jazz

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Missing Jazzman Stanley Wright Found in Trunk
 Dead Jazzman Found in Trunk 
May 11, 2011 8:36 AM CDT

Dead Jazzman Found in Trunk

Body of Stanley Wright found stashed in his Brooklyn home

(Newser) - The body of beloved Brooklyn jazz musician Stanley Wright was found stuffed inside a trunk in the basement of his home several days after he had last been seen. Police searched the Brownsville home of the 61-year-old, who performed under the name Suleiman-Hakim and was last heard from on Thursday,...

Jazz Great James Moody Dead at 85
Jazz Great James Moody
Dead at 85
obituary
Dec 10, 2010 4:25 AM CST

Jazz Great James Moody Dead at 85

Jazz world mourns veteran saxophonist

(Newser) - Beloved jazzman James Moody has died in San Diego at the age of 85. The saxophonist, flutist, band leader, and composer had a distinguished career in jazz that began in Dizzy Gillespie's band just after World War II and lasted well into the 21st century. Moody, famed for his versatility,...

Groundbreaking Lena Horne Dead at 92

 Groundbreaking 
 Lena Horne 
 Dead at 92 
obituary
May 10, 2010 5:44 AM CDT

Groundbreaking Lena Horne Dead at 92

'Stormy Weather' great broke ground for African Americans

(Newser) - Lena Horne, the legendary singer who broke new ground for African-Americans in Hollywood, has died at the age of 92. Best known for the song "Stormy Weather," the jazz vocalist won accolades as a cabaret and Broadway performer. Horne got her start in 1933 as a teenage chorus...

HBO's Treme Does Justice to New Orleans
 HBO's Treme Does 
 Justice to New Orleans 
TV REVIEW
Apr 9, 2010 12:52 PM CDT

HBO's Treme Does Justice to New Orleans

'Wire" creator David Simon scores with new series set in Big Easy

(Newser) - Critics seem thrilled with Wire creator David Simon's new HBO series Treme, about post-Katrina New Orleans:
  • Dave Walker, New Orleans Times-Picayune : "This is the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves, has always desired, but has been denied."
  • Locals want to know two things: "Is it real? and
...

Beach Boy Wilson to Complete Gershwin Songs

Project a 'weird dream come true' for fans of 2 seminal American composers

(Newser) - Beach Boys songster Brian Wilson will put a gloss on unfinished tunes by revered Jazz Age composer George Gershwin. Gershwin’s estate tells the Los Angeles Times that dozens of fragments, from “a few bars to some almost finished songs and everything in between,” have been in limbo...

New Orleans Clinic Gives Jazz Musicians Free Care

Volunteer doctors eagerly treat musical idols

(Newser) - One New Orleans couple is so passionate about jazz that they give musicians free or low-cost health care, NBC News reports. The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic, founded 11 years ago, tries “to prevent death by lifestyle" for low-paid musicians who can’t afford treatment, says one founder. "We...

At 50, Kind of Blue Still Totally Awesome

(Newser) - In 1959, Miles Davis was looking to forge a path away from the bebop spearheaded by mentor Charlie Parker, Fred Kaplan writes on Slate. “Parker not only invented bebop, he perfected it,” Kaplan continues, leaving Davis nowhere else to go. So when Davis was introduced to so-called “...

Jazz Pioneer George Russell Dead at 86

His theory influenced Miles Davis, John Coltrane

(Newser) - Jazz innovator George Russell died at 86 yesterday in Boston of Alzheimer’s complications, the Globe reports. Russell developed a jazz theory that played a key role on landmark records like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Russell’s theory “gives you a...

1959: The Apex of Jazz
 1959: The Apex of Jazz 
OPINION
Jul 20, 2009 12:36 PM CDT

1959: The Apex of Jazz

(Newser) - 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of jazz’s best year jazz ever, Martin Johnson writes for the Root. 1959 saw canonical discs from genre royalty: “Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out...

Black Music Month Still Matters
 Black Music Month Still Matters 
OPINION
Jun 18, 2009 2:29 PM CDT

Black Music Month Still Matters

Young musicians' education is priceless

(Newser) - Black Music Month, also known as June, used to celebrate visionaries like Duke Ellington and Billie Holliday. “In an age in which Auto-Tune and ringtone hits dominate, should we even be celebrating Black Music Month?” asks Erin Evans in The Root. “The answer, of course, is yes.”...

