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Imagine a record label where the heads of preeminent brass (classical), jazz, and blues labels collaborated with Beezwax Records, LLC to issue one release per year in their respective genres. Imagine a record label whose A&R vetting was guided in part by a select group of visually impaired, eclectic audiophiles tilting toward the same. Imagine a record label that limits its market exclusively to a set of prequalified subscribers who eagerly await their next Beezwax Record, and when they get it it has their name on it. Imagine a record label that dovetails seamlessly with the manufacturers of physical...

We look back to a time when jazz was the dominant form of popular music and could be heard emanating from radio stations and concert halls around the world.Nowadays, in the second decade of the 21st Century, jazz may seem to many a marginalized music. Of course, it goes without saying that there are still musicians who have risen out of the jazz ghetto, crossed over, and sold humungous amounts of records to the mainstream public – think Gregory Porter and Diana Krall, in recent times – but on the whole, jazz music no longer makes the bestseller lists. But...

Beezwax Records was established in 1997 as a sole proprietorship dedicated to the recording and distribution of brass, jazz, and blues music. Their home base is Elkhart, Indiana, where more brass instruments have been manufactured than anywhere else in the world. When the first Beezwax Record came out on October 31, 1997, it was in CD form. It was also date stamped, serialized, embossed, personalized, and registered into a database as a way to honor the passion that exists between artist and audience. The same holds true for the tens of thousands of CDs that were shipped since that day....

‘Getz/Gilberto’ is now a jazz classic, but when it was recorded no one expected it to become one of the best selling jazz albums of all time.As the five musicians, one of whom was accompanied by his wife, arrived at A&R Studios in New York City on Monday evening March 18, 1963, none would have guessed that they were about to give jazz an almost unprecedented shot in the arm with Getz/Gilberto. Jazz was still, at this point, closer to the mainstream of popular taste, but it was still a minority interest. Stan Getz and João Gilberto were, however, about...

The only studio album he recorded for Blue Note is one of jazz’s most important albums.The crowning glory of Eric Dolphy’s career was 1964’s earth-shaking Out to Lunch, the only album he recorded for Blue Note. The cruel irony was that he didn’t live to see its release. Out to Lunch neither bound itself to bop nor fully embraced free-blowing. It was its own particular beast, arriving at the forefront of what some called the New Thing in mid-’60s jazz. The players – Dolphy on alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard...

McCann also discovered Roberta Flack, while his music has been sampled by hip-hop stars such as Nas, Snoop Dogg and A Tribe Called Quest.Les McCann, the Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who discovered a young Roberta Flack, and whose own works have been sampled by countless hip-hop artists, died on Friday, December 29, at the age of 88. Born Leslie McCann on September 23, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, the musician would become one of jazz’s “most gifted and influential artists,” according to a statement from Kevin Gore, president of Global Catalog, Recorded Music for Warner Music Group. McCann’s family...

The iconic poster boy for the West Coast cool school, Chet Baker left a profound mark on jazz in his 40-year career.When the body of Chet Baker was found, crumpled and bloodied, on an Amsterdam pavement on Friday, 13 May 1988, beneath the third-floor window of the hotel where he was staying, at first no one recognized him. Years of drugs and alcohol abuse had rendered the 58-year-old unrecognizable from the clean-cut young man who, in the early 50s, with his chiselled good looks, was perceived as the iconic poster boy for West Coast cool jazz. Though Baker’s death was...

Paul Desmond (alto sax), Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass) and Dave Brubeck (piano) Live in Belgium, 1964 One of the most iconic Jazz songs of the 1950s/1960s. The song's title came about when drummer Joe Morello asked the sax player, Paul Desmond, to write a song in 5/4 time, rather than the conventional 4/4 or 3/4. Morello played an unforgettable drum solo in the middle of the song.

They told her "You can't play Jazz with a bag pipe." She replied, "Hold my Scotch." Absolutely fabulous. Is she lip sincing with the bag pipes and you are hearing a sax? You decide.

If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys, the answer is Carol Kaye. The session legend tells the story behind her career and legendary bass recordingsIf plucking a ripe plum from a tree had a sound, it would resemble Carol Kaye’s signature tone – a tone that made her a ‘first-call’ bassist in the highly competitive studio session world. It wasn’t just that, though. Kaye is arguably the first bassist to exploit the instrument in a truly melodic fashion, a nod perhaps to her early days as a jazz guitar prodigy....

It was June 28, 1928, when Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five recorded one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century.For many people, everything that is great about music and jazz and Louis Armstrong came together on June 28, 1928. It was on this day that the Hot Five recorded what is one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century: “West End Blues.” It was cut on the second day of three consecutive days of recording by the Hot Five, and it’s likely that after finishing up playing at the Sunset Café in the early hours, Louis...

