By Devon (Doc) Wendell In my late teens, my goal was to find the ultimate bop recordings. I was an obsessive “completist” of the works of Bird, Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell, Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Dexter Gordon and of course Miles Davis. The harder and more complex the music was, the better. There are… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Ultimate Bop: “Miles Davis/Collectors Items”
By Devon Wendell I’ve had this deep, lifelong obsession with the trumpet. I’ve written about some of the greatest musicians to ever pick up the instrument like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Dorham, Art Farmer, Clifford Brown, and Wild Bill Davison, to name a few. I’d trade my right foot and… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Hard-Bop Trumpet: Donald Byrd’s ”Byrd In Hand” (Blue Note)
By Devon Wendell I simply cannot write about jazz or music in general without doing a piece on Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. After all, these pieces are written out of love, and Bird and Dizzy were my initial introduction to the world of jazz and possibly still my favorites of all time.… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription for Ultimate Bebop: Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie’s “Diz ‘N Bird At Carnegie Hall” (Blue Note)
By Devon Wendell When it comes to purchasing an essential jazz recording, one often only has to look at the group of musicians listed on that specific record sleeve to know that the music is going to be incredible. That’s one of the great joys of being obsessed with this music; looking for that perfect… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Bop Bone: The Curtis Fuller Sextette’s “Imagination” (Savoy)
By Devon Wendell Phil Woods was not just a musician; he was a force of nature to be reckoned with. He was tough, full of grit, and always ready to defend the music that he loved and played so effortlessly with all of his might. I’ve seen Phil reduce mere mortals to ashes when they… Read More An Appreciation: Phil Woods
By Devon Wendell Patty Farmer’s insightful book, Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner and Playboy Changed the Face of Music, tells the story of how Hugh Hefner changed the way jazz and American music were perceived and accepted by an ever changing culture. The intellectual male “jet setters” were Hefner’s initial target audience but “Hef” attracted… Read More Book Review: “Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner and Playboy Changed the Face of Music” by Patty Farmer (Beaufort Books)
– SONNY- By Devon Wendell Today, Monday September 7th, Sonny Rollins shall turn 85 years young. So I couldn’t help but write about what Sonny means to me. Very few artists have had the impact on my life that Sonny has had, and he’s still doing it. I don’t think a day goes by… Read More Happy 85th Birthday: Sonny Rollins
By Devon Wendell Freddie Hubbard was the quintessential Renaissance man of the trumpet during the 1960s. Hubbard’s superior technique, beautiful tone, and sheer confidence enabled him to do anything. From the start of the decade, he made bebop records with Dexter Gordon and Kenny Drew and hard-bop albums with Jackie McLean, Art Blakey & The… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Bop And Beyond: “Freddie Hubbard: Without A Song-Live In Europe 1969” (Blue Note)
By Devon Wendell For many occasional jazz listeners there are only 3 great trumpeters that come across their minds and lips, and they are of course Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and occasionally Louis Armstrong. For those of us obsessed with the music’s many genres and glorious history (like myself) the list is much longer and… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Fat Girl: Fats Navarro Memorial No. 2: Nostalgia (Savoy)
By Devon Wendell By 1958, Johnny Griffin was known as the fastest tenor saxophonist to emerge from the hard-bop era. Griffin’s dexterity combined with his ability to make you feel every soulful note that he played made him one of the most spectacularly brilliant and original musicians in the world. Griffin had replaced John Coltrane… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Saxophone Bop: “The Johnny Griffin Sextet” (Riverside)
The International Review of Music 