Marc Myers

5 days ago | allaboutjazz.com | Marc Myers

By 1954, the 10-inch 33 1/3 and seven-inch 45 album formats had made inroads with consumers and were quickly replacing the 78. On the West Coast, labels that had been cultivating Los Angeles musicians came to realize that jazz out there had its own sound. With the 10-inch LP expected to expand to 12 inches within the year and become the industry standard, and the 45 likely to become used exclusively for rock 'n' roll, R&B and country singles, the record business was on the verge of a boom.

6 days ago | allaboutjazz.com | Marc Myers

In 1960, pianist Tommy Flanagan recorded The Tommy Flanagan Trio, an album of easy-going jazz for Prestige's Moodsville line. Joining Flanagan was the exceptional Tommy Potter of bass and superb Roy Haynes on drums. By then, Flanagan had made a name for himself as a first-call sideman and would soon become Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist. While the entire album is top-notch, the track that has always stood for its sheer elegance and beauty is In the Blue of Evening.

6 days ago | allaboutjazz.com | Marc Myers

Like Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Edgar Sampson and Sy Oliver, Jimmy Mundy was one of the architects of the swing era in the early 1930s. Born in Cincinnatti, Ohio, in 1907, Mundy played the tenor saxophone in regional bands, where he developed an ear for arranging. He first worked as an arranger for Earl Hines in the early 1930s and joined Benny Goodman in late 1935 after selling the bandleader a chart. Goodman needed a strong, authentic swing arranger of barnburners.

1 week ago | allaboutjazz.com | Marc Myers

In February 1943, bassist Oscar Pettiford joined Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in a Chicago hotel room and jammed on Sweet Georgia Brown, which was captured on a private recording. This was before bebop was codified, and Parker and Gillespie were virtually unknown outside of the big bands they were in. By the end of 1943, Pettiford was in New York recording for Commodore behind tenor saxophone giant Coleman Hawkins.

1 week ago | allaboutjazz.com | Marc Myers

If all Gerry Mulligan had composed and recorded was the song Night Lights, he'd be extraordinary. The impossibly beautiful and hypnotic ballad appeared on his 1963 album of the same name. To make the track even more compelling, Mulligan plays piano, not baritone saxophone, and he was accompanied by Art Farmer (flhrn), Bob Brookmeyer (v-tb), Jim Hall (g), Bill Crow (b) and Dave Bailey (d).