There is a moment in many Eric Dolphy recordings when the music seems to leave the room entirely — when a phrase curls upward beyond any conventional scale, when a bass clarinet growl descends into something almost feral, or when a flute line scatters like startled birds. And then, impossibly, it all coheres. The music comes home. That is the Dolphy experience: the sensation of the ground dropping away, and then solid earth beneath your feet again.

In a career tragically cut short at thirty-six, Eric Dolphy produced one of the most singular bodies of work in jazz history. He was a composer, an improviser, and a triple instrumentalist of extraordinary range. He expanded what each of his instruments could say, collaborated with the greatest minds of his era, and left behind a sound so distinctive that even today — sixty years after his death — no one has quite replicated it. What he sought was nothing less than a new language, one that had room for every bird call, every ache, every human voice that had ever tried to say something that words couldn’t hold.

Eric Allan Dolphy was born in Los Angeles on June 20, 1928, into a family that encouraged music from the start. While other young players learned to make their horns sing in accepted ways, Dolphy was drawn to the extreme registers, to the timbres that sounded strange or unsettled, to the pitches that fell between the cracks of the piano keyboard.

He studied music formally in Los Angeles and later served in the Army, playing in military bands where his technical gifts were obvious even if his aesthetic restlessness was out of place. After his discharge, he worked the club scene in L.A. before heading to New York in the late 1950s, where the avant-garde was fermenting and the city was hungry for players willing to push.

What set Dolphy apart from the beginning was his absolute command of three distinct instruments:

Alto Saxophone — His most expressively raw voice, jagged and searching, capable of extraordinary speed and searing emotional intensity. His phrasing was angular and unpredictable: he would leap across intervals that other players wouldn’t dream of, land on tones that seemed wrong and then feel inevitable.

Bass Clarinet — Almost single-handedly brought this instrument into jazz as a solo voice, plumbing depths that felt ancient and new at once. The instrument had been a novelty at best; Dolphy made it into a protagonist, using its woody darkness to evoke something pre-rational — myth, or grief, or the sound of deep water.

Flute — Introduced microtones and breath effects rarely heard in jazz, creating a floating, atmospheric quality unlike any contemporary. Musicians who heard him for the first time often described the sensation of hearing something genuinely new, as though a previously unknown species had announced itself.

His harmonic concept drew on a wide range of influences. He absorbed bebop thoroughly, studied 20th-century European classical music, was fascinated by birdsong as a compositional source, and listened deeply to non-Western music. The result was a style sometimes described as belonging to the “New Thing,” or free jazz, but which was really something more personal and more disciplined than that label suggests. Dolphy was never randomly free. Every deviation from the expected had a purpose.

The Meeting with Coltrane

In the world of early-1960s jazz, there was no more consequential partnership than the one between Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. The two men were different in temperament — Coltrane was slow-burning, meditative, monumental; Dolphy was more mercurial, darkly playful, prone to sudden flights — but they recognized something essential in each other almost immediately.

The relationship that mattered crystallized in 1961, when Coltrane invited Dolphy to join his working group. This was not a casual addition. Coltrane was pushing away from his hard bop mastery toward something more expansive and spiritually charged. He needed a musical interlocutor of the highest order — someone who could follow him anywhere, and who had enough of their own to push back. Dolphy was that person.

The collaboration produced an immediate and highly publicized controversy. A Down Beat magazine review called their live performances at Shelly’s Manne Hole in LA as “anti-jazz.” Coltrane and Dolphy responded publicly and calmly, explaining their intentions and methods. It was a remarkable moment: two musicians at the frontier of the art form, taking the time to articulate exactly what they were doing and why.

What the recordings from this period reveal is an extraordinary musical dialogue. On the Live at the Village Vanguard sessions of 1961, their interplay has the quality of a conversation between two people finishing each other’s sentences and then taking those sentences somewhere neither had anticipated. Dolphy extended the vocabulary of the group in ways that made the music bigger without making it louder.

The friendship was genuine. Coltrane spoke of Dolphy with consistent reverence, describing him as one of the most complete musicians he had ever known. For his part, Dolphy credited the collaboration with pushing him to think more deeply about how freedom could be achieved not by abandoning form but by bending it past its previous limits. They were each other’s most demanding audience.

Respected Across Every Boundary

What is striking, looking back at the testimonies of musicians who knew or played with Dolphy, is how consistently the same qualities are mentioned: his total lack of ego about music, his generosity as a collaborator, his insatiable curiosity, and his humanity. He was not a difficult man. He was warm, gentle, and deeply serious about music in a way that made others feel that their own seriousness was validated.

Charles Mingus — not famous for his patience with mediocrity — kept Dolphy in his group for an extended period and wrote music that seemed designed to showcase him. He recognized in Dolphy something that transcended technical skill: a willingness to be fully present in the music, to mean every sound, to never coast.

Ornette Coleman, whose own harmolodic system was in many ways the theoretical cousin of what Dolphy pursued, admired him deeply. Both men insisted that emotion and personal expression were more fundamental than harmonic convention, and both paid the price in critical incomprehension before the world caught up. They recognized in each other a shared commitment to sincerity — the sense that the music must always be telling the truth, even if the truth is uncomfortable or strange.

Younger musicians revered him for different reasons. He was unfailingly kind to players learning their craft, willing to talk about music for hours. Bobby Hutcherson — the vibraphonist who appears on Out to Lunch! and was in his early twenties at the time — described the recording sessions as feeling like a master class as much as a record date. Dolphy created an environment in which every musician felt both challenged and completely free.

Out to Lunch!, recorded in February 1964, stands as Dolphy’s definitive statement as a composer and bandleader — and quietly, one of the most influential albums in jazz history. Its asymmetric rhythms, wide-interval melodic writing, use of silence and space, and refusal of conventional resolution all became part of the DNA of creative music in the decades that followed. Musicians who have never heard of Dolphy are playing ideas he first articulated here.

He died in Berlin on June 29, 1964, of complications arising from diabetes that had gone undiagnosed. He had been playing concerts in Europe, was scheduled to stay and work with European musicians, and was by all accounts in excellent spirits. He was thirty-six years old.

The musician who perhaps felt the loss most acutely was Coltrane, who had been planning further collaborations and who would go on, before his own death in 1967, to push in directions that Dolphy’s presence might have shaped differently. Whether Coltrane’s increasingly ecstatic and formally open music would have been modulated by Dolphy’s more linear intelligence is one of jazz history’s great unanswerable questions.

What is answerable — what the recordings make irrefutably clear — is that Dolphy was one of those artists who genuinely extended what was possible. Not by discarding the tradition but by listening to it so deeply that he found the doors within it that no one had noticed. The intervals between the familiar notes. The sounds that language almost has words for. The music, as he said himself, that disappears into the air.

It disappears, but it has never really gone. Every musician who plays with total honesty, who follows a musical idea past the point where it feels safe, who insists that expression is more important than approval — every one of them is playing in a tradition that Eric Dolphy helped to make. The voice between the notes is still speaking.

November 24, 1961, Baden-Baden, West Germany for German television, with John Coltrane, here’s Eric Dolphy’s solo on “Impressions.

George Young, a virtuoso saxophonist, passed away from cancer on April 23, 2026. He was eighty-eight. When I first started writing for DownBeat in 1977, George was my first assignment. Although he was better known to musicians in New York because of his extensive studio work, anyone who heard him play realized they were in the presence of a master.

As a teenage jazz fan in 1963, I used to spend a fair amount of time in record stores (remember those?) browsing new releases. One day I came across a record with a rather startling cover: “The Greatest Saxophone in the World, Presenting the Unbelievable George Young, A New Star on Columbia Records.”

I read the liner notes and checked out the personnel. George Young on tenor, alto, and flute. Clark Terry and Doc Severinsen on trumpets. Jimmy Cleveland on trombone. Hank Jones on piano. Milt Hinton on bass. Osie Johnson on drums. Manny Albam arranging and conducting. Hard to go wrong with those cats. I was already familiar with Manny Albam too, an influential jazz arranger, composer, saxophonist, and bandleader, known less as a front-line star and more as one of the finest architects behind the scenes in modern jazz.

So I bought it.

From the first track, it was obvious that George could play. Even then, though, I knew that hoisting him onto the pedestal of greatness was a record company ploy. There never was, and will never be, the greatest saxophonist in the world.

After that I lost track of him, though by all accounts he stayed busy as a studio player. Like all the great ones, he could read and execute complicated charts at a moment’s notice, which kept him perpetually in demand.

Eventually I moved to New York to attend NYU Film School. When I wasn’t driving a cab at night, I spent my time at jazz clubs, finally hearing in person the incredible music I had only known from records.

In 1976, the pianist Walter Bishop, Jr. played a gig at a party I attended. I knew about Bish from his work with Charlie Parker, and the two of us became fast friends. The following June, he invited me to his first recording session in some time, for Muse Records. The date featured Bish with some of the best studio players in New York. That’s where I first met Randy Brecker who I knew from Blood, Sweat and Tears. And right there, on soprano and alto sax, was George Young.

I was a bit awestruck to be in the studio that afternoon, my first time present at an actual recording. I didn’t speak to Randy or George that day, but I was deeply impressed by how they worked, no rehearsal, just reading the charts and nailing the music in one or two takes. And the icing on the cake, Bish asked me to do the liner notes, the first of many such assignments I would have.

An interview I did with Bish became my first appearance in print in DownBeat. The editors liked my writing and started giving me assignments. As fate would have it, the first was George Young. I got his number out of the Musicians Union book, and he invited me up to his studio for the interview after he had finished playing on four sessions in a single day.

When George passed, Randy wrote on Facebook that like Randy, George was “from Philly and one of the greatest saxophonists ever; we met when I was a teenager playing local gigs. We both moved to NYC around the same time, and were on a million sessions, gigs and jingles together.”

There was an old building next to Carnegie Hall where a number of studio musicians kept rooms to practice and relax between dates. This was at the apex of the studio scene in New York, before synthesizers gutted that part of the music business. Some hipster had dubbed the building Father Flotsky’s Home for Wayward Beboppers, a reference to a Lenny Bruce routine.

Before I continue, a few words about the studio scene in Manhattan half a century ago.

The New York studio scene across those three decades was one of the most concentrated hubs of recorded music anywhere in the world, and the players who worked there shaped an enormous portion of what people heard on radio, in films, and on Broadway. In the 1950s, Manhattan was packed with active studios. The session musicians of that era were largely jazz players moonlighting on pop dates. Names you would see on countless contracts included Clark and Doc, Saxophonists Phil Woods, Al Cohn and Jerome Richardson, trombonists Urbie Green, Bob Brookmeyer and Jimmy Cleveland, guitarists Mundell Lowe, Jim Hall and Bucky Pizzarelli, bassists Milt Hinton and George Duvivier, drummers Osie Johnson, Grady Tate and Bernard Purdie and Panama Francis, and pianists Hank Jones, Dick Hyman and Tommy Flanagan. Milt Hinton in particular played on thousands of dates and kept a camera with him, leaving behind one of the great photographic records of the scene.

By the late 60s and into the 70s, the session pool expanded with players such as Steve Gadd, Richard Tee, Cornell Dupree, Eric Gale, Will Lee, Anthony Jackson, the Brecker brothers, David Sanborn, and the loose collective that became Stuff. Jingle work was a huge income stream, keeping dozens of horn and rhythm players booked solid during the day.