(SOUNDBITE OF JELLY ROLL MORTON PERFORMANCE OF GIUSEPPE VERDI'S "MISERERE") SCOTT SIMON, HOST: And that is Jelly Roll Morton, the jazz legend, playing "Miserere" from the opera "Il Trovatore" for Alan Lomax in 1938. Jazz, of course, is born of the African American experience and draws from musical influences around the world, including opera. (SOUNDBITE OF JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "JELLY ROLL CARVES SAINT LOUIS") SIMON: The New Orleans Opera has commissioned a project on the subject of opera and jazz. It's featured on its website, and there you can see videos produced by our pal and former colleague here on...

Floyd Newman, a saxophonist who played with many music icons and was the first member invited to be in B.B King’s first band, passed away Tuesday morning, the Stax Museum announced. He was 91. According to the museum, Newman started his career at the Plantation Inn Nightclub in West Memphis, Arkansas along with Ben Branch, Gene “Bowlegs” Miller, Phineas and Calvin Newborn, Willie Mitchell, and hired Isaac Hayes, who went on to become one of the most successful recording artists in history. Floyd Newman and his saxophone (Courtesy: Stax Museum of American Soul Music) He also brought Hayes to Stax...

The story behind the jazz legend’s final hit and, quite simply, one of the most beautiful songs ever written. The legendary New Orleans singer and trumpeter Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong had been making records since 1923, but in 1967 he released “What A Wonderful World,” which would become the biggest-selling song of his long and storied career. Though renowned as one of the pioneers of Dixieland-style jazz in the 1920s, Armstrong was no stranger to the pop charts in the 1960s, having topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with the Grammy-winning single, “Hello Dolly,” in 1964. But “What A Wonderful World” was very...

One of jazz’s greatest composers, Charles Mingus gave the genre some of its most memorable tunes.Published on By Charles MingusPhoto: Don Hunstein/Columbia Records/Getty Images Where the myths end and the truth begins is often difficult to discern when evaluating the extraordinary life of jazz’s notoriously prickly bassist and composer Charles Mingus. But those seeking clarity won’t find any in his quixotic autobiography, 1971’s Beneath The Underdog, whose blurring of fact and fiction and intermingling of real life with fantasy only serves to thicken the pall of mystique. What can be said with certainty, though, is that Mingus is one...

The Pittsburgh-born jazz pianist known for introducing the world to a softer side of bebop has passed away.Ahmad Jamal, the Pittsburgh-born jazz pianist known for introducing the world to a softer side of bebop, has passed away at the age of 92. He died on Sunday (April 16) at his home in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, after succumbing to prostate cancer, his daughter, Sumayah Jamal, confirmed to The New York Times. Renowned for his supremely delicate touch, Jamal developed a distinctive playing style that combined sparkling melodies with dreamy, gossamer chords. Compared to flamboyantly virtuosic modern jazz contemporaries like Erroll Garner...

Asking the question: Is twelve tone technique even music? 12-tone was originally "invented" by Arthur Schoenberg at the beginning of the 20th century and was later applied by multiple 20th century composers from Berg to Charlie Parker. It became especially popular with Jazz musicians in the 40s, 50s and 60s, often integral to Be Bop. It has no Key, no Harmony, no Melody. And no discernible time signature or rhythm.

Watching the Queen's Cartoonists perform live is a spectacle. There are cartoons, alongside jazz, a wide range of musical instruments, noise-making props and on-stage shenanigans. The band performs the soundtrack to old classic cartoons and contemporary animated films, while the audience watches the films. Playing music to visual media is not a novel concept. In fact, whole symphony orchestras tour the world performing to blockbuster movies like "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings." What the Queen's Cartoonists offer is a more unpredictable experience. The audience has no idea what music they will hear or even what cartoons they will...

Originally a Record Store Day Black Friday release only, the title returns as a 4-LP vinyl box set through Verve/Ume on May 19.Charlie Parker’s prolific and historic first three trips to Los Angeles have been collected together as Bird In LA, a 28-track collection of mostly unreleased and incredibly rare recordings, releasing digitally for streaming and download for the very first time, and in a 4-LP black vinyl box set on May 19 via Verve/UMe. This wide release, due to popular demand, follows a limited-edition vinyl release exclusive for Record Store Day Black Friday in 2021, which sold out instantly,...

After eight seasons, four gender-affirming surgeries, and hormone replacement therapy, TLC's I Am Jazz star Jazz Jennings still feels uncomfortable in her own skin. Breitbart reports that Jazz still doesn't feel like herself, suggesting something is missing, even though she had gender-affirming surgery.