In 1958, Ahmad Jamal released At the Pershing: But Not for Me — a live trio record that quietly became one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time. At the time, nobody could have predicted that decades later, beats built from this soft-spoken pianist’s recordings would form the backbone of some of hip hop’s …
From the 1940s to the ’60s, the New York police stopped some of the most famous — and, overwhelmingly, Black — jazz musicians in the city from earning a living. On a cold night in New York in the early 1950s, a club owner might have been ready to welcome a packed house. The marquee …
It’s probably safe to say that nobody, including Esperanza Spalding herself, expected what unfolded at the 2011 Grammy Awards… Against titans of pop like Justin Bieber, Drake, and Florence + The Machine, the jazz bassist-vocalist took home the coveted Best New Artist award—creating one of the most electrifying upsets in recent music history. Her stunned …
A dropped trumpet. A bent bell. In 1953, a split-second accident gave Dizzy Gillespie the most recognisable horn in jazz — and a sound that became part of his signature. Blistering high-wire trumpet lines and bebop mastery aside, Dizzy Gillespie already had plenty to set him apart. The puffed-out cheeks. The beret. The horn-rimmed glasses. …
In 1937, a 16-year-old Charlie Parker stepped onto the bandstand at the Reno Club in Kansas City. Within minutes, he’d be humiliated by one of the most famous drummers in America. Within a decade, he’d change the sound of jazz forever, spearheading the bebop revolution. Charlie Parker’s Big Break Gone Wrong It was 1937 when …
In the summer of 1959, Sonny Rollins vanished from the jazz scene. No farewell concert. No announcement. Just silence. At 28, Rollins was already one of the most celebrated saxophonists in the world. Albums like Saxophone Colossus and Way Out West had made him a critical favourite, and peers spoke of him in the same …
In April 1957, Miles Davis made a bold move that would echo across jazz history: he fired John Coltrane from his band. At the time, Coltrane was struggling with heroin and alcohol. His playing, though undeniably brilliant, had become erratic and inconsistent. Miles, himself fighting his own battles with addiction in previous years, decided he …
In a short interview filmed for the BBC in the 1990s, Nina Simone spoke plainly and directly about her life and work. At times, it’s funny. At others, uncomfortable. But throughout, you get the sense she’s telling the truth as she sees it — with no filter. Here are six things that stood out—followed by …
Not content with redefining jazz harmony through the birth of bebop, Charlie Parker was breaking something else too — segregation rules. On a 1950 Southern tour, his agent told him to fire redheaded trumpeter Red Rodney. Parker refused — and how he did it became the stuff of legend. When we talk about racial struggles …
Every jazz fan knows the feeling: you’re digging through crates of old records in a charity shop or flea market, fingers dusty, expectations low, but quietly hoping that something rare might turn up. Most of the time, you find the usual suspects—albums you already own, compilations with odd artwork, records too scratched to save. But …