Top 10 Favorite Kenny Dorham Tracks

Today marks the 100th birth anniversary of the important yet underappreciated trumpeter Kenny Dorham, a major figure in bridging the gap from bebop to hard bop to more modern sounds as well as incorporating Afro-Cuban and Brazilian sounds into straight-ahead jazz. His compositions are a crucial part of the jazz canon (if I had a…

Continue Reading

Top 10 x2 Favorite Live Albums

As I approach the release (this Friday!) of my Live at the Side Door trio album, I find myself thinking about some of my favorite live albums. It’s an interesting framework, as to me a standout live album has two components: great music (of course) and at least something about it that is unique to…

Continue Reading

Top 10 Ahmad Jamal Tracks

Today would have been Ahmad Jamal’s 94th birthday, and by coincidence I was talking with students about him – his conceptual and pianistic brilliance, yes, and also the way he defied multiple sorts of career trajectory that would typically get someone identified as “historically significant” in the annals of jazz. He didn’t follow the “sideman…

Continue Reading

Top 10 Favorite Swamp Dogg Tracks

I love eclectic musicians, and Swamp Dogg (the persona adopted by singer/songwriter/producer Jerry Williams, Jr. in the early ) is extreme even by my standards. This is a man who can pull off some of the most incisive social commentary I’ve heard (e.g. “I’ve Never Been to Africa”) and also songs that are just silly…

Continue Reading

Top 10 Favorite David Sanborn Tracks

If my conscious awareness of David Sanborn had never gone beyond knowing that he hosted and often played on the extraordinary TV show Night Music (his playing with guests ranging from Miles Davis to Al Green was extraordinary), then I’d still revere him and be saddened to hear of his passing. Of course, that’s just…

Continue Reading

Top 10 Favorite Mike McGinnis Tracks

I’m thrilled that a this Saturday (5/4/24) I’ll get to perform with Mike McGinnis at Resonant Motion’s Jazz Up Close series, our second time playing together (the first coming in 2006, I think) and the first chance I’ll get to play his own evocative music. I’ve been a fan of his work as a composer…

Continue Reading

Top 10 Favorite Ornette Coleman Tracks

I missed out on commemorating Ornette Coleman’s recent birth anniversary but am posting this now in commemoration of the more mundane occasion of “Ornette time” as the Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble prepares to sink their teeth into his “Humpty Dumpty.” (students: thanks for doing your homework by reading this and listening to these!) It’s difficult to…

Continue Reading