Anat Cohen. Photo by Rodrigo Lopez
ALL THAT’S JAZZ
BY CYDNEY HALPIN
March is Women’s Her-story Month. Please join me in acknowledging and celebrating the vital role of women throughout history, and more specifically recognizing the great contributions women have made and ARE making to the art of jazz.
The culture and conditions that have historically existed for women within the genre of jazz are well documented, and I recommend the following materials for all who wish to learn more about women’s historic place in the jazz lexicon: 1.) The article focused on the ‘20s, ‘30s & ‘40s titled “The Best of the All-Women Swing Bands” by William Ewanick for medium.com. 2.) the 2011 documentary The Girls in the Band directed by Judy Chaikin— which presents the untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their journey from the late 1930’s to the present day. 3.) Sherrie Tucker’s book Swing Shift chronicling the forgotten history of the all-girl
big bands of the World War II era.
But we want to take women out of the history books and highlight the extraordinary influence women are having on today’s jazz scene. As noted by music critic David Hajdu, “Some fearless women plowed through with machetes so that another generation can say,’This is possible. Maybe there’s a place for me.’ Women as performers, composers, and innovators is the story in jazz today.”
This issue of Jersey Jazz highlights a host of fierce, fabulous, female artists- past and present. Know their names and know how they’ve influenced and will continue to enrich the art of jazz.
This month celebrate Her-story. Celebrate Her-story in jazz!!
There is money to be won! NJJS’s 2025 Juried Scholarship Competition—which will award a $1,000 and a $500 prize in three categories:
Jazz Instrumental Performance, Jazz Vocal Performance, and Original Composition—is accepting entries.
This year marks our first year with the additional category of Jazz Vocal Performance, thanks to the generosity of Board members
Mike Katz and Jackie Wetcher.
The competition is open to all students currently enrolled in a New Jersey college undergraduate music program, as well as to Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out of state college undergraduate program. Proof of residency is required for Jersey applicants in out of state schools.
Along with the cash award, winners will receive guidance, mentorship and the opportunity to perform with an industry professional, and coverage in Jersey Jazz.
This competition will once again be judged by our prestigious panel of professional musicians, educators and industry leaders comprised of:
Don Braden » world class tenor saxophonist, flutist, composer and educator
Mariel Bildsten » Trombonist, bandleader, side-woman, and educator
Ted Chubb—Princeton University Lecturer of Music—Jazz Trumpet, composer, educator, and arts administrator
Jason Olaine » Vice President of Programming, Jazz at Lincoln Center Submission deadline is Friday March 28, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Visit njjs. org/competition for complete details. The Board and I would like to thank Nan Hughes Poole and NJJS Board Members Cynthia Feketie, Mike Katz, and Jackie Wetcher for their generous support of this initiative.
If you’d like to support the growth of our prize offerings, donations can be made via our website njjs.org/donate. Please note “Scholarship Fund” where indicated. Donations can also be mailed: NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave.,
Ste. 217, Summit, NJ 07901. Don’t hesitate to contact me at pres@ njjs.org if you have any questions.
If you haven’t yet attended one of our Jersey Jazz LIVE! events, you’ve been missing out on some spectacular music! Plan to join us Sunday, March 2nd, 3:00 p.m., for Jersey Jazz LIVE! featuring the Champian Fulton Trio, as she celebrates Female Vocalists of the Big Band era. The Rising Stars opening act will showcase the Karen Xie Quartet, all student musicians from Montclair State’s John J. Cali School of Music. This will be a “piano summit” concert, highlighting two amazing female pianists. For more information about these artists, please visit: njjs.org/march-jersey-jazz-livechampian-fulton-salutes-big-bandfemale-vocalists/. The Board and I would like to thank jazz advocate and NJJS member Lynne Mueller for her generous support of this concert.
Jersey Jazz LIVE! Is held at Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Free street parking. Tickets available at the door: $10 Members, $15 Non-Members, $5 Children/Students w/ID. Doors open at 2:30PM. This event is likely to be well attended, plan accordingly.
If you’d like to support a JJ LIVE! concert or our Rising Stars/ Opening Act initiative—in part or in full—providing performance opportunities for the next generation of jazz musicians, please contact me at pres@njjs.org or at 973.229.0543.
Save the date: Sunday, April 6th for Jersey Jazz LIVE! featuring the Chuck Redd Duo. Vibraphonist Redd and pianist John DiMartino are back for an encore performance! And one you don’t want to miss. The Rising Stars opening act will showcase the Min-Yang Qin Quintet from Pascack Valley High
School in Hillsdale, NJ. For more information about this concert and these artists, please see page 09.
Please NOTE, our new ticket prices go into effect for this show:
$15 Members, $20 Non-Members,
$5 Child/Student w/ID.
There’s still time to donate … Our “Charting the Future … with you!” annual appeal campaign kicked off in December and we need you to join with us in this collaborative effort.
If you’ve already contributed to this annual campaign we thank you, if you haven’t, please consider a tax-deductible gift today. We need your help to continue our performance and educational initiatives. You can donate anytime online on our homepage at www.njjs. org via the red “Donate” button. Or by mail to: NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Summit, New Jersey, 07027. Please make check payable to NJJS.
We’re counting on you to partner with us and keep this uniquely American art form swingin’.
YOU make it all possible!
Congratulations to two more fierce, fabulous, females in jazz—Molly Ryan and Bria Skonberg—on their 10th Anniversary as Co-Directors of the New York Hot Jazz Camp. This year’s Camp held February 17-23 concluded yet another successful adult Traditional Jazz camp week with a blow out concert at The Cutting Room. If you’re interested in spending a week in NYC, learning from faculty that are the best jazz cats in the business today, attending club events, and jamming with pros and peers, visit their website nyhotjazzcamp.com to learn more about applying for the 2026 session. “Well behaved women seldom make history.” Eleanor Roosevelt
EDITOR’S CHOICE
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Remembering Gerry Mulligan and Laurie Frink
As we’re celebrating Women’s History Month, I was reflecting on the night in 1979 when Gerry Mulligan introduced his “new” Concert Jazz Band at Carnegie Hall during the Newport Jazz Festival in New York. I saw that performance and many others when the lead trumpeter was 27-year-old Laurie Frink, the lone woman, a rare sight in those days. Frink, who passed away in 2013, was a wonderful trumpeter, but she is also best known and remembered for her skills as an extraordinary teacher.
When I learned that Jazz at Lincoln Center was presenting a Family Concert on April 5 entitled “Who is Gerry Mulligan?”, I was
pleased to see that the performance lineup includes the 22-year-old female trumpeter, Kal Ferretti, who is studying for her Masters degree at Manhattan School of Music. Ferretti, a student of veteran trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, has already led her own band at Dizzy’s Club and at the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland; and her composition “The Next Path” was performed at Blue Note. She also has played with the Mingus Dynasty band, JALC’s Future of Jazz Orchestra, the Dave Glasser Quintet, and the Grace Fox Big Band.
Another outstanding young female musician in the JALC/Mulligan lineup is drummer Maria Marmarou, a recent graduate of Temple
University’s Boyer School of Music. Marmarou was featured as a Jersey Jazz Rising Star when the Temple rhythm section was one of the top finishers in JALC’s Jack Rudin Collegiate Competition. In 2023, she received the event’s Earl Hines Outstanding Musician Award. After she won the award, she told me that, as a high schooler, she loved the playing of Elvin Jones because he “played with so much power and beauty at the same time.” During her visit to New York for the Rudin competition, she led her own trio at Dizzy’s Club.
The Mulligan orchestra on April 5 will be directed by an alumnus of the “new” Concert Jazz Band, multireedist Ted Nash, and one of the bassists will be 97-year-old Bill Crow, who played in several of Mulligan’s bands, including the original Concert Jazz Band.
When I interviewed Nash for my
book, Jeru’s Journey: The Life and Music of Gerry Mulligan (Hal Leonard Books: 2015), he told me that when he first joined Mulligan’s band as an alto saxophonist in the early 1980s, “I still was in the place of being an impatient youngster. I appreciated what he did, but it didn’t have a direct influence on me at the time. Now, I realize what a giant he was.”
One of Crow’s favorite memories is when he and Clark Terry joined the Concert Jazz Band in late 1960 just before its Live at the Village Vanguard Verve recording. “We joined the band when it couldn’t have been hotter,” he said. “With Clark in the trumpet section and (Bob) Brookmeyer in the trombone section, and Gerry in the saxophone section, we could open up any chart we wanted to.”
“Who is Gerry Mulligan?” Come to Jazz at Lincoln Center on Saturday, April 5, and find out.
Founded in 1972, The New Jersey Jazz Society has diligently maintained its mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form—jazz. To accomplish our mission, we produce a monthly magazine, Jersey Jazz ; sponsor live jazz events; and provide scholarships to New Jersey college students studying jazz. Through our outreach program Generations of Jazz, we provide interactive programs focused on the history of jazz. The Society is run by a board of directors who meet monthly to conduct Society business. NJJS membership is comprised of jazz devotees from all parts of the state, the country and the world.
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You become an integral part of the NJJS community, and the history and future of jazz
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— Featuring Articles, Interviews, Reviews, Events and More
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(Family includes to 2 Adults and 2 children under 18 years of age)
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Members at Bandleader level and above and Corporate Memberships receive special benefits. Please contact Membership@njjs.org for details. The New Jersey Jazz Society is qualified as a tax exempt cultural organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Federal ID 23-7229339. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. For more Information or to join, visit www.njjs.org
Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society
VOLUME 53 • ISSUE 03
Jersey Jazz (ISSN 07405928)
is published monthly for members of The New Jersey Jazz Society
382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07901 973-229-0543 • info@njjs.org
Membership fee is $45/year.
All material in Jersey Jazz, except where another copyright holder is explicitly acknowledged, is copyright ©New Jersey Jazz Society 2025. All rights reserved. Use of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the NJJS.