The combination of dense studio infrastructure, a deep bench of versatile players, and the proximity of advertising, Broadway, jazz clubs, and the major labels made New York a place where a working musician could conceivably do a jingle in the morning, a pop date in the afternoon, a Broadway show at night, and a jazz gig after midnight, all within twenty blocks.

I was a mere lad back then and new to writing, but that didn’t stop me. George and I did the interview, and he had many stories that were both enlightening and very funny. Afterwards, he suggested we get some sushi. Sushi? This was long before sushi became so popular in America that it is now sold in supermarkets. He took me to my first sushi bar, Sushiko on West 55th Street, where the sushi master Ya-Chan performed his magic behind the counter. The fish was incredible, and sushi remains my favorite food to this day.

My next encounter with George was at a short-run jazz club on Second Avenue in the late 70s. I forget the rhythm section, but George was joined by Joe Farrell, another monster sax player. It wasn’t a cutting contest. It was a master class. The two were friends, and that night they inspired each other to even greater creative heights.

In the early 90s, I moved to Upper Westchester and discovered that a superb trumpeter and former studio cat, Marvin Stamm, lived in the area. Marvin and I became friends, and one frigid winter night we drove down to Manhattan where he was playing at Fat Tuesday’s with Louis Bellson. And George Young on sax. Another musical master class. I wish they had recorded the music I heard that night.

I lost track of George again, but around twenty years later, after I had become the Jazz Video Guy, I was shooting some video with the saxophonist Michael Pedicin at a club in LA. George had since moved to Pacific Palisades, still playing and still burning. It turned out Michael and George were close friends and George was in the house. I walked over and asked, “Remember me?” He looked at me, thought for a moment, and apologized — I looked familiar but he couldn’t place me. “Your first DownBeat article,” I said. He stood up and gave me a big hug. We talked for a while, and I left feeling exactly the way his playing had always made me feel: that the world is warmer than you think.

There’s a line from A Streetcar Named Desire that comes to mind: Blanche DuBois saying “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” George Young was exactly that kind of stranger, arriving early in my writing life with a warmth that made me feel my new creative endeavors were worth something. I will always remember that night, the introduction to sushi, and the sheer artistry of his playing. He opened a door to a world that became my life.

Here’s George Young from a 2008 gig in Hawaii.

Thelonious Monk is one of the most fascinating figures in jazz history, and his idiosyncrasy and importance are deeply intertwined.

His piano technique was immediately striking. He used a flat-fingered approach, striking keys with his fingers nearly parallel to the keyboard, which was considered “wrong” by classical standards. This produced a percussive, angular sound quite unlike the fluid legato style of most jazz pianists. He would also do peculiar things mid-performance: stand up from the piano and dance in small circles while other musicians soloed, then sit back down with perfect timing.

His sense of space and silence was radical. Where other pianists filled musical space, Monk left deliberate gaps — rests that felt almost confrontational. Notes would land just slightly “off” from where you expected them, creating a lurching, surprising rhythmic feel that many listeners initially found baffling.

His compositions were full of dissonance, flatted seconds (minor ninths played together), and unexpected harmonic turns. He seemed to actively resist musical smoothness. Even his melodies had an angular, almost awkward quality that was entirely his own.

He was also a deeply private and eccentric personality, prone to long silences in conversation, unpredictable behavior, and an otherworldly detachment that made him a genuinely mysterious figure.

As a composer, Monk’s catalog is extraordinary. Pieces such as “Round Midnight,” “Straight No Chaser,” “Blue Monk,” “Well You Needn’t,” and “Ruby My Dear” have become permanent fixtures of the jazz repertoire, played by virtually every serious jazz musician since. His melodies are so distinctive that they resist being smoothed out; they force performers to engage with his logic rather than impose their own.

John Coltrane spent nearly a pivotal year in Monk’s quartet, from 1957 to 1958, and the experience functioned less as a sideman gig than as an intensive graduate seminar in harmonic architecture. Monk would routinely teach Coltrane his compositions by playing the melody with one hand while voicing the underlying chords with the other directly against Trane’s horn, so that Coltrane could physically feel the harmonic relationships. It was immersion learning at the highest level.

What Coltrane absorbed from Monk went straight to the foundation of what he would later build. Monk’s willingness to stack dissonances, to treat the flatted second not as an error but as a color, opened a door for Coltrane into the upper partials of chord structures. The sheets of sound that Coltrane developed on ballads and burners alike owed something essential to Monk’s demonstration that tension did not need to resolve immediately, that harmonic ambiguity was not a problem to be solved but a texture to be inhabited. Monk showed Coltrane that you could live inside a chord rather than simply pass through it.

Monk was also a central figure in the birth of bebop in the early 1940s at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem, where he, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Kenny Clarke essentially invented the genre through late-night jam sessions. His harmonic language, those crunchy, dissonant chord voicings, expanded what jazz piano could sound like and deeply influenced pianists including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and McCoy Tyner.

Perhaps most importantly, Monk proved that jazz could be profoundly compositional, that a jazz musician could sustain a completely personal, non-negotiable aesthetic universe. Every note he played was unmistakably Monk. That uncompromising individuality became a model for what artistic integrity in jazz could look like, and no one absorbed that lesson more completely than Coltrane, who went on to build his own sovereign musical world, one in which Monk’s fingerprints are audible at nearly every turn.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Watch the Thelonious Monk Quartet Live in Poland, 1966 with Monk on piano, Charlie Rouse on tenor, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums.

Last year, I wrote How John Coltrane Changed My Life: A Jazz Journey. This year, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Trane’s birth on September 23rd, I’m producing ten short documentaries exploring how he shaped the lives of musicians and writers.

The first features my friend Bob Mintzer. I’ve made a number of videos with Bob over the past fifteen years, and he’s everything you’d want in a collaborator — generous, tireless, and genuinely one of the most talented musicians I know.

For those unfamiliar with his work: Bob Mintzer is a New York-born tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger, big band leader, and jazz educator. He built his reputation through big bands and fusion groups, and for three decades has been a member of the Grammy-winning ensemble Yellowjackets. Early in his career he played alongside Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. He’s written hundreds of big band arrangements, appeared on over a thousand recordings, led his own Bob Mintzer Big Band to a Grammy for large jazz ensemble, and ran the Saxophone Program at USC. He’s currently leading the WDR Big Band, as well. His charts are performed by professional and student bands around the world.

Here’s something most people don’t know: Bob lives in Los Angeles on a street called Canyon Cove, in a house whose previous occupant was Arnold Schoenberg. Born in Vienna in 1874 and later an American citizen, Schoenberg became one of the defining figures of 20th-century classical music. He dismantled the foundations of Western tonal harmony, developed atonality — music without a fixed key center — and invented the twelve-tone technique, a compositional system built on all twelve notes of the chromatic scale arranged in a specific sequence, ensuring no note repeats until the others have been heard. It reshaped modern classical music entirely. I imagine Bob and Arnold would have had some remarkable conversations across that kitchen table.

This series is a natural extension of my book. There’s no shortage of films and biographies about Coltrane’s life — and I love Trane, but I have nothing to add to that record. What interests me is something less documented: the way he changed other people. These films are about his influence, and in that sense, they tell another side of his story.

I’ll be posting a new one every few weeks. Up next is Su Terry, an extraordinarily creative musician currently based in Ecuador — another old friend. Everyone in this series is, actually. A few names to look forward to: Joe Lovano, Lewis Porter (who wrote the definitive Coltrane biography), Dr. Denny Zeitlin, and writer Bob Blumenthal, who saw Trane perform live three times in the mid-sixties.

These films are a labor of love, but they’re time-consuming to make, so I’ll be cutting back to two posts a week going forward.

This is actually the first film I’ve produced in two and a half years. It’s a little rough around the edges, but I’m finding my footing again. I did use AI in the production — tastefully, I hope — and so far, no one has accused me of making AI slop, so I’ll take that as a win.

There will never be an AI Coltrane. Let me be clear about that. The world is full of extraordinary musicians right now, creating music that matters, music that moves people — but none of them are John Coltrane, and none of them ever will be. Not as an artist. Not as a human being. Not as a soul who seemed to be reaching for something just beyond the edge of what music could hold.

His sound does something to me I cannot put into words. It doesn’t just reach me — it finds me. It locates something I didn’t know was there and pulls it to the surface. Every time I return to him, I go somewhere deeper. The music doesn’t open up because it’s getting simpler. It opens up because I am.

No algorithm will ever do that. No model trained on every note ever recorded will ever conjure what Coltrane was, because what he was couldn’t be separated from his searching, his suffering, his faith, his hunger. He wasn’t producing music. He was becoming it — right in front of us, in real time, for the whole of his short life.

That’s not a template. That’s a person. And we only got one.

I’ve started a Coltrane blog, which features a wide array of multimedia content. Please check it out: Coltrane Code

Take a look at The Profound Influence of John Coltrane:

The night I posted my first jazz video on YouTube, March 9, 2006, the platform had been alive for barely four months. There was no audience, no algorithm to speak of, no reason to believe anyone would ever find it. I uploaded a performance clip by Sonny Rollins, titled it “The Bridge,” and waited.

What came back surprised me in a way I had not expected. Not just viewers, though those arrived too, slowly at first and then in waves. What came back was a sense of purpose I had been circling for years, the feeling that the camera, the music, and the audience had finally found their right relationship to each other. Twenty years later, that relationship is the most sustained creative project of my life.

To understand how I got there, you have to go back further.

By 2006 I was already deep in the jazz world, producing websites for Sonny Rollins, Billy Taylor, and Joe Lovano, connected in ways most people only dream about. But something was pulling me back to filmmaking, back to the instinct I had developed studying under Martin Scorsese at NYU.

Two things made the return possible. The cost of production had collapsed: a camcorder, a computer, and you were in business. And then YouTube arrived, handing every filmmaker on earth a free global distribution platform. The timing felt less like luck than like the world finally catching up to an idea that had been waiting.

Since I was already in the room with Sonny, Billy, and Joe, picking up a camera felt like the next logical step. Dave Liebman came into the mix shortly after. Both Billy and Dave opened their archives to me, handing over footage to post alongside the new material I was shooting. There is no Jazz Video Guy without those four men.

My history with jazz on the web goes back further still. In 1994 I co-founded Jazz Central Station, the first major jazz website, after two decades of writing about jazz for DownBeat, JazzTimes, and others. The internet was raw and largely uncharted, and the possibilities were immediately obvious to anyone paying attention. A few years later I launched Bird Lives, one of the first jazz blogs, writing under the name the Pariah, filing impassioned dispatches against the injustices of the music business. I made a few enemies. I had no regrets.

Then in 1999 I produced the first professional live streaming broadcasts from Birdland. I remember standing in that room while the Dave Brubeck Quartet played, watching the signal go out over the web to an audience that barely knew such a thing was possible. What I did not say in the room that night was that Dave Brubeck had come to my high school in 1964, my first jazz concert. Three decades later I had interviewed him at his home in Wilton, Connecticut, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Life in jazz has a way of completing its own circles.

The Birdland footage of Brubeck is gone now, a real loss. But highlights from that same series, featuring Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and Dave Liebman in the Saxophone Summit, survive on the channel to this day. History, preserved by luck as much as intention.

In the early days I posted three to five times a week, driven by a formula I had developed in the mid-nineties: compelling content, easy to access, regularly updated. Back then I could post a ten-minute performance video and eighty percent of viewers would watch it to the end. Within a few days, thousands of views.

