In the history of jazz, there are relationships between two musicians as performers, composers, or arrangers, or all combined. Seminal examples include George and Ira Gershwin, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Harold Land and Bobby Hutcherson, and Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Saunders. Yet,...
Articles by Doug Hall
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Clark Terry: A stylistically distinct, peerless trumpeter dedicated to mentoring
Often, the relationship of a legendary jazz musician to his or her developing gifted pupils reveals the reputation and assigned importance of their influence. Clark Terry, on the shortlist of any jazz musician or scholar’s evaluation of seminal trumpeters (including the flugelhorn), would also be remembered for his advocation,...
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Miles Davis: Forefront of all jazz genres in a lifetime
Miles Davis stands, to many jazz scholars, jazz historians, and critics, as arguably the most influential jazz musician and composer in the post-World War II modern period. Jazz as a genre is a mélange of subcategories developed over 100-plus years of evolution, with a variety of essential musical contributors....
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Kenny Barron: First Choice jazz piano’s impeccable sideman and virtuoso
In the jazz community, innumerable legendary bandleaders are familiar to jazz fans, yet often, it’s the sidemen at the core of that bandleader’s trio, quartet, or orchestra. At 83, Kenny Barron, pianist, composer, educator, and NEA jazz master, is the current statesman of piano accompaniment in jazz and a...
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Gregory Porter: Delivers humanity with resounding depth of emotion and range of tone
In the music world, particularly in the R&B and Soul genres, the foundation of church gospel in the early lives of African-American vocalists is widespread. Aretha Franklin, Toni Braxton, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and Sam Cooke all had their musical beginnings in local neighborhood churches that served their communities,...
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Billie Holiday: ‘Lady Sings the Blues, She Tells Her Side, Nothing to Hide’
Often in jazz, when identifying the soaring range or virtuosity or power of a vocalist, these gifts are accepted as a skill set that is necessary to impart the depth and complication of song material. Through 1930s to her death in 1959, Billie Holiday, singing within a vocal range...
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The persona of Chet Baker is in his moody trumpet melodies and sorrow-ridden crooning.
Common in the jazz world–and the wider music industry, to be sure–there are personal story arcs that are dramatically tragic, until the musician manages to rebound and reestablish their career. But if any one musician could carry a legacy that contradicted his early youthful Hollywood-handsome visage that hid a...
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Count Basie: Taking Big Band to Swing with the Blues on the Dance Floor
“Swing” in jazz, for the audience on a dance floor, is often described as an emotional response, with foot-tapping, dancing to a rhythm and a propulsive “feel” to the beat. There is no greater contributor or bandleader for this big-band sound than the legendary Count Basie – jazz pianist,...
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Julian Lage : Avoiding labels and channeling jazz muse on the fretboard
When a younger, established guitar phenomenon has a wide band of inclusion with other varied guitarists, including Jim Hall, Nels Cline, and Leo Kottke, it is a recognition that their ear has an expansive and deep listening range. Julian Lage (rhymes with beige), as a child prodigy on guitar,...
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The Newport Jazz Festival again delivers range of genre and beyond!!! – along with(as always) exceptional musicianship
The 2023 Newport Jazz Festival was a thriving demonstration of the stewardship of artistic director Christian McBride. In keeping with the vein of the late founder and director George Wein, McBride continues to pick a broad range of new talent, rising stars, and legends, providing the variety and excellence...
