Top 10 Favorite Phil Lesh Performances

What a life – I will resist the temptation to fill this with lyrics from Grateful Dead songs or to agonize over the list or the descriptions below and will instead focus on the expediency of shining a light on the singular Phil Lesh, bassist, frequent background vocalist, and occasional songwriter for the Grateful Dead….

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Top 10 Favorite Bill Barron Tracks

Bill Barron (1927-1989) was an important and brilliant saxophonist (tenor, mostly), composer, scholar, and educator whose work deserves much wider attention. I’m not sure what the universe had in mind in this regard, but I’ve had the privilege of teaching for years now in the Music Department at Wesleyan University, where he taught from the…

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Top 10 Favorite Terry Gibbs tracks

Happy birthday to Terry Gibbs! While many jazz musicians make it to “elder” status, it’s not often we get to celebrate the centennial of a musician who’s still with us, so we are extra fortunate to still have this great vibraphonist, composer, bandleader, and indominable spirit. In a weird sense, his extraordinary longevity and comically-impressive…

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