2019 SUMMATION
Jazz History Online’s annual recap of the year in jazz. Includes listings of the year’s best books, concerts, and CDs, and a memorial for those jazz musicians and supporters who died in the past year.
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Music for a Cool Yule 2019
Happy Holidays from Jazz History Online! For our annual feature, Music for a Cool Yule, Thomas Cunniffe and Marti Mendenhall offer capsule reviews of the best in holiday jazz, both new and classic. We have received far less holiday discs for review this year, so we hope that you will look through the entire list to find a new holiday favorite, regardless of whether it is a new release, or one from years past.
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THE MANY SOUNDS OF “SUMMERTIME”
In honor of the upcoming Summer equinox, Jazz History Online’s principal writer has retrieved and revised one of his vintage articles, discussing 17 different of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Embedded YouTube clips are included, so grab an iced tea and take this article out on the porch.
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Remembering Amy Duncan
Former Jazz History Online contributor Amy Duncan passed away in June 2018. With the exception of a single Facebook post by jazz critic Chip Deffaa, no obituaries or memorials have appeared in print or online since Amy’s passing. In this special edition of Sidetracks, Thomas Cunniffe curates a tribute to our friend and colleague, Amy Hildreth Duncan. (Cover photo by Robert Serbinenko.)
MoreThe Dave Frishberg Songbook
When someone says they don’t write good songs anymore, they must not referring to Dave Frishberg. Since the early Sixties, Frishberg has created witty, off-beat songs which have the repertoire of many singers. Thomas Cunniffe offers his own salute to this superb musician with a selection of Frishberg’s best songs, some performed by the composer himself.
MoreCamille Bertault: The Girl on the Internet
Since the summer of 2015, when she uploaded her remarkable scat version of John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, French jazz vocalist Camille Bertault has been an internet sensation. In this edition of Sidetracks, Bertault tells Thomas Cunniffe about the inspiration for that video, and her unique and varied background. The article includes four embedded videos (and links to several more) plus a review of Bertault’s new CD, En Vie.
MoreElla Fitzgerald at 100
2017 marks the 100th anniversary of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth, and the occasion is being marked with a plethora of reissues, compilations and tributes. In this special Sidetracks article, Thomas Cunniffe pays homage to the First Lady of Song with an appreciation of her art, and an overview of this spring’s salutes.
MoreThe Essence of Billie
For many jazz fans and historians, there are two categories of jazz singers: Billie Holiday and everyone else. Thomas Cunniffe has a similar rating system for Billie Holiday tribute albums: there’s Carmen McRae’s and everyone else’s. However, two new Holiday tributes by José James and Cassandra Wilson stand up well to comparisons with McRae’s classic LP. The similarities and differences are discussed in this month’s Sidetracks.
MoreJazz and Standup Comedy
Standup comedians like Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen and Bill Cosby have readily acknowledged the influence of jazz in their work but few comedians talked about the music in their acts. There were a few exceptions, and Thomas Cunniffe shares them in this month’s Sidetracks.
MoreWe…Are…The 2.3 Percent!
As if January wasn’t depressing enough, jazz fans were told once again that their music represents only 2.3% of the US music market. To make things worse, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival announced this year’s lineup–with a preponderance of rock and pop acts. Thomas Cunniffe considers the implications of these events in this month’s Sidetracks.
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