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Ahmad Jamal on Mosaic Records
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Kenny Washington: “How did you come up with your concept of less-is-more?”Ahmad Jamal: “… I think it has to do with philosophy and how I...
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Miles Davis - Changes: The 1955 Sessions - Simon Spillett Notes [Acrobat...
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.It's always a splendid occasion when Simon Spillett “stops at” the editorial offices of JazzProfiles and “brings along” another of...
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Wolfgang Muthspiel's Angular Blues - Reflective and Introspective Jazz
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Spanning genres and historical periods, ECM's recordings in avant-garde jazz, improvised music, contemporary written music, and...
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Carmen McRae – A Grande Dame of Jazz
© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“There's always a tigerish feel to her best vocals - no woman has ever sung in the Jazz idiom with quite such beguiling surliness as...
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The Connection - Freddie Redd and Jackie McLean by Ira Gitler
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Growing up a Jazz fan on the Left Coast “back-in-the-day,” finding Blue Note LPs was like going on a hunt for buried treasure.The major labels...
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Freddie Hubbard 1938-2008 – A Tribute
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.An inquiry from an Internet friend reminded us that we haven’t had any hard bop playing on the site in quite a while. The same inquiry...
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Uan Rasey: Hollywood Studio Artist - The Leonard Maltin Interview
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Every film buff knows the names of the great movie composers, but hardly anyone knows who actually performed their scores. Musicians received...
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Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Band - John Edward Hasse
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“All through the 1930s, Duke’s creativity seemed limitless: scores of compositions exploited the unique gifts of his players and the...
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Rosario Giuliani - Love in Translation
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“The musicianship of Rosario Giuliani is exhilarating. His total package of performance, composition and improvisation is not so...
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How Art Tatum Got His Style
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.Stay with this; it’s short but you’ll like where it’s going and the premise it’s based on.It's not often that you hear comparisons...
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Max on Monk
Max on Monk© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.The “Max” in the title of this piece does not refer to the more obvious connection to Thelonious Monk – drummer, Max Roach –...
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Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons: Cutting Sessions and Chases
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“Today, fame can come swiftly on the heels of a Top Twenty record, but there was a time when a musician had to prove himself to other musicians...
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The Three Sounds
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“AT this writing it has been just a little over two years since the Three Sounds, a group formed in South Bend in 1956 and later based in...
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Revisiting Drummer Jack Sperling and the Les Brown Band
© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.In a town loaded with talented drummers, Jack Sperling held his own in any...
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Dave Brubeck - Solo Piano Player
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.“People who think jazz has to swing to be any good will hate this record. Dave Brubeck’s playing never raises the temperature. So...
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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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