sent this to the editorial offices of JazzProfiles and we thought it too good not to...
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Bill Kirchner - The Todd Bryant Weeks Interview
In the current (April) issue of Allegro, the monthly publication of Local 802 (Greater New York City) of the American Federation of Musicians, Bill Kirchner been honored with a 3000-word feature cover...
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"Hank Mobley: The Integrity of the Artist - The Soul of the Man" - The John...
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."I played with Parker a lot of times, and he told me a lot of things. To a young person he wouldn't say much, but what he said meant a...
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Nat "King Cole" - The Gene Lees Essay - Parts 1-3, Complete
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“You never lose that Jazz feeling.”- Nat “King” Cole to Don Freeman, October 6, 1950, Downbeat“The chemistry of Cole-and-Capitol would...
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Clark Terry - Parts 1-3 Complete
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Clark Terry died on February 21st/2015. He was ninety-four [94] years old [born: December 14, 1920].With the following introductory caveat...
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Chronicle Books - Blue Note: The Album Cover Art
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved."They were sure that with these newartists they were introducing, so many of themwere leaders for the first time, somaybe the public in Harlem...
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"Colours of Sound" - Simon Pilbrow with the Brent Fischer Orchestra
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Music is something we all listen to everyday to enhance our lives. Even though I've been in the music industry for nearly 40 years, I am...
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