A Great Day in Harlem

Hey all just wanted to share a fun article in the New York Times that is a nice little primer on the great Art Kane Photo "Harlem 1958" often better-known as "A Great Day in Harlem". It's a slick intro to the who's who of who's in this classic photo. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYZyNBpnGg

There is actually a gallery dedicated to the same day from the Guardian that is very worth checking out: https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2018/dec/17/a-great-day-in-harlem-behind-art-kaness-classic-1958-jazz-photograph

Only one of those great musicians remains with us today, Sonny Rollins. Just like our great dance elders we have fewer of these treasures as time goes on so cherish your opportunities to connect with them now.

For more on this pic and the story behind it you can check out a documentary about it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYZyNBpnGg

Ruth Rheingold Interview

Hey gang - it's been a while but I've got a gem to share with you. If you missed it when it was first released, this is an interview with a great dancer from the Savoy Ballroom conducted in 2008 as part of the Savoy 80th Anniversary celebration in NYC. Myself and Skye Humphries were enlisted to interview some of the dancers who got to dance at the Savoy back in the day. And, although we generally sucked at interviewing, the dancers themselves did not disappoint. Skye did this interview with Ms. Rheingold by himself and he gives a lovely introduction to it. These interviews are meant to be public domain so please share them with anybody you think may be interested! -P

Portrait of Mal Waldron

A few years ago I got Naomi a couple of instrumental albums called Jazz Minus 1, which basically some great jazz players playing through tunes and comping for a singer who wasnt there. Sort of high-class karaoke tracks for Naomi in case she was called upon to sing somewhere out of the blue.

That was the first time I heard Mal Waldron's name as it was his band that played on the records and today I stumbled upon this nice documentary of the man, and thought I'd share. His personality shines through and it is fascinating to watch him knowing he's lived so much of his life in Europe as many players did where they got much better respect and treatment.

Here's a link to the blog post where I found it:

https://www.jazzwax.com/2022/10/documentary-a-portrait-of-mal-waldron.html