In sports there are some particularly superlative athletes who also stick around long enough for observers to remark that if you divided their careers in half, each half would represent a career worthy of the corresponding hall of fame. While that’s not the way jazz works, exactly, the same principle applies to J.J. Johnson, who…
Continue ReadingIn this moment I am conflicted about sharing my annual written reflections on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his legacy, and its applicability to living a more meaningful and moral life today. The violence worldwide (particularly the ongoing and overwhelming scale of killing of Palestinian civilians), the tenuous state of democracy both abroad…
Continue ReadingI remember exactly where I was (what car, on what road, in what direction, on what radio station) when, as a college undergraduate, I first heard the iconic 1969 performance of “Compared to What” by Les McCann and Eddie Harris. I could count on one hand the number of Les McCann references I heard from…
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