Editorial Staff
EDITOR
Sanford Josephson, editor@njjs.org
ART DIRECTOR
Michael Bessire, art@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR
Mitchell Seidel, photo@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Bill Crow, Joe Lang, Vincent Pelote, Jay Sweet
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Matt Baker, Thierry Dubuc, Gabriela Gabrielaa, Shervin Lainez, Rodrigo Lopez, Dino Perucci, Mitchell Seidel
WEBMASTER
Christine Vaindirlis
WEBSITE DESIGN
Prism Digital
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DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING
Cydney Halpin, advertising@njjs.org
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For reservations, technical information and deadlines contact advertising@njjs.org or visit njjs.org/Magazine/Advertise . Make a payment online at njjs.org/advertise via the red Submit Payment button, or via check made payable to NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07901.
New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2024
PRESIDENT
Cydney Halpin, pres@njjs.org
EXECUTIVE VP vicepresident@njjs.org
TREASURER
Mike Katz, treasurer@njjs.org
VP, MEMBERSHIP membership@njjs.org
VP, PUBLICITY
Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com
VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING
Mitchell Seidel, music@njjs.org
RECORDING SECRETARY
Irene Miller
CO-FOUNDER
Jack Stine
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Mike Katz
DIRECTORS
Jay Dougherty, Cynthia Feketie, Paul Flexner, Pete Grice, Carrie Jackson, Caryl Anne McBride, Robert McGee, James Pansulla, Stew Schiffer, Elliott Tyson, Jackie Wetcher
ADVISORS
Don Braden, Mariel Bildsten, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, Jason Olaine
Vibraphonist Chuck Redd and
Pianist
John DiMartino
Bring Their Musical Synergy Back for an Encore
Redd and DiMartino Performed a Duo of Billy
Strayhorn’s ‘A Flower is a Lovesome Thing’ on Redd’s album, “Groove City”
There aren’t many jazz musicians who double on vibraphone and drums. One of them, Chuck Redd, will be bringing his vibes to the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center, on Sunday, April 6, in a return engagement with pianist John DiMartino. Redd and DiMartino last performed at the November 2023 Jersey Jazz LIVE!
One of Redd’s vibraphone heroes is the late Milt Jackson, and he talked about Jackson’s influence on him in the January 2023 issue of Jersey Jazz, which celebrated Jackson’s centennial birthday. When Redd was in high school, his art teacher played the Modern Jazz Quartet recording featuring Jackson on “Precious Joy”,
John DiMartino, left, and Chuck Redd at November 2023
Jersey Jazz LIVE!
adapted from J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. At the time Redd was only a drummer. “It’s not overstating it to say that I had an epiphany while listening to Bags ‘sing’ through those metal bars,” he said. “I immediately had a powerful urge to run to the band room where there was a set of vibes. I needed to make some of those sounds.”
In an interview in JazzTimes, Lee Mergner asked Redd how he handles doubling on vibes and drums. His response: “There are a handful of us that double. For myself. I didn’t set out to do that because I wanted to be a double or make more money or anything. It was just that I had heard a Milt Jackson record, and I wanted to express myself melodically. I’ve practiced a lot on both instruments, and I still practice a lot. It’s high maintenance to keep two instruments going.”
In 2020, DiMartino paid tribute to composer Billy Strayhorn in an album on the Sunnyside label called Passion
Champian Fulton
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE!
Flower The Music of Billy Strayhorn. Joe Lang of Jersey Jazz described it as “an elegant musical examination of 14 Strayhorn gems,” adding that, “DiMartino has been incorporating Strayhorn material into his repertoire throughout his years as a premier jazz pianist and accompanist.” AllAboutJazz’s Dr. Judith Schlesinger called the album, “unique in its fresh and straightforward interpretations.”
Redd and DiMartino performed together on Redd’s 2019 Dalphine Records album, Groove City. DownBeat’s Bobby Reed wrote that their duo on Strayhorn’s “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” showcases “Redd’s skills as a narrator, while Di Martino provides the ideal coloration ... A jazz veteran, Redd is highly regarded in jazz circles, thanks to his 15-year stint as a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks
Orchestra and his 19-year tenure with the late guitarist Charlie Byrd.” Redd and DiMartino will be preceded by a Rising Stars opening act featuring a quintet from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, NJ. The band will be led by alto saxophonist Ming-Yang Qin, the lead alto saxophonist with the Jazz House Kids Big Band that finished first in this year’s Charles Mingus High School Competition. According to PVHS Director of Bands Craig Yaremko, Qin “loves Johnny Hodges.” Other members of the quintet are: trumpeter Carolyn Veit, “a Clifford Brown fan,” who placed first for the third year in a row in the Bergen County Band and also performed with the Region Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band. Pianist Timmy Ngai “is as comfortable with Basie as he is with the Beatles.” Bassist Eddie Gricic is also an All-State tuba player, and drummer Brady Viola has been influenced by Philly Joe
Jones, having studied his classic performance of “Billy Boy” as a member of Red Garland’s Trio on the Miles Davis Columbia album, Milestones. The quintet members are part of Pascack Valley’s Chamber Jazz Ensemble, a larger group that works to develop jazz soloists and learn standard jazz repertoire.
: The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $15 for NJJS members and $20 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase.
: Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts
PVHS Chamber Jazz Ensemble. At left is Director of Bands Craig Yaremko
Ella Fitzgerald Winner April Varner to Perform at Toms River’s Grunin Center
A “Deeply Emotional and Persuasive Singer ... Mature Beyond Her Years”
Classically trained vocalist April Varner was studying Vocal Performance at Indiana University when the Assistant Director of a group called The Singing Hoosiers convinced her to join his jazz ensemble. “I especially loved the freedom jazz gave,” she recalled. At the end of her freshman year, she made the decision to become a jazz major, “the best decision I ever made.”
The 27-year-old Varner, who won the Blues Alley Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition in 2023, will be performing at the March 9th Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon concert at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts in Toms River, NJ. “When I switched from being a classical singer to jazz,” she said, “Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra were the first two people I heard sing jazz, so I’m going to pay tribute to them.”
Varner was still finalizing her
Grunin song selections at presstime, but most likely some of the Ella tunes will be “How High the Moon” (Morgan Lewis/Nancy Hamilton), “Airmail Special” (Benny Goodman/Jimmy Mundy/Charlie Christian), and the jazz version of the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket A-Tasket” that became Fitzgerald’s first big hit. As for Sinatra, expect to hear Johnny Mercer’s “Fools Rush In” and Irving Berlin’s “How Deep is the Ocean?”, among others.
Last year, Varner released her first album, April, on the Cellar Music label, and DownBeat Magazine gave it 4 1/2 stars and named it one of the Best Albums of 2024. Reviewing it, The New York City Jazz Record called her a “deeply emotional and persuasive singer ... mature beyond her years, and unquestionably on the road to stardom.”
Hot House Jazz Guide’s George Kanzler wrote that Varner has the “ability to adapt her amazingly pliable voice
and wonderful intonation. Her interpretation of (Duke Ellington’s) ‘Love You Madly’ was swingin’ with great phrasing and outstanding scatting!”
Celebrity judge, vocalist Jane Monheit, described Varner as “an incredibly talented vocalist who has clearly put the work in to understand and express this music on a high level. I will definitely be following along her path and supporting her future music!”
Jazz Rising Star in May 2021. Originally from Houston, he received a Masters Degree from Juilliard where he studied with pianists Ted Rosenthal and Geoffrey Keezer. He has performed as a sideman with trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and Bruce Harris, and saxophonist Grant Stewart.
to a wide range of styles and settings.”
At the Ella Fitzgerald Competition two years ago, one of the judges, Darden Purcell, Director of Jazz Studies, Jazz Voice, at George Mason University, was impressed with Varner’s “beautiful, full-bodied voice, great fluidity between the registers,
After graduating from Indiana in 2020, Varner moved to New York and earned her Masters in Jazz Voice at the Manhattan School of Music. She studied there with Grammy-nominated singer/composer Theo Bleckmann, who said she was “already fully formed and ready to take on the world. She really has a voice, and she loves jazz.”
At Grunin, Varner will be joined by pianist Tyler Henderson, bassist Isaac Beaumont, and drummer Ahmad Johnson. Henderson was a Jersey
: The New Jersey Jazz Society is a proud supporter of the Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series, which is made possible through funding from the Wintrode Family Foundation and the Ocean County College Foundation.
The April Varner concert begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, in the Gia Maione Prima Foundation Studio Theatre (Building 12). The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts is located on College Drive on the campus of Ocean County College. For information and tickets, log onto grunincenter.org or call (732) 255-0500.
April by April Varner was named one of the Best Albums of 2024 by DownBeat Magazine.
How Louis Armstrong Survived and Overcame His Dangerous New Orleans Childhood
BY JOE LANG
Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong (Oxford University Press, New York: 2025) is the third and final book of Ricky Riccardi’s trilogy about Louis Armstrong. The prior volumes by the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum were: What a Wonderful World (Pantheon Books: 2011) and Heart Full of Rhythm (Oxford University Press: 2020). They covered Armstrong’s later years and middle years, respectively. Riccardi presents a comprehensive
picture of the years 1901-1929 in this volume. He gives detailed biographical information, an analysis of Armstrong’s development as a musician, perceptive analyses of his most significant recordings, and an insightful depiction of Armstrong’s personality.
