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TODAY'S ARTISTS


Winard Harper


Winard Harper

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Drummer Winard Harper is passionate about jazz. "This music is powerful," he says. "It can do a lot of good for people. If they'd spend some time each day listening to it, we would see many changes in the world."



Come Into the Light

Come Into the Light





The EDGE


In Memory Of

J.D. Salinger,

1919 - 2010


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Think About It


"To some will come a time when change itself is beauty, if not heaven."

- Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1869 - 1935



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Today's Gift Idea

Lithographs and Giclees by Barbara Freeman

Chet Baker

 


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Recently Published


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Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend


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David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues

W.C. Handy

St. Louis Blues, by W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues Band


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If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be?

Among those participating in the twelfth edition of Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion are Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Billy Cobham and Esperanza Spalding

Gary Bartz


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Graham Lock and David Murray, co-editors of Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film and The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art

The Death of Bessie Smith, by Rose Piper


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In the twenty-seventh edition of Great Encounters, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, tells the story of Handy's first recording session, and his meeting with James Reese Europe

W.C. Handy
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Marybeth Hamilton, author of In Search of the Blues

Leadbelly


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Karen Karlitz is the winner of the Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction contest. Her story is called "No Thanks"

Karen Karlitz


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Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton: An online photo exhibit



Milt Hinton

Laughing At Life, by Milt Hinton


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Ben Ratliff, author of Coltrane: The Story of a Sound

John Coltrane

Giant Steps


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Ralph Ellison biographer Arnold Rampersad, on the complex life of the author of Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison


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In cooperation with The Jazz Image author Lee Tanner, Jerry Jazz Musician presents "Masters of Jazz Photography," this month featuring the work of Jerry Stoll

photo of Pee Wee Russell and Gerry Mulligan by Jerry Stoll


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Up From New Orleans: Life Before, During and After Katrina -- A conversation with transplanted New Orleans musicians Devin Phillips and Mark DiFlorio

Devin Phillips


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An Online Story of Jazz in New Orleans, with an introduction by Nat Hentoff

Jelly Roll Morton

New Orleans was a free and easy place, comments by Jelly Roll Morton


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Now in the Art Gallery

The Art of James Allen



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Test your wits! Subscribe to Quiz Show, which is delivered to your desktop every other Friday .



Play Quiz Show

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Heroes...We all had them. For years, we have been asking the guests we interview to talk about theirs. You can read them at our Heroes page. Now, we invite you to write about the person you recall being your own childhood hero. All submissions are published...



Willie Mays

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Coming Soon

Interviews with Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne author James Gavin, and Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Genius



...ensure you won't miss any of this (and much more in the works) by subscribing to our newsletter.

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"The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet."

- Mark Twain
JJM

 



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Down or Up




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Jerry Jazz Musician Home Page


Welcome to Jerry Jazz Musician

...A website devoted to jazz and American civilization...


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Nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association for "Best Website Concentrating on Jazz," 2006 and 2007


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Flowers and Lovers, by Marc Chagall

"And then my heart
with pleasure fills,
And dances with
the daffodils."

- William Wordsworth

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My Funny Valentine , by Miles Davis



February, 2010


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This Month at Jerry Jazz Musician



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Newly Published:

"No Thanks," by Karen Karlitz, the winner of the twenty-second Jerry Jazz Musician New Short Fiction Award


W.C. Handy biographer David Robertson discusses the life and impact of the seminal blues musician

An interview with Graham Lock and David Murray, co-editors of Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film and The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art

If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be? Among those participating in the twelfth edition of Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion are Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Billy Cobham, and Esperanza Spalding


In the twenty-seventh edition of Great Encounters, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, tells the story of Handy's first recording session, and his meeting with James Reese Europe




INTERVIEWS
Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend

W.C. Handy biographer David Robertson discusses the life and impact of the seminal blues musician

Graham Lock and David Murray, co-editors of Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film and The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art

In Search of the Blues author Marybeth Hamilton


Interview Archive

Satchel Paige


No Thanks by Karen Karlitz SUGGESTED READING
"No Thanks," by Karen Karlitz, the Jerry Jazz Musician New Short Fiction winner ...Short Fiction Contest details

"LP Anniversary Song," a poem by Michael S. Harper

Summer Fiction, 2008; five short stories

New Orleans Stories: Jerry Jazz Musician-produced interviews and features, including the participation of writers Gary Giddins, Nat Hentoff, and Thomas Brothers, as well as jazz musicians whose lives were forever changed by Hurricane Katrina


CONTINUING FEATURES

If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be? Among those participating in the twelfth edition of Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion are Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Billy Cobham, and Esperanza Spalding

In the twenty-seventh edition of Great Encounters, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, tells the story of Handy's first recording session, and his meeting with James Reese Europe

Conversations with Gary Giddins, thirteen discussions with the country's most eminent jazz writer

Heroes...We all had them. Our guests speak of theirs

Quiz Show! What do you know about jazz?
Gary Bartz


Milt Hinton ART
Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton: An online photo exhibit

In cooperation with The Jazz Image author Lee Tanner, Jerry Jazz Musician presents "Masters of Jazz Photography," this month featuring the work of Hugh Bell

Jerry Jazz Musician and Candlewick Press present Jazz ABZ, a gallery of impressions and text from the colorful book of the same name that features the poetry of Wynton Marsalis, the art of Paul Rogers, and the jazz history of Phil Schaap



COMING SOON

An interview with Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne author James Gavin

...and lots more in the works...

