This article was published in the IAJRC (International Association of Jazz Record Collectors) journal in 1982. It fills in some blanks regarding Earle Spencer’s activity after leaving California. SPENCERIA: A FORGOTTEN BAND OF THE LATE 1940S By John S. Lewis Geographically and politically there are two Kansas Cities, but musically the town to the […]
Continue ReadingDizzy Gillespie
Hampton Hawes Memorial by Pete Welding
Pete Welding wrote liner notes for many reissues of classic West Coast sessions for a variety of record labels. His notes for the Xanadu collection, The Hampton Hawes Memorial Album, provide a snapshot of Hampton Hawes place in the emerging jazz scene in Los Angeles. Before West Coast Jazz exploded in the ears […]
Continue ReadingArv Garrison
Several weeks ago I mentioned to my friend, Nick Rossi, that I planned to do a feature on Arv Garrison. I had heard Arv’s name mentioned during the recent slew of radio broadcast specials devoted to the celebration of Charlie Parker’s centenary. Arv Garrison’s electric guitar can be heard on three of Parker’s first sessions […]
Continue ReadingThe Jazz Workshop Redux
Rod Levitt was a trombonist and commercial arranger who occasionally worked with Gil Evans in the ’60’s. His charts from his mid:1960’s recordings for RCA, make full use of the experimental ideas that the “Birth of the Cool” crowd had ushered in years before.
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