That world is gone. Today only twenty percent of viewers watch a full video, and at least half bail after the first minute. The attention landscape has been shattered across a dozen competing platforms, and what used to feel like a conversation now feels, on bad days, like shouting into a canyon. Every video I post is a small act of faith. Sometimes I make something I believe in deeply and the silence that follows is deafening. But videos have long lives. People discover them months or years later, share them, and suddenly the numbers multiply. Time, in that sense, remains on my side.

Over twenty years the channel has built something genuinely rare: more than 3,000 videos combining original documentaries with archival classics, a living library where new work and jazz history sit side by side. Fifty million views. 130 countries. An audience that spans every corner of the planet.

I will not pretend it has been lucrative. In the first fifteen years, YouTube paid me approximately $15,000 total. When I began posting more archival content, the platform questioned my status as a creator. I decided the content mattered more than the minimal commissions and turned off monetization. To this day I receive up to 100,000 views a month and earn nothing from it except the respect of my audience. I piece together an income from wherever I can find it. Living in Mexico for the past three and a half years has helped cut expenses dramatically.

But the financial reality of my situation is minor compared to the larger injustice I watch play out every day. Ordinary people post their favorite music out of love, wanting to share something meaningful with the world. The labels collect the ad revenue. The musicians get nothing. These are working artists, dues-paying professionals whose life’s work draws millions of views, and the platforms that profit from that work have found an elegant way to cut them out entirely. Streaming operates the same way. I have sat across the table from musicians I revere who cannot pay their rent from the music they made, music that is being heard by more people than ever before. The system has never been designed to serve the artists. It has always been designed to extract from them. What YouTube and Spotify and the rest have accomplished is making that extraction feel inevitable, even natural.

It is not natural. It is a choice, made by people with the power to make different choices.

What keeps me going is not the economics. It is the knowledge that this archive exists, that it is growing, and that it matters. No one can predict the future, but I feel certain that if humanity survives another twenty years, people will still be listening to this music and finding their way to these videos. The Coltrane centennial is this year, and I am producing a series of short documentaries in support of my book, How John Coltrane Changed My Life, each episode featuring a musician whose life has been touched by this extraordinary creator. My hope is that the series brings more people to Trane, to his story and to his music, the way his music once found me.

When I look at the world today it grows harder and harder to hold onto hope. I cannot change the horrors we are forced to witness. But I can bring some joy and positive spiritual energy into this world, and I count myself fortunate to be doing something meaningful during the time I have.

As one of my mentors, Ben Hecht, once said when asked what wisdom he had gathered over a long life: “I only know one thing, how to keep going.”

That is still the whole of it.

Art Blakey stands as one of jazz’s most influential figures for several interconnected reasons that go far beyond his considerable abilities as a drummer. To understand his importance requires looking at both what he did behind the drum kit and what he accomplished in front of it as a bandleader, mentor, and guardian of the music’s future.

As a percussionist, Blakey was revolutionary. He brought an almost primal intensity to the drums, playing with a force and fire that could drive a band into ecstatic peaks. His press roll on the snare became his signature sound, this thunderous, tumbling cascade that announced his presence on every recording. Listen to “Moanin’” or “A Night in Tunisia” and you hear drums that don’t just accompany but command, that don’t merely support but inspire and provoke.

He didn’t just keep time; he created an emotional landscape. Where earlier drummers focused on smooth, even swing, Blakey brought African polyrhythms and a gospel-inflected power that made the drums a frontline instrument rather than mere accompaniment. He studied African and Caribbean rhythms, incorporating them into his playing in ways that connected jazz back to its deepest roots. When Blakey hit the drums, you felt it in your chest, in your gut. There was nothing polite or restrained about his approach. He played with the intensity of a preacher at revival, understanding that jazz was about ecstasy and transcendence as much as technical sophistication.

His touch was also remarkably varied. He could whisper on the brushes with extraordinary subtlety, then explode into polyrhythmic fury that pushed soloists to their absolute limits. Horn players who worked with him talk about how his drumming didn’t just support their solos but engaged in conversation with them, answering their phrases, challenging them, lifting them higher than they thought they could go.

But his drumming, however extraordinary, was almost secondary to his role as a bandleader and talent developer. The Jazz Messengers became the single most important proving ground for young jazz musicians from 1955 until his death in 1990. Think about that longevity and what it meant: for 35 years, Blakey was actively discovering, nurturing, and launching careers. No other bandleader in jazz history maintained that kind of commitment to youth development for so long.

The list of musicians who came through his band reads as a who’s who of jazz greatness: Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Keith Jarrett, Chuck Mangione, Joanne Brackeen, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Green, Bobby Watson, Frank Mitchell, Branford Marsalis, Donald Harrison, Terence Blanchard, Wallace Roney, Javon Jackson, and dozens of others. Each of these artists developed their voice within the Messengers before going on to lead their own groups and shape the music’s future.

Blakey had an uncanny ear for raw talent and an equally remarkable ability to create an environment where young musicians could take risks, make mistakes, and grow. He gave them featured space, encouraged their compositions, and taught them not just how to play but how to present themselves professionally on stage and in the business. He understood that being a jazz musician meant more than just blowing your horn; it meant understanding how to dress, how to speak to an audience, how to handle club owners and record executives, how to survive on the road.

Former Messengers talk about him with a mixture of awe and affection. He could be tough, demanding perfection in rehearsals and on the bandstand. But he was also generous, paying his musicians well when he could, protecting them from the industry’s sharks, and genuinely caring about their futures. When a young musician was ready to leave and start their own group, Blakey encouraged it. He never tried to hold anyone back. The Messengers was explicitly designed as a training ground, not a permanent home.

His commitment to hard bop when the music was being pulled in other directions also mattered enormously. While others chased fusion or free jazz in the 1960s and 70s, Blakey maintained the connection to blues, gospel, and swing while still allowing for modern harmonic sophistication. He proved that tradition and innovation weren’t opposites. You could honor the past while pushing forward. The Messengers’ music was accessible without being simplistic, sophisticated without being cold or academic.

This philosophical stance became increasingly important as jazz struggled commercially in later decades. Blakey showed that you could maintain artistic integrity while still connecting with audiences. His bands packed clubs and sold records because the music had joy, fire, and soul alongside its technical brilliance.

What you had with Blakey was a rare combination: a great artist who was also a great teacher, a businessman who understood how to sustain a working band for decades, and a man genuinely invested in the future of the music beyond his own career. He created an institutional structure within jazz when the music desperately needed it. While formal jazz education programs were just beginning to emerge in universities, Blakey was running the real conservatory, the one that taught you what no classroom could.

That’s why calling the Messengers “the real Jazz university” isn’t hyperbole but simple truth. More jazz musicians received their essential education in Art Blakey’s band than in any academic program. They learned by doing, night after night, navigating the complexities of group improvisation, learning tunes, developing stage presence, and absorbing the deep wisdom that could only come from a master who had lived the life and survived its challenges.

Art Blakey died in 1990, but his legacy continues through every musician he touched and through their students and their students’ students. The family tree that springs from the Jazz Messengers essentially encompasses modern mainstream jazz. When you listen to contemporary straight-ahead jazz, you’re hearing echoes of what Blakey built, taught, and protected. He didn’t just play the drums brilliantly; he ensured that jazz itself would have a future. That’s the mark of true greatness.

I was lucky to hear Bu many times in person, from 1971 until he passed, with a number of Jazz Messengers configurations. One quick story. Sometime in the 80s, the band was playing at Sweet Basil and of course the music was top shelf. After the set, I approached and complimented him on the birth of his new son, when Bu was in his 70s. He looked me in the eye and with seriousness replied, “Ain’t science wonderful.”

One of my favorite Jazz Messenger groups was the 1958 edition featuring twenty year old Lee Morgan on trumpet, Benny Golson on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, Jymie Merrit on bass and Art Blakey on drums. From a concert in Belgium, they play Timmon’s jazz standard, “Moanin’.”

Bob Cranshaw was revered in the jazz world for both his musical mastery and his character. As a bassist, he possessed that rare quality of being absolutely dependable while maintaining deep musicality. His time feel was impeccable, his tone was warm and full, and he had an uncanny ability to support whatever music was happening around him without overplaying or calling attention to himself.

Born Melbourne Robert Cranshaw on December 3, 1932, in Evanston, Illinois, he came from a musical family of Madagascan and Native American heritage. His father, Stanley Irvine Cranshaw, was a jazz drummer from Kansas City who had moved to Evanston and worked as an electrician. Music ran through the family: his brother Stanley Jr. became a jazz pianist, and their adopted brother Emanuel took up the vibraphone. This early immersion in jazz culture shaped Cranshaw’s understanding of what it meant to be not just a musician, but a professional who could be counted on.

Young Bob showed prodigious musical gifts early. While studying piano as a boy, he found he could play back anything the teacher demonstrated. She thought he was reading music. “Once I heard it,” he recalled, “it was over.” Enrolled in a program for gifted children at Northwestern University when he was three or four years old, Cranshaw discovered he could master any instrument almost instantly. He wanted to play drums but imagined a classical trajectory for himself and learned all the orchestral percussion instruments before high school. Eventually, rather than compete with his father on drums, he switched to bass. He had practical reasons too: “If you played on the weekends, the girls were there.”

By high school at Evanston Township, he was playing in the acclaimed school orchestra and appearing regularly at local dances. But sheer talent could only take him so far. A pivotal moment came when the orchestra director asked each of eight bass players to perform a difficult passage solo. Most declined or struggled. Cranshaw, who had already absorbed the passage by listening, played it perfectly. The director moved him from eighth chair to third. “Now the challenge is on me,” Cranshaw remembered, “cause I’ve gotta be worthy of being in that third chair. I gotta produce.”

Finding His Voice in Chicago

After graduating, Cranshaw worked for the Department of Sanitation in Evanston while building his musical career. In the early 1950s, he met drummer Walter Perkins during basic training at Camp Roberts in California. By 1957, back in Chicago, they had formed MJT + 3, a quintet that included trumpeter Willie Thomas, alto saxophonist Frank Strozier, and the young pianist Muhal Richard Abrams. “We did a couple of albums in the early 1960s that were incredible,” Cranshaw remembered. “I was working in the clubs seven nights a week.”

His first trip to New York was brief and unsuccessful. Saxophonist Cannonball Adderley called him to come to the Big Apple, but Cranshaw didn’t connect with the city. “New York was so dirty,” he said, laughing. “In Chicago, we have alleys where we keep the garbage. So I came here and I saw all this garbage out on the street. And I said, ‘Thank you, no.’ I stayed for three days, then went back home.”

Eventually, Perkins and Cranshaw were hired to accompany vocalist Carmen McCrae, touring out of New York, and Bob gradually acclimated to city life. Near the end of his stint with McCrae, Perkins asked him to appear as part of a trio with Sonny Rollins at the 1959 Playboy Jazz Festival in Chicago. What happened next would change Cranshaw’s life. The festival featured 68,000 people and legends including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, and Oscar Peterson. Cranshaw arrived hours early as instructed but hadn’t met Rollins yet. As group after group performed, Rollins remained absent, hiding backstage and checking out the competition. Finally, he appeared from the wings moments before showtime. They said hello, walked onstage with no set list, and tore it up. After the festival, Rollins asked Cranshaw if he wanted to join permanently. Cranshaw’s answer was brief: “I said, ‘I do.’”

