Paul Paolicelli and I got to be friends hanging out at professional meetings when we were television news directors. We were both trumpet players and found more to talk about than the state of journalism, which in the 1970s and '80s was already a little soft around the edges. Come to think of it, so was the jazz business. Paul still runs a TV news operation, in North Carolina, and has a blog on his station's web site. This morning he responded to the "Giant Steps" piece below by referring me to … [Read more...]

John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" is the harmonic steeplechase generally regarded as the most significant - at least the most prominent - milestone on the tenor saxophonist's path out of bebop on his way to what he called a universal sound. Difficult as the fact may be to absorb for those still bowled over by the freshness and complexity of what Coltrane did with the piece, he made his stunning recording of "Giant Steps" 50 years ago today. To put the lasting impact of his accomplishment in … [Read more...]