Just in time for Christmas: Mosaic Records has discographical information and audio clips up for their forthcoming Quincy Jones and Lionel Hampton sets, out later this month. The Hampton includes the vibraphonist’s remarkable late-1930s small-group dates…
One of the great things about working at WFIU is having David Baker stop by occasionally for appearances on Joe Bourne’s weekday afternoon program “Just You and Me”. As busy as he is, he’s always been incredibly generous with his time, and I’m always grateful for any chance to speak with him. He’s full of stories, insights, and good will; a few minutes in his presence and you’ll understand why he’s been such a successful jazz educator.David came in today to chat about the inauguration concert for Indiana University president Michael McRobbie that he’ll be conducting Sunday night…
(This is a continuation of a previous post, Along the Avenue: the Legacy of Indianapolis Jazz.)
Indianapolis in those days was sharing in the euphoric glow of the post-World War II economy. Lockefield Gardens, the expansive and beautiful housing complex built during the Depression to provide…
Street of dreams: Indiana Avenue was a world unto itself that sent out artists such as J.J. Johnson and Freddie Hubbard to the wider world.
Recently jazz composer, musician, and educator David Baker sat down for an interview with me, and yesterday we posted Part 1, in which David talked about his experiences playing with George Russell and Wes Montgomery, as well as the origins of the Indiana University jazz studies program. The interview originally appeared in Bloom Magazine; here’s Part 2, in which he discusses jazz education and changing trends in the music, his dream band…
A few weeks ago I interviewed jazz composer, educator, and musician David Baker, who played in George Russell’searly-1960s progressive-bop group (featured in the Night Lights program When Russell Met Baker). For the past 40 years David has run the jazz studies program at Indiana University while continuing to compose and perform, and he also leads the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. A new CD of his big band compositions performed by the Buselli-Wallarab Orchestra, Basically Baker, garnered four and a half stars in a recent Downbeat review. Here’s Part 1 of the interview, which originally…
For south-central Indiana readers of the blog: David Baker will be leading the Festival Jazz Orchestra, a top-flight group of IU jazz faculty & students, in performance Monday evening. To hear Baker in some classic small-group sessions…
In the summer of 1959 a 27-year-old David Baker and several bandmates from Indianapolis attended the Lenox School of Music…