Jazz & Blues Lounge

I am going to confess, right up front, to being a bit of a fan of the documentarian Ken Burns.  He’s the guy who does those multiple-night, hours-long documentaries about things like the Civil War and World War II.  These are the kind of documentaries that show up on PBS and play for nights and then go up for sale for hundreds of dollars.
Before he decided to tackle WWII, in fact, many years before, he decided to create a documentary about Jazz.  He caught a bit of flack for it at the time.  Why?  Some accused him of spending too …read more

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Since I just wrote about Louis Armstrong, I found this rather amusing.  Now, I mentioned how Louis was vital to jazz, the advancement of jazz and was a major player in early jazz.  Of course, he is also probably best known for his song “What a Wonderful World.”  Well, I came across this little number on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKoiMiOQvMc
I figured I would share.
You see, just because he is known for that song, doesn’t meant it’s a bad song.  I argue, the reason it’s a song people bring up again and again and again is because, well, it’s just a damn good …read more

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I love writing these posts about certain artists that have greatly influenced and set the groundwork for modern jazz.  It usually sparks a debate, or gets me a few comments from jazz fans, and I love that.  That’s part of why I do what I do.
I wrote about Dizzy yesterday and got a decent response from it.  There is another artist that really helped jazz become what it is today, but there are a lot of people who probably don’t really realize the talent and artistic value the man brought to the world of jazz.  Why?  Well, because his songs …read more

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