A Discography That Reads as Jazz History

Cranshaw’s discography reads as a history of modern jazz itself. His work with Sonny Rollins produced some of the most memorable recorded performances in jazz. Albums such as “The Bridge” (1962), “Alfie” (1966), and “Easy Living” (1977) showcase Cranshaw’s ability to provide both rhythmic foundation and melodic counterpoint. His partnership with Rollins was so strong that the saxophonist kept returning to him for over fifty years. Rollins once said he could walk anywhere rhythmically because Bob was always there, a testament to the bassist’s unshakable time and presence.

With Lee Morgan, Cranshaw appeared on several Blue Note classics, contributing his distinctive bass work to sessions that helped define the hard bop era. He appeared on more Blue Note recordings than any other jazz bassist, working with leaders such as Horace Silver, Duke Pearson, Stanley Turrentine, Grant Green, Dexter Gordon, Bobby Hutcherson, and Jackie McLean. He was equally impressive on Grant Green sessions, appearing on albums such as “Idle Moments” (1963), where his acoustic bass work demonstrated his gift for creating space and allowing the music to breathe. That session remains a masterclass in restraint and taste, with Cranshaw providing just the right amount of movement without ever cluttering the sonic landscape.

Cranshaw’s work with Joe Henderson on albums such as “Mode for Joe” (1966) and “Inner Urge” (1964) showed his adaptability to more adventurous harmonic territory. He could handle the modal explorations and complex compositions that Henderson favored while maintaining that essential groove. His versatility extended across an astonishing range of artists: Wes Montgomery, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Buddy Rich, George Shearing, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and Oscar Peterson all benefited from his solid foundation.

Breaking Down Barriers with the Electric Bass

His electric bass work became particularly influential during the late 1960s and 1970s, appearing on countless soul-jazz and fusion sessions that bridged jazz with R&B and funk. At a time when electric bass was often looked down upon in straight-ahead jazz circles, Cranshaw normalized the instrument through his musical, tasteful, and unapologetic use of it. His electric work with Sonny Rollins during this period changed attitudes, opened doors for future jazz bassists, and proved the instrument could swing just as hard as the upright. This willingness to embrace new tools while maintaining traditional values of swing and groove marked Cranshaw as both a modernist and a keeper of the flame.

A Musical Chameleon

Cranshaw’s musical philosophy was unorthodox. He rarely asked for set lists or lead sheets. “When I’m playing a piece of music, I never ask the key,” he explained. “By the time you hit the first note, I know the key. When I’m playing things out, I don’t really think about what key it’s in. I hear it, I play it.”

This approach initially puzzled Joe Raposo, the enormously talented songwriter and musical director behind “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company.” “The first time Joe and I played together,” said Cranshaw, “I knew he was thinking, ‘What the hell is this?’ But my philosophy was, I’m going to make it feel so good to him that he’s gonna put that left hand right in his pocket. And that’s what happened. Over the years at ‘Sesame Street,’ when Joe would write a lead sheet, he never wrote a bass part. He knew I could hear the bass parts on my own.”

Beyond Jazz

Beyond pure jazz, Cranshaw became one of the most sought-after session bassists in New York. He appeared on pop, soul, and R&B recordings, bringing his jazz sensibility to commercial music. This crossover work required both technical versatility and the ability to serve the music rather than his ego, and Cranshaw excelled at it. He collaborated with artists as diverse as Paul Simon, Barry Manilow, Eddie Kendricks, Judy Collins, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Dolly Parton, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and Debbie Gibson.

His television work was equally extensive. Cranshaw was a member of the first band for Saturday Night Live and played in the bands backing the broadcasts of Dick Cavett and Merv Griffin. For three decades, he worked with Joe Raposo on Sesame Street, bringing his professional excellence to the education and entertainment of millions of children. This ability to move seamlessly between artistic contexts without compromising his musical standards made him invaluable across the entire entertainment industry.

The Man Behind the Bass

What made him particularly respected as a person was his professionalism, humility, and generosity. He was known for showing up prepared, being easy to work with, and helping younger musicians. Musicians who worked with him often said, “If Bob was on the gig, everything would be fine.” He wasn’t flashy or self-promoting. He simply did the work at the highest level, night after night, session after session, for decades. That combination of excellence and consistency, without drama or attitude, earned him deep respect throughout the music community.

He was always on time, always arrived at the airport early. “I don’t want any fuss,” he would say. “Let everybody else get all bent out of shape over making their plane on time, running late. I’m here already. I’m cool.” On the road, he would repair to his hotel room, take a bath, practice his bass, watch football games, and eat yogurt.

Cranshaw’s quiet generosity extended far beyond the bandstand. He was a founding member of Local 802’s Jazz Advisory Committee, worked as the union’s jazz consultant, and later served as an elected member of the Executive Board. He was the first musician to sign onto the Honorary Advisory Board of the union’s Emergency Relief Fund. He sat on the Honorary Founders Board of the Jazz Foundation of America since its inception in the early 1990s, and was known to bring homeless musicians there to get them help. He regularly “adopted” younger players in need of professional and musical guidance.

His advocacy work was tireless. He agitated on behalf of jazz musicians at the Texaco Jazz Festival in the early 2000s, resulting in a union agreement. He met with Jazz at Lincoln Center management in 2010 to encourage broader union coverage. He was instrumental in the Justice for Jazz Artists campaign, making multiple trips to Albany and Washington, D.C. to advocate for musicians’ rights. He appeared at jazz conferences nationwide and took part in dozens of panel discussions.

One story captures his character perfectly. A widow of a prominent jazz pianist had been calling the union all morning, seeking help with her husband’s pension. Her impaired memory made her difficult to assist. Cranshaw’s response was immediate: “I’m on it. She’s my people. I’ll take care of her.” He met with her at her Manhattan apartment several times, then escorted her to the pension fund offices himself. Later, calling from an airport somewhere in Europe, he reported: “All right! I walked her in there and held her hand, and she signed the papers. It’s a done deal. She’ll get the money, about $26,000. It’s there for her now. She’s cool.”

The Legacy

The way musicians talk about Cranshaw, there’s always this sense of gratitude for his presence. He made everyone around him sound better, and he did it with grace and good humor. In an era when many jazz musicians were temperamental or unreliable, Cranshaw represented the ideal professional: supremely talented, completely dependable, and genuinely kind. Drummers loved playing with him because his time was famously immovable. Soloists trusted him because they knew the foundation would never wobble. Bandleaders relaxed when they knew Bob was on the date.

His advice to young musicians was characteristically straightforward: “Don’t be afraid to play everything, do everything. You can make jazz your dessert, but you don’t have to make it the whole meal.”

When Bob Cranshaw died on November 2, 2016, in Manhattan at the age of 83 after a battle with bone cancer, the jazz world mourned the loss of not just a great musician, but a great human being. In a 2016 interview with The New York Times, Sonny Rollins called Cranshaw “impeccable” and said that he “played with probably every musician in New York.” It was a fitting tribute to a man whose career touched virtually every corner of the jazz universe.

Bob Cranshaw represents the highest ideal of jazz musicianship: mastery without ego, authority without arrogance, groove without showmanship. He’s the kind of musician who reminds people that greatness isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s the person holding everything together so well you almost forget they’re there. That was Bob Cranshaw’s gift to jazz, and it’s a legacy that continues to resonate with every bassist who understands that serving the music is the highest calling of all.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I first encountered Bob on Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder (His name is misspelled as Crenshaw on the original cover). In my early days as a jazz listener, I must have worn our three copies of the LP.

When I was working with Sonny Rollins, producing his website and many videos, Bob and I became friends. We recorded several video interviews. You hear the warmth in his playing and in his words.

Here, Bob Cranshaw remembers Lee Morgan and the Sidewinder session:

Sonny Rollins and Bob Cranshaw played together for over fifty years:

Here’s an excerpt from the first time Bob played with Sonny on August 9, 1959 at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Chicago Stadium, with Sonny, Bob and Walter Perkins on drums.

Here, Bob talks about the importance of playing “in the pocket.”

Bob played bass on Horace Silver’s In Pursuit of the 27th Man. Bob was one of the first jazz players on the electric bass. That recording was the first time I heard Michael Brecker, in 1973. Mike’s solo on “Gregory is Here” jumped out of my speakers and I had one of those “who the hell is that moments.” Here’s a live version featuring Horace’s Quintet from the Pori Jazz Festival on April 14, 1973 with Horace on piano, Mike on tenor, brother Randy on trumpet, Bob on bass and Mickey Roker on drums.

Hank Mobley earned deep respect among musicians and critics for several distinctive qualities that set him apart in the crowded tenor saxophone field of the 1950s and 60s.

Born in Eastman, Georgia in 1930 and raised in New Jersey, Mobley came up through the hard bop crucible of the early 1950s. He cut his teeth with Max Roach and Dizzy Gillespie before joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1954, where he became one of the group’s most important early tenor voices. That apprenticeship with Blakey taught him how to balance individual expression with collective swing, a lesson that served him throughout his career.

His sound was immediately recognizable - warm, round, and deeply soulful without being overtly emotional. Where some players went for power or edge, Mobley found a middle ground that felt genuine and unforced. That tone became his signature, something you could identify within a few notes. Critics sometimes underestimated him, calling him the “middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone,” but musicians knew better. That supposed middle ground was actually a carefully chosen aesthetic position.

What really distinguished him was his melodic intelligence. Mobley constructed solos that told a story, with careful attention to harmonic development and thematic variation. He wasn’t just running changes or showing off technical facility. Each solo had an internal logic, building ideas organically rather than stringing together flashy phrases. Musicians particularly appreciated this compositional approach to improvisation.

His relationship with Blue Note Records, beginning in the mid-1950s and extending through the 1960s, produced some of the most enduring music of the hard bop era. Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff at Blue Note recognized Mobley’s gifts early, making him one of their most frequently recorded artists. He appeared as leader or sideman on dozens of sessions, becoming part of the label’s core sound.

“Soul Station” from 1960 stands as perhaps his definitive statement - the title track and “This I Dig of You” feature Mobley at his most relaxed and inventive, weaving lines that breathe naturally while maintaining harmonic sophistication. His solo on “Remember” from that session demonstrates his gift for ballad playing, where his warm tone and patient phrasing created moments of genuine intimacy. The rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey provided the perfect support, and Mobley responded with some of his most inspired playing.

“Workout” (1961) captured Mobley in a more energetic mood. His extended solo on the title track shows his ability to build tension and release over a longer form, never running out of ideas or falling back on clichés. The album also featured his blues mastery on “Uh Huh,” where his earthy, gospel-tinged phrases demonstrated his deep roots in African American musical traditions.

“No Room for Squares” (1963) found Mobley expanding his harmonic palette, with the title track showing how he could navigate more modern chord changes while maintaining his melodic clarity. His solo construction here reveals a player thinking several choruses ahead, developing motifs that paid off later in the improvisation. By this point, Mobley had fully matured as an artist, confident enough to take harmonic risks while staying true to his melodic instincts.

His contributions to various Jazz Messengers recordings, both with Blakey and in reunion settings, showed how he could deliver in high-energy settings without sacrificing his musical values. His tenure with Miles Davis in 1961-62, though brief and unrecorded in the studio, demonstrated the respect heavyweight players had for his abilities.

The “Dippin’” session from 1965 caught Mobley at a creative peak, with his playing on “The Dip” and “Recado Bossa Nova” showing his ability to adapt to different rhythmic feels while maintaining his core identity. His solo on “Recado” particularly demonstrated how he could swing over a bossa nova rhythm without forcing the issue. Lee Morgan and Harold Mabern joined him for what became one of his most accessible yet sophisticated recordings.

