Support All About Jazz's Future

All About Jazz needs your help and we have a deal. Pay $20 and we'll hide those six pesky Google ads that appear on every page, plus this box and the slideout box on the right for a full year! You'll also fund website expansion.

I want to help

Dexter Godon in Denmark: 1962

SOURCE: JAZZWAX BY MARC MYERS
August 21, 2014
Sign in to view read count

There are tens of thousands of jazz clips on YouTube. But some, like this one, add a human element that brings the artist and the event to life. Here's Dexter Gordon in Copenhagen in 1962. It was filmed for a German TV program that aired a year later, featuring Gordon at the Jazz Club Montmartre along with Lars Gulin (bs), Sahib Shihab (fl/as), Harold Goldberg (p), Benny Nielsen (b) and Alex Riel (d)....

Continue Reading...

This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
Copyright © 2016. All rights reserved.

I love jazz because I hear musicians being in the “now”, creating on the spot. I was first exposed to jazz by my father. He doesn't play (though he has dabbled with piano in the past), but apparently jazz runs in the family blood
Read more

I love jazz because I hear musicians being in the “now”, creating on the spot. I was first exposed to jazz by my father. He doesn't play (though he has dabbled with piano in the past), but apparently jazz runs in the family blood. My grandfather, a professional jazz pianist, once accompanied Judy Garland when she strolled into the Chicago hotel where he played; one of the songs they performed was, of course, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I never got to hear my grandfather play, because he gave up “the life” when he moved to California, when my dad was still in high school. However, my grandpa remains an inspiration, so I wrote an arrangement of “Somewhere” in Latin Jazz style, and dedicated to my father and to the memory of my grandfather. The first jazz record I bought was McCoy Tyner, “Dimensions.” McCoy is a great influence on my piano playing to this day. My advice to new listeners is, have an open mind; let the music develop, let the artists take you on a journey. Jazz is human, personal, and carries great immediacy. In an age where technology replaces the human element in much art, jazz in general is all about the performance. Even in recording, it is a moment of spontaneity frozen in time. So support live music, support live jazz! Keep us human in the modern world.
Show less

By Michelle Pollace
Member since: 2013