Armstrong grew up in less than humble conditions in early 20th century New Orleans. It was a time when segregation ruled the day, and most of the Black citizens lived in poverty. There was a lot of dysfunctional family life in this community, and Arm-
Cover photo of Stomp Off, Let’s Go. From left, trombonist Honore Dutrey, drummer Baby Dodds, cornetist Joe “King” Oliver, (kneeling) Louis Armstrong on slide cornet, pianist Lillian Hardin, banjoist Bill Johnson, and clarinetist Johnny Dodds.
strong’s family was no exception. His mother, Mary Estelle (Mayann), gave birth to him in her late teens, and his father, Willie Armstrong, left the home for good when Louis was about three years old, soon after the birth of his sister, Beatrice (Mama Lucy). Mayann did odd jobs and turned to prostitution as a means of earning enough money to support her family in meager fashion. The neighborhood where Armstrong was reared was poor and rough. He was soon given over to his grandmother, but, after several years, returned to live with his mother and
sister. A lot of Armstrong’s development took place on the rough streets where he had to be tough to survive.
Many details are provided by Riccardi about this period, and, in many ways, they are painful to read. The bottom line is that Armstrong survived his childhood despite the challenges that he faced. He had rudimentary schooling, began working at an early age, hung around on the streets with many thuggish friends, became involved with law enforcement when he was sent to the Colored Waif’s Home for 18 days at the age of nine,
Louis
“ THIS IS A HIGHLY READABLE BOOK ... LOADED WITH DETAILS ABOUT ALL ASPECTS OF ARMSTRONG’S EARLY LIFE. ”
and was arrested a second time at the age of 12, resulting in a 1 1/2 year return to the Waif’s Home. That was a significant turning point in Armstrong’s life for it was here that he started to seriously play the cornet, an instrument that he had some familiarity with prior to his incarceration.
Once Armstrong returned to civilian life, he started to become involved in the musical life of New Orleans, getting to know the man who would become his idol and mentor, cornetist Joe “King” Oliver. Eventually, he got a gig with a band on a Mississippi riverboat. That lasted for three seasons, but he returned to the New Orleans scene during the off seasons.
The next big step up for Armstrong came when Oliver convinced him to move to Chicago to play in his band. The pianist on the band was Lillian Hardin, who became Armstrong’s second wife and manager.
Armstrong, left, and King Oliver.
STOMPOFF,LET’SGO
While they had an on-and-off relationship, she continued to be a significant influence in his life despite the problems with their marriage. While Armstrong was gaining a reputation in Chicago as an exceptional talent, frequently recording as a sideman, the next big step for him
was a period of time in 1924 and 1925 when he moved to New York City to join the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. He was not often featured with the band and was unhappy about being confined to mostly section work. While in New York, he also frequently performed as a sideman on recording
sessions, often backing vocalists. Lil Hardin, who had remained in Chicago, came to New York for a short period, did not like being there, returned to Chicago, and arranged for Armstrong to be offered a bandleader job at a Chicago club. For the next four years, Armstrong remained in Chicago, leading or playing as a sideman in clubs as well as continuing his recording activities, most notably the sides that he cut with his Hot Five and Hot Seven groups. Many of these recordings became among the most influential of all jazz recordings. His brilliance as an improvisor was on full display, and his vocal talents were revealed, including his brilliant scatting.
As he relates Armstrong’s life and music, Riccardi dug deeply into Armstrong’s words. Armstrong had one published autobiography, compiled a large number of reminiscent writings, and made many self-re-
cording. There are also interviews with Armstrong and many of his contemporaries. Riccardi often found inconsistencies in these sources, and he does a fine job of sorting through them to present as complete a picture of the facts as possible.
With regard to the music, Riccardi is an astute analyst of many specific recordings. It enhances your appreciation and understanding of his commentary if you go to a source like YouTube to listen to some of the most significant sides.
Overall, this is a highly readable book, well-annotated, and loaded with details about all aspects of Armstrong’s early life, as well as pertinent facts about other musicians referenced in the book. Armstrong is among the most significant musicians ever to perform, and this volume completes a masterful biographical and critical examination of his life.
Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five. From left, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong, guitarist Johnny St. Cyr, trombonist Kid Ory, and Lillian Hardin Armstrong.
Ricky Riccardi: Author of An Unplanned Trilogy
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Ricky Riccardi never intended to write a trilogy about Louis Armstrong. “I had one book in mind,” he said, “the book on Armstrong’s later years.” That was What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years (Pantheon: 2011). “A lot of the critics,” Riccardi explained, “said Louis hit his peak in 1928, and then he went downhill and made these choices that would embrace commercialism, showmanship, comedy, and blah, blah, blah.”
What a Wonderful World was written in order to defy those crit-
ics. It started around 1946, covering the last 25 years of Armstrong’s life. Riccardi, who grew up and still lives in Toms River, NJ, studied the life and music of Armstrong in both college and graduate school. He earned a BA in Journalism and an MA in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University. In 2009, he was hired as an Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House, eventually becoming Director of Research Collections, the position he holds today.
Riccardi’s second book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis
Armstrong (Oxford University Press) was published in 2020 (reviewed in the November/December 2020 issue of Jersey Jazz). “Two months after Heart Full of Rhythm came out,” Riccardi said, “my editor emailed me and said, ‘We’re interested if you are, if you want to finish the trilogy.’
“Writing it backwards,” Riccardi acknowledged, “was kind of fun because Stomp Off, Let’s Go kind of ended up being an instruction manual. I wanted to show all of these aspects of his personality, all those values he held so tightly regarding
his music—melody, pop tunes, love songs. All of that was baked in, especially in those New Orleans years. If I had written it in chronological order, it might not have been as exciting. Having told all those other stories, now I can ask, ‘How did he get there? Let’s go back to the beginning.’”
Riccardi also believes writing a book about Armstrong’s early life 14 years ago “would have been harder because all I had at my fingertips was Louis’ autobiography and the major history books and interviews. But, in the last five to 10 years, all these different sources started popping up. (Armstrong’s second wife)
Lil Hardin Armstrong’s autobiography; an interview by Yoshio Toyama, a trumpeter in Japan, with Louis’s sister; and the unedited manuscript of Louis’ second autobiography.” Plus, “the marvel of the Internet.” Riccardi’s sources included news-
paper.com, ancestry.com, the RIPM Jazz Periodicals, census records, and police reports. “I was able to uncover so much fresh information about Louis’ formative years in New Orleans that didn’t exist 15 to 20 years ago.”
What surprised him the most?
“Louis always told these stories about his childhood with a wink and a smile. For example, ‘Whether or not my mother was a prostitute, I cannot say.’ He would hint at this stuff, but he wouldn’t go all the way in there. He was always positive, positive, positive. Just going through police records and newspapers, I found definitive proof that his mother was a prostitute, arrested multiple times, also for drinking and disturbing the peace. She would be thrown in jail sometimes for 25 to 30 days, and Louis would be a kid watching his sister. I tried to keep the light tone of Louis’ book, but it was a miracle he survived. Growing up, he
did not know where his next meal was coming from. The people who protected him were gangsters, pimps, and prostitutes. There were nights when he was playing at these honky tonks, and bullets were literally going past his head. If one of those bullets had clipped him, or if he had tried a life of crime, it would have changed the whole course of 20th century music.”
There were, however, some positive forces. A Jewish couple, Esther and Louis Karnofsky, Lithuanian
immigrants, invited Armstrong into their home, ‘unofficially’ adopting him. “They treated him like a human being,” Riccardi said, “and they encouraged him to sing.” After Armstrong was arrested for firing a gun on New Year’s Eve, he spent 1 1/2 years in the Colored Waifs Home for Boys. The Waifs Home, Riccardi pointed out, “had a music education program. They had a brass band, and they taught him the rudiments of reading music. In six months’ time, he was the leader of the band. That gave him a year and a half of structure. It gave him a music education. It gave him skills, and it made him realize this was his way out.”
Armstrong was a kid when he heard Joe “King” Oliver play the trumpet, and, according to Riccardi, “he eventually started following him on parades. Sometimes, Oliver would let Louis carry his cornet. Then, finally, Oliver
started giving him lessons and using the 15-year-old Armstrong as a sub.”
Eventually, Oliver went to Chicago, and Armstrong took his place in trombonist Kid Ory’s New Orleans band. But then, said Riccardi, “Oliver extends an invitation for Louis to join him in Chicago. This is the climax of his life—the fact that he survived those years in New Orleans, and he’s up north with this sainted father figure. They’re making records, and they’re the talk of the town. But there is this kind of dark streak in the relationship because once Armstrong gets up there, Oliver makes sure he keeps him under wraps. He won’t let him sing. He barely lets him solo. He tells people, ‘As long as little Louis’s with me, I’ll always be the king.’
“When Armstrong meets (pianist/ vocalist) Lil Hardin, who becomes his second wife, she’s the one who pushes him. ‘King Oliver’s holding
Young Louis Armstrong
Ricky Riccardi Wins a Second Grammy
AT THE 2025 GRAMMY AWARDS, RICKY
Riccardi won his second golden gramophone for Best Liner Notes for King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Centennial , released August 30, 2025 by Archeophone Records. Riccardi’s first Best Liner Notes Grammy came in 2022 for The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-66.
At the time of the first award, he said: “The musical contents of this set represent the exact Armstrong recordings that changed my life when I was 15 years old. This is a dream come true.” When he learned of the second award, he said, “One doesn’t do projects like this King Oliver Centennial boxed set with the intention of winning a Grammy, but it sure is quite a feeling to be recognized for my work by the Recording Academy. I was also thrilled to see Centennial win Best Historical Album.”
you back,’ she told him, and then the two of them became rivals, playing across the street from each other. Eventually, Armstrong becomes the star and takes all of Oliver’s crowds away. My book ends with this heartbreaking reunion in 1937. Oliver’s in Savannah, Georgia, selling vegetables because he’s unable to play, and here comes Louis Armstrong, and they have this teary reunion. Seeing Oliver die penniless and broken-hearted (in 1938), Louis decided it wasn’t going to be him.”
