The artistry of Joni Mitchell is a gentle and powerful magic
So, I can’t listen to a Joni Mitchell song and not feel like I’ve been taught to see all over again. Like...

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Melody Diachun takes jazz out to play
So often in its times, jazz has gone looking for fresh places to play. Seeking adventures with popular musics of its different...

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Denielle Bassels sings stories of life’s adventures
Denielle Baseels teases Americana, and with that, I am hooked, and that hook is a vocal spectrum deeply rich with spirited feelings...

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Bob James is his own kind of cool
Bob James was born on Christmas Day. There is something sweetly celebratory about that, something that hints at notions of a gift....

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In music, Scott Hamilton is a consummate conversationalist
Jazz writer, critic and fellow tenor player Dave Gelly described Scott Hamilton this way: “A Scott Hamilton solo is like listening to...

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Bobby Timmons played with unmistakable funkiness
He was a Philadelphian by birth. There is a whole lot of “can’t go wrong with that” in that. There is something...

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John Hicks helped define the New York jazz scene
He was one of the Mr. Pianos of the jazz world. His piano world was as varied as the spectrum of traditional...

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Bob Brookmeyer played with a stealthy swing
Bob Brookmeyer played the trombone — not just any trombone, but the valve trombone. The instrument familiar to so many has the...

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Robyn Hayle sings it straight from her heart
With every song gifted like a personal story from the heart, Robyn Hayle must have a very big heart. A capacity for...

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Roy Haynes plays the grooves of life
What happens when the rhythm of you, and in you, is at a bursting point and always needs to find a way...

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Lori Cullen sings with a perfectly inviting sensibility
Jeffrey Morgan, of Metro Times Detroit, says this: “Lori Cullen has one of the purest voices of a generation.” When she sings,...

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The sound of Zoot Sims was easygoing, yet energetic
The name is a jazz signature. It rides high among the stars and greats of the genre. He was a California native....

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Drive and determination are Lee Ritenour’s signature
The years of a career are so much like the years of life. Sometimes they seem to dash past and you scramble...

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Horace Silver’s lasting impact on jazz is affirming, challenging, and staggering
What if some of the foundation for the way some jazz sounds was because of the way you played and explored, and...

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Joe Bowden plays from his roots
Joe “Jojo” Bowden plays from his roots. His roots are his soul, and his soul is steeped in his roots. The roots...

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Cedar Walton was funky, groovy and graceful
These words are from the article written by William Yardley in The New York Times that spoke to Cedar Walton’s passing in...

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Lou Pomanti is the consummate accompanist
When I was younger, I felt my mother was made of music. She also taught kindergarten, special education classes, taught teachers, led...

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Abbey Lincoln sang the hard, beautiful truth
In every fight that is right, there is its own kind of beauty. Found, you know it instantly. A truth in the...

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With the steelpan, Joy Lapps is an inviting communicator
Like the instrument she plays, Joy Lapps is a communicator. Her connection to music as an art — to the listener, audience...

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Charnett Moffett’s playing united those around him
This quote about the late bass player Charnett Moffett comes from a piece written by Martin Johnson for NPR Music: “Big, elastic...

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Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen commanded the bass
I have often heard non-bass-playing players talk about the bass, saying things like, You have to be able to handle the instrument,...

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The music of Harry Connick Jr. is like an outstretched hand
The Great American Songbook and the music of America has a special place with Harry Connick Jr. He gives it a place...

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Jane Ira Bloom has a poetic and cosmic artistry
Poetry set to music is a most natural thing. Read aloud, its rhythms and meter make it a very close relation. For...

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Art Farmer played with both power and warmth
When an artist speaks of another with admiration and respect, it is without match. These words are from Geoffrey Keezer: “One night...

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