Michael Jackson changed the landscape of American pop culture--a feat the scale of which we may never see again. Sadly, the culture changed him, too.
Why an English rock band seemed to matter so much in the tumultuous year of 1989.
The Beatles’ explosive arrival on the American music scene in 1964 shook up the jazz world just as much as it did the rest of America—perhaps even more so.
This week on Night Lights we pay tribute to the pianist and singer who passed away in 2007 at the age of 94. A product of the thriving mid-20th century Central Avenue Los Angeles scene, in the late 1940s Lutcher scored a series of hits such as “Hurry On Down” and “Fine Brown Frame” that blended jazz, pop, blues and R & B in a way that made her one of the era’s first crossover stars.
Even if you don’t usually listen to jazz, chances are that you’ve heard Sonny Rollins, Phil Woods, Zoot Sims, Hugh Masekela, Chet Baker, and other jazz luminaries… did you know that it was Rollins soloing on the Rolling Stones’ “I’m Just Waiting on a Friend”?…