Armstrong was in New York for 13 months, from October 1924 to November 1925, and this, Riccardi said, “was a big step up for him because now he’s reading arrangements every night with Fletcher Henderson’s band, playing pop tunes—all the latest things at the Roseland Ballroom. The New York musicians kind of looked down on Armstrong, but once the musicians heard him, they couldn’t get over it. And he turned New York on its head. But he wasn’t really happy, and that’s when Lil, the architect of his stardom, said, ‘You’re going to quit Fletcher Henderson and join my band and come back to Chicago.’ That was November 1925 and the beginning of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five.”
Anat Cohen’s 50th Birthday Celebration: ‘The Music I Love, the People I Love, the Bands I Love’
The Members of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, “Were My Role Models. We Would Go for Two Months on the Road ... Like in the Swing Era”
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Clarinetist/tenor saxophonist Anat Cohen turns 50 this month, and she will observe this milestone by presenting four concerts in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room to “celebrate everything I’ve done—the music I love, the people I love, the bands I love.”
The JALC concerts, on March 14 and 15, will reflect all of the musical styles Cohen is known for. “There’s going to be swinging music,” she said.
“There’s going to be some world music. I’ll play with Quartetinho, my small group; a 10-piece band; my quintet; Brazilian guitar player, Marcello Goncalves; my brother (trumpeter) Avishai; and some special guests.”
Growing up in Israel, Cohen started playing clarinet at age 12 at the Jaffa Conservatory, learning about traditional jazz in the school’s Dixieland band. “I know that’s a term people don’t use anymore,” she said,
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
“but that’s how they called it back then. I really didn’t know anything about improvisation, but there were a lot of transcriptions of those good old songs including the solos. It was such a blessing because I was a good reader of music. I could just focus on the feel of music, try to make it feel good and swing, and not worry about improvisation. However, as the years passed, I learned that I definitely needed to learn how to improvise.”
In 1996, Cohen came to the United States to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “Next year,” she said, “will be 30 years in the U.S.” While at Berklee, she started playing with the all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra. “That,” she recalled, “was one of the incentives to move to New York,” which she did after graduation in 1999. “It was really scary,” she said. “How could I move to New York? Then, I met the members of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra,
and the majority of the players were musicians working in New York. It gave me the courage to do it because I saw all these other women doing it. They were my role models. We had real tours. We would go for two months on the road, taking the bus and traveling around the U.S. or in Europe, really being on the road like in the swing
era. And, I had some kind of work guarantee. ‘Ok,’ I said, ‘I can survive.’”
In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, DIVA participated in the March of Jazz Festival in Clearwater, FL. It was memorable because the roster of performers included several jazz legends. “I encountered a bunch of idols,” she said, “(tenor saxophonist)
Flip Phillips, (bassist) Milt Hinton, (trumpeter) Clark Terry, (clarinetist)
Buddy DeFranco, and (multireedist)
Bob Wilber. And, that’s where I met (clarinetist/tenor saxophonist) Ken Peplowski. I was just enamored with the way he was playing.”
She also met other “younger people who were hanging out there, like (trombonist) Wycliffe Gordon and (trumpeter) Jon-Erik Kellso. At the time, they were regularly playing with David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band (now known as the Louis Armstrong Eternity Band) at Birdland. So, they were saying, ‘There’s this gig every week at Birdland, and you should come and sit in.’ So, I went to one for the first time in the early 2000s. I just introduced myself and sat in, and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. I got connected through David Ostwald to fabulous musicians.”
Ostwald recalled that first meet-
Quartetinho, from left, Vitor Goncalves, James Shipp, Cohen, and Tal Mashiach.
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
ing. “From the first moment,” he said, “there was a magical connection. Before she played her first note with us, we were making each other laugh, and our friendship has only grown since. As I recall, she was concentrating on tenor saxophone at the time and hadn’t played much traditional jazz for some time. But, she wanted
to get back to playing more clarinet, and she loved the band, so I started hiring her. For many years, Anat was my regular clarinista at Birdland and on many other gigs, including a memorable week of fun and great music at the Nairn International Jazz Festival in Scotland. She still plays with us as her busy schedule allows,
and I cherish every moment I spend with her, on and off the bandstand.”
Playing with Ostwald’s band, Cohen said, “reconnected me with the music that was so close to my heart. The first jazz I ever played was the music of New Orleans, the music of the Original Dixieland Band.” In addition to Gordon and Kellso, some of her regular bandmates were trombonists Dan Barrett and Vincent Gardner and guitarist Howard Alden.
In 2005, Cohen founded her own record label, Anzic, and has made 11 albums as a leader. She has been named Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association every year since 2007 and has been voted top clarinetist several times in DownBeat Magazine’s Readers and Critics polls.
A special album was the 2010 release, Clarinetwork, recorded live at the Village Vanguard. The album paid tribute to Benny Goodman, who
would have celebrated his centennial birthday in 2009, with a modern approach to such tunes as “Sweet Georgia Brown”, “After You’ve Gone”, and “What a Little Moonlight Can Do”.
Reviewing the album for National Public Radio, Kevin Whitehead wrote that, “Cohen and company treat 1920s and ‘30s material with a relatively free hand; when they get rolling in ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, her rhythm section—pianist Benny Green, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Lewis Nash—echoes the thunder of John Coltrane’s quartet.”
Raul d’Gama Rose, reviewing it for AllAboutJazz, wrote about the chemistry between Cohen and Green. “It is a joy to hear her duel with that other virtuoso, pianist Benny Green,” he said. “There are times when Cohen and Green recall the delightful 1980 musical conversation between Goodman and pianist Teddy Wil-
Cohen and Brazilian guitarist Marcello Goncalves.
son on ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’.”
For Cohen, recording the album live at the Village Vanguard “was a really big deal—to be on the stage where the fathers of jazz played. You can feel them lurking from the walls. You can feel their energy. Playing with Benny Green and Lewis Nash, and Peter Washington really connected my generation to the previous generation—the people who played with Betty Carter and Art Blakey, and Tommy Flanagan. That’s as close as I would get. When I finished playing my solo I didn’t want to go anywhere. I just stepped down
Recording Clarinetwork live at the Village Vanguard “was a really big deal—to be on the stage where the fathers of jazz played.”
the floor in the middle of the stage. I’m very fortunate that I had this opportunity—to have the same gig for a week, playing with the same players two sets a night, where the most important thing was the music.”
In addition to Peplowski, the other current clarinetist who’s had the most impact on Cohen is Paquito D’Rivera. “I’ve always played the clarinet because it’s always been my instrument,” Cohen explained. “In the early 2000s, I didn’t think you could make a career being a clarinet player. I knew of Paquito’s music when I was a student at Berklee. I said to myself,
“ PAQUITO (D’RIVERA) WAS AN INSPIRATION. WE LOVE A LOT OF THE SAME STYLES OF MUSIC. ”
‘Here’s a person who can play classical music with cello and clarinet for the first half of the show, and the second half can go from Brazilian music to Afro-Cuban to bebop. I saw that there is a way to find your own sound with a band, that you can travel between different genres. So, it inspired me to create my own band, the quartet that I performed with for the next 10 years. It combined all the music that I love but within the sound of the band. Paquito was an inspiration. We love a lot of the same styles of music. Also, he’s an amazing clarinet player.”
D’Rivera, when told of Cohen’s comments, said: “It’s very flattering for me to hear that Anat Cohen is saying that I’m an inspiration for her, since she is one of my favorite musicians as well as a dearest colleague and friend. Sharing the stage with her is like pure fun ... so what can I tell you. I love Anattinha!”
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Cohen’s latest Anzic album is Bloom, released last fall with her latest band, Quartetinho, featuring pianist/accordionist Vitor Concalves, bassist/guitarist Tal Mashiach, and vibraphonist/marimbist/percussionist James Shipp. Reviewing it for Jersey Jazz, Joe Lang pointed out that, “Cohen’s clarinet artistry is always impressive, and her fellow band members each demonstrate their superb creativity and musicianship. Quartetinho has now released two exceptional albums, and more gems are sure to come.”
AllAboutJazz’s Katchie Cartwright described Bloom as “a splendid album, a fragrant and colorful bouquet of compositions and arrangements—mostly originals—which Cohen and her Quartetinho perform with a daring virtuosity and a soulful joie de vivre.”
The day of the first JALC concert,
another Anzic album, Interaction, will be released featuring Cohen, her two brothers—trumpeter Avishai Cohen and saxophonist Yuval Cohen— and Germany’s WDR Big Band. It will include several original compositions arranged and conducted by Oded LevAri, and new versions of “Tiger Rag” and Gerry Mulligan’s “Festive Minor”.
As for the four JALC concerts, Cohen said: “I’m celebrating my 50th birthday. I decided to tell the world. I’m not going to try to reinvent the wheel. It’s my birthday, and I don’t want to be stressed about it.”
: The Anat Cohen 50th Birthday concerts will be held at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, March 14, and 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, in The Appel Room, located in JALC’s Fredrick P. Rose Hall. For more information and to order tickets, log onto jazz.org or call (212) 721-6500.
Dan Pugach: Pushing the Big Band Forward to Feature More Original Music
“I’ve Been Saying Thank You and Trying to Act Normal, But I Haven’t Fully Processed It”
BY JAY SWEET
From 1930 to 1945, big band jazz dominated the American music scene, shaping the cultural landscape of popular music. Though its prominence waned as small-group jazz styles gained popularity, the genre has endured, sustained by dedicated enthusiasts and an international audience. Today, many big band ensembles function as tribute bands, recreating the sounds of legendary orchestras. However, a collective of composers continues to push the genre forward with original works. Among those leading this ef-
fort is Israeli-born composer, bandleader, and drummer Dan Pugach. Pugach’s contributions to the genre have been widely recognized, culminating in this year’s Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble for his inspired Outside in Music recording Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence. Pugach’s Grammy now sits alongside that of his wife, Nicole Zuraitis, who won a Grammy last year for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her Outside in Music album, How Love Begins. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet,”
GRAMMY WINNER
Pugach said, in a recent Zoom interview. “I’ve been saying thank you and trying to act normal, but I haven’t fully processed it. I’m still figuring out if there’s a deeper meaning or responsibility that comes with it. Right after the awards, we flew straight into a residency at Birdland—two sets per night for three nights with Nicole’s quartet—so it’s been nonstop. We don’t actually live in New York anymore; we’re up in Connecticut now. But otherwise, it was an amazing experience—probably the best weekend ever. Honestly, everything was such a blur. If you asked me how it was, I don’t even remember much. I just kept thinking, ‘Oh my God! Thank God I wrote something down.
