Tag Archives: jazz
Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans – Book Review
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th July 2020In 1922 Louis Armstrong left his native city and went to Chicago to play second cornet for Joe Oliver’s Band. This book is his story leading up to the move that would bring him fame and riches. The autobiography was first published in 1954 and reissued in 1986. In the introduction to the second edition…
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The Invention of Jazz
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th June 2020The conventional view is that jazz is an American art form that originated in African-American communities of New Orleans. It was a derivative of blues and ragtime. Over time it split into many branches. When one thinks of the original New Orleans version, names like King Oliver (1881-1938), Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1940), and Louis Armstrong…
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A Few Love Duets and a Jazz Encore
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th December 2019The days are short; accordingly there’s a lot of darkness around. So, I thought I might brighten things up a bit with a few love duets. Of course, the best of these duets portray characters who typically don’t survive the opera’s end. But they are lovely and make us forget that they lead to death….
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