The legendary Ray Charles with the legendary Ahmet Ertegun (photo by Fred Prouser for Reuters)

“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity…

First Lady of Song Ella Fitzgerald swinging with the band at The Downbeat Club in New York City, 1949. (photo by Herman Leonard from Sanatblog.com)





The following post was originally presented as…

One arm is a crystal-blue saxophone,

the other a platinum-feathered keyboard—

yours is the music that colors our dreams.



Sunday afternoon and the jazz angel cometh

tap-dancing philosophies of the drum-roll

over a…

(Artwork courtesy of Everett Spruill at http://www.everettspruill.50megs.com/ )







To jumpstart my personal celebration of National Poetry and Jazz Appreciation Month 2008, I accepted an invitation to join the Global Jazz Network and for one of my first blogs on the site, posted the poem “Philosophy of the Midnight Skylark in a Jazz Suite Mode.” It was impossible for me to…

Jazz Harlem Renaissance Babydoll

does the music mold your face

like a mask of mink desires

and rainbow butterfly wings

or does…

Scene from Midnight in Paris. (YouTube video uploaded by Petrichor Allegory) 

Approximately 60 jaw-dropping images make up the opening collage for Woody Allen’s celebrated masterwork, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. As the sound of jazz great Sidney Bechet’s “Si Tu Vois Ma Mere” (“If You See My Mother”) engages your ears with its rhapsodic…

Multiple Oscar-winning song man Johnny Mercer.





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The existence of music itself is reason enough for some of us to approach each day with an attitude of gratitude but––some of its more accomplished craftsmen and craftswomen provide us with real opportunities to stop, look, listen, and celebrate, especially with Jazz Appreciation Month only a few days away. That’s exactly…

It’s a special event when a singer of Carmen Lundy’s vocal prowess and dramatic gifts releases a CD boldly entitled “Jazz and the New Songbook,” then successfully substantiates that title with a solid two-disc set recorded live. It’s even more wonderful when that same singer follows such a grand performance with COME HOME, a winning collection of twelve songs that further demonstrate Lundy’s artistic finesse and very impressive musical…