“I didn’t think I would win, but I wanted to be prepared just in case,” he continued. “When the moment came, I could barely get a word out. Even reading my speech
felt impossible. After that, it was a whirlwind—interviews, being shuffled from one thing to the next. I never even watched my speech.”
Unlike many big band recordings, Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence is a concept album inspired by Pugach and Zuraitis’ love for animals, their work with shelters, and their late dog Bianca, who is featured on the album cover.
“For 15 years, we’ve been rescuing and fostering dogs,” Pugach said, “mainly pit bulls from New York City shelters—many on euthanasia lists due to illness or time running out.
One of them, Bianca, was special. She became our mascot, had her own Instagram (Bianca the Jazz Dog), and even walked off-leash in the streets of Brooklyn. She once even peed during my drum solo at the 55 Bar. I wrote a tune capturing her gentle nature, which later became a big band piece.
It won the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize and helped shape this album. We also rescued Bella, another beloved dog. I wrote ‘Bella the Bear’ overnight between studio sessions, and she passed in 2024 as we recorded. This album became a dedication to rescue dogs, exploring their journey— from shelter struggles to love and transformation. ‘Little Fears’ reflects a dog’s perspective in a cage, and ‘The Bridge’ honors pets who’ve passed. ‘Paws and Persistence’ represents
resilience, love, and the bond we share with these animals. Their lives, like this music, move from struggle to beauty—but saying goodbye to them is always the hardest part.”
One of the album’s standout tracks is an unexpected yet innovative arrangement of Van Halen’s classic “Dreams”, featuring Zuraitis on vocals and Pete McCann on guitar. Pugach shared how the arrangement came to life.
“The tune was chosen for me and
Pugach with his wife, vocalist Nicole Zuraitis
GRAMMY WINNER
ended up sparking the whole album concept. During the pandemic, a friend—who’s also a fan—gave me an assignment to arrange ‘Dreams’ as a tribute. His family member had just become the first Navy pilot for the Blue Angels flying the FA-18, and he wanted something special. I agreed
and asked if there were any restrictions. He said, ‘Do whatever you want.’
So I went with a big band version. I got stuck on a vamp, keeping parts of the melody but reshaping the chords and adding new vamps in between. I maintained the original structure while creating space between the harmonies.
It was all still there—just reimagined.”
Our conversation then shifted to Pugach’s upbringing and musical journey, particularly his unique transition from rock drummer to jazz musician and big band leader.
“I started listening to big band music when I was young, right around the time I was getting into jazz. One of my earliest exposures was to the Mel Lewis and Thad Jones Vanguard Orchestra. To me, they were like gods— the gold standard, the ultimate. From there, I started exploring further, discovering Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bob Brookmeyer, and many others. But what really pushed me into writing wasn’t until I got to City College, where I met Mike Holober—an amazing composer and pianist who taught the jazz seminar. One day, he told us, ‘Choose a standard, or whatever, and bring a chart for five horns and four rhythm.’ Everyone brought
in their charts, and I did my best, putting together something I thought worked. When I showed it to my colleagues, they were surprised—’Man, you brought a full arrangement, with everything in it.’ I took the assignment seriously, maybe too seriously.
“To be honest, I often felt like I wasn’t up to par in that program. A lot of the other students were serious musicologists—deep, knowledgeable cats—so I always felt like I had to push myself. Maybe I overdid it, but I wanted to do my best. Mike Holober noticed, and he told me, ‘You should really get into this. You’ve got some gaps in your toolbox, but you’ve also got good intuition for this.’ He suggested I check out Alan Ferber, Kenny Wheeler, and others. That opened up a whole new world for me. From there, I started writing more big band charts. I’d invite the guys over to our apartment in Park Slope, move the furni-
ture around, and just have the whole band play—dogs running around, everything. The musicians would give me feedback: ‘Are you sure about this? Try this instead.’ That handson process is how I really learned.
“At some point, though, I took a break. One reason was financial—I was broke. But I also felt stuck. I didn’t like what I was writing, and I wasn’t working as fast or as well as I wanted to. So I decided to step back, focus on gigging, and study more. I started working through books and exercises from the ground up. Eventually, that gave me the vocabulary and language I needed to really analyze scores. Instead of being in the dark, things started to pop out at me. After that, I got back into big band writing with a fresh perspective and I’ve been at it ever since.”
Pugach’s journey has been anything but typical, and his unique
blend of rock and jazz influences informs his big band leadership. As a drummer, he shapes the rhythmic direction and energy of his group in a way that mirrors the tradition of big bands led by greats such as Chick Webb, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Mel Lewis. His deep understanding of rhythm allows him to guide his band with precision and creativity.
“I started out playing rock, but I discovered jazz through a drum teacher, Arale Kaminsky—or Aaron Kaminsky, as some called him. He was a jazz guru, one of the early pioneers who spent a lot of time in New York and Brazil before returning to Israel in the 1970s and spreading what he had learned. He’s a great drummer, and he got me hip to everything. He was also a good friend of Mel Lewis. During that time, as I was discovering jazz, I got into a high school jazz program in my hometown of Ra’anana. At
that point, I was searching for a different sound. Instead of sticking with rock, which I had played growing up, I became more interested in exploring the depth of jazz as I was discovering it. I had a huge hard bop phase.”
“Eventually, I ended up playing drums in the Air Force Band. That gig was more about pop, rock, folk,
and some jazz—but not a lot. During my service, I also attended the jazz school at Rimon, which has a credit transfer program with Berklee. After that, I went to Brazil and studied percussion in Rio for three months. Before going, I had already been studying Portuguese and had caught the ‘Brazilian bug,’ which I still have.
“I moved to Berklee for two years, where I studied with Terri Lyne Carrington. She really pushed me. I remember her saying, ‘Okay, buddy, you sound a little like Roy Haynes, don’t you?’ I was like, ‘Maybe.’ She said, ‘That’s great—but no more. You’ve got to sound like you.’ She really opened up my playing and my sound.”
As for the future, Pugach continues to stay busy, writing and performing. You can catch him and Nicole Zuraitis performing every Tuesday night in March with his Nonet at The Django in New York.
The Grammy-winning album
James Moody’s ‘Moody’s Mood For Love’ Has Been Called ‘The National Jazz Anthem’
“A Pioneer
and Innovator
of Instrumental Music and a Phenomenal Scat Singer”
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
In 1949, in Stockholm, saxophonist
James Moody recorded his first album as a leader, James Moody and His Modernists, on the Blue Note label. It featured the song that would become his signature, “Moody’s Mood For Love”, based on the chord changes of Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields’ “I’m in the Mood for Love”. It propelled him into instant popularity and fame. Performed on a whim, it became a hit for Moody, and it eventually brought him back to the United States from Paris where he
had been living. King Pleasure would later sing vocalist Eddie Jefferson’s lyrics based on this improvisation, and “Moody’s Mood For Love” would be forever associated with Moody during his very long career in music.
Primarily a tenor saxophonist up to that point, Moody borrowed someone’s alto saxophone to play this tune.
The song has sometimes been called “The National Jazz Anthem” and has been recorded and performed by a long list of musicians that includes Amy Winehouse, Van
Morrison, Queen Latifah, and Aretha Franklin. Moody, of course, also recorded the vocal version and once said, “If I don’t do that song, I may as well not show up.”
Moody, who passed away on December 9, 2010, at the age of 85, was born in Savannah, GA, on March 26 1925. He would have celebrated his centennial birthday this month. Grow-
ing up in Newark, he began playing saxophone as a teenager, joining Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1946 after serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Two years later he moved to Paris to live with an uncle in order to recover from an addiction to alcohol. He returned to the U.S. in1951 to form a seven-piece band to capitalize on the success of “Moody’s Mood
For Love”. The song also had an impact on many other vocalists and musicians.
In the 1950s, vocalist Jon Hendricks was trying to make it as a jazz singer in New York while also working for a newsprint company. He was having lunch in Washington Square Park when he heard “Moody’s Mood For Love” on the radio. “Wow!” Hendricks told me in 2008, “I had been a songwriter for some years, but this opened possibilities for stretching out, that you didn’t have to stop at 32 bars. I was really excited by this. So, I sat down and wrote a lyric to Jimmy Giuffre’s ‘Four Brothers’. That got a record date on a little record label, and they asked me who I wanted with me. I said Dave Lambert…” The rest is history as Hendricks, Lambert and Annie Ross ultimately teamed up to form the groundbreaking vocal trio, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
But that is only one example of how James Moody affected other
musical artists. A Hendricks protégé, vocalist Janis Siegel, a charter member of Manhattan Transfer, told me that, “one of the greatest thrills of my young musical career was singing ‘the girl part’ on the classic ‘Moody’s Mood for Love’ with the man himself. I thought I was in musical heaven that night at the Monterey Jazz Festival. A photograph was taken of Moody and me holding hands, gazing at each other and smiling. This photo is one of my most treasured possessions.”
Vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton was 14 years old and singing with her father Stephen’s quartet at the Kemah Boardwalk Festival near Houston. “Moody was the headliner,” she recalled. “I performed ‘Yardbird Suite’ and ‘Out of Nowhere’. I was really nervous because Moody was sitting directly in front of me throughout my entire performance! He was so kind. He said he thought I needed to work on ‘hitting my pitches’. He kept saying
Moody and Dizzy Gillespie
that over and over. I really appreciated him taking the time to give me an honest appraisal of my singing because back then most musicians would just say, ‘Oh, you sounded great’ and give me the brush off. But Moody was honest and took time to talk to me.”
