Hello everyone—
Over the past few months, it has been my great pleasure to serve as the copy editor for Peter Jones’ new biography of Mark Murphy, “This is Hip”. The book just published on March 1, and as I write this, I am preparing a book launch party here in Denver to celebrate the book and Murphy’s music. As I was deeply involved with the production of this book, it would not be ethical to write a review. However, I felt the book was good enough to warrant coverage on Jazz History Online. A good friend and fellow author, Mick Carlon, offered to act as guest book reviewer, and I am very happy to welcome his words to the pages of this site. (If Mick’s name sounds familiar, he is the author of the books, “Travels with Louis”, “Riding on Duke’s Train” and “Girl Singer”, all of which have been reviewed on JHO.) You can read Mick’s review of “This is Hip” here. (By the way, we’ll have another new writer joining us next month).
The city of Pittsburgh has produced many great jazz musicians, and the legacy of that city has been celebrated in a recent documentary and book. I review both in this month’s DVD Review. Maria Schneider made two concert appearances in the Denver metro area in just under two weeks. I was there for both concerts, and you can read my review here. Our Retro Review features Wes Montgomery’s only concert in Paris. While the music has been available on bootlegs for years, the new issue by Resonance features superior sound (from the ORTF master tapes) and is the first legitimate issue of this material. Our Vocal CD Reviews spotlights four superb releases by Camille Bertault, Alexis Cole, Kate McGarry and Norma Winstone, while the Instrumental CD Reviews focus on two diverse duet recordings by Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch, and Nadje Noordhuis & James Shipp.
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Best,
Thomas Cunniffe