MOST RECENT BLOG POSTS
Such language, son! Listen to me reading two excerpts from "Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong."...
Just before 8 A few minutes before 8 p.m., my heart beats faster. So many concerts start at this time -- after years in the business my body is trained!...
Winners and their blues Expressing what bugs you resolves the blues -- here are Wynton-Willie dvd-winning lyrics...
Snapshot This week's video: Duke Ellington plays Billy Strayhorn's "Isfahan," with Johnny Hodges on alto sax....
At the Jazz Foundation's ball A safety net organization holds a loft party with a thousand guests and top notch music...
Quality Control Classical music is permeated with judgment making ... The greatest risk is in the making of music itself...
Translating Bob It takes a great jazz singer to make Bob Dylan's lyrics intelligible...
Recent Listening: Martin, Strickland, Felten New CDs from a bassist and a drummer, a newly discovered older one from a trombonist....
Beyond jazz season, autumn in New York Ornette Coleman is victorious, creative music is rampant...
Weekend Extra: The Art Of The Held Note A minute and twenty seconds of A-flat from Harry Carney. He's no Kenny G....
Anschell & Jensen Agreed More The CD by Bill Anschell and Brent Jensen is called We Couldn't Agree More. The title is inaccurate....
FAQ and A Frequently asked questions about my forthcoming Louis Armstrong biography....
Chicago jazz entrenched, at fest and after America's best city for jazz? Best anywhere? City, corporation & citizen supported...
Snapshot This week's video: Stan Getz plays Billy Strayhorn's "Blood Count."...
Beat It Technology has allowed the metronome to roar ... Just when did musicians start to play whole passages, or whole pieces, with the metronome running?...
Announcing New Recommendations ...an author-photographer, two pianists, a saxophonist and a stimulating young composer....
On the air I'll be talking about "Can Jazz Be Saved?" on WNYC's "Soundcheck."...
Too late! Too late! A biographer's near-nightmare: a previously unknown sixteen-page Louis Armstrong letter surfaces....
Two little words The New York Times responds to "Can Jazz Be Saved?" Too bad they missed the point....
In the details Last-minute corrections of a fact-obsessed Louis Armstrong biographer....
Art is long Long notes are more important than short notes...
First out of the box "Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong," out Dec. 2, just got a thumbs-up review from Publishers Weekly....
Can jazz be saved? An NEA survey says that jazz in America is dying--of old age....
Snapshot This week's video: Billie Holiday sings "Fine and Mellow" in 1957....