Dr. David Demsey, a saxophonist who is Coordinator of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University, described Moody to me as, “the ultimate student, a ‘practice-aholic’ who was always studying, always learning new ways of playing the same tunes he’d known for 60 years. I saw him perform the challenging ‘Giant Steps’ at an all-star jam session – he systematically dismantled the other players by playing those difficult changes, in each of the other guys’ styles. Then, he did his own thing and had them all completely surrounded.”
After the success of “Moody’s Mood for Love”, Moody formed a septet with singer Eddie Jefferson,
Moody and George Wein
a group that could deftly cross from jazz into rhythm and blues seamlessly. They recorded for Argo, a subsidiary of Chess Records. But in 1958, a fire in a Philadelphia nightclub destroyed everything belonging to Moody’s band—equipment, uniforms and sheet music—driving him to once again turn to alcohol. He recovered after checking himself into the Overbrook psychiatric
hospital in Cedar Grove, NJ. He rejoined Gillespie in 1963 and remained a member of his quintet for about six years. In 1967, Gillespie released an album called Swing Low Sweet Cadillac on the Impulse! label, which was recorded live at a Los Angeles club called The Memory Lane. While AllMusic’s Michael G. Nastos gave the album a mixed review, he pointed out that “James Moody’s tenor or alto sax
or flute are as distinctive as ever.”
In 1969, Moody tried his hand at leading his own band again and then moved to Las Vegas in 1973, essentially leaving the jazz world to play in the pit band at the Las Vegas Hilton. According to Peter Keepnews, writing in The New York Times, Moody told Saxophone Journal he moved to Las Vegas because, “I was married and had a daughter, and I wanted to grow up with my kid…That’s why I worked Vegas because I could stay in one spot.”
Janis Siegel met Moody during his Las Vegas stay. “The Manhattan Transfer did our first Las Vegas appearance, opening for Bill Cosby at the Hilton,” she told me. “We were doing a sound check with the big band, and we called the tune, ‘You Can Depend on Me’, a Basie vocalese which called for a tenor solo in the middle of the arrangement. The four of us were singing, singing, singing and then stopped for the solo . . .
Suddenly, we all stopped dead in our tracks because the solo that was coming from the big band was so magical, that we all turned around at the same time, astonished to see the great James Moody. We were completely blown away by the fact that he was a member of the Hilton house band.”
After divorcing his second wife, Margena, Moody left Las Vegas in 1980 to return to the jazz world fulltime. According to The Times’ Keepnews, “His final three decades were productive, with frequent touring and recording and even a brief for-
ay into acting with a bit part in the 1997 Clint Eastwood film, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” He was the recipient of several awards.
Among them: the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 1996; National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 1998; Kennedy Center Living Jazz Legend Award in 2007; and a Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2010.
Moody made a series of recordings for RCA in the ‘80s, then relaunched his career yet again on Warner Brothers in the ‘90s. He also carried the
recalled, “was a perfect example of what he was all about. He was a master entertainer, with every tune announcement turned into a mini-comedy routine, delivered in his own inimitable style and impeccable timing. But when the downbeat happened, every tune was challenging, melodic, and all business with his trademark powerful sound and intensity.”
“ HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST LOVING AND GENEROUS HUMAN BEINGS I’VE EVER MET. ”
bebop legacy of his mentor as a touring member of the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars. His most recent recordings were for IPO Records. His duet with the legendary Hank Jones in “Body and Soul,” an anthem for tenor saxophonists, is one of his great statements. Moody made recordings well into his 80s, a remarkable marathon for a musician of any genre.
The last time Demsey heard Moody play was at the Iridium jazz club in New York. That night, Demsey
Describing Moody as “a pioneer and innovator of instrumental music and a phenomenal scat singer,” Siegel added that, “the main thing I want to say about Moody is not about music. He was one of the most loving and generous human beings I’ve ever met. There was a childlike quality he always seemed to retain, or maybe it was just unbridled enthusiasm for life. His warmth and humor as a person are what I will remember always in my heart.”
On November 2, 2010, Moody and his wife, Linda, publicly revealed that
Bassist Todd Coolman played with Moody for 25 years.
he had pancreatic cancer and had decided not to undergo any chemotherapy or radiation treatment. According to George Varga, writing in the San Diego Tribune, “He maintained his characteristically upbeat demeanor almost to the end. He would pick up his saxophone or flute, even if only for a few minutes, whenever he could.” He once said that his goal was “to play better tomorrow than I did today. If you’re practicing something you’ve played before, you’re not practicing. You have to play something new. You’ll never get it all, but you keep trying.”
Shortly after Moody died, on December 9, 2010, Varga interviewed several other musicians about their memories of him. Quincy Jones said: “James Moody had a sound, an imagination and heart as big as the moon. He was the quintessential saxophone player, and his ‘Moody’s Mood for Love’ will forever be remembered in jazz his-
tory side by side with Coleman Hawkins’ ‘Body and Soul’. James Moody was one of the people who allowed me to stand on his shoulders when I was coming up. And, there can never be a value placed on that. So much of who I am today is because of who James Moody was to me back then.”
When Aretha Franklin gave a concert at San Diego’s Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay in 2005, Moody, who
lived in San Diego, joined her onstage to sing “Moody’s Mood For Love”. According to Varga, “Their unrehearsed duet of the song on stage at Humphrey’s was a highlight of the concert for Franklin, who laughed with delight when Mr. Moody launched into a darting scat vocal line so joyful and intricate that even she couldn’t match it.”
Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein met Moody in 1949 in Paris. He told Varga that “Moody personified the very best that jazz had to offer—and the reason for that was because he loved to play. But, along with loving to play, he had a joy in communicating to an audience. Every minute on the bandstand for Moody was fun, with his playing and knowing he could make people happy. He just had that ability. He sang and told little jokes, but he never cheated on his playing. He always played with a purity, and he was a great person, a great man.”
Bassist Todd Coolman played with Moody for 25 years. That, he said, “gave me the benefit of knowing the man and the musician. As great a saxophonist as he was, he was even a more outstanding humanitarian. He carried kindness, compassion, and love as he circumnavigated the globe dozens of times. I want to think that those who heard him in person got at least a glimpse of Moody, the man.” (Watch for more about Moody from Todd Coolman, in the Latest News section of njjs.org later this month).
Moody performed at the White House three times—twice for President Bill Clinton and once for George W. Bush. He also played two command performances in Bangkok for the King of Thailand.
His last public performance was on January 28, 2010, at a Grammy Awards-sponsored concert in Seal Beach, California. Moody’s last per-
formance in San Diego, Varga wrote, was on March 21, 2009, at San Diego State University. According to Varga, “He played with the combination of infectious verve, soulful intensity, and finely hued sophistication that had long been his musical trademarks.”
In October 2012, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center created the TD James Moody Jazz Festival. John Schreiber, NJPAC President and CEO, met Moody in the late 1970s, while working as a stage manager at a festival in the south of France. He explained to The New York Times the reason for creating the festival and naming it after Moody. “Moody,” he said, “exuded joy in his life and in music, and that’s something we all should aspire to. Also, jazz is the most democratic of music. To produce great jazz, people have to listen to each other and collaborate. And, that’s at the heart of
what it means to be a good citizen.”
The festival was launched with a concert called “Moody’s Groove” and included such performers as saxophonist/flutist Paquito D’Rivera, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, all four members of Manhattan Transfer, guitarist George Benson, alto saxophonist David Sanborn, trumpeter Jon Faddis, pianists Kenny Barron and Renee Rosnes, drummer Adam Nussbaum, and bassists Todd Coolman and John Lee. The Heath-written tribute song, “Moody’s Groove” was the highlight of the first set, while the evening ended with Benson and Janis Siegel doing “Moody’s Mood For Love”. Other highlights included Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia”, Barron’s piano solo on Tommy Wolf’s “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most”, and Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder” featuring Faddis on trumpet and Sanborn on alto sax.
Stanley Clarke Sun, Jun 1 at 7:30PM
Stella Cole Thu, Jun 5 at 7:30PM
time With irresistible charm and a ove for the Great American Songbook, she ntroduces audiences to the timeless magic of jazz.
Dianne Reeves With Romero Lubambo Sat , Jun 7 at 7:30PM
Princeton,
New Jersey Jazz Society
The New Jersey Jazz Society is pleased to announce the
2025 JURIED SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION
This competition will award three $1000 prizes and three $500 prizes in three categories: Jazz Instrumental Performance, Jazz Vocal Performance, and Jazz Composition. The competition is open to all New Jersey college students currently enrolled in a college undergraduate music program, as well as to New Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out-of-state college undergraduate program. Proof of residency required. Along with the cash award, winners will receive guidance, mentorship and the opportunity to perform with an industry professional, and coverage in Jersey Jazz.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, March 28, 2025, 11:59 PM Eastern Time Visit NJJS .org/Competition for details.
This competition is generously supported by NAN
HUGHES POOLE, CYNTHIA FEKETIE, MICHAEL A. KATZ, and JACKIE WETCHER
Pianist Holly
Bean—A Long
Journey from Tennessee to Juilliard
“After Two Years with Donald (Brown), I Learned So Fast. He Was So Generous with His Mind and His Time”
Pianist Holly Bean had a busy February.
» Tuesday, February 11, she performed the music of the ‘Southern Piano Style’, channeling such legends as Jelly Roll Morton, Harold Mabern, Phineas Newborn, and Donald Brown at Juilliard’s Paul Recital Hall.
» Monday, February 17, at Dizzy’s Club, she was part of a Juilliard septet that played “Music by the Jazz Messengers: Art Blakey and Horace Silver”. Her bandmates were: trumpeter Miles Keingstein, alto saxophonist Adam Stein, tenor saxophonist Aidan McKeon, bassist Ben Feld-
man, and drummer Beckett Miles.