Musicians also treasured his work on more obscure sessions. “A Caddy for Daddy” (1965) and “The Turnaround” (1965) contain some of his most inventive playing, with solos that reward repeated listening as their subtle architectural brilliance becomes apparent. These later Blue Note dates showed Mobley continuing to evolve, never content to repeat himself.

Mobley wrote memorable tunes that became jazz standards. “This I Dig of You” remains a favorite for its singable melody and solid changes. “Funk in Deep Freeze” showed his ability to write heads that were both catchy and harmonically interesting. “Dig Dis” and “Soul Station” joined his book of compositions that other musicians loved to play. These tunes revealed the same melodic sensibility he brought to his playing - strong themes that gave soloists something to work with while standing up on their own merits.

His career trajectory took a difficult turn in the late 1960s. Personal struggles and the changing jazz landscape made work harder to find. He recorded less frequently, and by the early 1970s had largely disappeared from the scene. Drug problems contributed to his decline, though he made brief comeback attempts. He died in 1986 at age 55, largely forgotten by the broader jazz public though never by the musicians who had played with him.

What made Mobley special was his consistency across all those sessions. Whether leading his own date or supporting someone else, whether playing blues or complex post-bop changes, he brought the same integrity and musical intelligence. He never chased trends or tried to be someone else. In an era dominated by bigger personalities and more aggressive approaches, Mobley stayed true to his aesthetic vision and let the music speak for itself.

That authenticity, combined with his melodic gift and that gorgeous tone, created a body of work that continues to reward listeners decades later. Musicians still study his solos not for flashy licks but for lessons in how to build a meaningful improvisation from the ground up. The reevaluation of his contributions, which began in earnest in the 1980s and continues today, has restored him to his rightful place among the great tenor saxophonists of the hard bop era.

Watch rare footage of Hank Mobley in 1968 at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen. It is from a Danish TV show called JazzBeat. Kenny Drew is on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass, and Albert 'Tootie' Heath on drums. Thanks to Cory Weeds for finding this.

Ferguson believed deeply that music was a spiritual practice, not just a profession. He approached the bandstand with the reverence others might reserve for a meditation hall. Every performance was an opportunity for transcendence, for both the musicians and the audience. This wasn’t abstract philosophy for him. It showed up in how he treated his sidemen, many of them young players just finding their voice.

He ran his big bands as schools of life, not just music. Ferguson understood that teaching someone to swing wasn’t separate from teaching them to live with integrity. Former band members consistently speak of his patience, his ability to see potential in a struggling player and nurture it. He created an atmosphere where mistakes were opportunities for growth, where the competitive edge of jazz was balanced by genuine mutual support.

His spiritual inclinations weren’t tied to any single tradition. Ferguson drew from various sources, Eastern and Western, always seeking what would deepen his connection to the music and to people. He dropped acid with Timothy Leary. He meditated. He studied. He believed in the power of positive energy, and this wasn’t mere show business optimism. It was a practiced discipline that informed how he moved through the world.

What made Ferguson special as a person was this quality of openness. At a time when many bandleaders maintained stern distance from their musicians, Ferguson ate with them, laughed with them, listened to their problems. He remembered that he’d once been the young cat himself, trying to make it in the tough world of jazz.

His commitment to education went beyond his own bands. Ferguson conducted countless clinics at high schools and colleges, often for little or no money. He genuinely loved sharing what he knew with young players, and he did it without the ego that could have easily accompanied his status. Students felt valued in his presence, not intimidated.

There was a humility to Ferguson that people sometimes missed beneath the showmanship of his performances. He knew he’d been given a gift, this ability to play in the upper register with such power and control. But he seemed to regard it as a responsibility rather than a source of pride. The gift was meant to be shared, to bring joy, to lift spirits.

In the jazz world, which has never lacked for difficult personalities and artistic temperament, Ferguson stood out for his consistent kindness. He dealt with the business side of music, with all its frustrations and compromises, without becoming bitter or cynical. He kept his love for the music pure.

His bands reflected his values. They swung hard, but they also radiated joy. You could hear it in the arrangements, in the way sections locked together with both precision and warmth. Ferguson built musical communities that functioned almost as spiritual communes, groups of people united by something larger than themselves.

When Ferguson died in 2006, the tributes poured in from around the world. But the most moving testimonials came from his former sidemen, the hundreds of musicians who’d passed through his bands. They didn’t just remember a great trumpeter. They remembered a mentor, a friend, a man who’d shown them that excellence in music and decency in life weren’t separate pursuits.

Maynard Ferguson played his horn as an act of celebration, a daily affirmation that despite everything, life was worth living fully and joyfully. That spirit, that fundamental optimism grounded in spiritual practice, was his greatest gift to the music world. The high notes were thrilling, but the high spirit behind them was what truly mattered.

When I was a young trumpeter, I idolized Maynard. Message from Birdland was one of the first LPs I purchased. I knew would never be able to play those notes, but I had a lot of fun trying. I caught his big band live when I was fifteen at Lake Compound in Bristol, Connecticut. What an incredible experience. The band included several musicians who later would become friends, bari sax legend Ronnie Cuber, and pianist/arranger Mike Abene, an amazingly talented guy.

I could have never predicted that thirty years later, I’d be a jazz writer and would interview Maynard for JazzTimes on his 70th birthday. My dear friend, the late Bob Belden, also hooked me up with Michael Cuscuna and Mosaic Records, to write the booklet for the box set of Maynard’s Roulette Recordings, the very music I listened to practically non-stop when I was first became a jazz fan.

Listen to “Stella by Starlight” from Message from Birdland. Slide Hampton wrote the arrangement and he told me that he was trying to have Maynard’s band sound like Stan Kenton here.

View my interview with Maynard, from 1998, on his 70th birthday.

Dexter Gordon’s influence on the tenor saxophone and his popularity with audiences stemmed from his unique position as a bridge between jazz eras and his commanding, charismatic presence both on and off the bandstand.

As one of the first tenor saxophonists to fully translate bebop vocabulary to the larger horn, Gordon essentially created the template for modern tenor playing. While Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young had established the instrument’s foundational approaches, Gordon was among the first to successfully adapt Charlie Parker’s alto innovations to the tenor. His approach solved a crucial problem: how to maintain the tenor’s naturally robust, full sound while executing the rapid, complex lines of bebop. Players including Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and virtually every major tenor saxophonist who followed studied his solutions carefully.

Gordon’s sound was immediately recognizable and deeply satisfying to listeners. He had a huge, warm tone that could fill a room without amplification, yet he could also play with remarkable subtlety. His behind-the-beat phrasing created constant tension and release, making even simple phrases swing hard. This relaxed approach to time became a defining characteristic of tenor playing, particularly influencing Coltrane’s early development and continuing through players such as Joe Henderson and beyond.

His harmonic sophistication set new standards for the instrument. Gordon quoted extensively from the American songbook, classical pieces, and other jazz solos, weaving these references into his improvisations with wit and intelligence. These quotes weren’t mere showing off; they demonstrated a deep musical literacy and sense of humor that connected with audiences. When Gordon quoted “Laura” in the middle of a burning bebop solo, listeners got the reference and felt included in the conversation.

The biographical elements of Gordon’s career added layers to his influence. His battles with addiction and years of expatriation in Europe during the 1960s created a mythology around him. When he returned to the United States in 1976, he was received as a conquering hero, introducing a new generation to bebop tenor at its highest level. His Columbia recordings from this period, particularly Homecoming and Sophisticated Giant, became essential texts for understanding modern jazz tenor.

Gordon’s physicality and stage presence revolutionized how tenor saxophonists presented themselves. Standing six feet six inches tall, he cut an imposing figure, holding his horn at an angle that became widely imitated. His way of walking on stage, his humor between tunes, and his generous acknowledgment of his bandmates showed younger players that jazz performance was about more than just the notes. This performance aspect influenced how Sonny Rollins, Johnny Griffin, and countless others approached their craft.

For listeners, Gordon represented jazz at its most accessible without compromising sophistication. His ballad playing could break your heart, particularly on pieces such as “Body and Soul” or “Darn That Dream,” where his vibrato and note choices conveyed profound emotion. Yet he could also burn through uptempo numbers with an excitement that was visceral and infectious. Audiences didn’t need theoretical knowledge to understand that Gordon was telling them stories through his horn.

His recordings for Blue Note, Prestige, and later labels provided a recorded legacy that taught by example. Each solo was a masterclass in construction, showing how to build intensity, when to use space, and how to balance tradition with innovation. Young players learned entire Gordon solos note for note, not just to copy but to internalize his logic and phrasing concepts.

The cultural impact extended beyond music. Gordon’s performance in the film Round Midnight brought authentic jazz to mainstream audiences and earned him an Academy Award nomination. This visibility helped validate jazz as a serious art form worthy of preservation and study. His portrayal showed the dignity and artistry of jazz musicians, countering many of the stereotypes that had plagued jazz in popular media.

Gordon’s influence on vocabulary cannot be overstated. Specific phrases he played became part of the standard jazz language, practiced in music schools worldwide. His approach to playing rhythm changes, his solutions for navigating complex chord progressions, and his methods for building excitement in a solo became foundational knowledge for serious tenor players.

The continuing influence shows in how contemporary players still reference Gordon’s work. Whether it’s the way Joshua Redman phrases certain passages, how Chris Potter approaches ballads, or how Kamasi Washington builds extended solos, Gordon’s DNA runs through modern tenor playing. His combination of technical mastery, emotional depth, and sheer swing remains the gold standard.

For audiences, Gordon represented everything compelling about jazz: sophistication without pretension, tradition with innovation, and above all, the ability to communicate directly through pure sound. His music spoke to both the Saturday night dance crowd and the Sunday morning contemplative listener. That dual appeal, combining intellectual achievement with gut-level emotional impact, explains why his recordings continue to attract new listeners decades after they were made.

This combination of musical innovation, pedagogical influence, and audience connection made Dexter Gordon not just important but essential to jazz history. He showed that bebop tenor could be both challenging and entertaining, that tradition and innovation could coexist, and that jazz at its best speaks simultaneously to the head, the heart, and the feet.

When I was living in the New York, I saw Dexter Gordon in person many times, mostly notable upon his return from Europe in the late 70s. His playing was always superb, and his presence, distinguished.

Check out Dexter’s solo on “The Maze” (starting at 2:52) from Herbie Hancock’s debut album, Takin’ Off recorded May 28, 1962 This superbly demonstrates how a tenor solo builds with rising intensity. I also love the way twenty three year old Herbie Hancock comps for Dexter during the solo. Freddie Hubbard is on trumpet, Butch Warren on bass and Billy Higgins on drums.

And here’s a video recorded March 1, 1964 in Holland during Dexter Gordon’s long European stay, Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia” featuring George Grunz on piano, Guy Pedersen on bass and Daniel Humair on drums. I chose this clip for his strong playing and a glimpse of Dexter Gordon’s personality during the song’s introduction.

The title alone tells you everything you need to know about Thelonious Monk’s artistic vision. While other jazz composers were writing standards with names such as “All the Things You Are” or “Body and Soul,” Monk gave us “Ugly Beauty.” The juxtaposition captures perfectly what made him one of the most revolutionary figures in jazz history: a willingness to find profound elegance in unexpected places, to embrace dissonance as a path to truth, and to trust his own singular vision above all conventional wisdom.

