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Mark O’Connor, photo by Jim McGuire There have been many seminal groups in jazz history, whether it be Duke Ellington’s orchestra, Art Blakey’s long running Jazz Messengers, or the classic groups of Miles Davis or John Coltrane. Each of these — plus a host of others — is responsible for laying a unique brick in the pantheon of American jazz. Europe has a younger but equally vital jazz … Les Brown may have made jazz history with his Band of Renown, but there was a time when young Texas singer Joni Janak’s mom was ready to punch him on the nose. Detroit’s remarkable jazz history has a lot of heroes, but none loom larger than the three incomparable Jones brothers from Pontiac, who came roaring out of the local scene at midcentury to become major influences — Hank as a pianist, Thad as a composer, arranger and bandleader and Elvin as a drummer. The first album recorded live at the Vanguard, and still one of the best, was made by Sonny Rollins’ piano-less trio in 1956. Noisy but soothing, simple but dense, tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen’s trio is primed to confront jazz history’s shadow on its home turf. He’s a fiery, obvious talent whose musical imagination spans all of jazz history at once. And for his set at Newport, he’s called upon the down-home feel of resonant organ chords. He brings a Hammond B-3 player and drummer to Newport’s Harbor stage Preview: With a jazz history stretching from the glory of the Wylie Avenue days to the current festival season, Pittsburgh has no shortage of edifices and organizations celebrating the art form: Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh Jazz Society, WDUQ, programs at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, the Afro-American Music Institute, the brand new August Wilson Center and … In the last half of the 20th century, photographer Herman Leonard documented the most fertile period in jazz history; the Smithsonian has more than 130 Leonard photographs in its permanent collection. On an August morning in 1958, a 33-year-old photographer named Art Kane gathered 57 jazz musicians together on the steps of a Harlem brownstone. |
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