» Wednesday, February 26, Bean was a member of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra that performed Wynton Marsalis’ “The Shanghai Suite” in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
» Friday, February 28, was the date of her Masters Recital in the school’s Morse Recital Hall. The program was: Bill Evans’ “Five”; two compositions by her mentor, Donald R. Brown, “Theme for Malcolm” and “New York”; Frederick Loewe’s “The Heather on the Hill”; and three of her own compositions, “Sanctuary”, “The Prophet”, and “Before I Loved You”.
RISING STAR
For Bean, in her last semester at Juilliard, it was the summit of a long journey that began when, as a three-year-old, she started playing on the piano in her Oak Ridge, TN, home. “I would hop on top of the bench and try to copy my mom, who plays piano and organ. The first thing I tried to play was ‘Part of Your World’ from Disney’s Little Mermaid. I would hear things I liked and figure them out on the piano. I’ve been hearing music in my head forever.”
The 27-year-old Bean started taking piano lessons when she was four or five and “was pretty good at it, but I really got annoyed that I had to play exactly the dots on the page. My teacher didn’t like that I wanted to play it the way I wanted, so my parents let me quit.”
In high school, Bean had a choir teacher “who turned me off to music,” so she went to Clemson University, initially on a physics scholarship, eventually changing to microbiology.
She did participate in Clemson’s choral program. “Clemson,” Bean said, “has a fabulous choral program with a hard core choir. Most of the people in that choir aren’t music majors; they’re just there because they want to be.”
But, in the middle of her third semester, Bean had “kind of a meltdown. My dad, who plays sax, flute, and drums, said, ‘I think you should go to music school.’ I said, ‘I don’t have any skills.’ He said, ‘You can sight read and you can sing.’” Bean said she could sight-sing, “but I had no real sight-reading abilities on the piano. I could, however, pick pieces out by ear on the piano.”
She transferred to the University of Tennessee, majoring in composition at its Natalie L. Haslam College of Music. “I auditioned on voice,” she said, “but I wanted to become a composer. A colleague of mine, who was a fellow composition major, introduced me to Donald Brown
(a pianist and Associate Professor who taught jazz history, piano, and improvisation). I said, ‘I hear you teach jazz here,” and I asked him if I could become a jazz major. I didn’t even have my major scales down. I was so clueless. I didn’t have anything to show him. He said, ‘Go home for winter break. Learn all your major scales and come back.’ He also gave me a blues solo to learn.
“I studied with Donald Brown for two and a half years and also with Greg Tardy, an incredible sax player, ensemble coach and im-
prov teacher, and Vance Thompson, a trumpeter who taught an analysis of jazz styles class.
“After two years with Donald, I learned so fast. It was so inspiring the way he welcomed me into his office that day. He was so generous with his mind and his time. We would have multiple lessons a week. Most teachers would start you off with scales. Donald would give examples of how you could play something. He would show you a million different ways you could do something. That spontaneity is reflected in my playing.” Brown performed and recorded with several jazz legends, including drummer Art Blakey, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, and trumpeter Donald Byrd. Brown’s “Theme for Malcolm” was first released by the Donald Byrd Sextet in 1990.
Thompson, Senior Lecturer of Studio Music & Jazz at UT, and Director of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra,
Holly Bean and Donald Brown
RISING STAR
remembered that Bean was “an exceptionally motivated and talented young woman. She transferred to the University of Tennessee from another school in a different discipline and was clearly less experienced than her peers when she first arrived on campus. However, before the end of the first semester, it was clear that she was not only going to catch up; she was going to be giving everyone a run for their money. I’m extremely proud of the musician and person that she has become.”
Tardy, Associate Professor of Jazz Saxophone, recalled that Bean “was always very passionate, wanting to improve, always asking a lot of questions, seeking extra help. I expected great things from her, and I’m not surprised she has achieved them.”
At Juilliard, Bean is studying with pianist Geoff Keezer, saxophonist Andy Farber (for arranging and composition), and pianist Marc Cary for improvisation. She believes Marsa-
lis, Director of Juilliard Jazz, “has a similar code that Donald did. He hires people like Geoff, who has been very positive.” The ensemble that performed “Music by the Jazz Messengers” at Dizzy’s Club on February 17 was assembled by trombonist/faculty member Jen Krupa. That ensemble, Bean said, “is so special. We have such an incredible musical bond. There’s so much musical integrity and musical selflessness.” All the members of the ensemble, except the trumpeter, Miles Keingstein, who was going to be out of town, were scheduled to play at Bean’s February 28th Masters Recital.
Bean’s ‘desert island’ pianist—“The one person I’d want to listen to forever if I were stranded on a desert island is Bill Evans.” But she’s also been influenced by Mulgrew Miller, McCoy Tyner, and Ellis Larkins. Among current pianists, it’s Christian Sands and Sullivan Fortner.— SANFORD JOSEPHSON
SUNDAY
Sunday March 9 • 3:00pm
Emmet Cohen, Eric Alexander, and Marcus Miller to Lead Main Stage Concerts
Vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, Co-Winner of the 2020 Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition, Will Perform with Cohen and Festival Music Director Terell Stafford
Pianist Emmet Cohen’s current Mack Avenue album, Vibe Provider, spent five weeks last fall at Number 1 on the Jazz Week charts. When it was released last August, AllAboutJazz’s Mike Jurkovic described it this way: “It sails. It sweeps in on a hop and a bop, and never stops. Not for a moment.”
AllMusic’s Matt Collar described Cohen as “a fleet-fingered player, steeped in both traditional as well as later post-bop and modal styles of jazz ... The album reflects this ho-
listically broad-minded approach.”
The “Vibe Provider” of the title was Nigerian-born DJ/percussionist/event producer Michael Olufunmilola “Funmi” Ononaiye, who died at the age of 55 from cancer in 2023. He was a friend and mentor to Cohen, who is known for his collaborations with some of the great legends of jazz such as bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jimmy Cobb, and tenor saxophonists Benny Golson, George Coleman, and Houston Person.
During the pandemic, Cohen
Emmet Cohen
helped keep the music alive with “Live From Emmet’s Place”, a series of performances by his trio and special guests, livestreamed from his New York apartment. In an April 2021 interview with Jersey Jazz’s Schaen Fox, Cohen described the objective of those concerts. “We were trying to capture the sense of community in a jazz club, that feeling of being able to listen with other people to live music that is free, improvisatory, and joyous. It really became a cool thing for a lot of people who suddenly didn’t have a chance to hear musicians making music together in this time.”
On Thursday, March 20, at the Sarasota Jazz Festival, Cohen, joined by trumpeter Terell Stafford (the festival’s Music Director) and vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, will headline one of the event’s three main stage concerts in the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. Cavassa was co-winner of the
2020 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, sharing the award with Tawanda Seussbrich-Joaquim. When she was interviewed in the July/August 2021 issue of Jersey Jazz, Cavassa recalled that growing up in the San Diego suburb of Escondido, CA, she heard “ a lot of Frank Sinatra because my grandpa is Italian, and he just loved Frank Sinatra. At a certain point, I became obsessed with my parents’ Christmas album because it has jazz on it. One of the songs was Nancy Wilson singing ‘The Things We Did Last Summer’. There was also an Ella song on it.”
When she moved to San Francisco to attend San Francisco State, “I really got into jazz,” she said. “I bought a lot of records and would learn things off the records. And, I would sit in at a club called Club Deluxe. I learned through trial and error.” One of the Sarah Vaughn Competition judges,
Eric Alexander
SARASOTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
WBGO Radio’s Gary Walker told Jersey Jazz he felt Cavassa “has a truly original approach to the music, which is quite refreshing and much needed.”
In September 2023, Cavassa performed on tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman’s Blue Note album, Where We Are, and also toured with Redman. In the February 2024 issue of Jersey Jazz, Redman told Jay Sweet the project started during the pandemic. “I was thinking about doing something with a vocalist for a long time. So, I started to check out Gabrielle’s music; there’s
something uniquely compelling and captivating about her. Her sound, her style, and her expression; I was kind of drawn into it. Then we started talking about making an album.”
In a short email, Cohen said this about the upcoming concert with Cavassa and Stafford: “It’s going to be a special performance! I’m super excited!”
JazzWise Magazine has called Eric Alexander, “Arguably the best modern straight-ahead tenor in jazz today.” The San Jose Mercury News described Alexander’s playing as “one
“ MARCUS MILLER IS ONE OF THOSE CROSSOVER ARTISTS WHOSE INFLUENCE IS FELT IN NUMEROUS MEDIA. ”
of the most beautiful tenor saxophone tones in all of jazz.” And, DownBeat calls him “one of today’s most steadfast post-hardbop torchbearers.” Last month, Alexander introduced a new quartet featuring pianist George Cables, drummer Johnathan Blake, and bassist Nat Reeves, unveiling the group at New York’s Smoke jazz club.
In Sarasota, Alexander will be paired with organist Tony Monaco on Friday, March 21. Reviewing Monaco’s 2024 Chicken Coup Records
album, Over and Over, Nicholas F. Mondello of AllAboutJazz pointed out that, there are “a handful of great jazz B-3 organists still pumping jazz air ... With Over and Over, Tony Monaco demonstrates that he is still a stone cooker. And, with seven original tracks on this album, his playing and compositional skills continue to inspire and impress.”
Alexander and Monaco will be joined by two special guests: Tampa area residents and University of South
Marcus Miller
Sarasota Jazz Festival Schedule
MON, MAR 17 » VIP Reception and Dinner, Jeremy Carter Band, Florida Studio Theatre, 5 p.m.
TUE, MAR 18 » Jazz Trolley Pub Crawl featuring 12 venues with live jazz in downtown Sarasota.