Monk’s compositions operated according to an internal logic that seemed baffling at first encounter but revealed itself as inevitable upon deeper listening. His melodies zigged where others zagged, incorporating unexpected intervals and rhythmic displacements that sounded wrong until you realized they were precisely right. Take “Epistrophy,” with its repeated two-note pattern that shouldn’t work but becomes hypnotic, or “Brilliant Corners,” which earned its title honestly by presenting technical and harmonic challenges that left even accomplished musicians scratching their heads.

What Monk understood, perhaps more clearly than any of his contemporaries, was that beauty doesn’t require smoothness or conventional prettiness. His compositions often featured angular melodies, jarring intervals, and rhythmic ambiguities that violated the established rules of jazz composition. Yet within these apparent violations lay a rigorous musical logic, a deep understanding of how tension and release could work in ways that went beyond the standard playbook. When you listen to “Ugly Beauty” itself, you hear this philosophy made manifest: a waltz that moves through surprising harmonic territory, finding moments of genuine loveliness in places where textbook harmony would never venture.

His piano playing matched his compositional aesthetic perfectly. Where other pianists aimed for fluid, virtuosic runs, Monk attacked the keyboard with percussive jabs and unpredictable silences. He used space as aggressively as he used sound, letting notes hang in the air or dropping sudden rests into the middle of phrases. His fingers seemed to strike the keys at odd angles, producing a tone that was both percussive and somehow vocal. Critics who didn’t understand what he was doing accused him of technical limitations, but musicians who worked with him knew better. Monk’s technique was utterly precise, completely intentional, and perfectly suited to the music he was creating.

The spaces between notes mattered as much as the notes themselves in Monk’s playing. He would pause mid-phrase, creating moments of suspension that made listeners lean forward, wondering what would come next. Then he might drop a single note that recontextualized everything that had come before. His sense of time was equally distinctive, sometimes playing just behind the beat, sometimes ahead of it, always creating a sense of rhythmic tension that made his music feel alive and unpredictable.

His harmonic language drew from stride piano and the blues while pushing into territory that wouldn’t become standard jazz vocabulary until years later. He loved whole-tone scales and flatted fifths, using them not as exotic colors but as fundamental building blocks. The dissonant intervals that pepper his solos weren’t mistakes or modernist provocation; they were Monk speaking his native musical language, one he had developed through years of working things out at the keyboard, trusting his ears over any theoretical framework.

What made Monk truly radical was his refusal to compromise this vision. He could have softened his approach, made his music more palatable to audiences and critics who found it difficult. Instead, he doubled down on what made him unique. He wore unusual hats and danced in circles during performances. He kept writing compositions that challenged even the best musicians. He maintained his artistic integrity at considerable professional cost, spending years without steady work because club owners and record executives didn’t know what to do with him.

This uncompromising stance eventually paid off, though not without struggle. By the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the jazz world had caught up to Monk. Musicians began to understand that what had sounded wrong was actually revolutionary. His compositions became standards, covered by everyone from John Coltrane to Art Blakey. His Columbia Records albums brought him to a wider audience. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Yet even as recognition came, Monk never altered his fundamental approach. He remained exactly who he had always been.

The influence of Monk’s music extends far beyond jazz. You can hear his angular melodies and rhythmic displacement in hip-hop, his use of space and silence in experimental music, his harmonic daring in contemporary classical composition. Musicians across genres have learned from his example that artistic authenticity matters more than commercial appeal, that beauty can emerge from unexpected places, and that the most important audience to satisfy is yourself.

“Ugly Beauty” stands as perhaps the perfect encapsulation of Monk’s artistic philosophy. The title confronts us with a paradox, forcing us to expand our definition of what beauty can be. The composition itself delivers on that promise, finding moments of genuine gorgeous melody within a harmonic framework that conventional wisdom would consider problematic. It’s Monk in miniature: challenging, profound, and ultimately unforgettable.

In an era when jazz musicians often tried to prove their sophistication through complexity or their accessibility through simplicity, Monk did neither. He simply played his truth, wrote his truth, and trusted that anyone with open ears would eventually understand. That trust was justified. Today, Thelonious Monk stands as proof that the most personal art can become universal, and that only by remaining completely yourself can you create something truly timeless.

View Monk’s solo piano version of “Ugly Beauty”

The recording of “My Favorite Things” in October 1960 marked a pivotal moment in John Coltrane’s career and the evolution of modern jazz. Coltrane had recently acquired a soprano saxophone, a gift from Miles Davis, after being inspired by Steve Lacy, one of the few musicians playing the instrument in jazz at that time. The soprano had largely fallen out of favor since Sidney Bechet’s era, considered outdated and difficult to play in tune.

Coltrane brought the soprano to Atlantic Records’ studio for what would become the “My Favorite Things” album sessions. When he pulled out this unusual horn to tackle the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune from “The Sound of Music,” a gift from Miles Davis, it was a radical choice on multiple levels. The song itself was an unlikely vehicle for jazz transformation, being a simple, almost childish waltz from a Broadway musical.

What Coltrane did with it was revolutionary. He transformed the sweet melody into a hypnotic, modal exploration that stretched to nearly 14 minutes on the album version. Using the soprano’s distinctive nasal, penetrating tone, he created an almost Middle Eastern or Indian quality that had never been heard in jazz before. The performance alternated between the simple, singing statement of the melody and increasingly intense improvisations built on just two modes (E minor and E major), with McCoy Tyner’s piano creating a drone effect underneath.

The recording became Coltrane’s first real commercial success, reaching audiences far beyond the usual jazz crowd. It established him as a major bandleader after leaving Miles Davis’s group, proved the commercial viability of extended modal jazz improvisations, and single-handedly revived the soprano saxophone as a legitimate modern jazz instrument.

Perhaps most importantly, it pointed toward the spiritual and world music directions Coltrane would pursue for the rest of his career. That piercing soprano sound became integral to his musical voice, especially on recordings such as “A Love Supreme.” The success of “My Favorite Things” gave him the commercial clout and artistic confidence to push further into the avant-garde while maintaining an audience, fundamentally altering the trajectory of his career and jazz itself.

The Comblain-La-Tour performance in Belgium on August 1, 1965, is one of the most valuable documented performances of “My Favorite Things.” This was captured during a Belgian jazz festival and broadcast by RTBF (Belgian Radio and Television).

What makes this particular performance so special is that it exists not just as an audio recording but also as video footage, which reveals fascinating details about how the classic quartet performed. You can actually see the intensity of the performance, with Elvin Jones sweating profusely and creating what observers described as steam rising from him as he played with almost demonic intensity.

The footage shows interesting technical details too. During “My Favorite Things,” there’s a moment where Coltrane walks away from the microphone to adjust his reed because he’s having a problem with it. The video also explains why the volume wavers during his most passionate playing: he would double over while playing so forcefully that his saxophone moved considerably away from the microphone.

By August 1965, Coltrane’s performances of “My Favorite Things” had evolved significantly from the original 1960 studio recording. The performance at Comblain-La-Tour features the piece performed in an increasingly free and spiritual style while still maintaining a strong sense of melody. This was the classic quartet at the height of their telepathic communication: Coltrane, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.

The setlist that night included “Vigil” (which began with a duet between Coltrane and Jones), followed by an incendiary version of “Naima” that was almost unrecognizable from its origins six years earlier, before closing with “My Favorite Things.”

This performance captures Coltrane at a crucial transitional moment, about two years before his death, when he was pushing further into avant-garde territory while still maintaining the spiritual intensity and melodic connection that made “My Favorite Things” such an important vehicle for his artistic expression throughout the 1960s.

Coltrane changed my life. My book shows how he might change yours.

More cool Coltrane media content at Coltrane Code.

In November 1961, a jazz critic lit a match—and half the music world caught fire.

His name was John Tynan, a columnist for Down Beat magazine, then the most powerful voice in American jazz journalism. His target? Two saxophonists pushing sound past the known limits of melody and form: John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy.

After witnessing their performance at the Los Angeles Jazz Workshop, Tynan didn’t mince words. His review detonated with this now-infamous line:

“I heard a good rhythm section… go to waste behind the nihilistic exercises of the two horns. Coltrane and Dolphy seem bent on pursuing an anarchistic course… that can but be termed anti-jazz.”

“Anti-jazz.”

Let that sink in.

It wasn’t just criticism. It was a verdict. A declaration that what these men were doing onstage didn’t count as jazz at all.

To many, Coltrane and Dolphy were prophets. They weren’t just playing notes—they were channeling cosmic vibrations, fusing African spirituality, Eastern philosophy, and avant-garde experimentation into sound. Their performances were messy, beautiful, terrifying, ecstatic. And to some critics—like Tynan—they were heresy.

The response was volcanic.

Letters poured into Down Beat—from fans, musicians, even fellow critics—slamming Tynan’s take. The magazine, to its credit, published many of them. Coltrane and Dolphy responded in a now-historic interview, defending the freedom and emotion at the heart of their sound.

But make no mistake: Tynan’s review became a line in the sand.

On one side: the gatekeepers of jazz tradition.

On the other: a generation of seekers who believed the music was meant to evolve—or die trying.

Here’s the twist: Tynan wasn’t always allergic to the avant-garde. Just a few years earlier, in the 1958 Down Beat Critics Poll, he was the only writer to vote for Ornette Coleman, then a total unknown. He recognized something raw and honest in Ornette’s chaos. So what changed?

Maybe it wasn’t the chaos.

Maybe it was the spiritual fire behind it—the intensity, the refusal to make it palatable.

Or maybe Coltrane just scared him.

John Tynan died in 2018 at age 90. By then, the world had long embraced Coltrane as a saint of sound, and Dolphy as a martyr to modernism. Tynan, meanwhile, became a symbol—not of ignorance, but of the uneasy tension between tradition and transformation. Every jazz fan has to reckon with that tension eventually.

Tynan was wrong—but also necessary.

He gave the revolution a critic to push against.

And sometimes, a revolution needs just that.

So the next time you hear the sonic storm of Ascension, or the haunting weep of Dolphy’s bass clarinet on Out to Lunch, spare a thought for John Tynan.

He heard the future—and recoiled.

The rest of us leaned in.

Listen to John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy Live at Birdland, 1962. McCoy Tyner, piano, Jimmy Garrison, bass and Elvin Jones, drums. Symphony Sid Torin, announcer.

1 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin) The Inchworm (F. Loesser)
2 Mr. P.C. (J. Coltrane)
3 My Favorite Things (R. Rodgers-O. Hammerstein)

Until we meet again, let your conscience be your guide.

Most jazz films suck. There are precious few exceptions. But why, you ask?

Well, most jazz films are unrealistic. Not because they’re bad, but because they often miss the soul of the music in favor of the myth, the melodrama, or the marketable. Here’s why:

They romanticize the suffering

The “tortured genius” trope—drug-addicted, misunderstood, chasing some unattainable sound—is so overused it’s become cliché. Yes, pain was part of some jazz stories (see: Billie, Bird, Chet), but it wasn’t the only story. The joy, the laughter, the community, the sheer brilliance? Too often left on the cutting room floor.

They ignore the music’s process

Jazz is a living, breathing conversation—but in films, it’s usually reduced to a dramatic solo under a spotlight. The real magic happens in rehearsal, on the bandstand, in the car rides, over late-night hangs. That nuance is hard to film but essential to the truth.

They flatten the complexity of jazz lives

Jazz musicians aren’t just players—they are thinkers, hustlers, family people, cultural rebels, spiritual seekers. Movies often reduce them to one dimension: either tragic addict or stoic genius. The fullness gets lost.