Ensure you won't miss any of this by subscribing to our newsletter.

Thelonious Monk


Edwin Arlington Robinson Think About It

"To some will come a time when change itself is beauty, if not heaven."

- Poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1869 - 1935


Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend

Leroy “Satchel” Paige was the most sensational pitcher ever to throw a baseball. During his years in the Negro Leagues he fine-tuned a pitch so scorching that catchers tried to soften the sting by cushioning their gloves with beefsteaks. His career stats — 2,000 wins, 250 shutouts, three victories on the same day — are so eye-popping they seem like misprints. But bigotry kept big league teams from signing him until he was forty-two, at which point he helped propel the Cleveland Indians to the World Series. Over a career that spanned four decades, Satchel pitched more baseballs, for more fans, in more ballparks, for more teams, than any player in history. In an August 25, 2009 interview with Jerry Jazz Musician contributor Paul Hallaman, Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, talks about this story that speaks to fans of sports history and American culture. 		Satchel Paige


W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues

Before there was Elvis, there was W.C. Handy, “the man who made the blues,” who gave us such iconic songs as “St. Louis Blues,” “The Memphis Blues,” and “Beale Street Blues,” and who was responsible, more than any other musician, for bringing the blues into the American mainstream. In our July, 2009 interview with Jerry Jazz Musician associate editor Peter Maita, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, discusses the life and impact of this seminal blues musician.


Thriving on a Riff

Graham Lock and David Murray write, "Charlie Parker is reported to have said, 'Hear with your eyes and see with your ears.' Who can be sure of what he meant? But perhaps it was a way of saying that African American creativity is so grounded in its music that listening will allow you to better see its paintings, to better read its poetry and fiction." In a March, 2009 interview, Lock and Murray -- the co-editors of The Hearing Eye: Jazz & Blues Influences in African American Visual Art and Thriving on a Riff: Jazz & Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film -- discuss the connections between jazz and literature, art and film. 		One Night Stand by Romare Bearden


Leadbelly In Search of the Blues

Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton -- we are all familiar with the story of the Delta blues. Fierce, raw voices; tormented drifters; deals with the devil at the crossroads at midnight. In an extraordinary reconstruction of the origins of the Delta blues, historian Marybeth Hamilton demonstrates that the story as we know it is largely a myth. According to Hamilton, the idea of something called Delta blues only emerged in the mid-twentieth century, the culmination of a longstanding white fascination with the exotic mysteries of black music. Hamilton participates in a conversation about her book, In Search of the Blues, with Jerry Jazz Musician contributor Paul Hallaman.


A Well Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports

Upon being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1969, Curt Flood, an All-Star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, wanted nothing more than to stay with St. Louis. But his only options were to report to Philadelphia or retire. Instead, Flood sued Major League Baseball for his freedom, hoping to invalidate the reserve clause in his contract, which bound a player to his team for life. In A Well-Paid Slave, the first extended treatment of Flood and his lawsuit, Brad Snyder examines this long-misunderstood case and its impact on professional sports. In a February 25, 2008 interview with Jerry Jazz Musician contributor Paul Hallaman, Snyder talks about this story that speaks to fans of sports history, legal affairs, and American culture. 		Curt Flood


John Coltrane photo by Lee Tanner Coltrane: The Story of a Sound

What was the essence of John Coltrane’s achievement that makes him so prized forty years after his death? What was it about his improvising, his bands, his compositions, his place within his era of jazz that left so many musicians and listeners so powerfully drawn to him? What would a John Coltrane look like now -- or are we looking for the wrong signs? The acclaimed jazz writer Ben Ratliff addresses these questions in Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, and joins us in a conversation about Coltrane's sound and influence in a January 29, 2008 interview.


