Ninety birthday candles – and an extended season of birthday wishes

George Wein

 When you are turning 90, the celebration begins early. So jazz festival producer George Wein certainly can have a 90^th birthday event this Friday, October 2, even though he was born on October 3, 1925.  

Jazz has lost another true master - Phil Woods

Phil Woods

Word spread very quickly through the jazz community this afternoon that alto saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master (Class of 2007) Phil Woods passed away today. He was 83. 

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a look at new CDs by Joe Alterman, Don Braden, Laszlo Gardony, Paul Keeling and Wolfgang Lackerschmid….

Jazz loses one of its great advocates

Tom the Jazzman at Newport, 8-31-2015

Jazz lost one of its finest ambassadors this holiday weekend. Broadcaster "Tom the Jazzman" Mallison died overnight in a head-on collision as he was driving home to Greenville after his weekly Sunday night radio show on North Carolina's Eastern Public Radio. He had been a steady volunteer broadcaster on the station in New Bern for more than 30 years.

Mallison was a great friend, as well as a tremendous advocate for and promoter of jazz - and a mentor to many younger jazz broadcasters around the country. He was a faithful attendee at the Newport Jazz Festival each summer for several decades. His jazz knowledge and his gentle spirit will be missed at festivals, conferences and seminars galore, and his soothing voice will be missed by his many Eastern Public Radio fans.

The fine art of musical conversation

William Evans

Subbing for vacationing drummer-singer Patricia Dean's band, pianist William Evans brought his Tampa Bay-area trio to JD's Bistro & Grille in Port Charlotte FL Thursday night, September 2, for what turned out to be a top-flight night of music.

Detroit native Evans splits his time between Florida's Gulf Coast and Basel, Switzerland, where he's a longtime faculty member at the Swiss Jazz School. Evans' band mates on Thursday were two other very fine Tampa Bay-area players, bassist Joe Porter and drummer John Jenkins.