They overdramatize technical moments

Whiplash is a perfect example. It’s gripping cinema—but wildly exaggerated. In real jazz education, throwing chairs and screaming isn’t mentorship—it’s abuse. And “rushing or dragging” isn’t the central moral crisis of the artform.

They rarely get the music right

Actors don’t play musical instruments convincingly. A film loses its believablity when it’s obviously someone is pretending to play an instrument. Sometimes the film cuts away from solos just as they’re starting. And often the feel is off—because jazz isn’t just about notes, it’s about time, breath, vibe. That’s hard to capture if the filmmakers aren’t steeped in it.

Characters Talk Like Screenwriters, Not Musicians

Real jazz cats don’t monologue about “the purity of sound” over coffee in perfect lighting. They riff, they joke, they talk gear, gigs, rent. In films, they’re often turned into brooding philosophers or tortured savants. That disconnect breaks the spell.

Exceptions?

Some films come closer:

• ’Round Midnight (1986) – moody, poetic, and stars real jazz musician Dexter Gordon.

• Mo’ Better Blues – stylish, flawed, but at least directed by someone (Spike Lee) who listens.

• Let’s Get Lost – a documentary, not a drama, but captures the haunting, evasive charm of Chet Baker.

Bottom line:

Most jazz films don’t quite swing—they narrate, mythologize, and dramatize instead of listening, grooving, and honoring the complexity. If someone ever tells the truth of jazz on screen, it’ll have to be as improvisational, contradictory, and beautiful as the music itself.

And now, one of the all-time worst—and most strangely unforgettable—finales in jazz film history: the closing scene of A Man Called Adam (1966), a misguided classic of bad cinema starring Sammy Davis Jr. as a self-destructive trumpeter spiraling toward oblivion. The music is by Nat Adderley, and the cast is an improbable fever dream: Sammy, Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Cicely Tyson, Louis Armstrong, Mel Tormé, and Kai Winding.

After two hours of Adam’s tortured unraveling—including a cringe-inducing scene in his agent’s office (Lawford) where, after vowing never to play the segregated South again, he literally crawls on the floor begging for a gig—the film stumbles toward its grand finale.

By this point, Adam is wrecked, physically, spiritually, musically. He takes the stage one last time for a searing solo—actually Nat Adderley doing the heavy lifting—but when he reaches for a crucial high note, he chokes. Tries again. Fails. Then again. No dice. Frustrated, he slams his trumpet, over and over, as if he could beat the note out of it. He collapses. Dies. Curtain.

In a final bit of melodramatic theater, his young protégé, Frank Sinatra, Jr., picks up the battered horn, unscrews the mouthpiece like it’s a relic, and Louis Armstrong, tears streaming, lets the sorrow flow. Over it all, Mel Tormé croons from the heavens:

“He was born to blow a horn… and all that jazz.”

Fade to black. A train wreck of a movie, but you can’t look away.

Drum roll…..SPECIAL BONUS VIDEO CLIP

An ending in search of a beginning. Can you identify the actor who is really playing the drums here? Hint, it’s from a British jazz-noir adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, set in London’s smoky underground jazz scene.

Until we meet again, let your conscience be your guide.

On March 11, 1964, CBS aired one of the most unforgettable entries in Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts: an episode titled “Jazz in the Concert Hall,” which included Don Ellis, Eric Dolphy, Richard Davis and Benny Golson. What followed wasn’t just a music lesson—it was a cultural moment. With charm, clarity, and that signature Bernstein fire, he shattered the supposed wall between jazz and classical music, revealing instead a dynamic love affair between two sonic worlds.

Bernstein didn’t mince words. Jazz, he argued, wasn’t a fringe genre or passing fad. It was “America’s own music”, with deep roots, rich complexity, and a rightful place in the concert hall. By highlighting how composers like Gershwin and Ravel wove jazz into symphonic works, he gave jazz not just a seat at the table—but center stage.

Bernstein let the music do much of the talking. What made the episode powerful wasn’t just the playlist—it was the passion and precision with which Bernstein unpacked it. He traced jazz’s African American origins, praised its rhythmic inventiveness, and elevated its “how”—the swing, the syncopation, the soul.

He didn’t just describe jazz. He dignified it.

“Jazz is not a what, it is a how,” Bernstein declared, channeling the wisdom of Louis Armstrong. A simple phrase, but radical for its time.

At a time when jazz still fought to be taken seriously in elite cultural circles, Bernstein’s broadcast was a lightning strike of legitimacy. It helped classical audiences hear jazz with fresh ears—and taught young listeners that great music isn’t limited by labels. It crosses borders. It dances.

He bridged not just genres, but generations. And he did it with a conductor’s baton in one hand and a preacher’s passion in the other.

Because in the end, jazz doesn’t need to be explained—it needs to be felt. And in 1964, Leonard Bernstein helped America feel it a little more deeply.

Watch the show:

Until we meet again, let your conscience be your guide.

By 1954, late-night television was a wasteland of B-movie reruns and test patterns. Then Steve Allen walked onto the set of *The Tonight Show* with a plan: turn America's newest mass medium into jazz's secret weapon.

Most TV hosts could barely hum a tune. Allen had already composed over 4,000 songs, including "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" and "Impossible"—standards that Sinatra would later record. He played piano with the intensity of a man possessed, wrote comedy that bent reality, and somehow convinced NBC to let him do it all on national television.

While other hosts booked novelty acts and safe entertainment, Allen had a different agenda. He wanted to slip jazz—America's most challenging, most black, most intellectual music—into suburban living rooms across the country.

On November 17, 1955, Allen did something unprecedented: he brought Miles Davis's quintet onto network television. Not for a sanitized three-minute number, but for a full performance of "Max is Makin’ Wax” and “It Never Entered My Mind"—seven minutes of modal exploration that sounded like transmission from another planet.

No backup singers. No choreography. No explanation or apology. Just Miles, with John Coltrane on tenor sax, introducing Middle America to the future of music.

The performance was revolutionary precisely because Allen treated it as normal. He didn't announce it with nervous jokes or cultural disclaimers. He presented Miles Davis the same way Ed Sullivan would later present the Beatles—as if sophisticated art belonged on television.

In 1956, Allen took an even bolder step. He moved cameras into Birdland, the legendary jazz club in Manhattan, broadcasting live from the smoky basement where Charlie Parker had redefined American music.

The logistics were nightmare. Television cameras in 1956 were refrigerator-sized monsters requiring massive lighting rigs. Audio equipment was primitive. But Allen wanted authenticity over convenience. He understood that jazz needed its natural habitat—the close quarters, dim lighting, and reverent attention of a real club.

That broadcast brought Count Basie's orchestra, in full swing, directly into America's homes. For viewers in Kansas and Ohio, it was their first glimpse into a world where music could be intellectually demanding and emotionally overwhelming simultaneously.

Skitch Henderson led the original Tonight Show band, but afterwards, on Allen’s other talk shows, Terry Gibbs got the gig. Allen assembled the Terry Gibbs Big Band as his house orchestra—not the usual collection of studio musicians playing jingles, but serious jazz artists led by vibraphone virtuoso Gibbs. They played actual arrangements, took real solos, and swung with the kind of precision that made other TV bands sound like elevator music.

During commercial breaks, instead of canned music, viewers heard bebop. When guests walked on stage, they entered to music that could have been played at the Village Vanguard. Allen often joined on piano, grinning as he comp'd behind Gibbs's mallets or traded fours with the horn section.

Allen's approach worked because he understood television's power to normalize. By presenting jazz as entertainment rather than education, he made it accessible without dumbing it down. Teenagers watching *The Tonight Show* absorbed Thelonious Monk's angular harmonies and Dizzy Gillespie's virtuosic scat singing as part of their regular media diet.

The show's influence extended beyond music. Allen regularly featured black artists during an era when most television remained effectively segregated. He gave airtime to Lenny Bruce's controversial comedy and Jack Kerouac's stream-of-consciousness poetry. His comedy sketches—including his famous phone book reading—pushed absurdism into mainstream entertainment decades before *Saturday Night Live*.

When Allen left *The Tonight Show* in January 1957, the cultural window began closing. His replacements Jack Paar and Johnny Carson were skilled entertainers, but they treated television as entertainment rather than cultural mission. Jazz retreated to late-night slots and educational programming. The mainstream and the avant-garde separated again.

But the impact persisted. Musicians who appeared on Allen's show reached audiences they never could have found otherwise. Viewers who discovered jazz on late-night television became lifelong fans. Television writers absorbed Allen's experimental spirit and carried it into future shows.

Steve Allen proved that mass media could elevate rather than eliminate culture. At a time when television was finding its voice, he insisted that voice could be sophisticated, challenging, and inclusive. He didn't wait for audiences to develop taste—he trusted they already had it.

Today, when jazz appears on television, it's usually in documentary form or educational programming. The idea of a network talk show featuring ten-minute Miles Davis performances seems impossible. But Allen showed it wasn't just possible—it was profitable, popular, and transformative.

He understood something that television executives still struggle with: audiences will embrace challenging art if you present it with confidence rather than apology. You don't need to explain why jazz matters. You just need to let it play.

In an industry built on focus groups and safe choices, Allen made a radical bet: that America was smarter and more curious than anyone assumed. He was right.

The revolution was televised. Steve Allen was holding the camera.

Miles Davis Quintet with John Coltrane, The Tonight Show with Steve Allen
Hudson Theater, New York City, NY, November 17, 1955

Terry Gibbs Remembers Steve Allen

Steve Allen with Count Basie Live at Birdland - July 22, 1956

_ _ _ _ _

Until we meet again, let your conscience be your guide.

Around the same time Sherrie and I moved to Mexico, I found out that my new friend Jason Miles and his wife Kathy were heading to Lisbon.

I had known of Jason for years—mainly through his groundbreaking work with Miles Davis and mutual friends in the music world—but we didn’t actually connect until he hired me to produce a promotional film about his legendary career:

Jason Miles is a Grammy-winning keyboardist, composer, producer, and arranger whose contributions to jazz, R&B, and fusion have spanned more than five decades. Born in Brooklyn in 1951, Jason came of age in the fertile chaos of the 1970s New York music scene and soon became one of the foremost pioneers of synthesizer and electronic textures in modern music.

His credits read like a history of postmodern soul: Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, David Sanborn—the list goes on. Jason played a major role in shaping the sound of Miles Davis’s Tutu, Music from Siesta, and Amandla, ushering in a new era of electronic jazz.

But that’s just part of the story. Jason’s own albums are deep and heartfelt tributes to the artists and sounds that shaped him. To Grover, with Love, honoring Grover Washington Jr., and What’s Going On? Songs of Marvin Gaye showcase his remarkable ability to reinterpret the music of giants while keeping their soul intact.

In the 2000s, he co-founded Global Noize, a boundary-smashing collective blending jazz, funk, world music, and electronica. Featuring artists like DJ Logic and Bernie Worrell, the group reflects Jason’s refusal to be boxed in—a lifelong theme.

In 2022, seeking fresh creative ground and a new chapter in life, Jason and Kathy moved to Portugal. The results have been transformative. Since relocating, he’s released a live EP (Miles to Miles), revisiting material from his 2005 album, and doubled down on both performing and recording.

He also published a memoir, The Extraordinary Journey of Jason Miles: A Musical Biography, an inside look at the wild, profound, and often unbelievable world of a working musician at the top of his game.