Hoops Star Wayman Tisdale Dead at 44
 Hoops Star Wayman 
 Tisdale Dead at 44 
OBITUARY
May 15, 2009 11:54 AM CDT

Hoops Star Wayman Tisdale Dead at 44

(Newser) - College basketball Hall of Famer Wayman Tisdale died today at 44, ESPN reports. Tisdale was diagnosed with bone cancer last year, and his right leg was amputated. The 6-foot-9 forward was an All-American all 3 years at Oklahoma, and went on to spend 12 years in the NBA. He was...

White House Jams to Spoken Word

Theater, jazz, poetry collide in East Room event

(Newser) - Spoken word, jazz, and theater took the White House by storm last night in what has been called the first presidential poetry jam, the Washington Post reports. “We're here to celebrate the power of words,” President Obama said, adding that his wife is his poet. The jam, Michelle...

Few Blacks Followed Anderson's Lead
 Few Blacks Followed 
 Anderson's Lead 
analysis
Apr 6, 2009 5:01 PM CDT

Few Blacks Followed Anderson's Lead

(Newser) - Marian Anderson shattered a racial barrier when she sang at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939—70 years ago this week—yet despite planned tributes, the power of the moment has faded, Alex Ross writes in the New Yorker. Most young people know nothing of Anderson, and "black...

Jazz Great Ellington Will Grace DC Quarter

Capital honors native son with commemorative coin

(Newser) - Late jazz legend Duke Ellington has been chosen to appear on the District of Columbia's commemorative quarter, CNN reports. The composer and performer, a DC native who died in 1975, beat out abolitionist Frederick Douglass and surveyor and astronomer Benjamin Banneker in a vote of the capital's residents. Ellington becomes...

Jazz Great Dearie Dead at 82
 Jazz Great
 Dearie Dead at 82 
Feb 9, 2009 6:39 AM CST

Jazz Great Dearie Dead at 82

Blossom Dearie dead at 82

(Newser) - Blossom Dearie, whose career as a jazz and cabaret singer spanned six decades, died peacefully in her sleep at her Greenwich village apartment over the weekend. She was 82. Dearie continued performing until 2006, and her last public appearance was at the now-defunct Danny's Skylight Room, reports the New York ...

Kind of Blue Still the Gold Standard at 50

Topselling jazz album helped redefine American music

(Newser) - Fifty years to the day since its debut, Miles Davis’ signature album Kind of Blue remains beautiful and inviting—"like meeting an old friend," Malcolm Jones writes in Newsweek. The record helped jazz earn its title as America’s classical music and remains the bestselling jazz album ever....

Jazz Icon Hubbard Dead at 70
 Jazz Icon Hubbard Dead at 70 
Dec 29, 2008 9:02 PM CST

Jazz Icon Hubbard Dead at 70

(Newser) - Grammy-winning jazz giant Freddie Hubbard died today in Sherman Oaks, Calif., a month after having a heart attack, the AP reports. He was 70. Revered among trumpet players, Hubbard collaborated with legends like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins as he established a blazing, hard-bop style that influenced a generation. "...

Eastwood's First Love: Jazz Piano
 Eastwood's 
 First Love: 
 Jazz Piano 

Glossies
Dec 15, 2008 3:09 PM CST

Eastwood's First Love: Jazz Piano

Love, not practice, evinced in movies and performance

(Newser) - Growing up, Clint Eastwood had an affinity for piano but no money for lessons. He nurtured his passion for jazz throughout his life, Nick Tosches writes in Vanity Fair, and has written music for almost every picture he’s directed, including the theme for his recent Gran Torino. But, Eastwood...

Bird Lives! And He Does It in Fanatic Detail

NY radio jock keeps jazz boppin', stumps die-hard know-it-alls

(Newser) - A white guy from Queens may be our best link to a music rooted in black history. Phil Schapp grew up in a home full of jazz, and has hosted a radio show obsessed with the music's minutiae for decades, the New Yorker reports. He's liable to digress on Charlie...

Jazzman Giuffre Dead at 86
 Jazzman Giuffre Dead at 86 
Apr 26, 2008 6:26 AM CDT

Jazzman Giuffre Dead at 86

Adventurous instrumentalist and composer Jimmy Giuffre was a '50s jazz hero

(Newser) - The iconoclastic clarinetist and composer Jimmy Giuffre died Thursday, two days before what would have been his 87th birthday, the New York Times reports. The Texas-born jazz legend's 50-year career took him from big-band hits with Woody Herman to minimalist trios, with a stint playing in mess halls as a...

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