Author Archives: The Independent Ear

The latest in a seemingly endless series of Miles Davis reissues/refreshers/previously-unreleased/newly-discovered/”Bootleg Series” releases is titled Freedom Jazz Dance (Columbia Legacy). The core origins of this new package document a particularly fertile period in Miles prolific recording career, respectively three classic … Continue reading →

I think opportunities for audiences to meet and interact with jazz artists off the bandstand are very important keys to audience development, to increasing the audience for jazz. Such opportunities help to “demystify” this music we call jazz. For so … Continue reading →

Since my first experience there in the early 90s, attendance at the Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF) has been an essential part of my annual travel calendar. That is best exemplified by the fact that once the mid-September MJF date is … Continue reading →

Brothers Zaccai and Luques Curtis, from Hartford, CT, spent some of their earliest music matriculation at NEA Jazz Master Jackie & Dolly McLean’s visionary Artist Collective in Hartford. Since that time they’ve played with such notable artists as NEA Jazz … Continue reading →

Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson by Benny Golson and Jim Merod Temple University Press Saxophonist-composer Benny Golson exemplifies the jazz life well-lived. He developed a distinctive sound on the tenor saxophone, one that has become more smoke-infused and … Continue reading →