Since we’re now expats on different sides of the planet, Jason and I stay in touch regularly. He’s a native Brooklynite through and through—intense, driven, relentlessly creative. And he’s not slowing down. A sequel to his memoir is on the way this year: Journey to the Center of My Life in the Music Business.

“It’s a perfect follow-up to the first book,” Jason says. “It’s a deep dive into the many characters I came in contact with—and more stories about the amazing albums I’ve been part of.”

To celebrate the memoir and his renewed dedication to the piano—an instrument to which he’s recommitted himself since the move—Jason has been performing a one-man show that spans his 50-year career in music. It’s part concert, part storytelling session, and all heart.

And there’s more: two new albums are in the works.

• The Unity Funk Project: Dedicated to Bernie Worrell, a tribute to the late P-Funk keyboardist.

• Brazilian Love, a follow-up to A Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins, celebrating the beauty and rhythm of Brazilian music.

Now that he and Kathy are settled and thriving in Lisbon, Jason says he feels more inspired than ever.

“Moving to Portugal was the right thing for us,” he told me. “I had a good life, but I was stagnating in the U.S. I wanted Kathy to have a fresh start too—she’s been such a huge part of everything we’ve achieved. In many ways, the move is a celebration of our life together.”

He doesn’t mince words when it comes to encouraging others to leap into the unknown:

“I want Americans to understand how much of the world they’re missing by not exploring. You have to be bold. You have to be willing to make big moves to get to the next chapter. Life shouldn’t just be on autopilot.”

Jason’s not only thriving personally—he’s also plugged into Lisbon’s vibrant music scene. He formed a new group, Jason Miles’s Lisbon Electric 4tet, and they’ve been performing across Europe, blending his signature sound with local flavors. Their debut recording is out now.

Here’s a video I produced for their single Mr. James, a funky, heartfelt tribute to keyboard legend Bob James:

For more on Jason Miles, his music, and his ever-expanding universe, visit:

👉 jasonmilesmusic.com

Describing Hermeto Pascoal is like trying to capture a hurricane in a bottle—impossible, but thrilling to attempt. Born in Brazil in 1936, he’s a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and sonic alchemist whose music fuses jazz, Brazilian folk, avant-garde experimentation, and sheer otherworldly invention.

Pascoal doesn’t just play instruments—he plays the universe. He coaxes music from teapots, children’s toys, water bowls, farm animals, and even his own beard. His improvisations can feel like chaotic, freewheeling storms, but underneath the madness is deep harmonic and rhythmic sophistication.

Collaborators and admirers range from Miles Davis—who famously called Pascoal “one of the most impressive musicians in the world”—to legions of contemporary jazz and Brazilian artists who view him as an almost mythical figure. His band arrangements are complex yet playful, his compositions dense yet inviting, and his presence on stage? A carnival of sound, humor, and boundless energy.

To listen to Hermeto Pascoal is to enter a world where music has no boundaries, only infinite possibilities. He’s not just a musician—he’s a force of nature.

Hermeto Pascoal, often referred to as the “Wizard of Sounds,” is one of Brazil’s most innovative and influential musicians. Born on June 22, 1936, in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil, Pascoal is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and improviser whose work has transcended musical genres and pushed the boundaries of creativity in the global music scene.

Hermeto Pascoal is a towering figure in the world of music. He is renowned for his ability to make music from virtually anything. He transforms household objects, animals, and even the sounds of nature into instruments. His compositions have incorporated squeaking toys, the bubbling of water, and even the snorting of pigs, demonstrating his belief that music exists everywhere if you’re willing to hear it. This approach has made him a pioneer in experimental and avant-garde music.

Hermeto is proficient in a dizzying array of instruments, including the piano, flute, accordion, guitar, saxophone, melodica, and a variety of percussion instruments. His virtuosic skill allows him to weave intricate musical tapestries that blend Brazilian rhythms, jazz improvisation, and classical influences seamlessly.

Pascoal’s music is a kaleidoscope of styles, blending Brazilian folkloric traditions (like forró and baião) with modern jazz, classical music, and even rock. His work has been described as unclassifiable but always deeply rooted in the expressive and improvisational spirit of Brazilian music.

Hermeto Pascoal gained international recognition in the 1970s when he collaborated with Miles Davis. Hermeto contributed compositions to Davis’s 1971 album Live-Evil, which showcased his unique ability to merge Brazilian rhythms with the jazz idiom.

Hermeto is a prolific composer. His compositions are celebrated for their complexity and emotional depth. His 1977 double album Slaves Mass is considered a landmark in jazz fusion, featuring intricate arrangements, daring improvisations, and a melding of traditional Brazilian elements with cutting-edge techniques.

Go to the YouTube playlist and listen to all the music on Slave’s Mass.

Advocate for Brazilian Music and Culture

Pascoal has been a staunch advocate for Brazilian music, constantly incorporating its rich traditions into his work. He celebrates the rhythms, melodies, and instruments of his homeland, ensuring they remain at the forefront of his creative process even as he ventures into experimental realms.

The “Calendário do Som” (Calendar of Sound)

In 1996, Pascoal composed a unique project called Calendário do Som, where he created a piece of music for every day of the year, resulting in 366 original compositions. This monumental work underscores his boundless creativity and work ethic.

His Legacy in Modern Music

Pascoal’s influence is vast, inspiring generations of musicians both in Brazil and worldwide. His students and collaborators often praise his generosity, unconventional teaching methods, and his belief that music is an expression of the divine and universal.

Hermeto Pascoal’s importance lies in his fearless creativity and his ability to see the world as a limitless source of music. He has expanded what is considered possible in music, breaking down barriers between genres and redefining the role of sound in artistic expression. In doing so, he has not only enriched Brazilian music but has also made an indelible mark on the global musical landscape. Pascoal is more than a musician; he is a living embodiment of the idea that music is everywhere, waiting to be discovered.

Jazz isn’t just music—it’s a weapon, a seduction, a drug slipped into the bloodstream of history to make the bitter taste of empire go down smooth. And in Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, filmmaker Johan Grimonprez doesn’t just pull back the curtain—he sets fire to the whole goddamn stage. This isn’t some polite PBS documentary, all hushed tones and sanitized history. No, this is a Molotov cocktail of CIA backroom deals, Cold War paranoia, and jazz musicians being played like pawns on a geopolitical chessboard.

It’s the 1960s. Africa is shaking off the shackles of colonialism, and the United States—forever allergic to self-determination when it doesn’t suit its interests—is running the same old playbook. Jazz, that great American art form, is weaponized for “cultural diplomacy,” a friendly, syncopated handshake to African nations. But while Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington are smiling for the cameras, somewhere in the shadows, the CIA is oiling up the machinery of regime change.

Grimonprez orchestrates this madness with the precision of a bebop solo—frantic, disorienting, beautiful. He ditches the dry documentary voiceover, instead letting the music tell the story. Archival footage of sweaty jazz clubs collides with grainy black-and-white images of assassinations in the making. Footage of joyous celebrations is smashed against brutal crackdowns. The message is clear: art and atrocity go hand in hand, whether we like it or not.

The U.S. government, ever the slick salesman, figured out that jazz—the music of struggle, of improvisation, of freedom—made for a damn good advertisement. Enter the “Jazz Ambassadors,” an elite squad of America’s best and brightest—Armstrong, Gillespie, Ellington, Nina Simone—sent abroad to sell the world on American greatness. But the joke was on them. Back home, these same musicians couldn’t sit at the same lunch counters as white folks. Yet here they were, playing the role of cultural diplomats, while behind them, the CIA sharpened its knives.

The Congo, in particular, became a playground for these twisted games. Patrice Lumumba, the nation’s first democratically elected prime minister, wanted independence, real independence. But that didn’t sit well with the U.S., Belgium, or any of the usual colonial suspects. So while Armstrong was playing his horn for adoring crowds, U.S. operatives were busy plotting Lumumba’s demise.

And it gets worse. Jazz tours became the perfect cover for espionage, intelligence-gathering, and destabilization efforts. Some musicians, knowingly or not, carried messages, provided intel, or simply served as a convenient distraction while the real business of empire carried on behind the curtain. Grimonprez lays it all out—declassified CIA documents, historian interviews, and footage that makes it hard to breathe.

Not every jazz musician played along. Some saw through the charade and pushed back, using their art as a weapon of resistance.

Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln stormed the United Nations, protesting Lumumba’s assassination alongside Maya Angelou and Rosa Guy. Their album We Insist! Freedom Now became a sonic Molotov cocktail, a defiant cry against both American racism and African exploitation.

Louis Armstrong, the golden boy of jazz diplomacy, wasn’t entirely complacent. He refused to play for segregated audiences and slipped coded messages into his performances, a subtle but sharp middle finger to the hypocrisy of it all.

Grimonprez doesn’t paint these musicians as mere victims. They had agency. They resisted. They saw through the lie and, in some cases, called it out. But the machine was too big, too entrenched. The jazz kept playing, the coups kept happening, and the game went on.

If there’s one thing Soundtrack to a Coup d’État does brilliantly, it’s showing that music, like politics, is never neutral. Jazz wasn’t just an American export—it was a soundtrack to struggle, to revolution, to resistance. In the Congo, Congolese rumba became the anthem of independence, with songs like Indépendance Cha Cha pulsing through the streets, a musical battle cry for a people hungry for freedom.

Grimonprez takes us deep into this world, where music isn’t just entertainment—it’s a front line. He reminds us that the same melodies that inspire joy can be used as background noise for a massacre. That jazz, for all its improvisation and rebellion, was sometimes just another instrument in the hands of powerful men who knew exactly what they were doing.

Grimonprez’s film is a gut punch, a fever dream, a history lesson set to a soundtrack of betrayal and brilliance. It doesn’t just inform—it shakes you, rattles you, makes you hear those old jazz records in a way you never have before. It’s a story of hypocrisy, of power masquerading as art, and of musicians who found themselves caught in a game far bigger than they ever realized.

Because at the end of the day, the truth is as simple as a walking bassline: jazz was used to sell a lie. And while the music soared, people died.

And that, my friends, is the real Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.

Watch the Trailer

Link to Buy or Rent the Film on YouTube

I recently wrote about John Coltrane’s final tour with Miles Davis in 1960, sharing some music from those legendary performances. Now, I have something even better—video. Thanks to Ricky Schultz for sending the link.

That tour was part of Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic, featuring not just Miles and Trane but also Oscar Peterson’s group and Stan Getz. On March 27th, during a stop in Germany, a local TV station in Düsseldorf invited the musicians to perform in the studio.

Miles, feeling under the weather, sat this one out. But Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb stepped in and delivered an unforgettable set. They played On Green Dolphin Street, Walkin’, and The Theme. Then, Stan Getz joined them for a ballad medley featuring Autumn Leaves, What’s New, and Moonlight in Vermont. For Thelonious Monk’s Rifftide (Hackensack), Wynton Kelly handed over the piano chair to Oscar Peterson for a fiery exchange.

The contrast between Coltrane and Getz is striking—Trane, a disciple of Bird, pushing forward with his cascading sheets of sound; Getz, a son of Pres, smooth and lyrical. Their styles couldn’t be more different, yet together, they create something remarkable. Of course Stan more than holds his own with Trane. It’s not so much a battle of the tenor but a class in individuality.

This is 34 minutes of jazz at its absolute peak, captured on film. Some of this footage has surfaced on YouTube, but this is the entire performance—a rare document of jazz history in motion.

Next time, how to survive in an AI world.

Until we meet again, let your conscience be your guide.