Ralph Ellison: A Biography

Ralph Ellison is justly celebrated for his epochal novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953 and has become a classic of American literature. But Ellison’s strange inability to finish a second novel, despite his dogged efforts and soaring prestige, made him a supremely enigmatic figure. In Ralph Ellison: A Biography, Arnold Rampersad skillfully tells the story of a writer whose thunderous novel and astute, courageous essays on race, literature, and culture assure him of a permanent place in our literary heritage. In our August, 2007 interview, Rampersad discusses the book many are calling Ellison's "definitive" biography, as well as a "stellar model of literary biography." 		Ralph Ellison


Berry Gordy From the Interview Archive



"Boogaloo" is a term author Arthur Kempton suggests as an alternative to what was conventionally described as soul music, and a word to distinguish black popular music from jazz. Boogaloo encompassed three generations of signal personalities, from Thomas A. Dorsey, the so-called "Father of Gospel Music," to Sam Cooke, Motown's Berry Gordy, Stax Record's Al Bell, and to the ascendency of hip-hop entrepreneurs Shug Knight and Russell Simmons. Their interconnections and influence on the art and commerce of black American popular music is the theme of Kempton's book, Boogaloo: The Quintessance of American Popular Music. He talks with us in an August, 2003 Jerry Jazz Musician interview.

Visit our interview archive


Reminising in Tempo: Memories and Opinion

"Reminiscing in Tempo," is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of "edu-tainment." As often as possible, Jerry Jazz Musician poses one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited. In the feature's twelfth edition, Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Billy Cobham, and Esperanza Spalding are among those who answer the question, If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be? 		Gary Bartz


Street Musicians, by William Johnson Accent on Youth

"The Future of Jazz" is the third column by Accent on Youth writer Zach Ferguson



Conversations with Gary Giddins

In our continuing series of Conversations with Gary Giddins, Bing Crosby's biographer and the country's preeminent jazz writer -- who was prominently featured in Ken Burns' Jazz -– talks with us about jazz festivals 		Gary Giddins


W.C. Handy Great Encounters

Great Encounters are book excerpts that chronicle famous encounters among twentieth century cultural icons. This month, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, tells the story of W.C. Handy's first recording session, and meeting James Reese Europe.


Heroes

Heroes...We all had them. Mantle, Mays, Satchel Paige, Wonderwoman, Davy Crockett - even Pippi Longstocking!

Excerpted from exclusive Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, our guests talk of theirs...

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"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."

- Bob Dylan

Roberto Clemente was a hero to NPR's Scott Simon


Louis Armstrong New Orleans Stories

Original Jerry Jazz Musician produced content devoted to the importance of New Orleans culture, including a conversation on the city with Gary Giddins; An Online Story of Jazz in New Orleans -- with an introduction by Nat Hentoff; and Up From New Orleans: Life Before, During, and After Katrina -- a conversation with transplanted New Orleans musicians Devin Phillips and Mark DiFlorio


The A Love Supreme Interviews

John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme is a deeply moving suite of spirit and song, and one of the twentieth century’s most critically acclaimed musical works. The A Love Supreme Interviews take shape around the central theme of the recording’s lasting effect on those we talk to. McCoy Tyner, Gary Giddins, Joshua Redman, Ashley Kahn, Francis Davis, Nat Hentoff, poet Michael Harper and others participate.

Listen to poet Michael Harper read

Dear John, Dear Coltrane.

John Coltrane's A Love Supreme


No Thanks by Karen Karlitz New Short Fiction Award

Karen Karlitz is the winner of the Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction contest. Her story is called "No Thanks".

New Contest Details

Read contest winning stories



The Ralph Ellison Project

Ralph Ellison left an indelible mark on our culture, and not only because of Invisible Man. He was friendly with and mentored many of today's most influential critics and musicians. It is a worthwhile endeavor to reach back and discover the rich world he wrote of, and to understand his philosophy surrounding music and its connection to American traditions, rituals and literature. In our critically acclaimed The Ralph Ellison Project, nine prominent American writers, educators and filmmakers discuss Ellison's life, and the complex and intriguing man at its core... 		Ralph Ellison


Jack Johnson is discussed with biographer Geoffrey Ward Celebrating African American History

Our interviews are a great source of entertainment and information, featuring noted historians, biographers, critics and musicians who take on the topics of Ralph Ellison, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Jack Johnson, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Richard Wright, the Civil Rights Movement, the influence of jazz on American culture, and many others. Visit our page celebrating African American History.


The Art Gallery

Among the world's finest music art can be viewed on your monitor when you visit the Jerry Jazz Musician Art Gallery...Paintings, sculpture, and digital photographs by 33 artists are on display now. Artist Theo Moore's Bird is an example of what you will find here. 		A portrait of Charlie Parker by Theo Moore


Miles by Leith OMalley

Quiz Show!

Before working with Woody Herman (and eventually marrying his singer Frances Wayne), this renowned composer/arranger contributed arrangements to Earl Hines' big band, and subsequently played trumpet with, among others, Charlie Barnet, Horace Heidt and Charlie Spivak. Who was he?

Play Quiz Show!



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