THU, MAR 20 » Emmett Cohen Trio with Gabrielle Cavassa and Terell Stafford; Gustave Viehmeyer Trio featuring Joscho Stephan, Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 7-10 p.m.
FRI, MAR 21 » Eric Alexander and Tony Monaco with special guests James Suggs and Paul Gavin; MJR Latin Project led by Mauricio J. Rodriguez, Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 7-10 p.m.
SAT, MAR 22 » Marcus Miller; The Thomas Carabasi Quintet
Florida graduates, drummer Paul Gavin and trumpeter James Suggs.
Bassist Marcus Miller, who will be appearing in Sarasota on Saturday, March 22, is a two-time Grammy winner. In 2002 he won for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for his Telarc recording, M2; and in 1992, his performance of Luther Vandross’ “Power of Love” received the award for Best R&B Song. AllAboutJazz, in its review of M2, pointed out that, “Marcus Miller is one of those crossover artists whose influence is
felt in numerous media, including movie soundtracks like Boomerang and Rush Hour. Lest we forget all of the innovations that Miller has created, his new M-Squared album enumerates in a soulful and electronically enhanced style the multitudinous elements that comprise his immediately identifiable sound.”
Miller’s latest album release was 2018’s Blue Note recording, Laid Back. Reviewing it for Jazz Weekly, George W. Harris wrote: “Marcus Miller is one of the few artists that can cross the worlds of funk, hip hop and jazz and satisfy all audiences.” The album features several guest artists including Trombone Shorty, saxophonist Kirk Whalum, and singer-songwriter/guitarist Jonathan Butler. : For more information or to order tickets, log onto sarasotajazz festival.com or call (941) 260-9951.
Gabriella Cavassa
BY VINCENT PELOTE
In honor of Women’s History Month, I’d like to write about some of the women who have played jazz from the earliest days of the music. Even during the ragtime era that predated jazz there were women composers and performers. The most wellknown composer was May Frances Aufderheide Kaufmman (1888-1972).
Of course, the history of jazz is full of women vocalists but there were
numerous female instrumentalists such as pianists Lovie Austin (18871972) and Lillian Hardin Armstrong (1898-1971). Austin made recordings with her all-male Blues Serenaders, and Hardin was the pianist in King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band where she met and married Louis Armstrong. (See article on Ricky Riccardi’s Stomp Off Let’s Go, page 15) Hardin also recorded on her husband’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings and led a series of small group record sessions for the Decca label featuring some of the top male swing musicians of the day.
Trumpeter/vocalist Valaida Snow had an international reputation and was known as “Little Louis” and “Queen of the Trumpet.” Undoubtably the most well-known jazz woman was pianist/composer/arranger Mary Lou Williams. She was the pianist in Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy big band. Not only was she one of the band’s outstanding soloists, but she
tutoring them on harmony and, later in her life after converting to Catholicism, she composed sacred works. She was more easily accepted by the men who dominated the jazz scene but not all women could say that.
contributed some of the best and swingiest arrangements to the band’s book. Williams also wrote arrangements for Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington as well as other prominent bands of the ‘30s and ‘40s. She influenced some of the icons of the bop movement like Thelonious Monk by
Trumpeter Billie Rogers (19172014) graced the trumpet section of the Woody Herman Orchestra from 1941-1943. Drummer Viola Smith (1912-2020), known as “the female Gene Krupa” quipped that Krupa was known as the male Viola Smith. The swing era also saw a number of all-female big bands, the most well-known being Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears. Hutton was a singer and dancer, and her band was largely used to accompany the very pretty Ms. Hutton.
The all-female aggregation producing jazz that was the equal to anything the male bands were playing was the International Sweethearts of Rhythm led by vocalist Anna Mae Winburn. The band started out as a
Clora Bryant was the only female trumpet player to perform with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
PLACE
bunch of kids from the Piney Brown School in Mississippi who performed to raise money for the school, but they eventually went professional and, with the help of musician/arranger Eddie Durham and became the premier women’s orchestra of the day featuring rollicking tenor saxophonist Vi Burnside (1915-1964) and dynamic trumpet star Ernestine “Tiny” Davis (1909-1994).
The bebop era and beyond thankfully saw the emergence of more women instrumentalists like vibraphonist Marjorie Hyams (1920-2012), trumpeter Clora Bryant (1927-2019), pianist/vibraphonist Terry Pollard (1931-2009), pianists Marian McPartland (1918-2013), Lorraine Geller (1928-1958), Toshiko Akiyoshi (1929), trombonist/arranger Melba Liston (1926-1999), and saxophonist Vi Redd (1928-2022), to name just a few.
Today there are even more women instrumentalists on the scene includ-
ing this issue’s cover story subject, clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, who is celebrating her 50th birthday (see page 22). Other current instrumentalists include bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist
Nicole Glover, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson, trans woman bassist/vocalist Jennifer Leitham, trumpeters Bria Skonberg and Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Tia Fuller, cellist Akua Dixon, bassist Nicki Parrott and her baritone saxophonist sister Lisa, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, saxophonist Carol Sudhalter, trombonist Jennifer Wharton (leader of the trombone-powered ensemble Bonegasm), and drummer Sherrie Maricle, leader of the all-woman big band DIVA.
Sadly the jazz world recently lost baritone saxophonist Claire Daly (1958-2024). And a recent album issue by Resonance Records, Cookin’ at the Queens, featuring the late guitarist Emily Remler reminds us of her
brilliance cut short by a heart attack. I know I threw out a lot of names but there are so many more that I did not mention. It’s nice to see that more and more women are choosing to play the music and make mean ingful contributions to the genre.
: A lifelong jazz fan, Vincent “Vin ny” Pelote, Senior Archivist and Dig ital Preservation Strategist, came to Rutgers–Newark as a student in 1972, securing a work-study job at the Institute of Jazz Studies, the ar chive and library founded by famed jazz historian Marshall Stearns.
In 1978, Pelote returned to the institute as a cataloguer and went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Rutgers in the 1980s. ‘Pelote’s Place’ will now be a regular column in Jersey Jazz, succeeding ‘Dan’s Den’, the column written for many years by the late Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies for 35 years.
for more Sandy info
BIG BAND IN THE SKY
Roberta Flack
A Combination of Jazz, Soul, and Folk
In 1971, Roberta Flack was working as a school teacher in Washington, D.C., and singing at downtown clubs at night when Clint Eastwood decided to use her version of the song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in the movie, Play Misty for Me. It had been sung by Flack in 1969 on her debut album for Atlantic Records, First Take.
After the movie came out, the song was released as a single and zoomed to Number 1 on the Billboard chart. Flack would go on to have two more Number 1 records— “Killing Me Softly With His Song” in 1973 and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974.
Flack, who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2022, passed away in New York City from cardiac arrest on April 24, 2025, at the age of 88.
In an interview with Britain’s Daily Telegraph many years after the movie success, Flack recalled her initial conversation with Eastwood. “He was so sincere,” she said. “He wanted it just how it sounds. ‘Isn’t it too slow?’ I asked. He replied, ‘No, just like that, all of it.’ And he played all five minutes and 22 seconds of it. I thought, ‘If he’s willing to do that, I must be doing something right.’” Flack’s singing style was considered a combination of jazz, soul, and folk. She once told The New York Times, “I’ve been told I sound like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Odetta, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, even Mahalia Jackson. If everybody said I sounded like one person, I’d worry. But when they say I sound like them all, I know I’ve got my own style.”
Reviewing First Take, John Bush of AllMusic wrote that Flack “assimilated the powerful interpretive talents of Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan, the earthy power of Aretha Franklin, and the crystal purity and emotional resonance
BIG BAND IN THE SKY
of folksingers like Judy Collins.” Her accompanying musicians on the album were two jazz artists—bassist Ron Carter and guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli— and the R&B drummer Ray Lucas. Born in Black Mountain, NC, Flack grew up in Arlington, VA. She studied classical piano and received a scholarship to Howard University. One of the downtown D.C. clubs she performed at early in her career was Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill, where she sang jazz and show tunes. In 1968, the jazz pianist Les McCann heard her at a charity event and helped her get an audition with Atlantic.
In 1973, Flack received Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance for “Killing Me Softly With His Song”; and she won the same two Grammys in 1974 for “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. In 2020 she received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. There are no known survivors.
Jazz Historian
Larry Applebaum
Larry Applebaum was a jazz historian, music audio engineer, and radio host, who was perhaps best known for discovering the lost Thelonious MonkJohn Coltrane Carnegie Hall tapes. He passed away February 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. at the age of 67. Applebaum worked at the Library of Congress for more than 40 years, serving as Supervisor of the Magnetic Recording Laboratory and Senior Music Reference Specialist in the Music Division. When I was researching my book, Jeru’s Journey: The Life and Music of Gerry Mulligan (Hal Leonard Books: 2015), I interviewed Applebaum about the LOC’s Mulligan Collection. He told me that access to the Collection was very important to the Library. “One of the great things about collections that are here,” he said, “is that we have a finding aid online, and
that’s how the world knows it’s here. That’s why it’s important that an institution not just acquire things but treat them responsibly by making them accessible to scholars and musicians and fans and researchers.”
Writing for many publications such as DownBeat and JazzTimes, Applebaum also hosted a long-running radio show, The Sound of Surprise on D.C.’s WPFW-FM. In April 2024, he was awarded The Benny Golson Jazz Master Award by the
Howard University Jazz Ensemble.
The Monk-Coltrane tapes were insufficiently labeled and filed away among Voice of America’s large collection of recordings at the Library of Congress. They were evidently forgotten until Applebaum came upon them by accident in January 2005 during a regular process of digitally transferring the Library’s collection for preservation purposes. He is survived by his brothers, Howard and Marc.— SJ
THANK YOU and welcome to all who have recently joined or renewed their memberships. We can’t do what we do without you!
NOT WITHOUT YOU!
Your membership is vital to NJJS’s mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form— JAZZ!
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RENEWAL MEMBERS
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