Jazz and the night: moody, evocative music for the evening.
J.R. Monterose is a saxophonist rarely heard even by jazz fans, and his most well-known recording, Charles Mingus’ Pithecanthropus Erectus, is one that Monterose himself later all but disowned. He recorded only sporadically as a leader and withdrew from the jazz world several times, woodshedding or playing in towns distant from the music’s metropolitan centers. His sound, although influenced by other tenor horns such as…
What happened to saxophonist, composer, and music-publishing pioneer Gigi Gryce? Gryce co-biographer Michael Fitzgerald joins us again this week for the answer.
In the early 1950s vibraphonist Teddy Charles made a series of records with Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, and others, that still escapes easy definition today–was it Third Stream? Was it West Coast? Was it cool jazz? We’ll hear selections from his albums…