By Roger Crane What is left to say about the lovely and iconic “Over the Rainbow?” Well, some basics. The music is by Harold Arlen and the lyric by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg. As many of you know, it was written for and featured in the 1939 Judy Garland movie The Wizard of Oz. The… Read More Keeping the GAS (Great American Songbook) Flame Burning: “Over the Rainbow”
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)
“How Long Has This Been Going On?” By Roger Crane, the Song Scout BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION “How Long Has This Been Going On?” is an early song (1927) composed by the Gershwin brothers that expresses the delight of a first kiss. George was blessed to have a brother who was a… Read More Keeping the GAS (Great American Songbook) Flame Burning
By Don Heckman Hollywood, CA. The line waiting to get in to Catalina Bar & Grill at 7:30 Thursday night stretched all the way back to the jazz venue’s nearby garage. And it was moving slowly. But there was no sign of anyone leaving. Not for this performance. Not with a stellar assemblage of talented… Read More Live Jazz: A Tribute to Bill Henderson at Catalina Bar & Grill
Kai Hoffman Do It While You Can (Broad Reach Records) By Brian Arsenault Can jazz be fun? Should it be? Absolutely yes, when it’s swung so grand by Kai Hoffman on Do It While You Can. With her Marilyn Monroe look (if Marilyn could have really sung this is what she’d have sounded like), her… Read More CD Review: Kai Hoffman’s “Do It While You Can”
By Don Heckman There’s a long history of great jazz artists, reaching as far back as Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, who understood the value of communicating, connecting and – yes, here’s that awful word – entertaining an audience. It’s a history that hasn’t had much impact upon recent jazz generations. When those qualities do… Read More Live Jazz: Judy Carmichael at Vitello’s
By Don Heckman Judy Carmichael is a jazz rarity — a lively, contemporary pianist who has been specializing in classic jazz piano styles, especially stride piano, since the early ’80s. Count Basie nicknamed her “Stride,” and her early career was also aided by the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Benny Carter, Freddie Green and Roy Eldridge,… Read More Q & A: Judy Carmichael
The International Review of Music 