Although an only child, I come from a musical family. My father played the violin and one of his sisters was a piano teacher. My maternal uncle is the late composer David Diamond who often lived with us in Rochester, NY, in the 1940s and 1950s. The clarinetist Z. Mitchell Weiss is my first cousin… Read more
News
The Birth of the Cool Legacy, Part 4: Gigi Gryce
As the evolution of bebop continued during the 1950s, the next chapter in the Birth of the Cool Legacy was written on the East Coast. The innovative approaches of Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Shorty Rogers and other California-based artists were beginning to be challenged by a forward-looking group of composer/performers in New York City whose… Read more
Chris Byars: A Hundred Years from Today
Earlier this year, SteepleChase Records released a new CD by the New York City-based saxophonist, composer, arranger Chris Byars. Entitled A Hundred Years from Today, this album features 9 original compositions, each a tribute to one of his musical heroes. I was honored to be asked to write the liner notes for this CD which… Read more
The Birth of the Cool Legacy, Part 3: Gerry Mulligan
The tentette recordings that Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996) made for Capitol Records in January 1953 were an outgrowth of both the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool sessions of 1949 and 1950, to which he had contributed significantly, and the piano-less quartet featuring trumpeter Chet Baker that had brought the baritone saxophonist his first real recognition.… Read more
The Birth of the Cool Legacy, Part 2: Shorty Rogers
About eighteen months after the final Miles Davis Capitol Records nonet session, the next chapter in the “Birth of the Cool Legacy” was written when trumpeter/composer/arranger Shorty Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; 1924-1994) recorded six tracks that were produced by Gene Norman. Taking place on October 8, 1951, the session was Rogers’ first as a leader… Read more
Donald Shirley
I recently saw the movie, “Green Book,” which is based on the life of pianist Donald Shirley (1927-2013). In 1998, I interviewed Shirley as part of the research carried out by Michael Fitzgerald and myself, culminating in the biography, “Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce.” Gryce and Shirley grew up together in… Read more